Table Structures, Columns & Data Types

• Project ID (Text): Unique identifier (e.g., RP-2024-001)
• Title (Text): Full name of the research project
• Principal Investigator (Text): Lead researcher's name
• Start Date (Date): Project initiation date
• End Date (Date): Planned completion date
• Status (Dropdown: Not Started, Active, On Hold, Completed, Cancelled)
• Research Domain (Text): e.g., Biomedical Engineering, AI Ethics
• Partner ID (Text/Link to Partners Sheet): FK to Partner table
• Funding ID (Text/Link to Funding Sheet): FK to Funding table
• Budget Allocated (Currency): Total approved funding
• Budget Spent (Currency): Updated manually or via formula
• Progress % (Number, 0-100): Manual entry or calculated from milestones
• Deliverables Completed (Number)
• Total Deliverables (Number)
• Last Updated (Date/Time - auto-generated via formula)

• Partner ID (Text): e.g., P-UNI-001
• Name (Text): Organization or individual name
• Type (Dropdown: University, Industry, Government, NGO)
• Country (Text)
• Contact Person (Text)
• Email (Email)
• Phone (Text)
• Last Contact Date (Date): Auto-updated via Status Log
• Engagement Level (Dropdown: Low, Medium, High, Critical)

• Funding ID (Text): e.g., F-NSF-2024
• Source Name (Text): e.g., National Science Foundation
• Type (Dropdown: Grant, Sponsorship, Endowment, Internal)
• Total Amount (Currency)
• Disbursed Amount (Currency): Calculated from project spend
• Balance Remaining (Currency): Formula-based
• Deadline for Report (Date)
• Status (Dropdown: Active, Expiring, Closed, Overdue)

• Date/Time (Date/Time - auto-generated)
• Project ID (Text)
• User (Text): Who updated
• Action Taken (Text): e.g., “Submitted ethics approval”
• Notes (Memo/Long Text)

Key Formulas

• In the Dashboard, =SUMIFS(Research Projects!Budget Spent, Research Projects!Status,"Active") to display total active budget.
• =IF(TODAY()>Research Projects!End Date AND Research Projects!Status≠"Completed","Overdue", "") for deadline alerts.
• =ROUND([Progress %]/100 * 365, 0) to calculate estimated days elapsed (for Gantt simulation).
• In Funding Sheet: =Total Amount - Disbursed Amount → Balance Remaining
• In Research Projects: =IF([Budget Spent] > [Budget Allocated], "OVERRUN", IF([Progress %] >= 80, "On Track", "At Risk")) → used in Conditional Formatting.

Conditional Formatting Rules

• Status Column: Green = Completed, Yellow = Active, Orange = On Hold, Red = Cancelled or Overdue.
• Budget Spend: Red if >100% allocated; green if ≤80%.
• Progress %: Color gradient from red (0-30%) to green (75-100%).
• Last Contact Date: Highlight in red if >60 days since last contact.

User Instructions

1. Begin by populating the Partners and Funding Sheets with all known entities.
2. Create new Research Projects using unique IDs and link them to existing partners/funding sources via dropdowns (Data Validation used).
3. Update Progress % weekly. Use the Status Log to document every change, no matter how small.
4. The Dashboard auto-updates—refresh by pressing F9 if formulas do not recalculate automatically.
5. Never edit formulas in the Dashboard or linked sheets. All data should be input only in source sheets.
6. Use the dropdown menus to ensure consistency and avoid typos that break charts.

Example Rows

Recommended Dashboards & Charts

• Pie Chart: Research Projects by Status (Visual summary of active vs. completed)
• Stacked Bar Chart: Funding Sources Allocated by Domain (e.g., Biotech, AI, Renewable Energy)
• Line Graph: Monthly Budget Disbursement Trend
• KPI Tiles:: Total Active Projects | Total Partners Engaged | Average Project Duration | On-Time Completion Rate
• Filter Controls: Dropdowns to slice data by Partner Type, Research Domain, or Funding Source.

Why This Template Matters