PivotTable Lab Exercise
You will receive sales data in MS Excel (S4_PivotTable.xlsx). Then, you have to
make a PivotTable and analyse the data.
Questions:
1. Who are the best customers in 2012 and 2013?
For 2012, the best customers were Direx, K-Trade, MKC and Private
For 2013, these are Direx, MKC, Indigo Music and K-Trade
2. What are the best products in 2011 and 2014?
For 2011, the best product was PINNACLE Set PCTV Pro PAL-BG sold in the quantity of
812.
For 2014, the best product was sold in the quantity of 4 159. The name of the product’s
PINNACLE Remote Controller for PCTV Remote Kit Gr
3. Do you have enough of the right products and services to support the demand you
are looking to serve?
For the tuner category, we observed gradual increase and follow decrease in relation
for some of the products. however, we are not in position to affirm definitively whether this
is due to shortages of stock and capacity or due to declining demand.s
4. Describe the sales results in 2015.
Increase in most of the sales categories except for the tunors, video-editing and sound
cards
How to make a PivotTable
Each column has a unique name and there are no empty rows or columns.
For Data Analysis we will use PivotTables application. PivotTables have useful applications in many
areas, including finance, sales, marketing, manufacturing, education, quality assurance, customer support,
information technology, engineering, and more.
To create a PivotTable, just select any cell in the source data. Then, on the Insert tab of the ribbon,
click the PivotTable button.
In the Create PivotTable dialog box, make sure the range matches your data.
Then click OK to place a PivotTable in a new worksheet.
You’ll see the empty PivotTable appear in a new worksheet. Just add fields to start analyzing your
data. Here we’ve added the field Product as a Row Label and the field Sales as a Value, which creates an
instant breakdown of sales by product.
Note 1. You can remove the data from a PivotTable
When you’ve created a PivotTable from data in the same worksheet, you can remove the data if you
like and the PivotTable will continue to function. Each PivotTable has a pivot cache that contains an exact
duplicate of the data used to create the PivotTable. Assuming your data is in its own worksheet, first refresh
the PivotTable to make sure the pivot cache is up to date (PivotTable Tools > Refresh).
Then delete the worksheet that contains the data: just right-click, and select Delete.
After you remove the data, you can still work with the PivotTable normally. Here we’ve rearranged
the PivotTable (after removing the data) to show a count of employees by first name.
Note 2. You can group a PivotTable manually
Although PivotTables can automatically group data in many ways, you can also group items
manually. Here’s a PivotTable that shows a breakdown of employees by department.
Suppose you want to group the Engineering, Fulfillment, and Support departments into one group,
and Sales and Marketing into another group? It’s easy. First, select each item in the first group, holding
down the control key to allow multiple selections.
Then right-click one of the items and choose Group from the menu.
You’ll now have your first manual group, automatically named “Group1.”
To finish grouping, select Marketing and Sales in column B, and group them as above.
The result is a PivotTable with two manual groups, as you see below.
Note 3. You can automatically format value fields
Any time you add a value field to a PivotTable, make sure you set the number format on the field
itself. For example, this PivotTable shows a breakdown of sales by Region. By default, values in the Sales
field appear in the General number format.
You could just select the cells in the PivotTable directly and apply a currency format. But a much
better way to set the number format in a value field is to use field settings. To do this, first right-click on the
Sales field and select Value Field Settings from the menu.
Then click the Number Format button and set the format as desired.
In the screen below, Sum of Sales has been formatted using Accounting format and zero decimals.
By setting a number format on the field itself, the number format will be applied consistently to the entire
PivotTable, no matter how much it changes.
Note 4. You can drill down to see the data behind any subtotal
Any time you see a subtotal or grand total in a PivotTable, you can easily get to the exact data that
makes up that value using the “drill down” feature built in to all PivotTables. For example, suppose you
want to see the data behind the subtotal of 50 Engineers in this PivotTable:
Just double click directly on the number 50, and Excel will add a new sheet to your workbook that
contains the exact data used to calculate 50 engineers. In this case, this is the subset of employees in that are
in the Engineering department.
Note 5. There will be a growing need for people with the skills to analyse Big Data quickly and
accurately
PivotTables are well-aligned with the increasing availability of high quality data. As access to data,
especially so-called “Big Data”, becomes more prevalent, there will be a growing need for people with the
skills to analyse this data quickly and accurately. By mastering PivotTables now, you’ll be in a great
position to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.
