Welcome back. In part 2 of Making a Customer Service Dashboard using Excel let us learn how the data & calculations for the dashboard are setup.
Designing Customer Service Dashboard
Data and Calculations for the Dashboard
Creating the dashboard in Excel
Adding Macros & Final touches
Data for the Customer Service Dashboard
We have seen a snapshot of the data last week. This is how it looks:
Let us quickly understand what each column contains:
- Call ID: Unique identifier for each call.
- Date Time: Date and time of the call when we received it.
- Product: The product category to which this call belongs.
- Region: Region to which the call belongs.
- Customer type: Type of the calling customer
- Call duration in seconds
- Resolved: Whether the reason for call is resolved or not.
- Satisfaction rating 1 to 5
- Up sell in $s.
- Agent who answered the call
Calculations needed for the dashboard
All the calculations for this dashboard are kept in a worksheet named Calcs.
At last count, there are 4,000+ cells with formulas in this dashboard. If we try to look and understand all of these formulas, we might end at Christmas. So, instead let me list down the key calculations we need to do and the formulas behind them.
A look at the variables that drive the dashboard
The information & charts displayed on the dashboard depend on these key variables (value that we can change):
- Starting date: Entered in cell R2 in dashboard, this used to calculate all the summaries, chart data for 4 week period.
- Comparison type: This is selected from a combo-box in dashboard and tells us what is the option we want to compare – can be one of products, customer types, regions or agents.
- Comparison Option #1 & #2: These are 2 things we want to compare. For ex. Agent Vinod with Agent Mary, Desktops with Laptops etc. The actual selections are determined by VBA and placed in 2 named cells – valOption1, valOption2.
- Chart type: The type of chart we need to show. Can be one of the , Calls by day, Talk time by day, Resolution Rate by day, Satisfaction by day, Upsell $s by day.
Important Names that we need
Before taking a look at the actual calculations, we need to understand a few names that I have defined.
- cs: This is the table name which contains all call center data. So if you write cs[Region] it refers to all the 14832 region values from which we got the calls.
- lstChosen: This name refers to the column in cs that is chosen for comparison. So if you select Products in dashboard to compare, this contains cs[Product]. If you select Region, this contains
cs[Region]. - lstCallDates: Since we are only using date portion of the date & time for calls, I have created a named range, lstCallDates that refers to just Date portion of the date & time. This is done with the formula
=INT(cs[Date Time])
Apart from these 3, there are 16 more names I have defined to simplify various calculations. You can see all the names further down this post.
Fetching the data for 4 weeks starting given date:
The first step in our calculations is to fetch only a portion of data for the given 4 week period, starting the date entered in R2 cell in dashboard (dashboard!R2)
I have created a table like this, with 16 columns. First column with date, and next 3 columns for Total calls (all calls, calls for option 1 & option 2 that user picked), next 3 columns for talk time, next 3 columns for resolution rate, next 3 for satisfaction rating and final 3 for up-sell $s, like this:
This table is in the range calcs!B10:Q37
Filling the dates is easy part. We just load the first cell with dashboard!R2 and then add 1 to next date.
To count total calls received on each date, we can use SUMPRODUCT, like this: =SUMPRODUCT(--(lstCallDates=given_date)). Here given_date refers to the date in first column.
To count total calls received for selected option 1, we use =SUMPRODUCT((lstCallDates=given_date)*(lstChosen=selection1)). Here selection1 refers to the first selection made by our user.
To count total calls received for selected option 2, we use =SUMPRODUCT((lstCallDates=given_date)*(lstChosen=selection2)). Here selection2 refers to the second selection made by our user.
We can use similar SUMPRODUCT formulas to calculate total hours of talk time, resolution rate, satisfaction rating & upsell $s.
Calculating the summaries
Once all the data for 4 week period is fetched, calculating summaries becomes a breeze.
To get the total number of calls in a 4 week period we use: =SUM(C10:C37) as column C contains the total calls received by date for each of 28 days.
To calculate the averages (average call duration etc.), we divide the SUM with count of calls.
Calculating the distribution of satisfaction ratings
This is an interesting part. We are showing how the satisfaction rating is distributed from 1 to 5. To get these numbers, we use a variation of SUMPRODUCT. The calculation output is shown below:
Just use your imagination to figure out how the distribution is calculated.
