flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

Sick of Microsoft Project? Manage Your Project in Excel

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Project Management Essential Slides (54-slide PowerPoint presentation). Elevate Your Presentation Game! Every Project Manager knows the value of clear communication. Whether you're updating stakeholders, briefing your team, or making the case for new resources, the difference between a 'good' and 'great' presentation can be a project's lifeline. Present with [read more]

* * * *

Project management is not easy.  Keeping track of deadlines, status, risks, issues, and competing priorities is not piece of cake.  There are hundreds of articles and management gurus out there with tips and advice on effective project management.  However, few (that I have seen) provide tools to put the ideas they provide into action.

While a good PM tool does not guarantee success, a bad one guarantees frustration and increases chance of failure. The de facto management tool in the industry is MS Project. But unfortunately when I have used MS Project, I end up focusing more on keeping MS Project documents running smoothly, rather than the project itself. It feels like working with a complex home theater system: you spend more time fiddling with the settings and re positioning the speakers rather than enjoying the movie.

My biggest problems with MS Project are:

  1. Speed – When working with MS Project, expect long load times, slow updates, and frequent crashes.
  1. Compatibility – Many people do not have MS Project loaded on their computers by default. So, when working with MS Project, I either have to acquire licenses for all stakeholders (and this can be quite expensive) or make sure I export all my work into PDF/Excel (also a slow process).
  1. User Friendliness – There is definitely a learning curve new users will have to climb before getting comfortable with MS Project. But even now, after using the software on multiple projects and having been to multiple training sessions, I find it can be hard to figure out the simplest of things. Also, many of the hotkeys that are standard across MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, and MS Word are not transferable to MS Project.

About a year ago I got so frustrated with MS Project, I decided to start working with Excel. While Excel does not support all the functionality that MS Project provides, it more than sufficiently satisfies the basic requirements of any project management tool. Excel is also far more customizable and compatible than MS Project, allowing me to build reports and share my work more easily with others.

excel_microsoft_project

I recently uploaded a Project Management Tool, built in Excel, to flevy.com. I have gathered some of the most useful functions/templates I have built in the past and condensed them into one document. The tool includes:

  • Overview of a project management Framework I have used in the past.
  • The ability to document and connect requirements, projects, and tasks.
  • Fully functional and automatic Gantt Chart.
  • Built in program level completion and heat map reporting functionality.
Aside from the author’s Excel-based Project Management Tool, Flevy offers a number of other PM tools and methodologies, including: (Alternate) Excel-based Project Management Tool, Excel-based Project Prioritization Tool, and PRINCE2 Project Management Overview.

Although not as deep in functionality as MS Project, I find tools like this are far easier to use and manage, allowing me to focus on the project at hand. Most importantly, I can easily customize these documents to best fit the project’s needs.

Excel workbook
///////////////////////// Project Management PMO Excel Toolkit / Workbook ///////////////////////// Attention all Project Management Office (PMO) professionals! Are you looking for a world-class solution to streamline your project management processes and enhance your [read more]

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on Consulting Project Management and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


273-slide PowerPoint presentation
Curated by McKinsey-trained Consultants The Complete Toolkit on Project Management Skills for Consultants: Mastering Consulting Projects with a 270+ Slide PowerPoint Deck Are you a consultant looking to elevate your game and deliver exceptional results in your consulting projects? [read more]


 
115-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
51-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Priyank Pandey

Priyank is a Management Consultant, specializing in Risk Management. He has worked across multiple industries, including banking, capital markets, and healthcare. He is also the author of the blog Writing In Transit where he writes about his experiences as a consultant and his pursuit of an MBA.

, ,





Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  


The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.


Connect with Flevy:

     
  


About Flevy.com   /   Terms   /   Privacy Policy
© . Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.