Let’s try something different. I will share a data analytics challenge here. Post your solutions in the comments.
Our first challenge involves Employee Data Analysis. You can score maximum of 35 points.
Imagine you have employee data in this “staff” table (in Excel / Power BI / SQL / Python or whatever tool you fancy)
Download sample data file (it has all the 28 employees) or use the below CSV.
Emp ID Name Reports to
TO-0002 Jim Halpert TO-0007
TO-0004 Pam Beesly TO-0015
TO-0007 Michael Scott TO-0067
TO-0009 Erin Hannon TO-0004
TO-0010 Jan Levinson TO-0067
TO-0013 Karen Filippelli TO-0076
TO-0015 Dwight Schrute TO-0007
TO-0018 Andy Bernard TO-0002
TO-0021 Cathy Simms TO-0002
TO-0024 Kevin Malone TO-0035
TO-0028 Creed Bratton TO-0007
TO-0030 Toby Flenderson TO-0067
TO-0031 Kelly Kapoor TO-0028
TO-0033 Robert California TO-0067
TO-0035 Angela Martin TO-0007
TO-0039 Stanley Hudson TO-0007
TO-0043 Ryan Howard TO-0031
TO-0046 Oscar Martinez TO-0035
TO-0050 Meredith Palmer TO-0028
TO-0051 Gabe Lewis TO-0072
TO-0055 Phyllis Vance TO-0030
TO-0059 Roy Anderson TO-0004
TO-0063 Nellie Bertram TO-0030
TO-0066 Darryl Philbin TO-0039
TO-0067 David Wallace TO-0072
TO-0068 Pete Miller TO-0015
TO-0072 Jo Bennet
TO-0076 Todd Parker TO-0002
1. How many people are directly reporting to my boss? (5pts)
The first question is simple. For a given employee ID (say TO-0021, Cathy Simms), how many people are directly reporting to their boss (TO-0002, Jim Halpert)? The answer should be 3.
Write the necessary Excel formula / DAX / Power Query / SQL or Python code to find the answer.
2. Who is my boss’s boss? (10pts)
We are going to level up. For a given employee ID (say TO-0021, Cathy Simms), find out their boss’s boss. The answer should be TO-0007, Michael Scott.
3. What is my reporting chain? (Score=20pts)
For a given employee (say TO-0021, Cathy Simms), print their entire reporting chain, delimited by the symbol ->.
Expected Answer is:
Cathy->Jim->Michael->David->Jo
Note: You may assume a maximum depth of 7 nodes if that helps.
Download Sample File
Grab the sample data file (Excel format) here. Use it to solve the problems. Alternatively, I have pasted the data above. Copy it and paste it in Python or SQL.
Post your answers below.
Leave a comment with your solutions / approach. All the best
Want more?
Check out my Excel Homework Tag page for more challenges and problems.
17 Responses to “Custom Number Formats – Colors”
You are right, Chandoo. I was playing with the colour numbers last week and some of them don't appear different from each other. Others are totally different from yours.
@Duncan
Each version of Excel, post 2003, renders colors slightly differently
Different language versions may also have different default color palettes
Hello in french
excel 2010
colo1 = couleur1 = black
[couleur1]; [couleur2]; etc..
@Hui, thank you very much again for this great post.
However - under Excel 2007, Hungarian version your solution does not work with color names. I've tried both English and Hungarian names, but drops an error message "not valid formats"
Do you have any idea how to solve this issue?
thanks in advance
@Andras
Without a Hungarian version of Excel 2003 I don't think I can assist
Have you tried using the colour numbers? I couldn't get the names to work (despite using an english version of excel). but it did work with the numbers though. I left out the "u" and was easily able to produce burgundy using [color9]
Here a possible solution: find an English version of Excel, write there the formats using English names, then open the file in the Hungarian version and see the translation.
In Excel 2007 I can't get the colour names to work e.g Sea Green but the numbers do e.g color3 - colour3 does not work so I must bow to the country that has stolen my language (ha ha!)
Hey chandoo, nice Tip!
Wouldn't be easier just apply some conditional formatting for negative numbers and another for positive numbers? Or there's some cases that you can't do that?
Unfortunately the TEXT function doesn't color the cell as number formatting does.
Hi Hui,
Great post Sir, love the new way of formatting with color numbers.
I am using 2007, and it leads me to the last color number 56.
Thanks Hui.
[…] explains how to set up custom number formats with a wide array of […]
Thanks Hui - works a treat!
Thank you, very helpful.
Trying to figure out if it is possible to apply color only to a part of the cell?
E.g. I have a value formatted as Accounting with a currency symbol.
Those I find somewhat distracting though necessary. If I could make them less obtrusive by coloring them gray while the number would stay black, that would be great. Tried tinkering with the format string, but didn't get the desired result. Single color for complete cell value works, but coloring just part of it could not be achieved. Maybe somebody managed that?
Exactly what I was looking for - thank you!
colour in the Australian doesn't work - we have to go American and no problem.
I always thought is was 56 colours notice you have 57. Cool.
thanks
Analir Pisani
Customised Microsoft Office Training Specialist
Sydney - Australia
http://www.azsolutions.com.au
Thank You!