Late. Jayaram, my uncle is also a teacher. When I was a kid, I used to spend a lot of time with him, learning all sorts of things. He taught me chess, maths and so many life lessons. I remember one such lesson very vividly. One day, he asked me to do something. I did it in a very long way. After seeing me struggle for several minutes, he chipped in and showed me how to do it easily. He then said, “when someone asks you where your nose is, you don’t twist arm around your head. You just point to your nose directly.”
The idea is that when you have a direct, simple way to do something, you should use it.
Nose and pivot tables… how are they connected?
We are coming to the point. Recently, learneagerly, one of our forum users asked a question about how to transform (reshape) a set of data in Excel.
Marc L, one of our Excel ninjas, posted an awesome VBA script to do that.
Later in the day, I chipped in and shared a formula approach to transform the data.
I suggest checking out both approaches for learning more about VBA & INDEX formula respectively.
After posting my answer, I got thinking… May be there is a more direct way to reshape the data.
Why, yes, there is. You can use Pivot Tables.
Let’s take a look at the data & problem first
Here is a snapshot of raw data and expected output.
As you can see, we have two columns of data and we need to extract n (here it is 6) items from first column, then n from second column and lay them out in output. We repeat this until we run out of the data.
Reshape this thing with a Pivot
The first step is to add two extra columns to your raw data. Let’s call them Running & Repeat.
- Running: with numbers 1 thru 6 and repeat the pattern (just auto fill or copy paste)
- Repeat: with 6 cells of 1, 6 cells of 2… and repeat this pattern (auto-fill)
But what if I want a different n
Even better. use formulas. Let’s say your data starts from H6:I6
- Running: =MOD(ROWS($I$6:I6)-1,n)+1
- Repeat: =IF(J6=1,SUM(K5,1),K5)
Related: Using ROWS() to generate running numbers in Excel.
Now that we have these extra columns, select all the data (2 columns of data + 2 extra columns we just added) and insert a pivot table.
Set up the report by,
- Adding Repeat & Running to row labels area (in that order)
- Add Col A & Col B to values area.
- Move the ? values to row labels area (by dragging it)
- Position ? values between Repeat & Running row labels.
- Your pivot report’s last column will have the transformed data.
- Viola, nose pointed!
Download Example Workbook
Here is the example workbook. Examine the pivot table & formulas in Running & Repeat columns to learn more.
Get your Excel muscles in to shape
Are you struggling to find your nose or worse still, twisting your arm on the way? If so, check out our Excel school program. We have awesome online lessons, beautiful explanations, powerful techniques and easy to understand downloads. It won’t be long before you are smelling roses.
Check out our Excel School online class & join today.
How do you reshape your data?
Pivot Tables and Power Query are my go to tools for almost all kinds of reshaping problems. Often, I indulge in INDEX formulas or a bit of VBA. For example, just a few days ago, I had to split first 100,000 digits of Pi ? in chunks of 3 digits, 3 digits and 14 digits in a pattern. As the data is too long, loading it Excel cell was impractical. Loading it in to multiple lines with each having x digits was impractical (as I may need to split them in another pattern). So I used a simple VBA script to zap the data and get what I need.
In case you are curious: I made a chart to celebrate the Pi day (14th of March) with our community on Twitter.
But when I am not splitting irrational stuff, I usually rely on Pivot tables or PQ.
What about you? How do you reshape your data? Please share your approaches and tips in the comments section.
25 Responses to “Display Alerts in Dashboards to Grab User Attention [Quick Tip]”
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which could also provide another piece of information.
I prefer the red,grey,light grey,black icon set. I've also used in-cell pie charts from Fabrice's Sparklines for Excel as an alert which can also provide another piece of information.
