Excel Stacked Bar Chart Help PLEASE!

[aots123]

I have a very complex (at least complex for me) stacked bar chart to create. I have a sample that someone else created that I am trying to model after and I am having issues recreating it and need help. Here is my scenerio:

I need to create a stacked bar chart for a truckers schedule over a two month period. The driver has to document the 4 phases of the 24 hour day into three categories: 1) Off duty, 2) Sleeper, 3) Driving, 4) On Duty</SPAN></SPAN>. The driver is in and out of the four phases throughout a 24 hour period, all very randomly. The vertical axis needs to be the hours in the day, the horizontal axis is the days of the week, and in each day the four phases are color coded. I am able to get the stacked bar chart created but the way I have set the chart (not sure it is correct) with the data, excel thinks that my first entry is the same phase (i.e. the driver is always sleeping first thing [the row with that data is all sleeping time]), but it isnt always - it varies. The trucker isnt always sleeping in the beginning of the day, sometimes they are driving at that time, so I need to be able to alter the color coding or tell excel that is for a different phase. So I need to either alter the chart to direct it to the proper phase or set my data up differently on that sheet. I am good with formulas, charts are over my head!

The problem is that I dont know charts enough in excel to do this. I am up against a deadline, I need this done in 4 days, and I have been fighting with the program long enough.

Please help!! Thanks!

 

[aots123]

Each day needs a stack of 3 bars: one for sleep, one for drive and one for off duty... no?

If not then its very complicated...

No, I am sorry that is not correct. This is in where lies my problem. Try to invision a single veritical bar that has the data in it. In the bar sleep is represented by the color blue, driving red, off duty green, on duty yellow. To make it simple (sadly my scenerios arent) The driver is sleeping for 4 hours, driving for 4 hours, off duty for 4 hours, on duty for 4 hours. The bar would be stacked blue, red,
green yellow. In my scenerio the driver is in all phases numerous times throughout a 24 hour period, which I need to graph in the bar chart. This may seem impossible, but I know it is now because I have a sample that another person created that I am trying to recreate. In lies my frustration....

 

[Cool blue]

If you want a vertical, colour coded timeline for each day, then you would be better off making a grid of cells and use conditional formatting for the three different states (sleep, drive, off) and chose a minimum time interval (15 mins perhaps) that is represented by each row in the grid. Then you would need formulas to process your log data to tag each 15 min period with the appropriate state.

If you think about a chart in very basic terms as I described above then you will probably figure out that that is not worth trying. But, having said that, regardless of the method, the first step in the previous paragraph is the same...

 

[aots123]

That was my second choice, thanks for your time.