Viewing Your Project Count over Time (Column Chart)

In this post I am going to share with you how we started using Wrike Analyze to take a high-level look at our project schedule.  

I needed a way to quickly see how much was on our plate and where we might have room to add the next project. Gantt charts and calendar views were to cumbersome, as our full project list always went out of view at the bottom of the window. To solve for this I turned to Wrike Analyze.

I built out a column chart that counts all projects, and then filters by their start and due dates. Each project is only counted during a month where it was, is, or is going to be active.

These visuals have helped us gauge where we are at, and more importantly given us a tool that is easy to share with others. The example below looks at a 12 month period, but once you get the basics down, you can look at whatever time increment you need to see.

To create this chart you will need to create a Custom Analytics Board and add a custom widget.

Within the widget:

• Set to Column Chart.

• In the Values section, add a Project ID count.

• Edit the formula by clicking the pencil icon. You will need to add a set of parentheses () and a comma , after what's already there. (You can see this in the example below.)
• Then add the start date and due date fields into the formula, so that we can filter by them.

Right click on the start date and click filter. You will want to set a date range so that it captures all projects that start before the end of the time period. To set for January 2025, I used the range 1/1/2000 through 1/31/2025

Right click on the due date and click filter. You will want to set a date range that captures all projects that have a due date on or after the first day of the time period. To set the filter for January 2025, I used the range 1/1/2025 through 1/1/2100.

After placing both filters, you want to save. You should now have your first column!

Add a new value for each for each month or time period you want to count. (I like to duplicate my first one, and then just adjust the filters.)

I'll be back soon to share how to do the same type of chart while looking at custom fields.