For Excel 2007, your formula should do the same as the Excel 2003 version, so that non-alert rows are blank - if they are 0, the unnecessary green icon will show
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
Hi Chandoo,
Nice Post !!! just to add something for EXL 2003, we can also 4 Ifs and link to the alert data
For Ex: If we have alert data in Cell A2 and want to split in 4 orders namely <25%, 25-50%, 50-75% and 75%< then we can following formula and put fonts as you have suggested :
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
And then using Conditional Formating we can dashboard reflected on different COLOURS as per their respective alert.
Best Regards
Rohit1409
The Complete formula [Don't Know how it got cut ]
=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153),IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155),IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))
PS : Use in single line [I have split it to avoid cuts 😉 ]
Hi Chandoo..
why it is not displaying the complete formula..
anyways here is the balance
"=IF(A2<0.25,CHAR(153), IF(A2<=0.5,CHAR(155), IF(A2=0.76,CHAR(152)))))"
@Rohit... your formulas are fine. Just that the width of comment area is fixed and hence my website is cropping it at 640pixels. I just edited your formula and added few white spaces so that it wraps nicely.
Very good idea btw.. kudos!
Hi,
Maybe just go for 'bold' ; 'underline' or 'italic' to draw the users attention? Those methods (if those can be called methods) are used cross media type (books, journals, blogs, billboards, ...) to guide the readers eye to valuable information.
Just a basic thought
@Tom.. good idea..
[...] has a very nice writeup on how to add such alerts to dashboard sheets. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Divide your data set into workbooksHow to enforce [...]
Hi Chandoo,
You certainly grabbed my attention! although I wasn't sure what my brother (Suresh) and cousin (Shyam) were doing right, and I was doing wrong? 😉
I love your blog btw - Many thanks for all your hard work in unravelling the secrets and mysteries of Excel!
Best regards
Ramesh
I thought I saw an advertisment for a book about learning excel called excel himalaya or something. It cost about 35.00 us money but seemed to have the things I need to have my admin assistant to start to use. I was hoping to start with this book and then send her to school if she shows some interest and aptitude. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks
Great web site and information!!!!
@Jeff... checkout http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/08/25/excel-everest-review/
thanks, your website is awesome!
[...] Alerts to highlight focus areas [...]
[...] There are lots of numbers in this dashboard. I would suggest adding few more visualizations like showing indicators or applying conditional formatting or replacing a table with a chart. This would reduce the [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo
Firstly thanks for all the cool tips on how to use Excel better.
I am new to the site and have a question which you may be able to assist with but dont know if these comment boxes are the best way of asking ?
I am looking at assets and trying to calculate the depreciation total by taking a year (say 2010) adding the expected life of the asset (say 10 years) then comparing that to a future date (say 2015) using an IF statement. The calculation in normal is - IF((year in col B (2010) plus 10years)>year 2015, add a years depreciation, otherwise leave blank). The converted date value does not appear able to add 10 years in order to compare it to 2015. Am I missing something ?
I use the “IF” Statement in conjunction with Conditional Formatting in MS Excel to give verbiage to alert one of a required action, dependant on a review date. This makes a visual stimulus, plus it clues one as to what the conditional format is trying to warn you about and what follow-up actions are required.
Wow, I'm really impressed with dashboards. I had no idea this stuff was even possible with excel. I'd like to offer an interactive dashboard to my customers, showing analytics of their data. I have a .pdf file with the datapoints. I'd like them to enter the data on my website, and be able to see their data. Is something like that possible.
Hi Chandoo,
I've recently purchased the package for both templates.
In the portfolio dashboard,under the calculations worksheet, I'm attempting to change the date range in the gantt chart to show only the range of the project that starts in late 2013. How do I do this?
Thanks
Adam
[...] is the same technique as alert icons in dashboard. Just that I also showed green [...]
Hi Chandoo,
I'm new at Excel Dashboard and found your blog really useful and helpful! It's very nice of you that you dedicate your time to do this.
Could you please explain how can I use Alerts based on dates on a Dashboar?
For example, if a target date is coming closer to the actual date, the alert is yellow or red.
I'd really appreciate some help!
Thank you
Where can I download the file Excel of Averall Statistics ???
Thanks a lot.