Years ago, when I worked in a Project Management Office, we relied on custom Microsoft Excel workbooks to manage projects. It wasn’t fancy, but it kept everything like timelines, risks, actions, budgets, and status updates in one place, and it worked well.
Today’s tools like Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Lists are useful, but I still find it difficult to get a complete project view without jumping between multiple screens. Other platforms such as Airtable and Quickbase solve those challenges, but they aren’t available options at my full-time job, plus they require a monthly fee.
That led me on search for the old project workbook template.
Then I had a different idea: instead of finding the workbook, why not ask AI to build one?
I created a detailed prompt and asked three AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot) to generate a complete project workbook with multiple tabs, formulas, reporting, and a project dashboard. The results were surprising. Some features were genuinely helpful, while others missed the mark entirely.
In this post, I’ll compare all three workbooks (all three are linked below for you to review and use), highlight what worked well, what didn’t, and whether AI can really replace hours of spreadsheet design and project setup. Cliff note: Yes, it can!
Overall Ranking
| Rank | Workbook | Overall Take |
| 1 | ClaudePMWorkbook.xlsx | Best executive dashboard, cleanest design, strong usability, no visible formula errors. |
| 2 | ChatgptPMworkbook.xlsx | Strongest project tracking depth, but less polished and has formatting issues. |
| 3 | CopilotPMworkbook.xlsx | Good structure idea, but broken formulas and dashboard errors make it unreliable. |
1. Claude Workbook — Winner
Accuracy
- No visible formula errors found.
- Dashboard metrics calculate cleanly and align with the sample data.
- Project health section is clear and logic-based.
- Risk summary and heat map are useful and easy to interpret.
- Minor issue: some chart labels are crowded and could be cleaner.
Ease of Use
- Best visual layout of the three.
- Dashboard feels executive-ready and easy to scan.
- Uses clear section headers and strong spacing.
- Includes a hidden/support “Lists” sheet for dropdown values, which is good design.
- Frozen headers are applied on tracker sheets.
Usability
- Strong use of dropdowns, conditional formatting, charts, and dashboard summaries.
- Workbook feels like something a PMO or executive team could actually use.
- Data entry areas are logical and not overly cluttered.
- Status, priority, risk, and action tracking are easy to understand.
- Could improve by adding more prebuilt blank table rows for scale.
Project Tracking
- Covers tactics, milestones, risks, issues, decisions, actions, stakeholders, and status reports.
- Strong balance between detail tracking and executive reporting.
- Milestone and risk tracking are better organized than the other two.
- Good for recurring status reporting.
- Best workbook for stakeholder communication and leadership visibility.
2. ChatGPT Workbook — Strong Second
Accuracy
- No visible formula errors found.
- Dashboard formulas are more advanced than Claude’s in some areas.
- Project tracking metrics update from structured tables.
- Some values incorrectly display as dates, such as zero counts showing as 1899-12-30.
- Milestone variance fields also appear date-formatted instead of number-formatted.
Ease of Use
- Clean enough to use, but not as polished visually as Claude.
- Dashboard has useful information but feels more spreadsheet-heavy.
- No frozen header rows, which hurts usability in larger projects.
- Charts/visuals are limited compared with Claude.
- Some text areas are cramped.
Usability
- Strong use of Excel tables across the workbook.
- Good dropdown coverage for statuses and priorities.
- Conditional formatting is useful and practical.
- Dashboard is formula-driven and updates from the trackers.
- Formatting issues make it feel less executive-ready.
Project Tracking
- Best depth of tracking across workstreams, deliverables, risks, issues, decisions, actions, stakeholders, and status reports.
- Strong risk register with probability, impact, score, mitigation, and contingency.
- Good workstream summary and dashboard rollups.
- Better for hands-on project managers than executives.
- Needs cleanup before being used as a final PMO template.
3. Copilot Workbook — Third Place
Accuracy
- Multiple dashboard formulas are broken with #REF! errors.
- Milestone timeline contains #VALUE! errors.
- Dashboard counts do not reliably reflect the tracker data.
- Formula references appear disconnected from the intended tables.
- Accuracy issues make it risky to use for executive reporting.
Ease of Use
- Visually decent at first glance.
- Dashboard layout is simple and easy to understand.
- Frozen headers are applied, which is a plus.
- Large blank sections make some sheets feel unfinished.
- Broken formulas immediately reduce user trust.
Usability
- Uses tables and dropdowns, but some table setup is flawed.
- Several tables show generic headers like Column1, Column2, which is not user-friendly.
- Dashboard visuals exist but are undermined by bad source data.
- Issues/Risks sheet has too much empty space.
- Would require repair before real use.
Project Tracking
- Includes the required tracking areas.
- Has a scalable structure with larger table ranges.
- Risk scoring concept is useful.
- Milestone tracking is weak because of formula errors.
