A Simple Interactive Project Timeline
- Marty Fuentes
- | January 27, 2021
There is no better way to vividly express key events and milestones than to visually presenting them in images. The Project Timeline does that. Though developed in Microsoft Excel, it still has the dynamic functionality. Meaning, displayed photos and other details can be changed as simple as by moving the installed scroll bar. Its sophistication comes with the relative ease of updating its contents and adding more photos into it.
About
The Project Timeline, which can be downloaded from the link below, is created in Microsoft Excel. It provides a visual presentation of project events by means of photos, or other illustrative materials for that matter, to better communicate the information intended to be conveyed. What is special it, compared to typical tools for the same function, is its interactive capability. The scroll bar in the timeline itself can be adjusted to change the photo displayed. Each photo is provided with pertinent information such as the date and its description. These information do change, along with the displayed image, as the scroll bar is moved.
Note that the sample images provided were not really specific to construction key events. The file was intentionally provided with such images as it could also be used for non-engineering or non-construction purposes. It can be used to account for special travelled places, schedule activities, planned occasions, etc.
Though the sample Project Timeline looks complicated, it can easily be modified even by beginners in using spreadsheets. Instructions on how to go about updating the contents are provided below.
Features
The Project Timeline has the following distinctive features that atypical to dashboards build with the same program.
- It can be utilized not only for construction projects, but also for other office reporting functions as well.
- The photo can be dynamically changed using the scroll bar neatly placed under the timeline.
- Pertinent information about the image are provided and these do change too with the displayed photo.
- Updating of contents can be done with ease (see instructions below).
Get the feel on how the Project Timeline works by downloading it for free!
Changing Contents of the Project Timeline
Below are the steps in adding a photo into the Project Timeline (instructional video also available above):
- Go to tab “Image” and copy the row of an existing image and paste it to the row immediately below the last image. Note that the row height should be the same as the existing ones.
2. Right-click on the image and select “change picture.” Find the image to replace the current one.
3. Note the cell location of the added image. In this instance, it is on cell “B12.”
4. Go to the tab “Data” and add the description of the photo under the column “Milestones.”
5. Add details of the image such as the date and the cell location.
6. Go to the tab “Project Timeline” and update the range of the scroll bar by right-clicking on it and choosing “format control.”
7. Set the new “maximum value” to 11 (since there are 11 photo contents in total).
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