All the names used in our Customer Service Dashboard
Now that you have seen all the important formulas, here is a detailed list of names defined to get our dashboard done. While you have already seen some of these names used in various formulas, the rest will be used while creating the charts & adding final touches.
[if you cannot see the names list below, click here]
| # | Name | Definition | Purpose |
| 1 | lstAgents | =Data!$P$6:$P$11 | List of all unique Agents |
| 2 | lstProducts | =Data!$M$6:$M$11 | List of all unique Products |
| 3 | lstRegions | =Data!$N$6:$N$10 | List of all unique Regions |
| 4 | lstCtypes | =Data!$O$6:$O$9 | List of all unique Customer Types |
| 5 | lstCallDates | =INT(cs[Date Time]) | List of Call Dates – INT makes the time portion zero |
| 6 | lstCharts | =calcs!$J$2:$J$6 | List of all charts |
| 7 | lstChosen | =CHOOSE(calcs!$C$4, cs[Product],cs[Region], cs[Customer Type],cs[Agent ID]) | List of values chosen for comparison |
| 8 | lstMaxCallDurations | ='sp1'!$C$4:$C$31 | Maximum call duration by day |
| 9 | lstMinCallDurations | ='sp1'!$B$4:$B$31 | Minimum call duration by day |
| 10 | lstWaysToCompare | =Data!$M$5:$P$5 | List of ways to compare |
| 11 | lstWaysToCompareV | =calcs!$L$2:$L$5 | List of ways to compare (vertical) |
| 12 | rngSel1 | =Dashboard!$B$18:$D$23 | Range of options to compare on left side in dashboard view |
| 13 | rngSel2 | =Dashboard!$Q$18:$R$23 | Range of options to compare on right side in dashboard view |
| 14 | selChart | =CHOOSE(valChartToDisplay, calcs!$C$73:$H$81, calcs!$C$84:$H$92, calcs!$C$95:$H$103, calcs!$C$114:$H$122, calcs!$C$125:$H$133) | Selected Chart – range has the chart – used in picture link / camera tool output |
| 15 | selection1 | =calcs!$E$4 | Selected option #1 |
| 16 | selection2 | =calcs!$G$4 | Selected option #2 |
| 17 | valChartToDisplay | =calcs!$H$4 | Which chart to display |
| 18 | valHelpStatus | =calcs!$O$3 | Whether to display help or not |
| 19 | valOption1 | =calcs!$E$3 | Number of selected option #1 |
| 20 | valOption2 | =calcs!$G$3 | Number of selected option #2 |
| 21 | cs | =Data!$B$6:$K$14837 | Table of all call data. Dynamic. |
Download the Final Customer Service Dashboard
Click here to download the dashboard workbook so that you can examine these formulas and learn better. Change the drop-downs, date values in dashboard sheet to see how the formulas work.
What Next? – Creating the Charts & Sparklines
Now that we have done all the ground work, in the next installment, learn how to create the charts & sparklines that go in this dashboard. Also learn how to use Conditional Formatting to create alert icons etc.
How would you design dashboard for this data?
Since all the data for this dashboard is included in the downloadble workbook, why don’t you go ahead and create your own dashboard? If you want, go ahead and add an extra column or two to capture additional data. Create a dashboard and share with us in comments.
Also tell me how you like the dashboard? Please share your opinions using comments.
References & Related Learning
If you are looking for examples, information & tutorials on Excel dashboards, you are at the best. At Chandoo.org we have elaborate examples, tutorials, training programs & templates on Excel dashboards, to make you awesome. Please go thru below to learn more:
- Customer Service Dashboard Example
- KPI Dashboards in Excel – 6 part tutorial
- Excel Dashboards – Information, Examples, Templates & Tutorials
- Excel SUMPRODUCT Formula – what is it, how to use it and detailed examples. (more on sumproduct)
- Excel School Dashboards Program – Learn how to create this and other dashboards in Excel in detail
24 Responses
I’d suggest simply using the subtotal function and filtering the data using the Win/Loss column. You get the same results and the formula is more comprehensible.
@John
That is one option.
There are times however when you want to see the whole data table or a filtered subset and still want to produce summary reports against an unfiltered field.
