1. CSULB EE 400D – Senior Design By Sara Gonzalez
Burndown chart
CSULB
EE 400D – Senior Design
By Sara Gonzalez

2. What is a burndown chart?
“A [burndown] chart is a visual representation of the amount of work that still needs to be completed before the end of a project” [1].
Linear plot of percentage of tasks remaining versus the total time allocated for the project.
Assume progression of tasks for project is linear
Excellent visual to see progress of task completion
Example: On time, behind or ahead of schedule
Figure 1: Burndown chart [3].

3. Step 1: listing Time, total tasks and Ideal Remaining Task Percentage
In an blank Excel sheet:
Column A = Time
Time allocated to complete project
Listed by day, week, month (etc.)
Example: 1 – 15 weeks for EE400D
Column B = Total Tasks
Total number of tasks needed to complete the project
Number must stay consistent, if number of tasks increases with time, adjust this number accordingly for entire column
Column C = Ideal
Ideal percentage of work remaining
Line should terminate week of final project submission
Calculate ideal plot decrement:
Time decrement = 100%/(# of weeks to completions – 1)
Example: 100%/(15 weeks – 1) = ~7.14%
Figure 2: Input time, total number of tasks and
ideal task remaining percentage.
*Generated using Excel.

4. Step 2: Actual tasks started, Total tasks started and Remainder
Column D = Actual Tasks Started
Number of tasks started in the week
Note: These tasks were started and were not completed by the end of the week
Started task = 50% complete
Column E = Total Tasks Started
Running total of tasks started from week to week
Column F = Remainder
Number of tasks available to be complete for the week
Remainder = Total Number of Tasks Started – Actual Number of Tasks Completed 7 15
Running
Total
Figure 3: Input actual tasks started, total number
of tasks started and remainder.
*Generated using Excel.

5. Step 3: Actual Tasks completed and Total tasks completed
Column G = Actual Tasks Completed
Number of tasks completed for the week
Column H = Total Tasks Completed
Running total of tasks completed over the life of the project up to the most recent documented week
Figure 4: Input actual tasks completed for the week
and total of actual tasks completed.
*Generated using Excel.

6. Step 4: Total Tasks remaining and Percentage of Tasks Remaining
Column I = Total Tasks Remaining
Calculates number of tasks remaining after accounting for tasks started and completed
Tasks Remaining = Total Number of Tasks – ((0.5*Actual Tasks Started) + Actual Tasks Completed)
*Actual Tasks Started are multiplied by 0.5 = task was started but not completed
Column J = Actual
Calculates percentage of tasks left to be completed
Actual = (Total Tasks Remaining / Total Tasks) * 100%
Figure 5: Calculate number of tasks remaining and
percentage of actual tasks remaining.
*Generated using Excel.

7. Step 5: Plot Time versus Percentage of Tasks remaining
Generate burndown plot:
Select/highlight columns to be plotted
Hide Columns B, D - I
Under ‘Charts’ tab, select ‘Line’ and choose ‘Marked Line’ option
Provides a more jagged and realistic representation of percentage of actual tasks completed
Points that stay the same week to week exemplify tasks have not been completed during that period of time.
Lastly, edit chart’s axis labels, axis scaling and titles as shown in the sample burndown chart (Fig. 7)
Figure 6: Sample data to generate
burndown plot.
*Generated using Excel.

8. Sample burndown chart Figure 7: Sample burndown chart.
*Generated using Excel.

9. references
[1] "Burn Down Chart", SearchSoftwareQuality. [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 02- Nov- 2016].
[2] "Microsoft Excel", Office.live.com. [Online]. Available: [Accessed: 02- Nov- 2016].
[3] Burndown Chart.
Input and advice provided by Fabian Suske, President EE 400D (Wednesday)