Employee training tracker & calendar – tutorial & download

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Imagine you are the head of training department at ACME Inc. You arrange training programs round the year to empower your team. It is hard work, coordinating between employees, trainers, department heads, venues and coffee machines. What if there is something to help you keep track of all this? I am not talking about getting you a shiny new iPad, you silly. I am talking about a tracker & calendar built in Excel that ties everything together (well, almost everything, you still have to fill the coffee machine.)

This is what we are going to build:

training-calendar-view

Please watch this 8 minute video before moving on. It explains how the workbook is setup and what it does.

[Watch this video on Chandoo.org YouTube channel]

Employee training tracker & calendar – how is it made?

Step 1: Get the data

The first step is to figure out what types of data we need. At the very least, we need 3 sets of data:

  • A list of people
  • A list of training courses

Let’s assume our data looks like this:

training-tracker-data-people

training-tracker-data-courses

All of this data is maintained in Excel tables (named people and courses)

Step 2: Set up a tracker to assign people to training programs

Once we have all the data, we can create a tracker (another Excel table). This allows us to map people to various courses.

Error checking at tracker level:

When you map people to training courses, there are 3 possibilities:

  1. The mapping could be duplicate
  2. The course is over capacity
  3. The mapping is OK

We can use conditional formatting to show these errorsin the tracker so that users will know if everything is ok or not.

We end up with something like this:

training-tracker

Step 3: Design calendar view on paper

We need to define goals for calendar view. Let’s say the calendar view should answer these questions:

  • What courses are happening right now (3 month window)
  • How many people have attended the courses?
  • What is the total cost
  • What is the feedback rating of the courses?
  • Show summaries for individual departments or all

Next step is to sketch the calendar view. Here is what I came up with.

training-tracker-calendar-view-mockup

Step 4: Set up slicer & scroll bar form control

Using the instructions in introduction to slicers and introduction to form controls, we set up a slicer on department and a scroll bar to select month.

Step 5: Calculate all the necessary values for calendar view

This is the engine of our calendar view. There are a lot of calculations that go in to showing  various summaries and monthly values. Explaining all of them will take forever. Instead, let me summarize the key techniques.

Once the calculations are ready, we move to next step.

Step 6: Plug the values in to Calendar view and format

One all the values are loaded to calendar view (thru linked cells, of course), we need to format.

  • Use conditional formatting to show borders, fill colors only if a cell has value
  • Use conditional formatting to change the color of star rating depending on the slicer selection.
  • Set header portion apart with colors and spacer rows.
  • Clean up and hide un-necessary stuff.

And the calendar view is ready.

training-calendar-view

Download Training Tracker & Calendar workbook

Click here to download the training tracker & calendar workbook. Play with the calendar view, Examine the formulas in hidden Calc worksheet and change inputs to learn more.

Of course, it’s not that simple.

I have summarized only the key steps. The actual process of making this calendar is a bit more lengthy and time consuming.

To learn more about how this dashboard is made, consider enrolling in our Excel School + Dashboards online course.

This workbook & detailed tutorial (45 mins) is now part of Excel School videos.

full-video-training-tracker-calendar

Please click here to know more about the Excel School program and enroll.

More Excel dashboards & trackers for you

If you manage staff then you would love these additional resources.

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27 Responses to “How to Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks?”

  1. Vlad says:

    Thank you!!
    The trick is to get that URL for video. Some videos have this feature disabled... hmm...

  2. Fred says:

    very cool. how did you record what you do on Excel? it didn't seem like you was using a camcorders.

  3. Robert says:

    This is a great tip. Is it possible to insert a PDF on an excel worksheet? I usually receive quotations in pdf format, and would like to show the quote on a worksheet, rather than using hyperlinks. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

  4. Gregory says:

    Your instructions didn't work for me, ether in Excel 2010 or 2007, and I tried several times, following the instructions very carefully and to the letter.

    What I found out is that, for some odd reason, copying the YouTube URL then adding the ?fs=1&hl=en_US to the end would not work at all for me.

    But if I went to the Embed code in YouTube and copied value parameter (minus quotes) and pasted it into the movie property, the movie would play. The Embed code value parameter includes the link and the extra bit you included at the end. No need to copy that as an extra step.

    • West says:

      Best feedback on here. Worked like a charm after removing extra YT code. Thanks..

