Excel Gantt Chart

I came across the need to easily visualize the time window for my database backups, and thought that displaying them through a Gantt chart would five a nice and easy way to illustrate them.
However, being a lazy data scripting guy, I wasn't found of going through all the trouble of drawing the whole thing, there should be a way of clicking a few buttons and make magic, and after a few tips & trick out of the internet, and a lot of trial  & error, I finally made it happen...and here is how.
 

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Let us start by assuming that we've already imported the data to excel (check this article on how to get to this point ;))


INSERT a 2-D Stacked Bar chart on your excel sheet

• With the new chart object active, one needs to select the Data:

In the "Select Data Source" window, Add Legend Entries (Series) the backup_start_date and the Duration. Notice that the first field is the name of the series, and the second is the values. This Values filed has a default value of ={1}, make sure you delete it so you wont end up with something like ={1}+Sheet1!$B$2...


Edit the "Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels" to be the database_name
Ending up with the following selected data source:

And the corresponding stacked bar chart

Are we there yet? not yet, almost.

Now for some cosmetic magic:
Select the Series "backup_start_date", either directly on the chart, or the "FORMAT" menu under "CHART TOOLS" - "Format Selection"
And choose "No Fill" on the "Format Data Series"


Finally, to adjust the start of the graph, copy the lowest start date to another cell (9-11-15 3:58) and format it as Number (42258.165787037) and take note.

Select the "Horizontal (Value) Axis", again, either directly clicking it on the chart, or through the "FORMAT" menu under "CHART TOOLS"- "Format Selection".

Under "AXIS OPTIONS", change the "Bounds" - "Minimum" value to the number noted earlier, et voilá: