This spreadsheet allows users to plan and track projects against requirements. It features the ability to document requirements, projects, and tasks. The spreadsheet is customizable and includes a Gantt chart and heat map to visualize project progress. Cells in grey contain formulas and should not be edited to maintain functionality. Requirements, projects, and tasks are entered on separate tabs and linked together. As tasks are completed, the Gantt chart and heat map automatically update to reflect overall project status.

1. CELLS HIGHLIGHTED IN GREY SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED. CHANGING THEM COULD RESULT IN BREAKDOWN
OF SPREADSHEET FUNCTIONALITY OR INACCURATE INFORMATION.
Introduction
This is a functional workbook that allows users to plan and track projects against requirements gathered as part
The workbook is versatile enough and customizable to be useful for any type of project. For example, it can be
used to document strategic initiatives, define governance and operational plans, or for small scale IT
The workbook features:
1. The ability to document and connect requirements, projects, and tasks. (See framework explanation below)
2. Expand and customize the sheet to best suit the user's needs
3. Fully functional and automatic Gantt Chart
4. Program level completion and heat map
The author highly recommends reading through FULL set of instructions prior to use of the spreadsheet. The
author has also included mock data to provide examples of functionality. Feel free to delete any data currently
Framework Overview
The spreadsheet is built on the premise that users first gather requirements as part of an assessment or planning
The requirements are reviewed and agreed upon by all stakeholders.
Projects are then designed to satisfy requirements. Some requirements may need more than one project while
Projects are then divided into specific tasks, action items, or deliverables.
General Instructions
All cells in grey are formula driven and should be changed only at user's risk.
The spreadsheet heavily uses Table formatting, a feature only available in Excel 2007 or more recent versions.
All dates are formatted according to American method (MM/DD/YYYY)
The author recommends turning off automatic calculations for large spreadsheets to improve performance.
How to Use The Requirements Tab
Document requirements for the program on this tab. The template includes some columns to capture typical
To add new requirements, type in a Requirement ID in Column A and press enter. Each requirement must have a
Sub-requirements may be added. In the example provided, R001.01 is a sub requirement of R001. Notice the "+/-
" signs on the left side that allow requirements to be expanded/collapsed. New requirements can be grouped
How to Use The Projects and Task List Tabs
These two tabs work in conjunction with each other. One or many Task Lists put together make up a project.
1. Input project details in Projects Tab. Each project should have a unique project ID. To add new projects
2. User may choose to map requirements to projects in column E (Note this step is critical for the heat map to
work). To map requirements to Projects, simply type in the requirement ID(s) in Column E (Associated
3. Populate the Task List tab with specific tasks for each project. Each Task should be mapped to a specific
4. Assign each task a weightage (in relation to the project), start date, and end date. Note that the Project Tab's
5. Notice that the Aggregate Project Weight is the sum of weights of each of the tasks associated with a
6. As the project progresses, update the completion percentage for each task.

2. How To Use The Gantt Chart (Part of the Projects Tab)
The Gantt Chart provides a timeline view at the project level. It is fully automated and driven based on the data
The chart always begins on the Monday on or before the earliest project start.
The user can customize how granular the Gantt Chart should be. In other words, the user can define how spaced
out each column of the Gantt Chart is. The default value is set to 14 (i.e. 2 weeks). This can be changed by
Adding more Timestamps: The spreadsheet currently allows users to view 50 timestamps (or apporximately 2
year's duration if default value of 2 weeks, 14 days, is populated in Cell J1). To add additional timestamps, copy
Adding more Projects: The spreadsheet currently allows users to view 86 projects in the Gantt Chart. To expand
this view, copy the last row of the Gantt Chart (note: do not copy the entire row, just the cells within the Gantt
How To Use The Heat Map
The Heat Map can be an effective tool to quickly visualize overall project health and to identify requirements
The Heat Map is a fully automated spreadsheet driven completely by the data input in the other tabs, especially
It is set up as a matrix of projects and requirements. If a requirement is mapped to a project, the intersection
For example, if R001 is mapped to P001, and P001 is 80% complete, the cell where P001's column and R001's
The numbers are color coded - Blue meaning 0% completion and Dark Green meaning 100% completion. These
Column A lists the average completion of each requirement. This number is just a simple average of the
Additional Rows and Columns may be added to the heat map by copying any row/column and pasting it in the
Support
The author can be contacted at writingintransit@gmail.com for support and other custom spreadsheets.

