Recently I optimized a pretty long nested IF formula using a simple but elegant trick. I made it 80% shorter! In this article, let me explain the process and share the formulas.
The Situation: Discount Calculation
Imagine you have to calculate the appropriate discount using below rules.
And you have transaction data like below:
How would we write the formula in column H?
Option 1: Long, Nested IFs
We can calculate the discount by writing a complex, lengthy and nested IF formula.
Here is one such formula:
=LET(cat, XLOOKUP(F5,products[Name], products[Category]),
IFS(OR(D5="India", D5="USA",D5="UK"),
IFS(AND(G5>=200, G5<=999),
IF(OR(cat="Bars", cat="bites"),
IF(E5="New",Rules!$F$7, Rules!$F$8),
0),
AND(G5>=1000, G5<=1999),
IFS(cat="Bars",
IF(E5="New",Rules!$F$11, Rules!$F$12),
cat="Bites", Rules!$F$14,TRUE, 0),
G5>=2000,
IF(E5="New", Rules!$F$16,
IFS(
cat="Bars",Rules!$F$17,
cat="Bites", Rules!$F$18,
TRUE, 0)
)
)
)
)
What this formula is doing?
- We start by calculating the “category” of the product using XLOOKUP and storing it in the variable cat
- Then we check the rules (refer to picture 1 above)
- Once we reach the lowest level of the rule, we get the matching discount from the rules worksheet cells.
- If no discount applies, we return 0
What is wrong with this formula?
Long and error prone
Such formulas are too long to write correctly and errors are not easy to catch.
Not easy to update
When the business rules change, the formulas become hard to edit.
Hard to maintain
The formulas become a nightmare to maintain and document.
Option 2: A smart alternative
What if we can rewrite the rules so that we can write shorter formulas?
I suggest rewriting such business rules as a table like this:
Once you have such a table, we can then rewrite our formula using SUMIFS & wildcard characters. Like below:
=LET(cat, "*"&XLOOKUP(F5,products[Name],products[Category])&"*",
SUMIFS( discount[Discount],
discount[Country],"*"&D5&"*",
discount[Category],cat, discount[Customer Type],"*"&E5&"*",
discount[Quantity from],"<="&G5,
discount[Quantity to],">="&G5))
How does this formula work?
- We start by calculating the “category” of the product using XLOOKUP, pad this with * and store it in the variable cat
- Then we use SUMIFS to add up [Discount] column by
- Checking the country (in D5) against [Country] column of discount table
- cat against [Category] column
- Customer type (E5) with [customer type] column
- Quantity (G5) with the to & from ranges
- If there are no discounts then the SUMIFS would be 0
- Else it would tell us what the discount is.
Advantages of the SUMIFS approach
Easy to write & test
The formula is easier to write and test. Hence fewer errors.
Easy to maintain & update
Whenever the business rules change or new products are added, updating the discount table is all you need to do.
Scalable
Even when you have 100s of rules, this table approach is easy to scale and won't increase the formula size.
Use FILTER to work with text
If you need to get a non-numeric value as the output, we can use FILTER() instead of SUMIFS.
Video Tutorial - Honey, I shrunk the formulas
I made a video about this concept. See it below or click here to watch it on my YouTube channel.
Try it yourself - Here is a sample file
Want to have a play with the data and see which formula is easier to write?
Your thoughts on this approach?
What do you think about this approach? Leave a comment.
Also, do check out below pages for more on other ways to make advanced Excel formulas.
22 Responses to “Master Excel 2007 Ribbon with this Free Learning Guide”
Thank you, kind sir. Well done with the baby making.
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@Doug, it shows that your email address is pending verification. Can you check your inbox (and may be spam folder too) for an email from me? The subject will be "Activate Subscription to Get your Free Excel Tips E-book"
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Very Useful Info..Keep it up..
@Ajay.. you are welcome 🙂
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http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
Select Office
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I can't open this pdf. I get the error message:
You do not have the required license to open this file.
Please request a license from the creator of the file, and add it using the license manager and they try opening it again.
What gives??
I downloaded the file again and it worked this time. Strange. (First file was 116 KB, second was 1644 KB... ???)
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Hi Chandoo,
thanks for sharing your Excel 2007 learning experience with us; unfortunately the link to the pdf of the free Excel 2007 learning guide seems broken: my Acrobate Readers flags: "Unkown file type or corrupte data".
Have a nice day
Michael
well done this is great
Can somebody just provide a link the classic TAB exportedUI files for MS Office 2003 for us to use in office 2007/2010?. searching online, everybody just wnats to make a buck online with silly Classic Tab installers which do nothing more than inport exportedUI files for you.
Don't give me a ribbon how to guide, just give me free exportedUI files. I should not have to pay anyone for this, it is free XML, MS should have included this to begin with.
thanks
Dear.
There are a set of debit values and a set ot credit values in a column. I want a vba code by whcich the debit value plus a single / multiple credit value is zero that needs to be marked .
finally i will come to know out of the avaibale debits which cannot be used the with avilable credits either single or multiple values.
If multiple matching sets are available let it take the 1st or the 2nd one its not an issue.
Column A Ref
-1000 A
-5000 B
-8000 C
800 A
100 A
100 A
2000 B
3000 B
13000
15000
hi...
how to make this add-ins and display in ribbon... check this sample : http://www.cprsoft.com/GCDemo01.htm
thank you sir...
Please tell me format painter short cut key In excel ?
Thanks In Advance
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