Project Management Toolkit
A project goes wrong in predictable ways: nobody is sure who decides, the plan lives in one person's head, risks are talked about but never written down, the budget is checked only when it has run out, and the sponsor hears bad news too late.
This toolkit gives a project manager the standard documents that prevent those problems, ready to fill in: a Gantt chart that draws itself, a RACI matrix that checks every task has one accountable person, a risk and issue log with a heat map, a budget tracker that forecasts the final cost, and Word templates for the charter, the weekly status report and the closing lessons learned. Every file works offline in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice, and you choose your own currency.
Made for: Project managers, project coordinators, team leads, PMO staff, consultants, engineers and anyone asked to "run this project" without a dedicated tool.
What each one does
📊 Gantt Chart Project Plan (Excel)
Type each task's start date and how many working days it takes; the workbook works out the end date (skipping your weekly offs and holidays), draws the bar across a weekly or daily timeline, shades the part already done and marks today with a red column. Late tasks turn red by themselves, so the plan tells you where to look without anyone colouring cells by hand.
- Plan sheet with up to 150 lines: ID, task or milestone name, type (phase, task or milestone), owner, start, duration in working days, end date, % done, status and "depends on"
- Timeline of 30 columns that draws the bars by itself: a light bar for the whole task, a darker part for the work done, a navy bar for phases and a ◆ for milestones
- A red today column, and tasks that should have finished by today highlighted in red
🧩 RACI Matrix (Excel)
A RACI matrix answers "who does what" before it becomes an argument. List the project's deliverables and decisions down the side and the people or roles across the top, then mark each cell R, A, C or I. The workbook colours the letters, checks every row has exactly one Accountable person and at least one Responsible, and counts each person's load so you can see who is overloaded and who is only being told.
- RACI sheet with up to 80 activities in phases and 12 roles or people across the top
- Drop-down in every cell: R, A, C, I, or A/R when the same person does the work and owns it
- Check column for each row: "OK", "No A", "More than one A" or "No R"
⚠️ Risk, Issue & Change Log (Excel)
Three registers every project needs, in one workbook. Risks are things that might happen: each gets a probability and impact from 1 to 5, a score and a heat colour, a response and an owner, and appears on a 5×5 heat map. Issues are things that have already happened: each has a priority, an owner, a target date and a days-open counter. Change requests record what was asked to change, its effect on cost and time, and who approved it.
- Risks sheet: ID, date raised, description, category, owner, probability, impact, score, rating (Low, Medium, High, Critical), response, action, due date, status, and the score after the action
- Heat Map sheet: a 5×5 grid that counts open risks by probability and impact, coloured green to red
- Issues sheet: priority, owner, action, target date, status, days open and an Overdue flag
💰 Project Budget vs Actual (Excel)
Plan the project budget line by line, then log every bill and purchase order as it comes in. The workbook adds them up per line into committed (ordered, not yet paid) and actual (paid), takes your estimate of what is still to come, forecasts the final cost and shows the variance against budget in amount and percent. Lines heading over budget turn amber and red long before the money runs out.
- Settings: project name, currency, approved budget and contingency
- Budget sheet with 40 lines: work package, cost type, budget, committed, actual, remaining, estimate to complete, forecast at completion, variance and variance %
- Spending log with 400 rows: date, budget line (picked from a list), description, supplier, reference, amount and whether it is committed or paid
📜 Project Charter (Word)
The project charter is the one-to-three-page document that starts a project: why it exists, what it will deliver and what it will not, by when, for how much, who is in charge, and the sponsor's signature authorising the work. This template has every section with a short prompt in brackets explaining what to write, and examples you can overwrite.
- Project details: name, sponsor, project manager, start and target finish dates, version
- Background and purpose: the problem or opportunity in two or three sentences
- Objectives table with a measure and a target for each, written to be checked at the end
🚦 Weekly Project Status Report (Word)
A short weekly report (one to two pages) that a sponsor can read in two minutes. It opens with the overall Red, Amber or Green status and a three-line summary, then shows schedule, cost, scope and quality status, what was done this week, what comes next, the milestone dates, the top risks and issues, and the decisions you need from the reader.
- Header: project, reporting period, project manager, sponsor and report number
- Overall RAG status with a short explanation, and a RAG key that defines Green, Amber and Red
- Status by area: schedule, cost, scope, quality and resources, each with a comment
🎓 Lessons Learned & Closure Report (Word)
Close the project properly: record whether the objectives were met, how the final dates and costs compared with the plan, what was handed over to whom, and the lessons the next project should use. The lessons table is organised by area, with what happened, its effect and a specific recommendation, so the lessons can be acted on rather than filed and forgotten.
- Project summary and closure details
- Objectives achieved: target, result and comment for each objective in the charter
- Final schedule and cost against the baseline, with the main reasons for any difference
⚡ Online Weekly Project Status Report Maker
Fill in a short form and get a tidy project status report: overall Red, Amber or Green status with a summary, status by area, what was done, milestone dates, risks and issues, and next steps with owners. Your project details are remembered on this device, so next week you only change what moved.
- Project, period, project manager, sponsor and your choice of date format and currency
- Overall RAG status and schedule, cost, scope and quality status with comments
- Lines for work done, milestones (planned date, forecast date, status), risks and issues (impact, owner, action) and next steps (owner, due date)
Good to know
- Every template is free and contains no macros, so it opens without security warnings.
- Yellow cells are for typing; grey cells calculate by themselves and are protected against accidental overwriting (Review › Unprotect Sheet, no password).
- Online tools keep your details only in this browser on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
- Tax rates and statutory limits mentioned in these files are a help, not advice: check the current rules before relying on them.