What They Say: - “The leading excel based gantt chart solution for excel”
What we Say: - A truly flexible and powerful gantt chart tool that is
simple to use for beginner to advanced users, and hands control over to the user.
Usual Price – From $28 USD
Free Trial Available? – Yes
File Format: XLS or XLSX
Expected Learning Time: Instant Use – 0 mins Learning Time
Key Benefits
· Strong graphical capabilities
· Flexibility
· Caters for users of all abilities from beginner to advanced
· Daily, weekly and monthly views
· Dependencies handled for those that require
Key Disadvantages
· Excel 2003 versions have a large file size.
Gantt Chart Excel is the most integrated product offering of all 5 tested. It enabled users to seamlessly change between daily, weekly and monthly views of their data. All other products either did not support this feature at all, or required the user to switch between multiple sheets. For the average user, this is a critical feature as it enables you to switch between detailed views of your gantt chart, and higher level views. This greatly assists in the quality of planning.
Additionally, this was one of the few gantt chart products that does not use macro’s. Macro’s reduce the level of flexibility and control the user has over the workbook. Many users would like to insert rows or columns to perform specific calculations. Gantt Chart Excel offers the greatest level of flexibility offered by any of the reviewed Gantt chart products.
For us, this is a core feature of an excel based gantt chart solution
Vertex 42
What They Say: - “Easily create and print a Gantt Chart with this Excel spreadsheet”
What we Say: - “Designed exclusively for advanced excel and project planning users, this tool offers a potential excel based replacement”
Usual Price – From $39.95 USD
Free Trial Available? – Yes
File Format: XLS Only
Expected Learning Time: 45 minutes
Key Benefits
· Appealing interface for advanced users
· Incorporates holidays
Key Disadvantages
· Complex to use – understanding of WBS Elements and effort/duration relationships required by all users
· Very small planning window
· Fixed WBS structure unlikely to suit many user requirements
· Fixed weekly view of task information will not provide appropriate level of granularity for some users.
We would say that the Vertex42 product is well constructed for advanced excel and project plan users.
It does lack in gantt chart flexibility of view and does not offer daily, weekly and monthly views of data. Users are also locked to a fixed WBS structure that will not suit all purposes.The incorporation of the Today line is an interesting feature, however its use would confuse many users.
We would rate this plan as one to consider for advanced excel users and advanced project planners. It offers an alternative to those that might be considering buying MS Project.
The Spreadsheet Store
What They Say: - “The Excel Gantt Chart Template Deluxe Edition makes it easy to create professional-looking Gantt charts in Excel”
What we Say: - “Very basic graphics and functionality, separate sheets for each view complicates the planning process”
Usual Price – From $49.95 USD
Free Trial Available? – No
File Format: XLS Only
Expected Learning Time: 15 minutes
Key Benefits
· Active use of % complete
· Multiple views possible, although in separate sheets.
· Handles dependencies, although again, these need to be entered in a separate sheet from your core plan.
Key Disadvantages
· Ugly and basic interface
· Use of Macros – possible plan flexibility and security issues associated with these. Also, possible issues for office 2007 or later users.
· Planning view and gantt chart view in totally separate sheets.
This product does not offer a free gantt chart version. A trial version is handy as it enables you to get inside the system and have a play with it and ensures that it meets your specific gantt chart requirements.
From what we could determine from information that was available on the website, macros are used in one or more functions.
We did not like the layout of the gantt chart views. The daily view in particular was cluttered and could do with further formatting and structuring. The use of separate sheets is a key feature of this planning approach. This creates issues for the user in continually needing to switch between different sheets, reducing the overall quality of the gantt chart outcome.
Gantt Chart Builder (Excel) 6.1.1
What They Say: - “The Gantt Chart Builder System provides a system to build professional quality Gantt charts without the need for Microsoft Project or similar products”
What we Say: - “Hard to evaluate as it wouldn’t install on Vista/Excel 2007, we can’t understand why you need an .exe file for an excel template!”
Usual Price – From $69.95 USD
Free Trial Available? – Yes
File Format: .EXE Install Package
Expected Learning Time: Unknown
Key Benefits
· Looks to be a sophisticated solution if only we could get it working.
Key Disadvantages
· User feedback score on CNET of 2/5
· Unable to get install package operational on Vista
· Not really an excel based tool, more like another program.
We were unable to get this file working. Our evaluation is done on information provided on various websites about this product. On CNET it has a user experience review of 2 stars, which I think says a lot. This gantt chart tool is not an excel file, but an EXE file. It is designed as a programmatic plug in for excel and is very structured and locked in its approach.
Users will find that they are no longer just dealing with an excel file, they are really part of a whole series of external programming. This removes much of the advantage of creating a gantt chart in excel, as the user control and flexibility is largely diminished. Additionally simple knowledge of excel is not all that is required; rather, you are now effectively learning a whole new gantt chart tool.
The product appears to be far more like MS project than a typical excel based gantt chart planing tool.
It may provide some sophisticated users with a more cost effective alternative to MS Project, that is, if you can get it running!
XL-EasyGantt v3
What They Say: - “The award winning project management tool.”
What we Say: - “Some macro compatibility issues with versions of Excel 2007 or Later.”
Usual Price – From $98 USD
Free Trial Available? – Yes
File Format: .xls
Expected Learning Time: 15 Mins
Key Benefits
· Use of dependencies, but only in Macro enabled versions
· Simply structured interface that is pleasing to work with
· Handles dependencies, although again, these need to be entered in a separate sheet from your core plan.
· Use of a resource list is a great feature, but is not used in planning with the Non Macro Version
Key Disadvantages
· Weekends are locked with no ability to move weekend days
· Use of Macros – possible plan flexibility and security issues associated with these. Also, expected issues for office 2007 or later users.
· Unable to switch between daily and weekly views
· Manually created WBS leaves room for error, particularly if using dependencies.
A pleasing user interface, but obviously built and designed for excel 97-2003 users only. We were unable to open the macro enabled version in excel 2007, and get it working as intended.
Slick looking logo and graphics, but the core engine relies heavily on Macros and use of VB Code targeted towards excel 97-2003 users.
This would be worth taking a look at as a gantt chart planning solution for excel 97-2003 users.
