Instead of searching for the NAVs of all my funds at MyIRIS or MutualFundsIndia, I have developed a small excel sheet which will fetch the values for me and displays the current portfolio value at the click of a button. Here I am trying to share the “HOWTO” of the same.
- Create an excel workbook with 2 sheets. Call one as “NAVs” and the other as “Portfolio”.
- In the NAVs sheet, click at one of the top-left cells (I did on A2), and go to Data -> Import External Data -> New Web Query. [For more information on using Web Queries, visit Using Web Queries to Import Data to Excel @ R1C1.
- Now paste the url http://finance.indiamart.com/markets/mutual_funds/latest_mf_navs.html in Address box and press go. You would see something like this.
Say “Import”. Essentially what you have done is, creating an automatically updatable NAV list in the NAVs sheet. - Now select all Schemes in the imported table and define a named range as “fund_names” for it. [Creating Named Ranges in Excel]
- Now, go to “Portfolio” sheet and create a table like this.
[Click on it to Zoom] - Next select the Fundname column (I have 32 rows, you can have as many as you wish) and go to Data->Validation. Enter the settings like this.
- Formulas:
>>> For Purchase Value[f3]: “=e3*d3”
>>> For Current Value[h3]: “=g3*d3”
>>> For Current NAV[g3]: “=IF(C3=””,0,VLOOKUP(C3,NAVs!$A$6:$D$1634,3,FALSE))”
essentially, looking up for the selected fund name in the NAVs sheet and returning the exact NAV to this cell only if a fund name is selected.
>>> Gain / Loss[i3]: “=IF(ISERROR((H3-F3)/F3),””,(H3-F3)/F3)”
to avoid DIV 0 messages. - At the end of the table you can add a TOTAL row and repeat the necessary formulas to get the total portfolio performance.
- Now the portfolio tracker is done. Enter the fund data by selecting the fund name from drop down and number of units purchased, purchase NAV. Rest will be shown by the tracker.
- Remember: everytime you open the workbook, go to “NAVs” sheet and refresh the data. [Select anywhere in the table, right click and say Refresh Data]
Now this is a very basic portfolio tracker. I am thinking of adding some VBA / Macro so that everytime the table is refreshed, the new values are written in a separate sheet called “Historical NAV” so that we can track the fund performance over a period of time by selecting a date (instead of current date). Also, if we can import benchmark indices on runtime, you can get relative performance metrics. Plus, some more analysis of fund performances (instead of mere total return) would reveal the risk-returns of the portfolio. Lets see if I can build such a thing in my spare time.
[Just in case you do not have time for all this, then you can access the workbook that I have created here: Portfolio Manager MFs India ]

















25 Responses to “Display Alerts in Dashboards to Grab User Attention [Quick Tip]”
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which could also provide another piece of information.
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which can also provide another piece of information.
For Excel 2007, your formula should do the same as the Excel 2003 version, so that non-alert rows are blank - if they are 0, the unnecessary green icon will show
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !!! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
The Complete formula [Don't Know how it got cut ]
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
PS : Use in single line [I have split it to avoid cuts 😉 ]
Hi Chandoo..
why it is not displaying the complete formula..
anyways here is the balance
"=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153), IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155), IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))"
@Rohit... your formulas are fine. Just that the width of comment area is fixed and hence my website is cropping it at 640pixels. I just edited your formula and added few white spaces so that it wraps nicely.
Very good idea btw.. kudos!
Hi,
Maybe just go for 'bold' ; 'underline' or 'italic' to draw the users attention? Those methods (if those can be called methods) are used cross media type (books, journals, blogs, billboards, ...) to guide the readers eye to valuable information.
Just a basic thought
@Tom.. good idea..
[...] has a very nice writeup on how to add such alerts to dashboard sheets. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Divide your data set into workbooksHow to enforce [...]
Hi Chandoo,
You certainly grabbed my attention! although I wasn't sure what my brother (Suresh) and cousin (Shyam) were doing right, and I was doing wrong? 😉
I love your blog btw - Many thanks for all your hard work in unravelling the secrets and mysteries of Excel!
Best regards
Ramesh
I thought I saw an advertisment for a book about learning excel called excel himalaya or something. It cost about 35.00 us money but seemed to have the things I need to have my admin assistant to start to use. I was hoping to start with this book and then send her to school if she shows some interest and aptitude. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks
Great web site and information!!!!
@Jeff... checkout http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/08/25/excel-everest-review/
thanks, your website is awesome!
[...] Alerts to highlight focus areas [...]
[...] There are lots of numbers in this dashboard. I would suggest adding few more visualizations like showing indicators or applying conditional formatting or replacing a table with a chart. This would reduce the [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo
Firstly thanks for all the cool tips on how to use Excel better.
I am new to the site and have a question which you may be able to assist with but dont know if these comment boxes are the best way of asking ?
I am looking at assets and trying to calculate the depreciation total by taking a year (say 2010) adding the expected life of the asset (say 10 years) then comparing that to a future date (say 2015) using an IF statement. The calculation in normal is - IF((year in col B (2010) plus 10years)>year 2015, add a years depreciation, otherwise leave blank). The converted date value does not appear able to add 10 years in order to compare it to 2015. Am I missing something ?
I use the “IF” Statement in conjunction with Conditional Formatting in MS Excel to give verbiage to alert one of a required action, dependant on a review date. This makes a visual stimulus, plus it clues one as to what the conditional format is trying to warn you about and what follow-up actions are required.
Wow, I'm really impressed with dashboards. I had no idea this stuff was even possible with excel. I'd like to offer an interactive dashboard to my customers, showing analytics of their data. I have a .pdf file with the datapoints. I'd like them to enter the data on my website, and be able to see their data. Is something like that possible.
Hi Chandoo,
I've recently purchased the package for both templates.
In the portfolio dashboard,under the calculations worksheet, I'm attempting to change the date range in the gantt chart to show only the range of the project that starts in late 2013. How do I do this?
Thanks
Adam
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo,
I'm new at Excel Dashboard and found your blog really useful and helpful! It's very nice of you that you dedicate your time to do this.
Could you please explain how can I use Alerts based on dates on a Dashboar?
For example, if a target date is coming closer to the actual date, the alert is yellow or red.
I'd really appreciate some help!
Thank you
Where can I download the file Excel of Averall Statistics ???
Thanks a lot.