If you’ve worked with PERT or critical path charts in the past, you know how useful they
can be in helping you understand the minimum amount of time it will take to complete a
given project.
They help you outline simultaneous tasks, track dependencies, and keep your team on
track to meet tight deadlines.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use Lucidchart to automate your PERT chart
so that information in a project spreadsheet links directly to your chart, automatically
updates information in your diagram as the project evolves, and the critical path each
time you make changes to your plan.
We’ll also show you some tips for effortlessly sharing the latest version of your diagram
with your team at all times.
We’re using the example of a software product launch for this tutorial.
As you can see, we have all of the tasks associated with our project outlined here, along with
start and finish times, duration, and slack.
Not only is all the information in this diagram dynamically linked to the spreadsheet where
we have all the project information, but this red arrow is reading the data of each shape
and automatically identifying the critical path for our project based on the data in
our spreadsheet.
So let’s get started!
First, let’s look at the the details of my project.
Right now, I have a list of tasks that need to be accomplished, how long each of them
will take, and a list of their dependencies (for example, testing the hardware is dependant
on first launching the prototype.)
The first thing I’ll do with this list is quickly draw up the various pathways that
will take this project through to completion by opening Lucidchart and start building a
really quick map of this project.
I’ll pull out a process shape, label it “A”, then use my favorite keyboard shortcut
to quickly build out the rest of this process.
Just press and hold the “alt” key, then click and drag away from the shape you want
to copy.
I’ll do that a few times, then start labeling these shapes and dragging them into order
based on their dependencies.
For example, B, C, and D, are all dependent on A, so I know I’ll have at least 3 pathways
to start.
Now I can see that I have three pathways.
Let’s move back into our spreadsheet and finish entering the information we’ll need
for our automated PERT chart.
Next, I’ll create formulas to calculate the duration of each pathway and then a quick
formula that identifies my critical path.
We’ll use this to automate our chart a little later on.
You can find a link to this spreadsheet with formulas and instructions in the template
linked in the description of this video.
Now that my data is properly calculating in Sheets, I’m ready to move into Lucidchart
and start working on my diagram.
I’m going to use a table shape, which I can quickly find using the search button at
the top of the toolbox on the left side of the editor.
I’ll type “tables” then pull this table shape directly onto the canvas.
From here, I’ll format the shape to my liking.
Like, let’s create a header row for the name of each task by holding shift while clicking
each of these cells, then selecting “merge” from the options in the banner.
I’ll make this row blue and make the text white and a little bigger.
Next I’ll select each of the cells below and make the text slightly bigger and bold.
Let’s add data to this diagram.
Start by clicking the data button in the dock on the right side of the editor.
Then click “Link Data.”
You have the option of choosing data from Sheets, Excel, and CSV.
The benefit of using Sheets is that any updates in my dataset will be automatically pushed
into Lucidchart.
Excel and CSV data will require me to replace the dataset in Lucidchart each time I want
to update the data in my diagram - it’s easy, but it’s not automatic the way Google
Sheets is.
The data from my spreadsheet appears in the bottom half of the data panel on the right.
To add data to my shape, I’ll click an entire row of data and drag it onto my table.
When I release my mouse, it looks like nothing has happened, except that now I’m seeing
new data in the top half of the data panel.
As you can see from the label at the top of the panel, this data is associated with my
table shape and I can now customize how I want the data to appear.
I’ll double click into the header row of my table, then come back to the shape data
panel and select the “+T” next to the (A) label, press spacebar a few times to add
some space between the label and the title, then click “+T” next to the name of this
task.
I’ll add the data that I want visible on the rest of the shape using the same “+T”
button.
I can customize how everything looks by adding spaces or formatting the text at any time.
If you make a mistake, just delete the data using the delete key on your keyboard, then
adding the correct data.
Once I have this shape looking exactly the way I want, I’m going to use that handy
keyboard shortcut again and press and hold “alt” then click and drag away from this
data-linked shape.
Lucidchart creates an exact copy and I can move it wherever I like on the canvas.
You can also save this new shape as a “custom shape” and then use it in multiple projects
or share it with the rest of your team to really expedite future PERT charts, that way
you automatically can add new data without having to format the shape again.