    • Sonu says:

      @Gregory,
      Thanks your instructions.
      I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
       
      Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
       
      Regards
      Sonu Monga
      A Chartered Accountant
       

      • HARSHUL says:

        If you are using excel 2010 or higher. then there is nothing like Shockwave flash player.
        In that case you have to use windows media player.
        There is a control naming Windows Media Player in that list.
        Insert that contol and then open properties and insert link in URL.
        It will work.

    • Sonu says:

      @Gregory,
      Thanks your instructions.
      I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
       
      Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
       
      Regards
      Sonu Monga
      Chartered Accountant

  5. vlad says:

    It wouldn't play because you need to indicate the exact location of flash file....by 'Embedding' the file, you get the the exact URL, so it can be played....some videos can't be 'embedded' that's why it won't work....

  6. Jason says:

    My developer tools does not list a control for "Shockwave flash object". Where/How do I find it?

  7. modeste says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    why don't use OCX Window media player ???
    you can play your own local video or music
    just indicate exact location (Full path or URL)
    i.e :
    C:\Users\Public\Music\Sample Music\Kalimba.mp3
    C:\Users\Public\Videos\Sample Videos\Wildlife.wmv

    with macro and userform :
    Sub PlayMedia()
    On Error Resume Next
    UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = ThisWorkbook.Path & "/" & ActiveCell.Value
    ' ----- or
    ' ----- UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = Exact location
    End Sub

  8. Very cool. I also could not get the instructions to work, but was able to use Gregory's suggestion about the embed code. Thanks for posting!

  9. Maria says:

    Thanks Chandoo. This is very cool. I was able to make it work using the embed code copying from http: up to _US as you indicated. This is a great way to provide additional training or message as you package your deliverable.

  10. [...] Trying to become a bit flashier with your dashboards? Maybe you’re just looking to include additional material. Take a look at this quick tool to embed YouTube videos in excel workbooks. [...]

  11. Clarity says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    Excellent tip. Very useful.

    Is there anyway to link the path in the properties to a cell value so that the user can select the video from a drop down and then have the video play?

  12. Nav says:

    nothing happend in Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks, it shows only white blank screen.

  13. nihal says:

    Hi Chandoo, How Do I put more than one URL in movie field?

  14. Steve says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    very good tip.
    But how do I start the embeded video in an xlsm file once the tab is selected or through VBA programming?
    Appreciating your answer
    Steve

  15. KAMALAKAR says:

    Query:
    I have created 4 sheets excel file, but when i print this file to PDF it generates two sheets one PDF and two Sheets one PDF … can i know the setting which i had to change. because i want all 4 sheets in one PDF
    while Printing i did setting as "Print Entire Workbook"
    Awaiting for your reply.

  16. Brent says:

    Help!! THis works great, but I'm trying to use VBA to change the URL, which I can do. The problem I am having is getting it to play via VBA.

    The object has both .play and .playing = true properties, but neither will actually play the video after updating the .movie url. The correct video appears within the object, but I can't get it to play from VBA... which I really need it to do.. Thoughts?

  17. biljo says:

    Hello

    Go to Developerr tab and select more control then find windows media player just click it.

    after that you have to right click on the embeded object and select properties there you need to add your video file path.(dont forget to include extension like .avi, .mov etc.) in URL field. Then Press Alt+11 and deselct design mode. Once you close the module your video start playing.....

  18. Rob G says:

    For the life of me, I cannot get this to work. I have followed Chandoos instructions to the letter and also tried using the embed code as Gregory suggested, all I get is a blank white box where the video should be. Is there any other reason that this might not work? Flash version perhaps? Quite frustrating.

  19. Mark says:

    Hi I was wondering if was a way after adding a video if one could save to HTML format and it would work?

  20. Yatin says:

    Hi Chandoo,
    This is very helpful, however, is there a way to auto-play the embedded youtube video as soon as somebody opens the excel file? Can you share the macro for the same?

  21. nonsofar13 says:

    Hi,

    Very cool, how is it possible to start automatically the video when the excel sheet is open?

    I would like to start the video when i open the worksheet :).

    Best regards.

  22. Yasser says:

    Hello
    When trying this method, I got Flash-embedded videos are no longer supported. Is there a solution for this problem?

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