All articles with 'Learn Excel' Tag

In this post we are going to look at a simple example of the VBA behind the Dynamic Dashboard. Essentially we will learn to write macros for doing this. Read the rest of this post to find code samples and downloadable files to play with.

This is continuation of our earlier post Preparing Quarterly and Half yearly P&L using grouping option. You can also do budget v/s actual comparison using Pivot Tables. For this we will use calculated items feature of Excel PivotTables.

To begin, we have to add one more column to our data. I have added column Data Source to the end of data table. Existing data is marked as Actual and I have added more data rows which are marked as Budget. You can download new file with updated data and basic Pivot P&L.

Bar chart or Line? Scatter plot or box plot? These are the questions we ask ourselves when we set out to make a chart. Because, “Selecting right chart for our data” is very important to tell our story.

In this article, we will learn how to “select the right chart” based on our data and situation.

These days I rarely use Excel 2003. But when I do open the trusty old software, I always look for opportunities to improve my productivity with it. And I am pleasantly surprised to find a shorter and faster way to turn off grid lines on spreadsheets in Excel 2003. (I like my spreadsheets without any […]

Remember Excel School? It was all I talked about between Jan last week and middle of Feb. Then as if someone has pressed mute button, there was not even a single mention about the school. So I thought, why not give you all an update on Excel School and tell you how the classes are […]

In a follow up to last week’s how to visualize survey data in excel, we will explore how you can create an incell dot plot panel chart. Please follow the links in the article to get more commentary and insights from established persona in the visualization world (including Stephen Few, Naomi, Jon etc.)

We all know that legend can be added to a chart to provide useful information, color codes etc.

Today we will learn how to make the chart legends smarter so that they provide more meaning and context to the chart, like this:

This type of legend can be more useful than a plain legend as this provides more useful information without taking up too much space.

Sometimes we think there is very little we can improve in something and then we come across an idea that would change our perceptions. I have been writing excel formulas for such a long time that it was easier to remember when I first shaved than when I first wrote a formula. (may be, because […]

Often when we are making spreadsheets for forecasting or planning we would like to keep the starting month dynamic so that rest of the months in the plan can automatically rolled. Don’t understand? See this example: This type of setup is quite useful as it lets us change the starting month very easily. We can […]

It is Easter Time again. Although I am not in Scandinavia (where Easter is a big thing) any more, we have a rather biggish family gathering here at PHD household during this weekend. We are also having anna prashanam for the little ones. It is the ceremony we do in India when kids eat rice […]

A panel chart (often called as trellis display or small-multiples) shows data for multiple variables in an easy to digest format. It lets users compare in any way and draw conclusions with ease.

Today, I want to discuss how the principles of panel chart can be applied to visualize a complex set of survey results. For this we will use the recent survey conducted by Gartner on how various customers use BI (Business Intelligence) tools.

Francis J Hayes runs probably one of the most popular excel news letters. His email newsletter, called as “The Excel Addict” has an interesting nugget, tip or trick every week. I have been reading his emails for the last few months and I really enjoy them. So naturally I got curious when I heard about Francis’ e-book titled “101 Secrets of a Microsoft Excel Addict“. Yesterday I purchased a copy of the book and there are so many hidden gems in the book that I had to tell you about it.

In part 2 of Excel Dynamic Dashboard Tutorial, we will learn how to set up various dynamic charts that are part of the dashboard. We start with a simple dynamic pie chart that shows the sales distributions and then move on to sales trend line charts. These charts use various excel formulas to pull in the information based on user selection.

Let us start the week with a simple formula (well, to be fair, let us start the week with a strong cup of coffee, then this formula).

Often when we have large data sets, we apply data filters to select and display only information we want to see.

Some of you know that whenever we apply filters on a dataset, we can look at status bar area to find out if any filter is applied on the current worksheet.

But, what if you need a way to show “filtering” status thru formulas? Like this…,

It is Friday again, time for another poll on PHD. This time, we will keep it very simple. I want to know what you use excel for? I use excel for, Preparing dashboards, reports, automation solutions for my clients Making invoices, estimates, plans for my projects Tracking various project activities (bugs, issues, changes, requirements etc.) […]