Excel Scheduling Question, immediate need

[amyacc]

We do a lot of projects in my group at work and they want me to build
project timeline, in EXCEL, that by entering a Final Due Date all othe
noted dates populate cells.

Obviously I can do little formulas to make that happen but...

Questions:

1) Is there a way to lock cells so that no one can adjust the formulas
I know I can protect the sheet but people need to be able to chang
some cells and not touch others.

2) Is there a way to link this to a calendar? I'd love it if it coul
auto create a calendar or timeline.

3) Is there a way, in formulas, that I can have weekend day
automatically disregarded?

I know something like this is better done in Microsoft Project but w
don't have it here and they need something immediately. We do hav
Visio but it didn't look like Visio could automatically be linked t
Excel to populate a timeline... Can it?

PLEASE, any suggestions would be great. They'd be happy with low leve
nothing but I'd like to make this as useful a tool as possible.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

-Am

 

[Frank Kabel]

In addition to my previous post:
- Visio can import Excel files
- There is a wizard (at least in Visio 2000) for importing project raw
data. This includes task no#, dependencies, duration, etc.

BUT
it would be really great just to enter a project end date and a tool
calculates the rest -> this won't happen in reality. I do not know how
many project you want to enter and how complex they're but first you
have to enter your individual tasks, efforts, dependencies, etc.
-> After that the program calcualtes a project end
-> you'll finetune your plan

But if you really have more complex projects I strongly recommend using
a project management software (Excel/Visio are not the right tools for
this)

 

[Dick Kusleika]

Amy

1) Is there a way to lock cells so that no one can adjust the formulas?
I know I can protect the sheet but people need to be able to change
some cells and not touch others.

You can identify cells individually as locked or unlocked. Format - Cells -
Protection. Unlock those that you want the users to change and protect the
sheet to lock the others.

2) Is there a way to link this to a calendar? I'd love it if it could
auto create a calendar or timeline.

Bernie Deitrick sent me a really nice calendar a while back. If you like, I
can send it to you and you maybe able to modify it for your needs.

3) Is there a way, in formulas, that I can have weekend days
automatically disregarded?

It depends on the formula. Check out NETWORKDAYS in help. It may be a part
of the Analysis Toolpack Add-in, so you would need to load that if it's not
already.

 

[amyacc]

I agree with you whole heartedly about MS Project and hope to get tha
in the future.

For now, just chucking out a little something in Excel... I think
can protect the cells I need.

Do you know if there's a way I can have weekend days automaticall
overlooked? Tying in some calendar aspect to a formula?

Thanks

 

[amyacc]

Hello Dicks Clicks!

I would love it if you'd send me the calender you'd mentioned. Please
send it to (e-mail address removed)

Thanks.

I'll look into the other suggestions.

THanks again. Have a great weekend.

 

[Dick Kusleika]

Amy

I tried to send it twice and it bounced both times. Is that email right?