This Excel template allows tracking projects and calculating effectiveness in completing them. This is applicable for scenarios where all the projects go through the same set of pre-defined stages in sequence.
In a simple example, each building project may have three stages: Plan – Design – Build. Once planning is completed, designing begins and after designing is completed, build begins. We will be tracking the completion of each stage of each project.
It is very simple to use. It can provide visibility to how long it takes for our projects to complete. It can also help identify where the bottlenecks are in our project cycle. We can also view the trends in terms of time each stages takes.
Free Download
REQUIREMENTS: Microsoft Excel for Windows (2010 or above); Microsoft Excel for Mac (2011 or above);
Video Demo
How to track project pipeline in Excel?
The template has only 3 visible sheets. In the Data sheet, we enter our input data and the Active Pipeline sheet and Report sheet have output that is automatically calculated. The Data sheet also has a summary of metrics.
Enter stages
By default the template has 6 stages (including the final closing stage).
We can rename those stages to meet our business needs. Also, we can remove stages if we don’t need 6. To remove 6th stage, just click on the 6th stage name and press Delete key.
Enter Projects
Enter each project in a separate row in the Projects table.
Enter Project ID and Name. Then, enter Start Date of project. The next 6 columns are dates of completing each stage of project.
These Stage DT fields should not be renamed.
The two columns (Type, Owner) are optional and can be used to store other information as you need. These can be renamed.
The last four columns in the table are calculated and should not be edited.
- CURRENT STAGE Based on the dates entered for each project, the current stage will be displayed. If the project has completed the final stage, then it will display COMPLETED.
- COMPLETION DATE If the project has completed the final stage, then that date will be displayed.
- DURATION (DAYS) If the project is completed, the duration from Start Date to Completion Date. If the project is not completed, this is the duration from Start Date to Today.
- VALIDATION The template checks for a couple of errors. If the dates entered for each stage are not sequential or if there is a date missing in between stages, ERROR will be displayed. Error projects are not included in metric calculations.
Output
Completed Projects – Summary
We can see an instant summary of the completed projects as we enter data. Number of completed projects and how long on average a project takes.
We also see how long each stage takes to complete.
Active Pipeline – Summary
The number of projects that are currently being worked on and how many projects are currently in each stage are shown.
Active Pipeline – Details
We can also see the detailed Active pipeline in the Active Pipeline sheet.
Here we can see the (up to 5) projects in each stage as well.
The ID, Type and Owner fields are displayed. Even if you rename the fields and use them to store other type of information, they will be displayed in this Active Pipeline sheet. Thus, it can be modified to your business needs easily.
Report
The Report sheet presents the metrics (Projects Completed, Average Project Duration and Average Duration for each stage) for the past 12 months.
The information is also presented visually so that we can see how the duration vary over month for each stage.
Editing the template
- The Active Pipeline and Report sheets are locked with password (indzara) to prevent accidental editing of formulas. You can unprotect them and make edits if needed. Unprotecting sheets
- Data sheet is not locked. You can edit the shapes and charts as needed as well.
This is the first version of this template. There are many different directions that we can take this template further. As always, I look forward to feedback and suggestions to make this more useful to a lot of people. I will do my best to implement additional features and enhance the template.
Related Excel Templates
- Project Planner Excel Template – Free
- Free Task Manager Excel template
- Earned Value Management in Excel
- Calendar Excel Template
Recommended Templates
-
Project Management Toolkit Excel TemplatesOriginal price was: $200.$100Current price is: $100.
-
Resource Capacity Planner Excel Template$50
-
Gantt Chart Maker Excel TemplateOriginal price was: $25.$20Current price is: $20.
-
Project Manager Excel TemplateOriginal price was: $40.$35Current price is: $35.
-
Project Planner (Advanced) – Excel Template$30
-
Excel Calendar Template – Excel Calendar 2024/2023 or any yearOriginal price was: $25.$20Current price is: $20.
-
Task Manager (Advanced) – Excel Template$45