VLOOKUP is one of the most useful Excel functions. So much so that I even wrote a book about it. But it has one serious limitation.
It looks up the first occurrence and returns corresponding data.
What if you want to find the last value?
Say, for example, you are looking at a task assignment list and want to know what is the last task assigned to employee Emp13?
We want to extract the task “Make amazing workbook”. Of course our good old VLOOKUP stops once it finds Emp13 and returns the answer as “Create intuitive workbook”.
Let’s learn the formulas required to lookup last value.
VLOOKUP last value
Although I said VLOOKUP last value, we can’t use VLOOKUP formula to do this. Not unless we add a helper column to the original data (or come up with a long array formula version of VLOOKUP). So, instead we are going to use other Excel formulas to find the answer.
2 parts of the problem
There are 2 parts of the find last value problem.
- Find the position of last occurrence of given employee (for ex. Emp13’s position would be 5
- Return corresponding details (task description, due date or completion status)
Let’s attack each part.
1. Finding the last occurrence position
First take a look at the array formula.
=MAX(ROW(tasks[Employee])*(tasks[Employee]=lookup.value)) - ROW(tasks[[#Headers]])
Remember to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter after typing this.
This array formula returns the position of lookup.value in the list.
How does this formula work?
Let’s go inside out.
(tasks[Employee]=lookup.value) portion:
This will return a bunch of TRUE / FALSE values by checking each item of tasks[Employee] list against lookup.value.
For lookup.value=Emp13, we get below array:
{FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE; FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE; FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE; FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}
ROW(tasks[Employee]) portion:
This will return a bunch of running numbers starting with row number of first item in the tasks[Employee] list.
For our data, we get this:
{5;6;7;8;9;10;11;12;13;14;15;16;17;18;19;20;21;22;23;24;25;26;27;28;29;30;31;32;33;34}
ROW(tasks[Employee])*(tasks[Employee]=lookup.value) portion:
This just multiplies the row number array with boolean values, returning an array with 0s for all row numbers except where we have lookup.value as Employee. For lookup.value=Emp13, we get this:
{0;0;0;8;9;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0}
MAX (ROW(..) * (...)) portion:
This will tell us the maximum row number where lookup.value occurs in tasks[Employee] list.
So we get 9 as answer.
MAX (...) - ROW(tasks[[#Headers]]) portion:
As our data doesn’t begin on row 1, we need to subtract the header row position from MAX(…) result. To get the header row number, we are using ROW(tasks[#Headers])
In the end we get the result as 5.
Let’s assume this result is in a cell named last.lookup
2. Return corresponding details
Now that we know the position of last lookup value, we can use INDEX formula to get corresponding details.
So to get the task description, we can use =INDEX(tasks[Task], last.lookup)
And to get the due date, we can use =INDEX(tasks[Due by date],last.lookup)
A twist – VLOOKUP latest value
Now, time for a twist. What if you want to find the latest value by looking at another column like Due by date. In other words, we want to find the latest task for Emp13.
That is your homework. Go ahead and figure out the formula. Once you have answer, post it in comments.
Download VLOOKUP last value example workbook
Please click here to download VLOOKUP last value example workbook. Examine the formulas to understand this technique.
PS: You can find one solution for this problem in downloadable workbook.
24 Responses to “Free Excel Risk Map Template”
Why didn't you include the mitigation or risk IDs in the chart?
You can easily add such detail by modifying the TEXTJOIN function. Another way to use them is to add a slicer to highlight all risks that have a specific mitigation strategy or team member assigned to them. I left out those bits fto keep the article short.
I tried adding a slicer filter for the mitigation step but the TEXTJOIN is not affected by it. I added a helper column called "Visible" using the AGGREGATE function but I am unable to think of a method to pass that on to the map.
Could you please help, Chandoo?
Thanks
Never mind. I got it working. 🙂
Apologies, I didn't thank you for the file to begin with.
Great concept. thanks!
Awesome.. good to hear that Rajesh and of course you are welcome 🙂
Hello everyone,
Another amazing tutorial, great content and tips! My question is about slicers. How do you add slicers to this matrix? I've added 2 columns in my workbook table (Work Stream and Project Name) and I want to be able to filter (slice) the matrix on Project Name, but having some trouble with this. The slicer works fine in the data table, but how do I connect it to the risk matrix, so that only risk titles show up for the selected project?
Many thanks in advance for your guidance,
MyvJ
Can you create a sheet in live stock market data price change with profit and loss graph with time. which could indicate live profit and loss in each time frame 5minute, 10 minute, 15 minute, 30minute, hourly with some modifications
Hi
I've tried to get your formula to work, but likelihood / impact 1/1 does not seem to work.
