project tracking/timesheet

Look at a program called Microsoft Project.

It allows you to set events in a timing plan and nominate precedents so that the effect of delays in one action can be seen as an effect in downstream actions.

You can also allocate individuals and equipment having fixed utilization so that if one person is needed for all projects, then the timeline projects that detail as well.

Gives you the ability to monitor progress against expected timing and so on.

It can be done in EXCEL as you requested, but you need to manually update the fields and relationships each time a change is made.

You can do this with Microsoft Project. If you want an open-source alternative, Open Workbench is also very good, and can be downloaded for free.