Every day in just about every business, someone has been given the task of doing something with Excel. It can be compiling sales information, or finding a way of tracking data, such as employee timesheets.
In some businesses, Excel is the only tool used for automating data capture and reporting. In other businesses, spreadsheets are used to fill in the gaps left by an off-the-shelf piece of software. Much off-the-shelf software leaves a business with extra manual work to do to get data presented in a meaningful way.
Many of us have had to learn some Excel programming along the way. However, it is an incomplete education. We can generate graphs from data, or perform some simple arithmetic calculations, such as summing a column. But, what do you do when you want to go up to the next level and make a tool which will record data as well as display it?
There are many sites online which can help you with specific actions on Excel, such as Vlookup. Vlookup allows you to cross-reference two columns of data. For instance, if you had a list of clients and then a list of sales. Vlookup means that you can cross-reference these two tables. This gives you a compiled list of clients and their sales. From there you can sum the information for each client and end up with monthly or yearly reports on which customers and clients are placing how many orders with you.
Again, however, this is about how to take data and manipulate it manually. Essentially, you are filling in the gaps left by other processes. In the ideal setup, particularly bespoke software, you would not need to go through these lengthy and difficult procedures to generate the information you were wanting all along.
Some sites however try to help you view Excel from a real-world business perspective. If you are tasked with calculating figures with or without VAT, you could search the net to find the formula required. Transfer this to your own spreadsheet, figure out how to lay it out in the most efficient way for your needs, and then put it all together.
To save yourself the most time and get the best results, I recommend that you search the internet for spreadsheets which already perform a specific business function, rather than searching for specific Excel functions and building the spreadsheet yourself. Admittedly, you may learn more about Excel this way, but is that the most productive way to spend time?
Downloading one of these professionally prepared, and free, spreadsheets will save you countless hours and frustration.
Franc Sutherland is the founder of Working Data. Founded in 2005, Working Data have developed an extensive library of free business spreadsheet tools for download with full explanations and help.
Browse our Free Spreadsheet Resource and please suggest any new spreadsheets for free download.
If you want to bypass spreadsheets completely and let your computer do ALL the work for you, find out more about Bespoke Business Software.
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