Graphing a Resource S-Curve Graph in

Excel
On 05.30.13, In Premium Tutorials, by Kazem Salehiyan
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Tutorial Info

Difficulty: Beginner

Program: Excel

Version: 2007 or Later

P6 Client: Windows Client

Time to Complete: 15-30 minutes

Download Tutorial Files

Introduction
In my previous tutorial in this series, I described the procedure to export resource assignment
data from P6 to Excel. Most of us have worked with Excel charts in our job or during our
study in college or university. What we all know is that they are really helpful when you want
to demonstrate some analytical information without technical terms. In this tutorial, I am
going to tell you how to develop a resource curve based on data exported from P6.

Step 1 Export P6 Resource

Assignments to Excel

Following the steps from our previous tutoril, you now have all the resources and
assignments in an Excel sheet. You can modify the primary sheet for better graphical features.

Step 2 How to Use the Data

To draw resource curves, what we need is the two highlighted rows which are the cumulative
total and the incremental total. They have the information needed for each month. So we just
copy and paste these two rows and the date row to another sheet to have more space doing
our job.

Step 3 Copy and paste the needed data in

separate sheet

Copy the data to separate worksheet. Now we have all the tools to paint a perfect picture of
our project resources. All we need is to use some formula to calculate the percentage progress
for each month in our table.

Step 4 Calculate the Progress Percentage

To calculate interval progress and cumulative progress, just divide the value for each month
(man hour needed for each month) by the total value (the summation of all man hours). You
can see the formula in the Excel file attached to this tutorial.

Step 5 Graphing the S-Curves

To graph any curve we should go to Insert Section of Excel and then choose a chart type in
charts tab. For this tutorial purpose well select the Line chart.

Step 6 Defining the Curves Resources

Right-click on the curves that Excel generated by default, which is not the curve that we
want, and choose Select Data.

Remove all the predefined sources and then hit the Add button.

In this box define all the sources one by one. We should do it 3 times to define all the sources
for our final curve. I define all the series below:
Series Name

Series Values

Formula

Monthly Man Hour

The row that shows interval man hour for each

month

=Sheet5!$C$3:$X$3

Cumulative
Progress

The row that shows cum. % prog

=Sheet5!$C$4:$X$4

The last source definition is for the dates which result in our X axis. To do that on the select
source data box and under the Horizontal Axis label, hit the edit button and you will see a
similar dialogue box as the above dialogue boxes:

Select all the dates as the label range for the horizontal axis and hit OK on dialogue box
and then on the select Data Source box. Now you have the following chart

Now we should modify this curve, so we go step by step:

Step 7 Select a Primary and Secondary

Curve
Right-click on the curves and select Format Data Series. In the format Data series box
select the Cum Progress as the secondary curve (it means that this curve values are shown
on the right hand axis)

Step 8 Change the data type to a 2-D

Column chart
Right-click on the monthly interval man hour curve (ie:the blue curve) and then select the
change series chart type. In the change series chart type box, select 2-D Column chart.

Step 9 Adjust the Right-hand Vertical

Axis
Right-click on the right-hand vertical axis and select Format Axis in the dialogue box go to
Axis options and change the second value from the top of form to 1.00.

Now you have an S-curve which still needs some modification:

Step 10 The Final Touches

In Excel 2007, when you select a chart, a chart tool tab will appear on the top right hand
side of toolbar. In that chart you can change the color of curves, add title to curve, add table
to curve. The following curve which is the final curve is the result of doing some exercises
with those features: