In our Utopian imaginations all the data would have been standardized and shareable across systems and people. But alas, the reality is totally different. We seldom get data in the format / way we desire it to be. In other words, the ingredients are all there, but for us to prepare the dinner, you must pre-process them.
Often this pre-processing or cleaning up the data takes quite an amount of time it self leaving very little to do the actual work. That is when you can use excel’s powerful data cleaning techniques to handle the situations.
One common problem with corporate data is incorrectly formatted phone numbers. Most of us are used to a standard 10 digit phone number format like 123-123-1234 or (123) 123 1234, but when you get that customer data, very few phone numbers in it are formatted like above. Instead you might see phone numbers like 1231231234, 12312 31234, (123)123-1234 etc.
It is not really difficult to clean up the phone numbers if we know before hand how they are formatted. For eg. you can easily convert a phone number like 1231231234 to 123-123-1234 using excel text formatting functions like =TEXT(1231231234,"000-000-0000"). But it is a rare case in which we have control over the incoming format and quickly you will have to use a slew of format / text processing functions to clean up the data.
To simplify the whole thing, I have written a small VBA UDF (User Defined Function) which you can add to your excel add-ins list and use to clean up virtually any phone number format to standard phone number.
Function cleanPhoneNumber(thisNumber As String) As String
' this function aspires to clean any phone number format
' to standard format (+9999) 999-999-9999 or 999-999-9999
' works with almost all phone number formats stored in text
Dim retNumber As String
For i = 1 To Len(thisNumber)
If Asc(Mid(thisNumber, i, 1)) >= Asc("0") And Asc(Mid(thisNumber, i, 1)) <= Asc("9") Then
retNumber = retNumber + Mid(thisNumber, i, 1)
End If
Next
If Len(retNumber) > 10 Then
' format for country code as well
cleanPhoneNumber = Format(retNumber, "(+#) 000-000-0000")
Else
cleanPhoneNumber = Format(retNumber, "000-000-0000")
End If
End Function
The above function is pretty straight forward and simple. It scans the input text for any numeric ASCII codes and saves them to another text field. Once the scanning is complete the function will format the final number to 999-999-9999 format if the number has 10 or less digits, otherwise to (+9999) 999-999-9999 format (with country code).
Like this? Learn these other data cleaning / processing tips:
Handling spelling mistakes in your data
Splitting text using excel formulas
Generating initials from names using excel
Adding a range of cells using Concat()
27 Responses to “9 Box grid for talent mapping – HR for Excel – Template & Explanation”
Great stuff! I can understand how to add a slicer to the pivot table, but how do you implement the departmental selector on the 'Filter' formula scheme?
Just saw this on your Youtube channel, and it’s areat idea...!
An easy way to overcome the "ugliness" of pivot tables and get it to look nice (in the format of the Output sheet), would be to simply build a sheet with the nice map at the top, a pivot underneath it and a slicer next to formatted map and then reference each of the 9 cells in the formatted map to the “related” cell in the Pivot.
Keep up the good work!
/Claus
Thanks Claus. That is a great idea 🙂
Hi Chandoo,
This is great! Curious how to make additional columns operate the same as the Department column (ex. have a "manager column") that would allow you to sort a 9 box by manager, area, or team in addition to department?
Feel free to email me if needed! mfry01@minnetronixmedical.com
Happy New Year
Madison Fry
I am curious about the smae thing. I would like to populate the 9 box with other views as well by adding additional columns. IE., I would like to add location, region, etc. Thank you.
This is great, thank you!
How can i see the whole data set of all the teams in the output table. Need a formula that will pick up all the employees
Hello,
Love the template. Thank you. Question - the drop down to pick a department on the Output tab does not seem to work on the downloadable template. Am I doing something incorrectly?
Thank you!
Hi Heather... Thank you. I am using Excel 365 to make the calculations. If you are using an older version of Excel, then the drop-down filter won't work.
Hi
I was able to follow your 9 box grid and modified based my needs. However, you tutorial did not show how to you create the filter for the "Pick a department. Can you kindly share how to create that filter that updated the grid. Thank you.
I am working on this project but I am struggling with the data validation for the department. I copy the worksheets data entry and output as the managers want to see different tabs for each managers.
I updated the source reference for each tab but It does not update the grid based on the new source. The list was updated but it does not populate the grid based on the performance and potential listed.
In addition the hyperlink Update Data and View Talent Map no longer works. Can you please help me.
I keep getting this error message in the pivot table:
This formula is invalid or incomplete: 'The expression is not valid or appears to be incomplete. Please review and correct the expression.
The following syntax error occurred during parsing: Invalid token, Line 1, Offset 14, ‘.
Hi, I used your 9-box excel template with excel 365. First off, thank you so very much. It is incredibly helpful!! My only question is that the boxes aren't big enough for all of the employees (specifically the middle which we call 'Core Employee'). Is there a way to make the boxes larger? Even though it is in excel, I am not able to increase row height (like I normally do in a speadsheet). Any ideas? Thanks again, Jody
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the great content. Re. 9 box grid, pls advise how do I increase the size of the box to accommodate more names?
Hi Chandoo,
I figured it out. Excel 365 has the format row height on the ribbon. Thank you
Merci Chandoo pour le modèle proposé,
j'ai une question et un souhait est il possible de développer davantage ce modèle en insérant la photo de chaque employé.
Hi Chandoo!
Great tutorial and tool, thank you! Your tutorial didn't include how to create additional filters on the "Output" tab. Could you please share how you did it?
Can this be done exactly in google sheets?
Hi Chandoo,
Thanks for the video it was really helpful. Is there any way to multi select the dropdown to display multiple or all departments rather than just one at once?
Hello Prish
I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is?
Many thanks
Hello Jody, I have Microsoft 365 and I am struggling to make the boxes larger/unable to increase row height; any idea how you made this work? Specifically in the Output tab where the map is? Many thanks
Is there a way to change the 9 box wording descriptions, i.e. Work Horses, to our own internal langauge?
You can edit the file. The descriptions are textboxes.
Hi Chandoo, this is awesome and has worked perfectly. Due to a big organisation the 9 box grid on the output file is too small. I tried adjusting using the row/width ribbon under the format ribbon however it doesn't seem to work. Is there an easier way to adjust this?
Thanks!
When I drag the formula, it doesn't work, and the order I use with the data changes. In the beginning, the order is it is " candidates," " potential," and " performance," but when it goes to another column, it is " Potential," Performance," and "Candidates."Can you help me? Thank you very much, sending love from vietnam
Hi- I am working on the 9 grid project and I am trying to expand the box since I have over 100 names on a few of the columns. How do I do that?
Hi, Thank you this is great stuff and really useful.
As well as department as demonstrated on your clip, how can I display all candidates on the grid at once?
Many thanks in advance