One of my favorite cricket player, the GOD – Sachin Tendulkar has become highest test run scorer.
What do I get if Sachin becomes highest scorer, you may ask.
In order to celebrate this occasion I have created a cool sports dashboard in excel with some of the top test cricket players’ statistics. And, you get to learn how to make one. So read on and wish the little master many more successes.
Download the sports dashboards in excel and continue reading.
1. Find out which data you want to show in the dashboard
Not all data is important. Especially when you are creating a dashboard, it is vital to provide only data and insights that are necessary to draw conclusions. A simple rule of thumb is:
Your car is complex machine with thousands of parts, few micro-processors and tons of other stuff. But the driver dashboard shows only three (at most 4) data points at any time – speed of car, engine heat, tachometer showing how fast your engine is rotating. Few on/off indicators that wont bother you unless you need to notice: “seat belt sign, gear indicators, airbag status, batter status etc.”
So next time you have hundreds of data elements just use this analogy to cut down to the bare minimum and show only those.
For our tutorial, the data comes from this rediff article with statistics for various test cricket players:
From the looks of it, there are just 4 things that are vital: total runs ever scored, highest score, average score per innings, Total number of centuries(and half-centuries).
2. Create one chart
First let us create a simple bar chart for the total score data. Just select the cells with total scores and click on insert chart icon and select “bar chart” as chart type.
Now we get a default excel chart. I have used the following steps to adjust the formatting:
- Remove background
- Remove grid lines
Adjust axis scaling:
You may not want to adjust the axis scaling minimums. Read the follow up discussion here: Should bar charts always start at zero? Reader PollSince the score are from 8001 (minimum) to 12027 (max) I have adjusted the axis scaling options set minimum value as 7500 and max. as 12500.- Remove axis
- Add data labels and adjust their alignment, adjust font-scaling as well.
- Adjust colors and change the bar color for maximum value
- Adjust gap width (from 150 to 10 or something)
See this image with how the charts looked after each step:
[larger version]
3. Adjust the chart size / location so that it fits snugly inside the table with data
Just select the chart and adjust its size and location until it fits inside the table. You may want to use aligning chart objects on spreadsheet trick.
4. Repeat the steps 2 & 3 for remaining charts
Just copy paste the first chart you have created and change data source and scaling options. Adjust formatting if needed. Once they are all ready the dashboard should look like what you see below.
Download and play with sports dashboards in excel
Have fun 🙂
More excel dashboard tutorials:
Creating KPI (Key Performance Indicator) Dashboards in Excel – 4 part tutorial
Making Visualizations for Dashboards
Too much data? Use tables instead
15 Responses to “Modeling Interest During Construction (IDC) – Excel Project Finance”
Thanks again for a very helpful post.
I had a similar problem when trying to model a balance sheet and profit and loss projection. The problem was that interest expense (in P&L) was dependent on a cash shortfall (in BS) which had to be funded. The cash shortfall depended on how much interest was paid, so the mutual dependency made a circular reference.
I addressed it with a macro that calculated interest outside of the P&L, then pasted the calculated amount into the P&L as a value. The model was out of balance, but by repeating the pasting and calculating loop the imbalance reduced to zero. It was a bit messy, and had to be repeated every time a line changed - but it worked.
If I have to do it again I'll read this article again first and see if it can be done more elegantly.
Hi,
The use of a circular reference can be avoided in this case. Just make use of the geometric sum to calculate the interest required. I’ll walk through the example from the spreadsheet.
First calculate the cash needed each year without the interest expense. So you year 1 you need 55 Mn, year 2 105 Mn, and 190 Mn for year 3. The total amount to borrow for year 1 is then (50 Mn)/(1-interest_rate) = (50)/(1-0.1). For years 2 and subsequent the amount borrowed is the cash needed in that year plus the interest_rate times the amount already borrowed. For year 2 (105 + interest_rate * sum(previous debt raised))/(1-interest_rate)=(105+0.1*61.1)/(1-0.1).
This process avoids the need for a circular reference, and makes the calculation more stable.
Thanks,
Tristan
The question is for the year 1 in your case, the amount works out to 45 mn. However in the year 2 you have applied the loan amount as 61.1 mn.
Am I missing something ! Please help !
very helpful information!!!
using circular references and to make model more stable we can use combination of "IF" and "ISERROR" functions. i.e
=if(iserror(formula1),"",(formula1))
this formula will return blank value if there is any error otherwise give the result required.
I usually use this in my models and it makes them very stable......
🙂 🙂 🙂
@Terry: Thats right. Exactly same problem is seen in Interest - Cash cycle in P&L and Cash Flow statement as well. In our trainings on financial modeling in excel, we demonstrate using both the circular loops as well as the macros to take care of this problem. Circular loops have their own pitfalls. If the model enters into a state of error, the error percolates!
@Tristan: Thanks for pointing out. I agree with you that if circular loops can be avoided, they should be avoided.
@Yogesh: This is one way of avoiding the problem. Although circular loops have another problem that they make your sheet slower. Each time, there is a change in the sheet, all the calculations are redone. So if they can be avoided, they should be avoided.
Please note that this was an example (a large one indeed) and I didn't have space to speak about the pitfalls of this approach! I just wanted to illustrate an approach and am glad that some of you found it useful!
I think while posting, there is an error in the images! The last image should be flipped with the one that is posted in step VII!
I think you can try the following simple solution given by Microsoft itself to make the circular works:
Windows: Excel Options -> Formulas -> Put a tick on "Enable iterative calculation"
Mac: Excel -> Preference -> Calculation ->Put a tick on "Limit iteration"
You can change the maximum number of calculation iterations as well as the maximum changes which iteration stops for goal seeking or for resolving circular references based on the number you type in the maximum change box.
Thank you.
Hey All
I heard that we can take care of the circularity with the help of macro for IDC. Can anybody help on the steps to construct the macro for the same.
Regards
Vinay
Hi Vinay,
If you look closely, you are essentially copying the values from the interest calculation to the IDC in project cost.
Basically you can record a macro, that takes the values from interest and pastes special the values in IDC row in project cost.
Then you can run that recorded code in a for loop.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Param for reply.
But before calculating interest, i need to provide for Upfront Equity and Equity, which are essentially part of total project cost. Hence, i need to put in Upfront Equity and Equity to calculate the IDC which is again hitting the total project cost.
Bit of confused on how to remove this circular reference.
Regards
Vinay
Wow, this was a brilliantly simple post. I was looking online for a while before I found this page. Never seen this been explained so beautifully yet so crisply before. Thanks for saving my ass at work! (i'm relatively new to finance + modeling)
I'm not sure why but this web site is loading very slow for
me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end?
I'll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
[…] Project Finance Modeling using Excel – Part 1 & Part 2 […]
I have been reading your blog since my college days. Today, I'm writing just to say thanks.
We have calculated Financial Rate of return of a hydropower projects, and the observer has raised an observation regarding Total Project cost with IDC Rs. 8616.01 million (PKR) and with-out IDC 8352.46 million (PKR). How does the Financial nalysis be calculated on the basis of with-out IDC Or With IDC?????
Please helpf. if possible to spare some time.