This Excel-based milestone trend analysis is an efficient graphical tool for tracking project milestones. It visualizes the trend of milestones and makes it possible to identify the resulting effects on the project completion date so that countermeasures can be taken in good time if necessary. Due to its high information density and clarity, it is suitable for reports to the higher decision-making level. As it records the development of milestones, it can provide evidence for extensive detailed analyses at the end of the project (lessons learned).

An essential prerequisite is the careful definition of suitable project milestones with objectives, target dates and responsibilities at the start of the project. Up to 20 milestones can be recorded and tracked in this template.

During the project, the milestones are regularly assessed (usually in project meetings) and a forecast is made for their completion dates. These forecast dates or - once the milestones have been completed - the actual dates are recorded. The template is set up for up to 60 reporting dates.

At the same time as the data is entered, the tool automatically creates an MTA diagram and a short report that are optimized for printing in A4 format. You can copy the automatically generated MTA diagram into self-created reports (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) as a graphic.

The user interface is multilingual. English and German are pre-installed. Three additional languages can be added by the user by editing the integrated translation table.

On a separate sheet, the template contains a detailed explanation of how to interpret MTA diagrams.

Features:

• Up to 20 milestones can be recorded
• A maximum of 60 reporting periods are available for tracking
• Intuitive to use and largely robust against incorrect entries (error messages for typical input errors)
• Subsequent addition of milestones not originally planned is possible
• Focus on the essentials possible by showing and hiding individual milestones
• Multilingual user interface: German and English installed, the user can define three more

The template was created for Microsoft 365 (Excel version 2408 or higher) and does not contain any VBA/macro code. Some functions are not available in the browser view (Excel for the web). The template may not be compatible with MAC.