CHAPTER 6 TOOLS FOR ANALYTICS-EXCEL

Introduction

Chapter-10 titled ‘Tool for Analytics Excel starts with an overview of Microsoft Excel listing
the uses and the essential functions to analyze data for business analytics, where the
content provides some tips and tricks to work on Excel to save time. Excel is almost a
software that can do not just basic data computations but can perform data analysis. Excel
is a tool used for many purposes including financial modeling and business planning. It is a
good stepping stone to those who are new to the world of business analytics.

Following the introduction, some commonly used functions are discussed such as Vlookup
that helps to search a value in a table and returns a corresponding value, followed by
Lower, Upper and Proper functions that help to change the text to lower, upper, and
sentence case respectively. Then comes the Trim function that is used to clean text that has
leading and trailing white space. Then follows the IF function that lets you use conditional
formulas that calculate one way when a certain thing is true and another way when false.

Next section deals with generating inference from Data using Pivot Table, which is a
summary table that lets you count, average, sum, and perform other calculations according
to the reference feature you have selected, also detailing the methods to create Pivot table;
followed by Charts Creation, that is building a chart/ graph in excel.

The next section talks about Data Cleaning by means of Removing duplicate values, and
Text to Columns. Then follows the Excel Data Analysis Functions using the formulae
Concatenate, LEN, COUNTA, DAYS/NETWORKDAYS, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, VLOOKUP,
FIND/SEARCH, IFERROR, COUNTIFS, LEFT/RIGHT, RANK, MINIFS, MAXIFS, SUMPRODUCT

The next section lists out the essential keyboard shortcuts that paves the way to navigate
cells or enter formulas more quickly. Some of them are: Ctrl +[Down|Up Arrow],
Ctrl with Left|Right Arrow key, Ctrl + Shift + Down/Up Arrow, Ctrl+ Home, Ctrl+End,
Alt+F1, Ctrl+Shift+L, Alt+Down Arrow, Alt+D+S, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+N, F4.

Further, the next Excel tutorial section elaborates on various other functions with practical
examples starting with Excel Objectives, and understand the use of spreadsheets and Excel,
and learn the parts of the Excel window, Scroll through a worksheet and navigate between
worksheets, Create and save a workbook file, Enter text, numbers, and dates into a
worksheet, Resize, insert, and remove columns and rows, Select and move cell ranges,
Insert formulas and functions, Insert, delete, move, and rename worksheets, Work with
editing tools, Preview and print a workbook.

Next section Introduces Microsoft Office Excel as a computer program used to enter,
analyze, and present quantitative data; and a spreadsheet as a collection of text and
numbers laid out in a rectangular grid and further exploring the different features and
description of the Excel window elements.

Further, the following section provides details regarding Navigating a Worksheet using the
Excel navigation keys to do function such as Planning a Workbook, Planning analysis sheet,
Planning Analysis Sheet, Entering Text, Numbers, and Dates in Cells, Entering Multiple Lines
of Text within a Cell, Changing Column Width and Row Height, Changing the Column Width

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 CHAPTER 6 TOOLS FOR ANALYTICS-EXCEL

and Row Height, Inserting a Column or Row, Inserting a Column or Row, Deleting and
Clearing a Row or Column, Working with Cells and Cell Ranges, Selecting Cell Ranges,
Moving or Copying a Cell or Range, Entering a Formula.

Next comes the introducing of functions such as Entering a Function, Entering Functions
with AutoSum, Inserting and Deleting a Worksheet, Renaming a Worksheet, Moving and
Copying a Worksheet, editing Your Work, Using Find and Replace, Using the Spelling
Checker, Changing Worksheet Views, Changing Worksheet Views, Changing Worksheet
Views, Working with Portrait and Landscape Orientation, Printing the Workbook, Viewing
and Printing Worksheet Formulas.

The next section deals with various other features of Excel titled ‘Excel Tutorial 2’ explaining
Formatting a Workbook Objectives, Formatting Workbooks, Formatting Text, Working with
Color, Formatting Text Selections, Setting a Background Image, Formatting Data,
Formatting Dates and Times, Aligning Cell Content, Alignment button functions with
Descriptions such as Indenting Cell Content, Merging Cells, Rotating Cell Content, Working
with the  Format Cells Dialog Box, Applying Styles, Working with Themes, Applying a Table
Style to an Existing Table, Introducing Conditional Formats, Adding Data Bars, Hiding
Worksheet Data, Changing the Page Orientation to Landscape, Defining the Print Area,
Inserting Page Breaks, Setting and Removing Page Breaks, Adding Print Titles, Adding
Headers and Footers, Creating a Series with AutoFill, then talks about Working with Logical
Functions, Working with Date Functions, Working with Financial Functions for loans and
investments with descriptions, Using the PMT Function to Determine a Monthly Loan
Payment.

The last section of this chapter deals with various other features of Excel titled ‘Excel
Tutorial 4’ explaining features to Work with Charts and Graphics, Creating Charts, Selecting
a Data Source, Selecting a Chart Types with descriptions, Moving and Resizing Charts,
Selecting Chart Elements, Choosing a Chart Style and Layout, Working with the Chart Title
and Legend, Working with the Chart Title and Legend, Formatting a Pie Chart, Setting the
Pie Slice Colors, Working with 3D Options, Creating a Column Chart, Creating a Column
Chart, Formatting Column Chart Elements, Formatting the Chart Axes, Creating a Line
Chart, Formatting Date Labels, Setting Label Units, Setting Label Units, Overlaying a
Legend, Adding a Data Series to an Existing Chart, Creating a Combination Chart, Aligning
and Grouping Shapes.

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