I was given a task at work to take the number of people performing a given task each hour, and make a chart out of it that management can easily see how many people at x time are doing y, then make it a weekly chart and finally for the month. I’ve never done charts in Excel and was wondering if anyone had suggestions or sites to look at?
The Chart Wizard in Excel actually does pretty good. However, it sounds like you want to chart dynamic sets of data, and Excel falls a little flat in this area unless you’re willing to learn a little Visual Basic or some really fancy formulas. For dynamic charts I prefer to use MS Access since it can hold a lot more data in a table than Excel can in a spreadsheet and it seems to have better date functions. Plus, it’s easier to sort your data and pare it down with parameter queries. Access also has a chart wizard for forms & reports.
But here’s the one site that I found by Googling for “excel charts” that isn’t trying to sell you a course or book on the subject. Of course, a book might be just what you’re looking for. I’d ask your company to reimburse you for the book should you choose to buy one.
Of course, your particular problem could get even more fun.
Does the PHB need to see only the total number of tasks completed by hour or does he need to see how many tasks broken down by employee?
Is it a task you can do more than once an hour or is it simply working/not working.
Data structure is the key here. Is you lay out your base tables properly (in access or excel), then the charting wizards will make everything else very simple.
Finally, does PHB want a print out, or the Excel file itself.
The chart needs to show how many people are assigned to each task, and how it changes over the day. She wants the excel file so she can show it in the meeting.
Ahhh, multiple tasks. Makes it a little more fun.
Make a table in Excel. Hours/time down the left, Task names across the top. Fill in some random numbers.
Select the whole region and then hit the little chart wizard button on the toolbar. Click finish and see if it is close to what you need.
(let me know if you need more detail on these steps)