Is there a particular reason why you are using a comma and the unary (–) operator for the second array in the SUMPRODUCT formula? It seems to work the same if you were to string the arrays together using the asterisk (*). The advantage is that SUMPRODUCT treats the entire string of arrays as a single array.
@Mathew
Your correct, There is no difference.
I thought it may have been easier to explain this method.
Is there a way to do this on a large set of data? As in ~100,000 rows? When I try I get an error because the formula becomes too long. It says the max length of a formula is 8,192 characters. Excel 2010.
How do I incorporate a specific text within a cell for the second array. For instance, – -(C7:C13=”Apple”)
when I chose a specific text the formula does not work.
@RB
I am not sure what is the issue as if I use the sample data in the post the following work fine
Count:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)), –(C7:C13=”L”))
Sum:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)),(C7:C13=”L”)*(D7:D13))
You may want to check that there are no leading or trailing spaces in your list of Apples
I should have given a better explanation. Heres my situation. I have a column with cells filled with names like Column 1, Column 2, Pier 1, Pier 2, etc. If the cell just contained Pier and searched for that it works. But because it has other characters in the cell its not recognizing the pier. So how can I extract specific characters of a string of text in this formula?
Hopefully this was a better explanation
Hello-
This formula works pretty well for me except that it slow down excel and prevents some of my macros from working. I was wondering if there was a way to program this in VBA so that excel isn’t always trying to recalculate it. I would like to use a push of a button to get it to run then paste in a cell.
Thanks!
I am trying to sum filtered data in a column, but would want to ignore the negative values in the column. How to go about doing this?
@Akshay
Why not just add a filter to that column to only show the values greater than zero?
The negative values are required for reporting purposes, but their effect on the total is distorting the required output. Please advise.
@Akshay
I’d suggest making a post in the Chandoo.org Forums
http://forum.chandoo.org/
Attach a sample file to simplify the task
I have this working for counting and summing, however, I have a list and for the second array, I need a criteria. That is, I’m looking for b13:b200=”01.??.??” or =left((a1,2) or something like that. These types of criteria matches do not appear to work as I get a blank as a result.
Thanks!
@Bob
As your formula b13:b200=”01.??.??” looks like you are trying to check the first day of the month of the range
What about trying Day(B13:B200)=1
Hai Experts,
i understood this formula well and working fine in MS Excel 2013
but when the same am trying to place in google Spreadsheet it shows error as
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 2014, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
Can anyone please help me how would i get it done in Google Spread sheet
or is there any other formula as a substitute for this.
Thank you very much.
thanks for providing this.. but why does excel keeps on prompting Circular referencing in cell D3?
@Vivek
I don’t know
I just downloaded the file and it is working fine and not showing that error
Goto the Formulas, Calculation Options Tab and check that Calculation is set to Automatic
What version of Excel and Windows are you using ?
I know that this forum is for MS Excel, but I am trying to help someone who is working in Google Sheets. The below formula works in Excel but Google Sheets returns:
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 39000, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
This is the same problem asked by Srichirin above. Does anyone know if there is a formula for Google Sheets that will replicate what MS Excel does?
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($C$6:$C$39500,ROW($C$6:$C$39500)-MIN(ROW($C$6:$C$39500)),,1)),- -($C$6:$C$39500=H1),($D$6:$D$39500))
Trying to find a SUMPRODUCT formula that counts the word Closed by date for the last 7 days in a filtered list.
=COUNTIF(M:M,”>”&TODAY()-7) works ok for unfiltered count Column M contains Closure dates (blank if open) and Column L is Status Open or Closed
@ Terry
Please ask the question at the Chandoo.org Forums
https://chandoo.org/forum/
Please attach a sample file to ensure a quicker more accurate answer
I used this formula and worked like a charm! But, now I’ve been requested to use it but adding not one but two criteria in the same formula. For instance the sum I was doing added negative and positive numbers. I’ve been asked to use the exact same formula but adding that only positive numbers were considered… any idea on how to do this?
How exactly do you do sum filtered cells when two criteria are need not just one?
Thank you so much brother literally I have been struggling since morning to get the sum of the filtered category, however, after reading your blog attentively i got my solution, so thanks a lot once again.