Different colored Gantt bars in MS Project – How To

Different colored Gantt bars in MS Project

Introduction

Using different coloured Gantt bars in MS Project is a great way to communicate information and enhance the ‘look and feel’ of Gantt charts. 

Some recent examples where I’ve used different coloured Gantt bars;

• Visually differentiate between in-progress projects and planned projects
• Visually differentiate between different Levels in the schedule.

Diagram: In-progress projects vs Planned projects

Diagram: Different Levels
 

Links

http://masamiki.com/project/examples/Project_Grouping_And_Conditional_Formatting.html

http://dnutley.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/project-tips-and-tricks/

http://project.mvps.org  

Different coloured Gantt Bars 

Using Flag fields
Using my example above I’m going to flag the projects that are In-Progress using the Flag10 field.  You can use any of the Flag fields (from 1 to 20)

Format – Bar Styles
Now we use the Format – Bar Styles to setup the look of the bars.

1. Setup the default style.  We have decided the default style is to have ‘red’ bars for planned projects. 

2. Create a new style.  Use the ‘Cut’ Row and then ‘Paste’ twice to add a new style.

3. Format the New Bar style.  Change the name to ‘Flag10’.  Change the formatting.  Most importantly change the ‘Show For…Tasks’ to Flag10.

Further examples
You can extend the use of this technique by using the Customize Fields functionality. (Tools – Customize – Fields).  For example if you wanted all the tasks that contained ‘Client’ in the task title to be represented in a different colour.
Diagram: Customize Fields Screen (Formula)

Equation Screen
The equation looks a little complex but is really simple VBA.

IIf( InStr([Name] ,”Client” )>0,Yes ,No )

Conclusion

This technique is flexible and robust, really a great little tool to help in the readability of your schedule.  Ultimately it helps in the communication of the program and really that’s what schedules are all about.