Click the button in the top right corner of this video if you want to learn more about
how to set up custom shapes.
When I have all the shapes placed, I’ll go ahead and add arrows between everything.
Now, watch closely because it is where all the hard work pays off.
I’ll click and drag the next row of data for my “design hardware” step onto the
canvas and drop it on this new shape.
Lucidchart asks if I want to replace the data, I’ll click “yes” and instantly all of
the new data maps to this shape.
I’ll also add data to each line by clicking and dragging the data onto them, or selecting
them and dragging data up into the top half of the data panel to apply it to any selected
objects.
I don’t want to display any specific data on my lines, but I do want Lucidchart to use
this data to automatically draw out my critical path when the time comes.
Listen up, because this can get a little tricky; in general, lines should be assigned data
for the shapes they’re leading to.
For example, I’ll drag the data for (B) Design Hardware onto this line [select line
between (A) and (B)] and drop it.
However, when you have multiple lines leading into a single shape, you’ll instead want
to assign shape data from the previous shape to that line, otherwise your critical path
won’t display correctly.
So, because there are two lines leading into the “Test Hardware” step, I’ll assign
this line the data for the previous step, “(E) Release Prototype” and I’ll assign
this line the data for “(C) Create Test Plan.”
I’ll repeat this for all the other tasks and arrows in our project, and within seconds
we have all the data mapped.
When I change anything in my spreadsheet, the updates automatically change in my diagram.
Sweet.
Okay, now let’s make this diagram even more automated and awesome by having Lucidchart
highlight the critical path for our project or, said another way, let’s have Lucidchart
show us which tasks need to stick to their deadlines in order for the project to finish
on time.
We’ll use conditional formatting in Lucidchart to get the lines of the diagram to automatically
highlight our critical path.
Start by clicking on the conditional formatting button in the dock on the right side of the
editor.
It’s the last button on the bottom.
Then click “Create New Rule.”
I make it a habit to always name new rules as soon as I create them so that it’s easy
to identify them, so we’ll click on the name at the top of the panel and call this
“critical path.”
Now we’ll move through each of these options for conditional formatting.
We want to format our lines, so we’ll keep “shape formatting” selected.
Next, we’ll tell Lucidchart to look at the “shape data,” tell it what area of our
spreadsheet to reference, which, in this case, is our “critical” column.
The next drop down gives us lots of options for Lucidchart to decipher our data.
For our PERT chart, we want to see if this cell “contains” the word “true.”
If it does, then that means the step this arrow points to is part of the critical path.
Now we get to customize how our line will be formatted if the rule we just created is
triggered.
I want to make the line bright red and increase its width.
I can apply this rule to all the lines in my diagramming by selecting everything on
the canvas with the keyboard shortcut CMD+A or by clicking and dragging my mouse over
all of my shapes, then dragging this rule either onto the shapes I’ve selected or
just up into the “applied to selection” portion of the panel on the right.
Once I do, Lucidchart automatically reads all the data of my shapes and lines and triggers
the conditional formatting we just created.
I can clearly see my critical path for this project.
Just to test this, let’s go back to our spreadsheet and change the duration of some
of our tasks.
This increase in duration changes the start and finish times of several tasks, as you
can see.
These changes are all automatically pushed into Lucidchart and the critical path updates
based on this new information.
You can share this with your team by either clicking share and adding their email addresses,
setting permissions, and sending it to them, or, you can simply share a URL of this diagram
by clicking “Advanced” in the sharing options, clicking “Publish” and then publishing
a link.
Send this link to your team, and they’ll always see the most recent version of your
diagram.
Better yet, embed it into a Jira story or Confluence page for easy reference!
Instead of manually calculating changes to your projects, updating your critical path,
and sending multiple new versions of the chart to others, Lucidchart allows you to set up
data linked shapes, apply conditional formatting rules, and then automatically see the details
of your project and your critical path.
This visualization makes it super clear where your team should be spending their time and
lets you spend less time on updating project plans, and more time finishing actual projects.
For more videos on how Lucidchart can help you visualize projects, collaborate with your
team, and be more productive in your job, check out our video tutorial playlists or
click on the link in the video description to see how other project managers and operations
professionals use Lucidchart.