Targets, progress and status

Milestone status chart

Shows planned and actual or forecast milestone dates with completion status.

What it answers

Which milestones are complete, due or delayed?

The question

Which project milestones are done, late or still ahead?

Diamonds on a timeline, shaded by status, with today marked. Design: Done; Build: Done; Test: 2 weeks late; Train: At risk; Go live: Planned.

Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.

Tracking discrete project events.

When durations or task dependencies are needed instead.

Compare planned, actual and forecast date markers with status.

Layout: Long table
Fields: Milestone: text; PlannedDate: date; Status: category
One row is: One milestone and its planned date/status. What is the grain?
Rules: Use consistent dates. Actual and forecast dates must be distinguished.
Optional: ActualDate,ForecastDate,Owner,Project.
Preparation: Validate the input grain and missing values. Use consistent dates. Actual and forecast dates must be distinguished.
Units: Use the measured variable's stated unit consistently. No denominator is implied unless the value is a rate or proportion.

A long table: one row per observation, few columns. New data adds rows.

Design plannedJan 15, actualJan 20 is 5 calendar days late. Launch plannedMar 1 remainsPlanned without an actual date.

Milestone	PlannedDate	Status
Design	2026-01-15	Complete
Launch	2026-03-01	Planned