Hi Chandoo
Awesome instructions! Thank you so much, this really helped me.
I was wondering if it would be possible to list the Risk ID number along with the Risk Title with a dash in between, rather than a bullet point? I have had a try at this but I keep getting a #VALUE error. I can see it's wrong but can't figure out what it should be instead. If you have time do you mind letting me know what I'm doing wrong?
{=" - " & TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&" - ",TRUE,
IF(RiskRegister[Likelihood]=$A17,IF(RiskRegister[Consequence]=F$3,CONCAT(RiskRegister[ID],RiskRegister[Risk Title]),""),""))}
Thank you!
Sally
Hey Sally, You are welcome.
I think the CONCAT inside TEXTJOIN is the culprit. Try this and hopefully you should see the ID too.
{=" - " & TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&" - ",TRUE,
IF(RiskRegister[Likelihood]=$A17,IF(RiskRegister[Consequence]=F$3,RiskRegister[ID]&RiskRegister[Risk Title],""),""))}
Hi Chandoo
You're a legend! Thank you so much! I had to make a minor tweak but otherwise it worked perfectly. Here is the tweaked version in case it helps anyone else:
=TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10),TRUE,
IF(RiskRegister[Likelihood]=$A8,IF(RiskRegister[Consequence]=C$3,RiskRegister[ID]&" - "&RiskRegister[Risk Title],""),""))
Thank you again!
Hi, Im not able to change the formula when trying to add risk Id instead of bullet point.
trying this: ="• "&TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&"• ";TRUE;IF(risks[Probability of Occurance *]=$C5;IF(risks[Severity of potential Impact *]=H$8;risks[Risk ID]&". "[Title *];"");""))
Cant see any solution on this.
thankful for help
Hi Chandoo,
This is perfect - One quick question, How can I add a hyperlink to the risks - So that I can click on the particular risk and it takes me to the actual row of that item.
Many thanks in advance.
HI Chandoo,
Is there a way to only display filtered item. Once the list gets big, it's hard to see all risk.
Kind regards,
SinYen
Hi Chandoo,
Quick question
1) Is there a way to remove duplicates within each risk block?
2) Is there a way to have the results in the chart update based on a filter or slicer?
Thanks a lot
Hi Chandoo,
The risk map is a brilliant tool, and I wanted to the risk map to only show Open risks. How can I do that?
Just found this today as I am making a risk matrix as well. I got the formula to work with this, where a risk score is above 30. Risk score = probability*impact*modifier.
So this works flawlessly, ="- "&TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&"- ",TRUE,IF('Risk tracker'!G4:G27>=30,IF(Table1[Urgency]="Now",'Risk tracker'!A4:A27,""),""))
I am trying to find a range now. Risk score in between 21-29. I tried using the AND function, but I couldnt get it to work. Is there anyway to get this formula to work with a range as mentioned above?
Thanks Eric.
You can't use AND() as it is not able to return arrays. You can try below formula.
="- "&TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&"- ",TRUE,IF(('Risk tracker'!G4:G27>=21)*('Risk tracker'!G4:G27<=29),IF(Table1[Urgency]="Now",'Risk tracker'!A4:A27,""),""))
Hello, this template is nice, thank you but im facing a problem when I need to find a range of impact. I cant figure out how..
My actual form is "="• "&TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10)&"• ";TRUE;IF(Table1[Impact]=A8;Table1[Title];"");"")"
Where A8 is number "1" so this formula finds everything with impact 1 and shows the titles.
What I need to get is a range so,
A8 is "1" and A9 is "2" and I need the formula to find all titles which impact is between 1 and 2.
I tried the AND function and so on, nothing worked..
Can you help me please?
i tried everything in your video in the end i only get the bullet... please guide me through
Sorted it... i was flash filling the other cells and it took other columns...
i do have another question though... how can i use slicers to filter the content of the matrix, so that it'll show only the departments i select?
slicer is working fine with the table, but the matrix still shows all the results
Just want to thank you for this.
It is awesome.
Hello everyone,
I think I accidentally nested my question in another thread. Apologies!
This is another amazing Excel tutorial, with great content and tips! My question is about slicers. How do you add slicers to this matrix? I've added 2 columns in my workbook table (Work Stream and Project Name) and I want to be able to filter (slice) the matrix on Project Name, but having some trouble with this. The slicer works fine for the data table, but how do I connect it to the risk matrix, so that only risk titles show up for the selected project?
Many thanks in advance for your guidance,
MyvJ
This is another amazing Excel tutorial! My question is about slicers. How do you add slicers to this matrix? Please advise