About 6 months ago, Fred asked a question on the Chandoo.org Forums: I need idea on a simpler formula
In column A I have the total sum product of C to AU
Line one has all the names.
A2 = (B2*C2)+(D2*E2)+(F2*G2)+(H2*I2)+(J2*K2)+(L2*M2)+…+(AT2*AU2)
A3 = (B3*C3)+(D3*E3)+(F3*G3)+…+(AT3*AU3)
Is there is simpler way by line to do this without clicking each cell on line 2?
I tried Sumproduct but I think I have received a wrong answer during testing.
Hui offered a Sumproduct Formula as a solution
=SUMPRODUCT((B2:AT2) * MOD(COLUMN(B2:AT2) -1, 2), (C2:AU2) * MOD(COLUMN(C2:AU2), 2))
and then followed up with a simpler Sumproduct Formula a day later
=SUMPRODUCT(B2:AT2 * C2:AU2 * (MOD(COLUMN(B2:AT2), 2) =0))
Let’s take a look at this second solution.
Setup the Problem
Copy the numbers 10,20 into alternate Cells A2:U2 or download the example file here: Example File (Excel 97-2010)
Copy this formula into B6: =SUMPRODUCT(B2:U2 * C2:V2 * (MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2), 2)=0))
Pull The Formula Apart
Lets take a look inside this formula and see how it works.
=SUMPRODUCT(B2:U2*C2:V2*(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0))
We can see that in the above formula the main function used in the formula is a Sumproduct Function.
=SUMPRODUCT(B2:U2*C2:V2*(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0))
Within the Sumproduct function there are 3 arrays, which are multiplied together
Array 1: B2:U2
Array 2: C2:V2
Array 3: (MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0)
What’s in these arrays?
Array 1 is simply the range from B2:U2
Array 2 is simply the range from C2:V2, note that it is offset from the first array by 1 Column.
This is so that the first value of the Second Array matches the first value of the First Array. That is they are both in position 1 within there respective arrays.
Array 3 is where all the action is.
Enter =(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0) into a cell and press F9
Excel returns: ={TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE}
Lets look at what is happening here
=(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0)
Mod returns the remainder of the first value Column(B2:U2) after dividing it by the second value 2.
Column(B2:U2) returns the Column Number for each cell in the Range B2:U2.
Because this part of the formula is in a Sumproduct formula it is evaluated as an Array Formula and hence it does this for each cell in the range B2:U2, thus returning an Array as the answer.
We can see that if we enter =MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2) into a cell and evaluate it with F9
={0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1}
However in this case we want to convert this from an array of Numbers to an array of True/False
A simple addition of an =0 does the trick
=(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0)
Now causes the formula to return: ={TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE}
So How does this go together with the other 2 arrays?
We now have 3 arrays:
Array 1: 10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10
Array 2: 20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20,10,20
Array 3: TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE
When Multiplying arrays, Excel multiplies the first value of each array and then the second value of each array, etc, effectively doing
={10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True, 20*10*False , 10*20*True}
You can see above that when the 3 arrays are multiplied it will only be the Odd entries in Arrays 1 & 2 which are evaluated by the Sumproduct, as all the even entries are multiplied by False which is equivalent to Zero
So the above evaluates to
={200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200,0, 200}
Sumproduct then takes over and adds the values together returning, 2000, the correct answer.
Problem Extension
After solving the problem, Fred decided to add a column between each entry in the data set.
The solution is posted in the forum and is also shown in the example file.
You can work through that formula at your leisure, except to say that it is similar to the solution above.
Alternate Solution
Luke correctly pointed out that the data was poorly arranged and the solution would be much simpler had the data been more logically arranged.
However as an Excel practioner we are often called to solve other peoples dirty work.
HINTS
You will notice that in the solution of this problem I have done a few small things that make solving the problem easier.
Use Smaller Subsets of the Data.
Instead of putting numbers from Columns B to AU as Fred has I have used a set from Column B to U.
This way I can see all the data on one Excel screen without scrolling as well as the formula links and extents when pressing F2 on the cell containing the formula.
Use Simple Numbers
Use numbers that you can manually check. In this example I can easily, manually, check that the answer should be 2000.
Evaluate
Where ever possible, enter sections of a formula in a cell and evaluate its output:
=(MOD(COLUMN(B2:U2),2)=0) and press F9
={TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE,TRUE,FALSE}
See how easily we can check that this section is returning the correct values.
OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
You can learn more how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts:
http://chandoo.org/wp/category/formula-forensics/
The link above, will show you all the posts in this series
WHAT FORMULAS WOULD YOU LIKE EXAMINED?
If you have any formulas you would like explained please feel free to leave a post here or send me an email:
If the formula is already on Chandoo.org or Chandoo.org/Forums, simply send the link to the post and a Comment number if appropriate.
If sending emails please attach an Excel file with the formula and data
29 Responses to “Customer Service Dashboard using Excel [Dashword Week]”
Looks good, Mara. Keep up the good work!