3. Requirement ID Name Description Requested By Requirement Decision
R001 Requirement1 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R001.01 Requirement1.1 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R001.02 Requirement1.2 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R001.03 Requirement1.3 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R002 Requirement2 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R003 Requirement3 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc
R004 Requirement4 A description of the requirement Person/Department making the request Accepted, Rejected, Pending, etc

4. 14Enter Day Spacing for Gantt Chart:
Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner
Associated
Requirement(s
)
Start Date End Date
Completion
Percent
Status Comments
P001 Project1 Project Description Project Owner R001;
R001.01;
R001.03;
5/8/2013 10/10/2013 14%
P002 Project2 Project Description Project Owner R002;
R003
4/5/2013 12/10/2013 50%
■▬
P003 Project3 Project Description Project Owner R003;
R004
5/5/2013 5/5/2013 10%
P004 Project4 Project Description Project Owner R003;
R004
5/5/2013 10/10/2013 80%

5. 14Enter Day Spacing for Gantt Chart:
Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner
Associated
Requirement(s
)
Start Date End Date
Completion
Percent
Status Comments

6. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments
P001 Project1 Project Description
P002 Project2 Project Description
P003 Project3 Project Description
P004 Project4 Project Description
#### ####
1-Apr-1315-Apr-1329-Apr-13################10-Jun-1324-Jun-138-Jul-1322-Jul-135-Aug-1319-Aug-132-Sep-1316-Sep-13
30-Sep-13
14-Oct-1328-Oct-13
11-Nov-13
25-Nov-139-Dec-13
■▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬◆
■▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬◆
◆
■▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬◆

7. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments
#### ####
1-Apr-1315-Apr-1329-Apr-13################10-Jun-1324-Jun-138-Jul-1322-Jul-135-Aug-1319-Aug-132-Sep-1316-Sep-13
30-Sep-13
14-Oct-1328-Oct-13
11-Nov-13
25-Nov-139-Dec-13

8. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments
P001 Project1 Project Description
P002 Project2 Project Description
P003 Project3 Project Description
P004 Project4 Project Description11-Nov-13
25-Nov-139-Dec-1323-Dec-13

9. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments
11-Nov-13
25-Nov-139-Dec-1323-Dec-13

10. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments
P001 Project1 Project Description
P002 Project2 Project Description
P003 Project3 Project Description
P004 Project4 Project Description

11. Project ID Project Name Project Description Owner Start Date End Date Status Comments

12. Associated
Project ID Project Name Task ID Task Name Task Description Start Date End Date
Aggregate
Project Weight Task Weight
Completion
Percent
P001 Project1 T001 Task1 Description 5/8/2013 8/8/2013 100% 10% 10%
P001 Project1 T002 Task2 Description 6/10/2013 9/10/2013 100% 20% 10%
P001 Project1 T003 Task3 Description 7/10/2013 10/10/2013 100% 40% 20%
P001 Project1 T004 Task4 Description 7/10/2013 10/10/2013 100% 30% 10%
P002 Project2 T005 Task5 Description 5/5/2013 10/10/2013 100% 50% 50%
P002 Project2 T008 Task8 Description 4/5/2013 12/10/2013 100% 50% 50%
P003 Project3 T006 Task6 Description 5/5/2013 5/5/2013 100% 100% 10%
P004 Project4 T007 Task7 Description 5/5/2013 10/10/2013 100% 100% 80%

13. Project IDs → P001 P002 P003 P004
Project Names → Project1 Project2 Project3 Project4
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1 14%
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1 14%
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3 14%
50% R002 Requirement2 50%
47% R003 Requirement3 50% 10% 80%
45% R004 Requirement4 10% 80%
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

14. Project IDs → P001 P002 P003 P004
Project Names → Project1 Project2 Project3 Project4
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

15. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3
50% R002 Requirement2
47% R003 Requirement3
45% R004 Requirement4
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

16. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

17. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3
50% R002 Requirement2
47% R003 Requirement3
45% R004 Requirement4
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

18. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

19. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3
50% R002 Requirement2
47% R003 Requirement3
45% R004 Requirement4
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

20. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

21. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3
50% R002 Requirement2
47% R003 Requirement3
45% R004 Requirement4
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

22. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

23. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
14% R001 Requirement1
14% R001.01 Requirement1.1
No Projects associated
with this Requirement
R001.02 Requirement1.2
14% R001.03 Requirement1.3
50% R002 Requirement2
47% R003 Requirement3
45% R004 Requirement4
Average Requirement
Satisfaction

24. Project IDs →
Project Names →
Requirement
IDs
Requirement Names
Average Requirement
Satisfaction