Long time PHD reader and mother of a lovely kid, Michelle, sent me a question in email that provoked me to write this post,
I was wondering how to tabulate large amount of information gathered through surveys. Where I work customers are constantly handed survey sheets in order for us to measure how the service -among other things- is being perceived. Now, to put all that info into a spreadsheet (plus charts) can be really tedious.
So far I manage to get the job done by assigning 1 to 4 values were 1 sucks and 4 is great and so there I go column after column (each column is one individual survey) filling my 1 to 4’s answers. I know there’s an easy version with VBA; problem is that I am a total ignorant in that area. Any suggestions?
Few ideas that would make consolidation easy:
- Make sure all the source files are in the same format: make a template that your colleagues can use to input the data every month. This way you can use 3D references to summarize the data.
- Create a user form so that your audience can enter information in that instead of directly entering it in spreadsheet.
- Find out if the survey or other type data collection can be fed to a database. This way, every month we can import the data using data connections.
- If we actually end up with sheets with different data formats, spend sometime and study the anomalies. Then you can develop a small macro or find-replace routine that would clean the data. [related: clean data using excel]
- Try to save the files as CSV and open them in a regular expression capable editor like Notepad++. Now match and clean up data.
- All else fails, get a strong cup of coffee, put on some music, roll your sleeves and start alt+tabbing.
But more than these ideas, I am interested to know how YOU solve this problem.
I think this is a very common problem. Since I have very little experience in the area of consolidating data from multiple sheets in to one, I couldn’t give her any real advise. So now I am turning to you.
- Do you use any add-ins or macros to consolidate data? What is your experience like, what would you recommend?
- What shortcuts, ideas and cool things you use when working on data from multiple sheets?
- How do you usually clean / normalize the data?
Please discuss.
3 Responses to “How-to create an elegant, fun & useful Excel Tracker – Step by Step Tutorial”
Hi Chandoo,
I am responsible for tracking when church reports are submitted on time or not and the variations from the due date for submission.
Here is the Scenario;
The due date for the submission of monthly reports is on the 5th of each month. and I would like to know how many reports have been submitted on time (i.e, those that have been submitted on or before the due date) I would also want to track those reports that have been submitted after the due date has passed.
How can I create such a tracker?
Hi Chandoo,
I am a member of your excel school.
I was trying to create SOP Tracker I follow all your steps but I keep this error below.
The list source must be a delimited list, or a reference to a single row or cell.
I try looking on YouTube for answer but no luck.
can you help on this?
thanks
Carl.
Dear Mr. Chando,
Rakesh, I'm working in a private company in the UAE. Recently, I'm struggling to get more details about the staff sick, annual, unpaid, and leaves. I would like to get a tracker in excel. Could you please help me in this situation?
I also watching your videos in YouTube. i hope you can help me on this situation.