Hi all,
I've been trialling to create my own management dashboard and I'm trying to look for a way to add 2 features to it. I know that this is excel and not a professional software designed specifically for project management but I've come so far and I honestly think it can be accomplished.
The first task is to automatically stipulate the start date of a sub task which is scheduled to start immediately at the end of the previous task. I have attached an example of what my sub-task schedule would look like with the start date and end date. If for whatever reason the sub-task is delayed and the end date is extended, I would like to set the next scheduled sub-task to change it's start date accordingly.
The next feature is somewhat more complicated. I've been searching the internet to find a way of setting a notification like a desktop notification or a popup box alerting me of a sub-task that is almost due. I've found the VBA for Msgbox which I think is what I'm looking for but I'm not sure how to tie it to my progress bar so that the trigger point will be when my sub-task is around 80% completed. I'm fairly certain that I'll need to create a VBA function for this but if someone could please point me to a resource that shows how to set up a triggering point, I'd be very grateful.
Thanks in advance!!
CJ
Hi CJ,
To set your sub-task start date to begin on the same date as the previous task's end date simply reference the date in a formula. e.g. given your example file, in cell C5 type this formula:
=D4
Then copy that formula down column C.
In regards to your notification. I'd be inclined to use Conditional Formatting to check the end date of the tasks compared to today's date + n days that you want to be warned in advance and to highlight those tasks in red so you can see at a glance which task end dates are coming up.
See example attached. In that file the dates in rows 4 through 9 are less than or equal to today's date + 7 days.
If you still prefer a message box solution, please raise a new thread in our VBA forum.
Mynda
Thanks Mynda,
I'll look at how to apply the cell referencing effectively (some projects only have a couple of sub-tasks and I'm trying to make things more automated).
With regards to the Conditional Formatting to highlight the end date, I tried to copy the formula used in your sample attachment but for some reason it didn't seem to work (it's probably something on my end that I need to look deeper). In the meantime, I've chosen to go with Color Scales also found in Conditional Formatting which also fits what I need it to do.
Thanks again for your advice and thank you for this wealth of Excel knowledge!!
CJ
Glad I could help, CJ.
Please see this tutorial on how to write formulas for conditional formatting.
Mynda