- Not reliable enough as a single source of truth without rework.
Final Result
Use the Claude workbook as the winner.
Why: It is the most complete from an executive-readiness standpoint. It looks professional, works cleanly, has no visible formula errors, includes charts, uses dropdown support, and is easy for a leadership audience to understand.
Best overall by category:
| Category | Winner |
| Accuracy | Claude |
| Ease of Use | Claude |
| Usability | Claude |
| Project Tracking Depth | ChatGPT |
| Executive Readiness | Claude |
| Needs Most Rework | Copilot |
Bottom line:
Claude is the best finished product. ChatGPT has strong tracking logic but needs polish. Copilot has the right concept but too many formula and structure problems to trust.
Full Prompt
I started with a simple paragraph describing the project workbook I wanted to create. I then asked Copilot to review and rewrite the prompt from the perspective of both an experienced project manager and a prompt engineer. The resulting prompt was significantly expanded to include workbook structure, reporting requirements, automation, formulas, dashboards, governance tracking, and executive reporting needs. That enhanced prompt became the final specification used to generate the workbook.
_________________________________________FULL PROMPT_________________________________________
Act as a PMP-certified Senior Project Manager, PMO Director, Excel Solution Architect, and Executive Reporting Expert.
Create a professional, executive-ready Microsoft Excel Project Management Workbook designed to serve as a single source of truth for project execution, reporting, governance, and stakeholder communications.
The workbook should be visually professional, easy to use, and suitable for enterprise projects.
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
• Use a clean corporate design.
• Apply professional formatting and consistent color themes.
• Use frozen header rows.
• Convert all tracking sections into Excel tables.
• Use dropdown lists where appropriate.
• Apply conditional formatting to highlight status and risks.
• Ensure formulas automatically update dashboard metrics.
• Allow scalable use for small or large projects.
• Include sample data demonstrating workbook functionality.
WORKSHEETS TO INCLUDE
1. Dashboard
2. Tactics & Deliverables Tracker
3. Milestones Timeline
4. Issues & Risks Register
5. Key Decisions Log
6. Action Items Tracker
7. Stakeholder Tracker
8. Project Status Reports
DASHBOARD REQUIREMENTS
Create an executive dashboard that automatically summarizes:
• Project Name
• Project Manager
• Executive Sponsor
• Overall Project Status
• Schedule Health
• Scope Health
• Risk Health
• Total Tactics
• Completed Tactics
• In Progress Tactics
• Delayed Tasks
• Open Risks
• Open Issues
• Pending Decisions
• Upcoming Milestones
Include charts, progress indicators, KPI cards, and conditional status colors.
TACTICS TRACKER REQUIREMENTS
Include the following fields:
• ID
• Workstream
• Initiative
• Deliverable
• Task Description
• Owner
• Start Date
• Due Date
• Completion Date
• Status
• Percent Complete
• Priority
• Dependencies
• Next Steps
• Comments
• Last Updated
Add dropdowns for Status and Priority.
MILESTONE REQUIREMENTS
Include:
• Milestone ID
• Milestone Name
• Description
• Owner
• Planned Date
• Actual Date
• Variance
• Status
• Comments
Create a simple Gantt-style timeline.
ISSUES & RISKS REQUIREMENTS
Issue Fields:
• Issue ID
• Date Identified
• Description
• Impact
• Owner
• Resolution Plan
• Status
• Target Resolution Date
Risk Fields:
• Risk ID
• Description
• Probability
• Impact
• Risk Score
• Risk Owner
• Mitigation Strategy
• Contingency Plan
• Status
Create a risk heat map and risk score calculations.
KEY DECISIONS REQUIREMENTS
Include:
• Decision ID
• Decision Topic
• Date Raised
• Decision Maker
• Recommendation
• Outcome
• Status
• Business Impact
ACTION ITEMS REQUIREMENTS
Include:
• Action ID
• Action Description
• Owner
• Due Date
• Priority
• Status
• Related Risk/Issue
• Notes
STAKEHOLDER TRACKER REQUIREMENTS
Include:
• Stakeholder Name
• Role
• Influence
• Interest
• Communication Method
• Frequency
• Owner
• Notes
PROJECT STATUS REPORTS REQUIREMENTS
Include a structured status reporting template capturing:
• Reporting Period
• Overall Status
• Accomplishments
• Upcoming Work
• Risks
• Issues
• Decisions Needed
• Executive Support Required
AUTOMATION REQUIREMENTS
• Dashboard must automatically pull data from all worksheets.
• Use formulas rather than manual calculations whenever possible.
• Create dynamic metrics and summaries.
• Use Excel best practices.
• Ensure workbook is presentation-ready for executives and functional for project managers.
DELIVERABLE
Generate a fully functional Microsoft Excel workbook with all sheets created, formulas configured, dropdowns applied, sample data included, and dashboard visualizations ready for use.
