QUESTION : Question 01:

Interviewer: How do you provide Dynamic Range in 'Data Source' of Pivot

Tables?
You: We follow the steps in following order to provide Dynamic Range in 'Data
Source' of Pivot Tables:
Q What is the main purpose of pivot table?

A PivotTable is especially designed for: Querying large amounts of data in many

user-friendly ways. Subtotaling and aggregating numeric data, summarizing data
by categories and subcategories, and creating custom calculations and formulas.
What is a pivot table question?
A Pivot Table is used to summarise, sort, reorganise, group, count, total or average
data stored in a table. It allows us to transform columns into rows and rows into
columns. It allows grouping by any field (column), and using advanced
calculations on them.

What is a Pivot Table and how does it work?

A Pivot Table is one of the basic data analysis tools. Pivot Tables can quickly
answer many important business questions.

One of the reasons we build Pivot Tables is to pass information. We would like to
support our story with data that is easy to understand, easy to see. 

Although Pivot Tables are only tables and thus missing real visuals, they can still
be considered as a mean of Visual Storytelling.

What are the practical examples of a Pivot Table?

Use a pivot table to build a list of unique values. Because pivot tables summarize
data, they can be used to find unique values in a table column. This is a good way
to quickly see all the values that appear in a field and also find typos, and other
inconsistencies. [https://exceljet.net/pivot-table-tips]

More simple explanation is that a pivot table can: 

 group items/records/rows into categories

 count the number of items in each category, 
 sum the items value
  or compute average, find minimal or maximal value etc.

Many Excel experts believe that Pivot Tables are the single most powerful tool in
Excel. This article provides more than 20 tips you should know to work
productively with Excel Pivot Tables.
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How to rank with a pivot table

Quick Links

 Overview
 Why Pivot?
 Tips
 Examples
 Training
Pivot tables are a reporting engine built into Excel. They are the single best tool in
Excel for analyzing data without formulas. You can create a basic pivot table in
about one minute, and begin interactively exploring your data. Below are more
than 20 tips for getting the most from this flexible and powerful tool.

1. You can build a pivot table in about one minute

Many people think building a pivot table is complicated and time-consuming, but
it's simply not true. Compared to the time it would take you to build an equivalent
report manually, pivot tables are incredibly fast. If you have well-structured source
data, you can create a pivot table in less than a minute. Start by selecting any cell
in the source data:
Example source data

Next, follow these four steps:

1. On the Insert tab of the ribbon, click the PivotTable button

2. In the Create PivotTable dialog box, check the data and click OK
3. Drag a "label" field into the Row Labels area (e.g. customer)
4. Drag a numeric field into the Values area (e.g. sales)
A basic pivot table in about 30 seconds

The pivot table above shows total sales by product, but you can easily rearrange
fields to show total sales by region, by category, by month, and so on. Watch the
video below for a quick demonstration:

Video: How to quickly create a pivot table

2. Clean your source data

To minimize problems down the road, make sure your data is in good
shape. Source data should have no blank rows or columns, and no subtotals. Each
column should have a unique name (on one row only) and represent a field for
each row/record in the data:
Perfect data for a pivot table!

You might sometimes need to add missing data. See this video for tips:

Video: How to quickly fill in missing data

3. Count the data first

When you first create a pivot table, use it to generate a simple count first to make
sure the pivot table is processing the data as you expect. To do this, simply add
any text field as a Value field. You'll see a very small pivot table that displays the
total record count, that is, the total number of rows in your data. If this number
makes sense to you, you're good to go. If the number doesn't make sense to you,
it's possible the pivot table is not reading the data correctly or that the data has not
been defined correctly.
300 first names means we have 300 employees. Check.

4. Plan before you build

Although it's a lot of fun dragging fields around a pivot table, and watching Excel
churn out yet another unusual representation of the data, you can find yourself
going down a lot of unproductive rabbit holes very easily. An hour later, it's not so
fun anymore. Before you start building, jot down what you are trying to measure or
understand, and sketch out a few simple reports on a notepad. These simple notes
will help guide you through the huge number of choices you have at your disposal.
Keep things simple, and focus on the questions you need to answer.

5. Use a table for your data to create a "dynamic range"

If you use an Excel Table for the source data of your pivot table, you get a very
nice benefit: your data range becomes "dynamic". A dynamic range will
automatically expand and shrink the table as you add or remove data, so won't have
to worry that the pivot table is missing the latest data. When you use a Table for
your pivot table, the pivot table will always be in sync with your data.
To use a Table for your pivot table:

1. Select any cell in the data and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-T to create a
Table
2. Click the Summarize with PivotTable button (TableTools > Design)
3. Build your pivot table normally
4. Profit: data you add to your Table will automatically appear in your Pivot
table on refresh

Video: Use a table for your next pivot table

Creating a simple Table from the data using (Ctrl-T)

Now that we have a table, we can use Summarize with a  Pivot Table

Still need inspiration on why you should learn pivot tables? See my personal
story.

