A project manager must have a good idea of the progress of every activity and whether it is on track with the initial planning. This is where the tracker document comes in. In this section, we explain what that is and how to use it.

Another useful Excel tool for project management is the log document. This is where important events are recorded (logged). Once logged, people can obtain information about them– their purpose, who is involved, any next steps, the due date, etc.

Next, we will examine how to create and use project schedules and Gantt charts in Excel. Both are essential for project managers.

The final group of Microsoft Excel documents we will create together is related to budget and cost management. Here, the ultimate goal of the project manager is to have a realistic budget and a process to track the actual spending against this budget.

The Excel templates created in this course are essential to all projects. They are the bridge between project management theory and the real-life activities the manager performs. The course on Excel for project management ends with an outline of the limitations of the program and some alternative solutions.