Thx Mara, your work is great, congratulations...
wow ! Great stuff Mara !!
I am amazed on the work you did !
What I like about your dashboard
1. The first impression is the colors used. Very smart use of colors that matches each other, easy on the eye - make people wants to find out more !
2. Clear message shown for the tweetboard for Quick overview on the state of situation.
3. Use of creative titles for your charts "Information Desk".
4. Clear and uncluttered charts. Gives reader a clear perspective with good use of charts colors too.
5. Good use of Legend to describe what color meant "Highest Sales out of the three months"
6. Of course, good use of Check boxes and Slider bar to offer interactiveness on your charts.
Suggestions
1. You may want to consider formatting your Y and X axis labels to show thousands, in $500K format instead of $500,000, so you can even made your chart look much neater.
2. Budget Variant Chart - This one is special...I took a second look and try to understand it. I am not sure if this is the best chart to visualize Sales VS Budget and Variances. And the Variance of 16.19% is positive, so u may want to use conditional formatting to make it green color, red if negative.
Overall is Great Work and Great Effort !!! Keep it up and I am so proud of you !
Francis Chin
http://www.francischin.com
Great Work Maya, just wondering if "5" Scrollable list of various gift shop items, can compare the previous 2 and current month selected in the above picklist, just one more suggestion if we can use top 5 gift category by using donut and bar mix chart to show sales mix for different months
Chandoo I would like to thank you for posting such helpful tricks for creating dashboards, I have learned a lot from your KPI Dashboard demo, I have created one dashboard to compare performce of Sales Associates, thaks a lot again
Thanks for the idea! Great job! You are giving me a lot of inspiratons!
Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I'm such a novice at this so I was so grateful for Chandoo's class and for everyone who submits ideas on his blog.
Francis: Thanks so much for your comments. You're an inspiration. For the budget variance chart, I actually got that idea from one of Chandoo's post on budget vs actual. There was one that was simple and easy to read so I learned how to do that and made it dynamic. I'm open to any other ideas you have for budget vs actual. I'm always looking for ways to improve.
Sabrina: Thank you for you for your suggestion on the top 5.
Dear Mara,
Great work.
But i one suggestion regarding the INFORMATION DESK graph is consist of month but which year it belong is not there if it would be there it would be great.
Warm Regards
Bhushan Sabbani
+91 98208 26012
Thanks for this idea... Great Stuff !!
Excellent dashboard Mara.
The best I like about the dashboard is the choice of colors. They are cool and not distracting. Thanks for sharing the file.
@Chandoo
Thanks for the dashboard week Chandoo. I am learnt a lot in the last 2 days. I am excited over the next 3 days! 🙂
Regards,
Ravi.
Great work Mara ! Thanks for sharing .
Mara, I liked the line, "Need to be more helpful." Our government needs to print this line, laminate it and post it in all government offices for the staff to see.
Hi there, i have been recently visiting this blog it is really great, the best one for Excel, wish Chandoo great success ahead.
I have one query, if you protect the data sheet the chart with the checkbox gives and error saying the data is protected and cannot be modified, is there a way around. This is cause if we want to publish this to someone who should only see it and do no changes to the data, is it possible please guide.
This could be a silly but bear me i am novice to excel 🙂
Thanks.
nice work.
inspired me a lot, working on few dashboard projects...
[...] Customer Service Dashboard in Excel 14,326 [...]
[...] Customer Service Dashboard Example [...]
dear mara
looks great .any reason why you have not used the bullet chart for the actual vs target chart.on the whole it is simple and elegant .jay.
Dear Chandoo,
The word Dashboard in the heading is misspelt.
Wow. Very Nice work Mara. Next week I am going to take the Course, I will try to post my work here.
Thank you so much for your helpful blog. Always appreciated your tips and tricks.
I am proud that you belongs to our Vizag City.
The above comment, I forgot mentioned about Chandoo, those two paras is about Chandoo. 😀
Thank you Mara!
Thx Mara, your work is great, congratulations…
Great Work Mara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Chandoo,
I had been following your blogs for tips and tricks on excel. I am working with Media agency and we collect the data. Now this data has several parameters based on several legends. For eg Class A - legend color red, classB - legend color green and so on. Class A has several characteristics and parameters and heading etc. Now everytime we gather data and make pivot then based on the data in the pilot tables - top 10 we need to insert those in charts manually and also need to change the colors of legends and also. We create nearly 300 slides every month sector wise and it takes nearly our 4-5 days in doing that. Do you have any sample dashboard which will be helpfull to us and we can create it in a day.
Thanks really amazing one,
it helped me in desgining OTACE report
Regards
Gowravan M
9980651792
Awesome Job done here .............
very good master piece but wont to know if you can design KPI's for a financial institution. Thank you
I need help to make performance for our company
we have about 10 products from 5 years old