Floating bar chart - How?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I'd like to create a floating bar chart that charts event status over a 24
hour period.

For example, If I have 10 servers name server01 thru server10 and each
server has a backup scheduled to start at a specific time and duration, I'd
like to be able to chart them on a stacked bar chart so I could see if the
backup duration overlaps between them.

I'm using Office Excel 2003.

Here is an example of the data I'll using

name Begin Duration hh:mm
Server01 10:00 PM 2:00
Server02 11:00 PM 3:00
Server03 01:00 AM 1:00
etc...

I tried using a floating bar chart but I couldn't figure out how to change
the scale in the horizontal direction to start at 12:00 AM and end at 12:00
AM (24Hrs) in ncrements of 1/2 hour

Can anyone take me to thru the steps to crate a chart like this?

thanks
 
Read over the following examples:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/FloatingColumns.html
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=343
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/GanttChart.html

Excel stores dates as a whole number, the number of days since 1/1/1900, and
times as the fraction of a day (i.e., noon is 0.5). Since you don't care
about absolute date, you can simply use fractions for your data.

For your scale, if you are only using times, set the start to 0 and end to
1, and the increment to 0:30:00. Using a time format tells Excel to convert
the time into its decimal equivalent.

It looks like you have times spanning midnight, however. For the times after
midnight, you should add 1 (add a day) but keep the number format as a time
only, no date component. Then set the start to 0.5 (noon on first day) and
end to 1.5 (noon on second day).

- Jon
 
How do I set the increment?

Double click the axis to open the Format Axis dialog, click on the Scale
tab, type a value into the Major Unit box. When you type this, the Auto box
in front will uncheck itself. Keep it unchecked. You'd be amazed how many
people check the box, then complain that Excel doesn't use what they
entered.

- Jon
 
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