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Analyzing Data Using PivotTable

The document discusses how to use pivot tables to analyze and summarize data. It covers topics like asking questions of the data, manipulating pivot tables to get different views and answers, and using features like filters to focus on specific areas. Pivot tables enable exploring relationships in data and gaining insights more quickly than manually analyzing spreadsheets.

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62 views

Analyzing Data Using PivotTable

The document discusses how to use pivot tables to analyze and summarize data. It covers topics like asking questions of the data, manipulating pivot tables to get different views and answers, and using features like filters to focus on specific areas. Pivot tables enable exploring relationships in data and gaining insights more quickly than manually analyzing spreadsheets.

Uploaded by

[email protected]
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MODULE OBJECTIVE

This module will cover the following topics for PivotTable

 Introduction To PivotTable

 Manipulating The PivotTable


MAKE YOUR DATA WORK FOR
YOU

1. Make Your Data Work for You

1.1 Maximize the Power of PivotTable

PivotTable enable you to create new views of worksheet data in seconds, revealing the
value behind the numbers. Before we proceed with the lessons, let’s look into these
situations:

1. Are you swarmed by the mountains of data you have?


2. Do you want to see trends and patterns at glance?
3. Your bosses want answers quickly from your mountain of data and each of them
want something different out of those numbers.

If you have ever been in any of these situations, the PivotTable reports are just the right
thing for you to explore. In this course, you will learn how beneficial PivotTable reports are
and how you can actually create one with ease.

Figure 1: Getting Confused on How to Present the Data?

1.2 Ask the Questions

Instead of just having one way of presenting your data, each PivotTable report gives you
a different view of the same numbers. This allows you to answer questions on the spot
regarding the figures and be able to customize each report to suite your purpose. To
compare facts and t find their meanings, you may begin by asking a few questions. For
example:

1. Do you need to know sales total by region, by salesperson, by quarter or by


month?
2. Would your business do better if your best people sold only top products? Or
would that mean whole product lines with no revenue?

Once you have your questions ready, Excel makes it easy to get the answers.

1.3 Get the Answers

Creating a PivotTable report is about moving pieces of information around to see how
they fit together. If you are not satisfied the first report, you may rearrange the data rows
and columns to get a different view.

There is no need to worry about losing the numbers either. If you think you have arranged
the report in the ‘wrong’ way, then you may move the data around again.

For example you can quickly move from a report that list sales by each sales person to a
report listing sales by product or even rank sales person by their order amounts. This is
shown in the next figure.

Figure 2: Answer Different Questions by Arranging Different PivotTable


A QUICK TOUR

2. A Quick Tour

2.1 Determine What You Want To Know

Imagine you are looking at the sales figure in your Excel worksheet; there are hundreds of
rows of raw data listed by salesperson, products and order amount. How would you make
the data more usable?

Firstly you would start by asking yourself what is actually you want to know. For example:

 How much has each salesperson sold?


 What are the sales amounts by products?

When you are ready to get the answers, you will begin with the PivotTable.

2.2 The Source Data

Before starting the PivotTable wizard, you must ensure the following rules to be followed:

1. Data must be as raw as possible.


2. You must avoid formulas in the source data.
3. All numbers should not have alphabets.
4. No empty line is allowed between the rows and columns.
5. There is a row heading for each column. These headings will be the fields that you
can drag and drop onto the PivotTable layout area.
6. Each column should contain only one kind of data. For example, text and numeric
values should be in different columns.
7. Automatic subtotals and grand totals (created with the Subtotals command) should
be removed. PivotTable will automatically create subtotals and grand totals.

2.3 Starting the PivotTable

You are now about to start with the PivotTable. Please open the exercise file
PivotCh2.xlsx. To start the PivotTable wizard:

1. Click anywhere in the data.


2. Choose PivotTable command from the Insert Tab. The Create PivotTable dialog
box is displayed.
3. Click the OK button.

By clicking the OK, we are telling the wizard to use the default settings. By default, the
wizard will use all the data in Excel list and place the PivotTable layout on a new
worksheet. Please refer to the next two (2) figures for above steps.

Figure 3: Starting Pivot Table

2. Choose PivotTable
command from the Insert Tab

1. Click anywhere in
the data
Figure 4: The Create PivotTable dialog box

3. Click OK

What we now have are:

1. PivotTable Field List: This shows the column heading of our data.
2. PivotTable layout area : Where the pivot table is displayed.
3. PivotTable Tools: We create a PivotTable by ticking the check boxes in field list.

Figure 5: The PivotTable Layout

PivotTable
Tools

PivotTable Field
List
PivotTable
Layout Area
2.4 The PivotTable Report

Now let us take a look into our PivotTable report. There are areas that we need to get
familiar with.

Figure 6: The PivotTable Report Areas

Fields are in
bold,
indicating that
they are in the
PivotTable
report.

Report Report Filter


FromValue
Figure 6, theFilter
PivotTable Report shows a list of all the salespeople and the total
Items
amountsof orders they have
Field placed. While the PivotTable Field List shows all the fields.
FieldsField
displayed in bold are already included in the PivotTable report.
Row
The PivotTable
Label areas descriptions are as follow:

Table 1: PivotTable Areas Descriptions


Row
Area
Label Description Field
Items Displays data vertically – one item per row Salesperson
Row Labels
field
Displays data horizontally – one item in No action
Column Labels
each column required
Displays data as if the data were on Product Field
Report Filter
separate pages
Values Area
It is compulsory to specify a field here. Data Order amount
Values is sumamrized here (e.g.: added, counted)
and therefore numbers are often
2.5 Viewing Our Data Differently

Now we will learn how to filter our report to display only selected items. To see order
amount of Books only:

1. Click on the Product drop down list


2. Select the item- Books
3. Click OK

Follow the next figure to view the order amount of Books only.

Figure 7: How to view selected item in the PivotTable report

1. Click on the Product


drop down list

2. Select the item- Books

The PivotTable report will be changed to display the next result in the next figure:

Figure 8: View the result for item- Books

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