6. Use a pivot table to count things

By default, a Pivot Table will count any text field. This can be a really handy
feature in a lot of general business situations. For example, suppose you have a list
of employees and want to get a count by department? To get a breakdown by
department,  follow these steps:

1. Create a pivot table normally

2. Add the Department as a Row Label
3. Add the employee Name field as a Value
4. The pivot table will display a count of employee by Department
Employee breakdown by department

7. Show totals as a percentage

In many pivot tables, you'll want to show a percentage rather than a count. For
example, perhaps you want to show a breakdown of sales by product. But, rather
than show the total sales for each product, you want to show sales as a percentage
of the total sales. Assuming you have a field called Sales in your data, just follow
these steps:

1. Add Product to the pivot table as a Row Label

2. Add Sales to the pivot table as a Value
3. Right-click the Sales field, and set "Show Values As" to "% of Grand Total"

See the tip below "Add a field more than once to a pivot table" to learn how to
show total sales and sales as a percent of total at the same time.
Changing value display to % of total
Sum of employees displayed as % of total

8. Use a pivot table to build a list of unique values

Because pivot tables summarize data, they can be used to find unique values in a
field. This is a good way to quickly see all the values that appear in a field and also
find typos, and other inconsistencies. For example, suppose you have sales data
and you want to see a list of every product that was sold. To create a product list:

1. Create a pivot table normally

2. Add the Product as a Row Label
3. Add any other text field (category, customer, etc) as a Value
4. The pivot table will show a list of all products that appear in the sales data
Every product that appears in the data is listed (including a typo)

Pivot Table video training - quick, clean, and to the point

9. Create a self-contained pivot table

When you've created a pivot table from data in the same worksheet, you can
remove the data if you like and the pivot table will continue to operate normally.
This is because a pivot table has a pivot cache that contains an exact duplicate of
the data used to create the pivot table.

1. Refresh the pivot table to ensure cache is up to date (PivotTable Tools >
Refresh)
2. Delete the worksheet that contains the data
3. Use your pivot table normally

10. Group a pivot table manually

Although pivot tables automatically group data in many ways, you can also group
items manually into your own custom groups. For example, assume you have a
pivot table that shows a breakdown of employees by department. Suppose you
want to further group the Engineering, Fulfillment, and Support departments into
Group 1, and Sales and Marketing into Group 2. Group 1 and Group 2 don't appear
in the data, they are your own custom groups. To group the pivot table into the ad
hoc groups, Group 1 and Group 2:

1. Control-click to select each item in the first group

2. Right-click one of the items and choose Group from the menu
3. Excel creates a new group, "Group1"
4. Select Marketing and Sales in column B, and group as above
5. Excel creates another group, "Group2"

Starting to group manually

Half way through manual grouping - Group 1 is done
Finished grouping manually

Question 1

What type of chart is used to emphasize the magnitude of change overtime?

1. Pie
2. Area ✓
3. Bar

Question 2

.......... chart is designed specifically for plotting data values related to stocks and
shares.
 1. Pie
2. Area
3. Stock ✓

Question 3

What is the other name for the horizontal axis of a chart?

1. Y-axis
2. Value axis
3. Category axis ✓

Question 4

Which type of chart is used for representing huge amount of data?

1. Line ✓
2. Bar
3. Scatter

Question 5

What is the other name for XY chart?

1. Area
2. Bar
3. Scatter ✓

Answer the following

Question 1

What is a Chart?

Answer

A Chart is a graphical representation of data in a worksheet. It helps to provide a

better understanding of large quantities of data. Charts make it easier to draw
comparisons and see growth and relationship among the values and trends in data.
Question 2

How is a Column chart different from a Bar chart?

Answer

In Column chart, categories are organized horizontally and values vertically to

emphasize the magnitude of change over a period of time. In Bar chart, categories
are represented on the vertical axis and values are represented on the horizontal
axis.

Question 3

Explain the different components of a chart.

Answer

The different components of a chart are:

1. Chart Area — Chart area includes all the area and objects in the chart.
2. Category Axis — Category axis or X-axis is the horizontal axis of a chart.
3. Value Axis — Value axis or Y-axis is the vertical axis used to plot the
values. It is located at the left side.
4. Data Series — Data series are the bars, slices or other elements that show
the data values. If there are multiple data series in the chart, each will have a
different colour or style.
5. Category Name — Category names are the labels, which are displayed on
the X and Y-axis.
6. Plot Area — Plot area is a window within the Chart area. It contains the
actual chart itself, and includes plotted data, data series, category, and value
axis.
7. Legend — It depicts the colours, patterns or symbols assigned to the data
series. It helps to differentiate the data.
8. Chart Title — It describes the aim and contents of the chart.
9. Gridlines — These can either be Horizontal or Vertical lines depending on
the selected chart type. They extend across the plot area of the chart.
Gridlines make it easier to read and understand the values.
Question 4

What is a Pie chart? Describe its features.

Answer

Pie chart displays data in the form of a circle that is divided into a series of
segments. These segments show the relative size of each item in the chart. It
always shows only one data series and is useful when you want to emphasize on a
significant element. This chart type works best with smaller number of values.

Question 5

Differentiate between Category Axis and Value Axis of a chart.

Answer

Category axis or X-axis is the horizontal axis of a chart whereas Value axis or Y-
axis is the vertical axis used to plot the values. It is located at the left side.

Question 6

Explain the process of resizing a chart.

Answer

To resize the chart, position the mouse pointer on any of the corner border of the
chart. The mouse pointer will change to a double-headed arrow. Now drag the
handle in the desired direction to change the size accordingly.

Question 7

How can a chart be moved to another location?

Answer

To move the chart, place the cursor on the chart area. A four headed arrow appears,
press and drag it in order to move the chart in any direction. Release the mouse
button to place it at the desired location.

REPORT BUILDER CHART IN BUSINESS :

Create a report which allows you to choose:

 optionally, a minimum film length; and

 one or more languages from a multivalve dropdown.

Your report should list out all films made in the languages you've chosen, lasting
longer than the minimum length (if not null).  Overleaf shows what this report
should look like.  Some things to remember:

 You'll need two datasets

 Don't forget to use the IN keyword, since you're using a multivalue droplist

Here's what your final report could look like:

Notice that the title contains details of the parameters chosen

Save this report as Long Axis.

You can unzip this file to see the answers to this exercise, although please
remember this is for your personal use only.
You can find other training resources for the subject of this exercise here: