Charts and Dashboards: Marking Milestones - Part 1
2 July 2021
Welcome back to our Charts and Dashboards blog series. This week, I look at how to plot milestones on a timeline.
John, my favourite imaginary salesperson, has a list of tasks to complete to secure a new contract.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image1.png/e774d10cbbb9450fc45efbe51abdf434.jpg)
To make it clearer to follow, I am going to create this in milestones on a timeline. I am going to complete this in two blogs. This week I will arrange all my data, and next week I will complete the formatting.
I copy the original data and add a Placement column which will determine if the milestone appears above or below my timeline.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image2.png/f32e5a15e2cf9c3e4d2d058458ce054d.jpg)
I am going to start by inserting a chart, but I make sure that I am not selecting any data, as I want to be in complete control of what appears in the chart. On the Insert tab, I choose to insert a ‘Line with Markers’ chart.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image3.png/f1140ff857fc3b6f5f97a6a24f4a6fc7.jpg)
I relocate my blank chart and choose to ‘Select Data’ from the ‘Chart Design’ tab.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image4.png/72aa864d2854c6fefb1083fba0ab5792.jpg)
In the dialog that appears, I choose to ‘Add a Series’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image5.png/36776d1da4d05b45bb5a5d09375f407c.jpg)
I begin by creating the timeline, so I add a series called Date, which will be linked to the Task cells in column F.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image6.png/23912d3b1671861e02bebcd5183f1607.jpg)
This doesn’t look right yet: I need to Edit the ‘Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels and select the dates in column E.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image7.png/6f49c288a0d88a66b427eaf4ece923d6.jpg)
This looks more like a timeline. Now I can add my Task series.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image8.png/b9ee28d90e6b5bc92ea4aeafdad51628.jpg)
This time I am going to use the Placement column as the values.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image9.png/0485ccbc83bdeec1d741bad442a1ea5f.jpg)
I have the key elements I need, now it’s time to format my chart. Next time I will change this:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image10.png/daf8c4f0259ce428269c0d3d4badd32b.jpg)
To this:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/068/image11.png/22c6daeb82d7d69ac88f878227e04b28.jpg)
That’s it for this week. Come back next week for more Charts and Dashboards tips.