Template for an activity schedule in Excel

The Excel templates are some of the best resources that you have to know how to organise your time in an organised and effective way. For this, to evaluate and and track the progress of your project, Excel’s multiple functions help us establish an activity schedule to manage your work.

What is an activity schedule

An activity schedule is any calendar where you can find the times required to complete a project or piece of work, the tasks, and the activities that are required to be carried out.

An activity schedule in Excel or any other format helps the supervision of all activities that are to be realised, to avoid delays in handing in work and know what are pending tasks. It is in addition a good way to know what are the resources necessary to complete a project.

In conclusion an activity schedule is basically knowing what elements of control there are, which bottlenecks exist and solve problems quickly.

How to make an activity activity schedule step by step

1. Create a list with the basic activities

Break down each of the tasks and activities that are essential to start working and developing this project, as well as the roles you have to assume. If you have any questions, you can consult with your team and thus you will obtain a detailed list.

2. Relate the activities to each other

It is very likely that some tasks may depend on a previous task. So it is important to know the relationship between each of them and then order them. You need to know what tasks should be done first and what are those that can be done later. This way you establish an order so that the work is prioritised. In this sense, it can be of great help to classify activities according to their independence or dependence:

  • Start-start: implies that both tasks start at the same time.
  • Start-end: the first task starts at the same time as the second one.
  • End-start: are those tasks that cannot be started until the previous task is finished.
  • End-end: means that both tasks must be completed at once.

3. Make a timing

Based on the objectives and tasks, you have to create an action calendar and define realistic deadlines. The creation of these types will largely define the weekly schedule of activities and if it is working as stipulated, being able to easily identify bottlenecks to solve them as soon as possible.

4. Create a schedule of activities with an Excel template

Once you obtain all the information prior can start to input it into your work schedule and customize each data to suit the needs of your project. Match each of the stipulated deadlines with the tasks so that the schedule takes shape.

5. Redefine the strategy of the weekly or daily schedule

Depending on the results that are obtained as the tasks progress, you can see how the project evolves and the strategy can be redefined to better adjust the process. This implies that an activity schedule in Excel cannot be a static resource, it must constantly change, update and adjust with new tasks or reassign new resources.

Ideas for planning an activity schedule in Excel

Thanks to the Excel templates for the activity schedule you have at your disposal one of the most useful tools to have everything under control. They even have the advantage of being applicable to any field. They are particularly suitable to act as the Gantt chart in Excel, but can be customized as this makes them your best partner to distribute all your tasks. The trick to creating a Gantt chart in Excel lies in:

  • Distribution of time in a key way.
  • Clarification of the duration and dependency of tasks.
  • Resource allocation.
  • Visualization of the project, with its respective risks and advantages.

Examples of activities schedule to download :

If you don’t know how to make an activity schedule, not to worry. Here you can download a template model ready to schedule activities so you can modify your information, including needs.