Free Project Schedule Template
A general project schedule for a 12-week project, laid out the way a schedule is built: charter and kickoff, a work breakdown with a duration on every task, a baseline, three work packages, the weekly control loop running alongside them, and a proper close. Rename the work packages and it fits most projects that are not yet sure what shape they are.
No credit card. Import the spreadsheet as a new project on the Free plan.
The spreadsheet is a 19-task plan with phases, durations and milestones, ready for Excel or Google Sheets. It carries no dates, so set your own start, or paste it into the Gantt chart generator to have the schedule built for you. Want to compare the plans side by side first? Every one of them is on the project plan template page, with the rows shown before you download.
What’s inside
All 19 tasks are below, from the project charter to the archived records, each with its description, duration and priority. The three control tasks overlap execution on purpose: they are the weekly rhythm, not a phase that waits its turn.
19
Scheduled tasks
5
Phases
4
Milestones
~12
Weeks end to end
What makes a schedule a schedule
A task list says what has to happen. A schedule also says how long each piece takes, what has to finish before it can start, and who does it, and that is what lets it predict an end date. This template carries the first of those in every row: each task has a duration in days, and the planning phase includes the two steps most homemade schedules skip, linking the dependencies to find the critical path and assigning an owner to every task before anything is baselined.
The baseline is a task of its own, on day 19, on purpose. Until it exists, a slipped date is just a new date; after it, every change is a variance you can see and explain. The three monitoring tasks run the whole length of execution because that is how control works in practice: a weekly look at planned against actual, a decision on every change request, and a short status report, every week until the deliverables are accepted.
The spreadsheet carries phases, tasks, durations, priorities and milestones, with no dates and no dependency links, because a CSV has nowhere honest to put them. Paste it into the free Gantt chart generator to see it as bars from a start date you pick, or import it into a project in Onplana and link the dependencies there, so the end date moves when a task does.
The plan, phase by phase
Initiation3 tasks
Agree the project charter
Objectives, scope boundary, sponsor, budget envelope and the date the project must finish, signed by the sponsor.
Identify the stakeholders
Everyone affected by or able to affect the project, what each needs to know, and how often.
Hold the kickoff meeting
Goals, roles, how decisions get made and how progress will be reported, agreed with the whole team in the room.
Planning5 tasks
Break the scope into a work breakdown structure
Deliverables first, then the work packages that produce them, small enough to estimate and assign.
Estimate a duration for every task
In working days, from the people who will do the work, with the assumptions written next to each estimate.
Link the dependencies and find the critical path
What must finish before what can start. The longest chain of linked tasks sets the end date, so it gets watched first.
Assign an owner to every task
One named owner per task, checked against holidays and other projects before the dates are promised.
Baseline the schedule
Save the agreed dates as the baseline, so every later change shows as a variance instead of quietly replacing the plan.
Execution4 tasks
Deliver the first work package
Rename it for your first deliverable. Done means accepted by its reviewer, not just finished by its owner.
Deliver the second work package
Rename it for your second deliverable, and split it if any piece runs longer than two weeks.
Deliver the third work package
Rename it for your third deliverable. Add or delete work packages until the list matches your scope.
Review the deliverables with the sponsor
A walkthrough of everything delivered against the charter, with any gaps listed before acceptance is asked for.
Monitoring and Control3 tasks
Review the schedule every week
Planned against actual for every open task, slips raised the same week, and the critical path checked again.
Decide every change request
Each change logged with its effect on dates and cost, then approved or declined before the work starts.
Send the weekly status report
Progress, the next milestone, risks and decisions needed, short enough to be read on a phone.
Closing4 tasks
Get the deliverables accepted
Written acceptance from the sponsor against the charter, with anything outstanding listed and owned.
Hand over to the people who run it
Documentation, training and support contacts passed to the team that owns the result from now on.
Write down the lessons learned
What to repeat and what to change, written while the team still remembers, and filed where the next project will find it.
Close the project and archive the records
Final costs reconciled, contracts closed, and the schedule, decisions and reports archived together.
Milestones
Four milestones: kickoff, the schedule baselined, the deliverables accepted and the project closed. The gap between the first two is the planning time, and it is the part most schedules cut short.
Kickoff
Day 6 of the plan
Schedule baselined
Day 20 of the plan
Deliverables accepted
Day 73 of the plan
Project closed
Day 82 of the plan
Frequently asked
What is in the download?
A CSV file with one row per task: its phase, title, duration in days, priority and notes, and the four milestones as zero-day rows. Excel opens it directly and Google Sheets imports it. It carries no dates, because a template has none until you choose a start.
How do I turn it into a schedule with dates?
Two ways. Paste the file into the free Gantt chart generator and pick a start date, and it lays the tasks out as bars in your browser. Or start a free Onplana account and import the file as a project, then link the dependencies, so a slipped task moves everything after it.
How is this different from the project timeline template?
This one is a working schedule: tasks short enough to own, the planning steps that produce durations and dependencies, and a weekly control loop. The project timeline template is the one-page view for a six-month project, a month per phase with fewer, longer tasks, made to be shown to a sponsor.
Can I use it for a longer project?
Yes. Keep the five phases and change the durations, and add a work package row for each deliverable. Past about 40 tasks a spreadsheet stops being a good place to keep a schedule, which is the point where a tool that recalculates dates earns its place.
Start with the plan already built
Import the Project Schedule spreadsheet into a free Onplana project and your phases, tasks, and milestones are scheduled from the start date you pick. No credit card, no time limit.