Excel is a software application that is useful for many different things but it is particularly useful for managing, tracking, and analyzing data in a business context.<\/p>\n

In terms of advancing Excel, this is where skills are being used creatively to manipulate data in ways that it was not intended. You\u2019re taking control of Excel. There are tools you can hook into \u2013 Power Query, for example, being able to bring in external data \u2013 but this is where you\u2019re making that data look a bit more meaningful, whether it be with colour schemes or custom formatting.<\/p>\n

1. Organise your spreadsheets<\/h2>\n

Spreadsheets should be error-free and well-maintained if:They are easy to read and understand;They help to avoid mistakes;They avoid wasting time dealing with errors while completing tasks such as accounting, recording of transactions and preparing tax returns.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways of organising is by using Excel\u2019s grouping features which allow you to group points of interest together: \u2022 Cheap \u2022 Expensive \u2022 Mid Range \u2022 By Sector: Finance, Maximum \u2022 Hotels, Restaurants, etc. \u2022 By City: Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, etc. \u2022 Export and Format: Text, Excel, PDF, XSide This process enables you to quickly find data point(s) 0f interest. It\u2019s the best way to organise databases containing lots of information. Gigasheet allows outlining of your worksheet for easy navigating and working across your spreadsheet without getting lost.<\/p>\n

Still another best practice is to use the default text wrap and colour available in Excel to make your worksheets more readable. Make things stand out, but also give the reader a chance to look away from huge numbers of information.<\/p>\n

One final rule of thumb: don\u2019t duplicate your calculations. If two formulas are based on the same data, changing one automatically updated the other. If a formula\u2019s range isn\u2019t unique, you can get an error. Similarly, if one formula adds something that doesn\u2019t need adding, another might subtract what shouldn\u2019t be subtracted. You can solve both these problems by creating a unique name, or splitting a range into smaller ones.<\/p>\n

2. Create a formula tab<\/h2>\n

It may be known for accounting, but Excel has a whole pile of serious computational tools that are just begging to be used by marketers. It takes only a few formulas and gimmicks to crunch numbers, no matter what your key performance numbers are.<\/p>\n

For example, say your marketing department tracks each company\u2019s spending on a spreadsheet: as each department reports in their spending, you detail the summary for each department, including subtotals, for a master total for each company, and you use conditional formatting to highlight, for each year, where there\u2019s an imbalance in the master total. This makes it easy at-a-glance for you and your stakeholders to identify problems, such as missing rows for quarterly spend totals, or even a missing row in the formula that calculated the master total.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you might choose to upload your raw data into another function that would automatically turn it into a table, allowing you to further aggregate your results in a single, more intuitive workflow. Whatever the technology, the result is users who are satisfied with their interaction.<\/p>\n

In addition, you can also make your formula more readable by naming the cells (or cell ranges) you refer to. Referencing a cell or range by name, instead of its coordinates, makes the formula easier for other people who will use the spreadsheet to understand what it is doing. You can create a named range via the Formulas tab > Defined names group or by pressing Ctrl+F3.<\/p>\n

3. Train your staff<\/h2>\n

This is even more important at a time when much of our working lives are shared remotely. This is why during Excel training the right tools and training should be made available to use, particularly for more data-centric skills where you are selecting, filtering and analysing data, as well as Pivot Tables and conditional formatting.<\/p>\n

Acquiring literacy in these features can save laborious steps for staff and ensure they\u2019re working with the most accurate data. Data validation, for instance, sets criteria to prevent you from entering incorrect numbers or dates, and is a useful tool for anyone who enters a significant amount of data.<\/p>\n

In a similar way, the ability to sort data by multiple criteria can be a time saver when creating reports, and minimise slips: it can make a spreadsheet look neater and more professional.<\/p>\n

Further advanced skills might include creating and coding macros (programmes that automate tedious processes) \u2013 a useful remote-working skill that frees up more time to focus on other tasks \u2013 generating charts and graphs from raw data or creating templates for tracking department targets that help to keep staff focused on goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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