Exercise 1: Using VLOOKUP Function

VLOOKUP is an abbreviation for the phrase Vertical Lookup. Specifically, it looks for a value in the leftmost
column of a table, and then returns a value in the same row, using another column you specify.
Once you learn how to use VLOOKUP, you'll be able to use it with larger, more complex spreadsheets and that's
when it will become truly useful!
Download the file Bonus Awards.xls. In this example, we look at the sales at Granite Insurance where the Director
needs to award bonuses to her sales force. These bonuses are awarded based on sales performance.
There are 15 salespeople, each with their own area. Based on the size and population of the area, each salesperson
has a sales target for the year.
The measure of performance used for awarding bonuses is based on the percentage achieved above the sales target.
Based on this measure, a salesperson is placed into one of five bonus bands and awarded bonus points as shown
below in Table 1.

Each staff is then awarded a percentage of the bonus pool, based on the percentage of the total points awarded.
As shown in cell E11 of the spreadsheet, the bonus pool is $250,000 for this year. The bonus bands shown in the
instructions above are in cells A7:C11.
In this table, column A gives the lower limit of the bonus band, column B the upper limit, and column C the bonus
points awarded to anyone in that bonus band. For example, salespeople who achieve sales 56 percent above their
sales target would be awarded 15 bonus points.
The VLOOKUP function in this case allows us to extract a subset of data from a larger table of data based on some
criterion. The general form of the VLOOKUP function is:
=VLOOKUP (lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])
where
lookup_value = the value to search for in the first column of the table
table_array = the cell range containing the table
col_index_num = the column in the table containing the value to be returned
[range_lookup] = TRUE if looking for the first approximate match of value and FALSE if looking for an exact
match of value.

Note: VLOOKUP assumes that the first column of the table is sorted in ascending order.
There are two tables provided:
Table 1 is the bonus band.

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Table 2 refers to the information regarding the name of sales persons and percentage above their target sales.

YOUR TASK:
Use the VLOOKUP function to assign the number of bonus points to each salesperson.
The VLOOKUP function is used in column C to look in the bonus band table and automatically assign bonus
points.
Once you have completed this task, move to column D and convert your answers in C to a percentage of the total
bonus points. Now in column E, calculate the bonus amount.

MCD2080 Computing Exercises – Week 2 Page 2

Extra Exercise

Exercise 2 Using COUNTIF and bar charts for qualitative data

The trustee of a mining company’s accident compensation plan solicited the employees’ feelings toward a proposed
revision in the plan. The responses are shown in the following table. There are three employee types (Mine-Workers,
Clerical staff and Managers denoted by W, C and M) and two kinds of decisions, either for (F) or against (A). Data
are available in file Compensation.xls.

Task 1: Sort the data by the variable “Job classification”.

When sorting a number of columns of data by one variable, you must highlight the whole block of data (all required
rows and columns) first. If you just highlight the column for the variable you are sorting by, then the values of this
variable will be separated from the cases to which they belong. Click on Sort & Filter in the Editing group on the
Home tab, and select Custom Sort. The dialogue shown overleaf appears. Make sure ‘My data has headers’ is
checked. In the Sort by box, select ‘Job classification’. In the Sort On box, select ‘Values’. In the Order box,
select ‘A to Z’. Click OK to sort the data.

Note that you have to complete Task 1 prior doing Task 2.

Task 2: Cross-tabulate data subject to types of employee and kinds of decisions.

Use the Excel function Countif to obtain the number of each kind of Decision corresponding to each employee
type. In other words fill in the frequencies in Table 2 in the file, reproduced here:

W C M
F
A
For example the number in the shaded cell of Table 2 (cell G3 in the worksheet) should be the number of
clerical staff in favour of the scheme.

Instructions for using COUNTIF follow:

When you have sorted the data, you should find that the list of Decisions by clerical staff lie in cells C3:C14.

So in cell G3, type:

=COUNTIF(C3:C14, “F”)

In cell G4, type:

=COUNTIF(C3:C14, “A”); and so on.

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 EXTRA: Using COUNTIFS for qualitative data – UNSORTED DATA
Another way of obtaining the number of each possible Decision without sorting the data is using Excel function:
COUNTIFS. This is an extension to COUNTIF. COUNTIFS works the same way as COUNTIF, counting the
number of cells that satisfy the criteria you specify, however allows for multiple criteria. In particular, we can use
the COUNTIFS function to check whether a value falls inside a range specified by two cut-off values.

Using the data in “COUNTIFS” Worksheet, without sorting the data, obtain the counts in cells AND RECORD
IN TABLE 2:
F3 by typing: =COUNTIFS(B3:B32,"W",C3:C32,"F");
F4 by typing: =COUNTIFS(B3:B32,"W",C3:C32,"A");
Do same for the other cells (G3, G4 then H3 and H4)

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Solution of lab exercises: Week 2
Exercise 1:

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Extra Exercise
Exercise 2:

Task 1: Table1 Data Sorting

Employee
Employee type Decision
ID
7 C A
8 C F
11 C F
13 C A
16 C F
17 C F
18 C A
22 C F
25 C F
26 C F
27 C A
28 C A
3 M F
9 M F
14 M A
20 M F
24 M A
30 M F
1 W F
2 W A
4 W A
5 W F
6 W A
10 W A
12 W F
15 W A
19 W A
21 W A
23 W A
29 W F
W: mine Worker F: For
C: Clerical staff A: Against
M: Manager

Task 2: Table 2 Cross-tabulation

Mine workers Clerical staff Managers

In favor 4 7 4
Against 8 5 2

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