CP018: Dont be a Pivot Table Virgin!

In the 18th session of Chandoo.org podcast, lets loose your Pivot table virginity.

Note: This is a short format episode. Less time to listen, but just as much awesome.

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What is in this session?

Pivot tables are a very powerful & quick way to analyze data and get reports from Excel. But surprisingly, not many use them. Today, lets bust your pivot table virginity and understand the concepts like pivoting, values, labels, filters, groups and more.

In this podcast, you will learn,

• Announcements
• What is a Pivot Table?
• Example of business data & reporting needs
• Terms to understand
  • Labels
  • Values
  • Groups
  • Filters
    • Report filters
    • Slicers
    • Label & Value filters
• Creating your first pivot table
• Learning more about pivot tables

Go ahead and listen to the show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Links & Resources mentioned in this session:

Excel Pivot Tables – Introduction, Examples, Tutorials & Tips

• Introduction & Pivot Table tutorial
• Examples, Tips, Tutorials & more

Advanced Pivot Table concepts

• Introduction to Excel 2013 data model & relationship features
• Grouping Data in Pivot Tables
• Report Filters – what are they and how to use them?
• Slicers – What are they and how to use [example dashboard]
• Value filters – showing top 10 values

Pivot Table uses & case studies

• Show monthly values & % change in one pivot table
• Matching transactions using pivot tables
• Calculating conversion ratio using pivot tables
• Selecting a random sample of data with pivot tables
• More on Pivot tables

Books & Courses on Pivot Tables

• Recommended book: Excel 2013 pivot table data crunching by Mike Alexander & Bill Jelen
• Recommended course: Excel School online training program

Transcript of this session:

Download this podcast transcript [PDF].

You & Pivot tables… tell me all the racy stories

I lost my pivot table virginity in 2005. But I quickly regained it as I did not use them much for next 3 years. Then I lost it for good and I am glad for that. Now a days, I use pivot tables almost every week. And they give me quick and easy solutions to many analytical problems I face.

What about you? When did you loose your pivot table virginity? How do you use them every day? Please share your tips, stories & experiences in the comments area.