This doesn’t have to be a “fancy” table, but it does need to contain information on Count, Percent of Total, and Cumulative Percent as shown in the screenshot above. To begin, input the data from your project research into a table, which we’ll use to create a chart in Excel.

Note: Before getting started, you may also want to take a look at Performing a Pareto Analysis in Excel to get a better idea about how a Pareto chart is used. Excel 20 both have the “new” Microsoft Office ribbon, while previous versions of the software still use toolbar menus. You can also use this same technique to create a Pareto chart in older versions of Excel-the tools are just in different locations. We’ll be using Excel 2010 to make our chart, but the same steps work in Excel 2007. Fortunately, these analysis tools can also be created in Microsoft Excel, and we’ll explain how in this step-by-step guide. Although Pareto charts can be easily graphed in several different project management applications, not everyone has access to software of this type. A Pareto chart is a tool commonly used in Six Sigma and other project management methodologies to illustrate the root problems or causes of a situation.