Information Technology – Lab Assignment List p.

Assignment E7. Organizing Data into Tables

Topics: Defining and managing Excel Tables. Filtering and sorting data in tables. Outlines and
subtotals.
The Hog-Dog Inc. company sells its traditional cold food in several towns across two countries. The
headquarters collects weekly sales data from all the shops. Organize it, filter it and sort to obtain useful
information from the raw data.
Carry out the tasks below in the workbook TI.en.Excel.E7+E8+E9.xlsx provided.
1. Defining, formatting and extending a table
a) In the worksheet RECORDS, define the weekly sales data range as a Table (activate a cell inside the table,
Insert/ Tables/ Table).
b) Give the table a name WeeklySales (type in Table Tools/ Design/ Properties/ Table Name).
c) Apply a style to the table with Table Tools/ Design/ Table Styles.
d) We need to analyze the data by quarters and there are none – extend the table by one column (drag the table
resize handle in the bottom-right corner) and rename the column to “Quarter”.
e) Calculate the quarter number out of the Date value: in the first cell under the “Quarter” heading, enter the
formula =ROUNDUP(MONTH(C2)/3,0) - make sure C2 is the first date in the table.
The formula should automatically fill itself down once accepted. Fill manually otherwise.
f) Append a new record: extend the table by one row (activate the bottom-right table cell and press Tab) and
enter missing Amount = 500 for Isengard in Ringland on 31.12.2023.
2. Filtering a table
a) Make a copy of the RECORDS sheet and give the copy name FILTERED. Carry out the following tasks in
the FILTERED sheet.
b) Filter the table so that only Hogwarts summer vacation period records are visible (between Jul 1st and Aug
31st) – apply appropriate filters in two table column headings using the drop-down arrow filter buttons (if
the buttons are hidden, use Data/ Sorting and filtering/ Filter to switch them on).
c) Turn on the Total Row – activate a cell within the table, turn on Table Tools/ Design/ Table Style Options/
Total Row, and make only the Amount column to be summarized (not the default Quarter column) – click
on a cell in the Total row and select an operation from the drop-down list.
What is actually summarized – the visible filtered-out data or the entire column?
3. Sorting a table
Carry out the following tasks in the RECORDS sheet.
a) Sort the table by Amount using the column heading drop-down arrow (switch them on as above).
b) Sort the table by Country then Town and Date (several criteria at once with Data/ Sort & Filters/ Sort).
4. Outlining and calculating subtotals
a) Make a copy of the RECORDS sheet and give the copy name OUTLINED. Carry out the following tasks in
the OUTLINED sheet.
b) Is the Subtotal command available on the Data/ Outline ribbon? If it is grayed-out, convert the table to a
regular data range using Table Tools/ Design/ Tools/ Convert To Range.
c) The data range is already sorted by Country+Town. Use the Subtotal command mentioned above to sum
the Amount at each change in Country. Then use Subtotal to sum Amount at each change in Town but clear
the checkbox Replace Current Subtotals.
d) Experiment with the 1/2/3 and +/– buttons at the left edge of the window. All countries and all towns
should be expandable/collapsible with their subtotals.
e) Inspect the automatically inserted subtotal rows. Are there values or formulas inside the subtotal cells?
Alter an amount on Dec 28th at the bottom and notice the subtotal value. Has it changed?
»Save your work – you will need it later.
 Information Technology – Lab Assignment List p.7

Assignment E8. Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

Topics: Creating and rearranging the dynamic summary reports and charts called Pivots.
The filtered and sorted data from the assignment 7 turned out to be useful to limited extent only as there is too
much data. Some further processing is necessary to slice and dice the data in a few ways to produce a
meaningful representation for the Hog-Dog managers.
Use the worksheet RECORDS with the data range converted into a Table (in the previous assignment).
Creating a PivotTable or PivotChart – general guidelines: activate a cell within the source Table with data,
click on Insert/ Tables/ PivotTable|PivotChart. In the dialog box that pops up, choose a new sheet as the target
place for the pivot. Then drag and drop the table column names from the pivot field list (in the right side
panel) to the four areas below. Once a field is dropped into the area box, you can click it to change field
settings like formatting or showing percentages instead of values. Change the PivotTable Tools/ Design/
Layout option if necessary.
1. Pivot Tables
Using the PivotTable technology, prepare the following reports, each one in a new sheet with the same name
as the report name, if given.
a) “Sales by Town” to compare total sales one country and town at a time: for just Towns in rows show the
Sum of Amount, with Country as the report filter.
b) “Quarter by Town” to compare each town quarter-by-quarter: Quarters then Towns in rows, showing the
Sum of Amount, with Country as the report filter. Set the Report Layout as Outline.
Activate a cell in the Quarter column and experiment with Pivot Table Tools/ Analyze/ Active Field/
Collapse|Expand.
c) “Town by Quarter” to compare quarterly results for each town: Countries then Towns then Quarters in
rows, showing the Sum of Amount. Set the Report Layout as Outline.
d) “Tabular” to present all towns by all quarters in a table: Towns in rows, Quarters in columns, Sum of
Amount as values, Country as the filter.
e) “Towns Monthly” to present monthly results of all towns: Dates in rows, Countries then Towns in columns,
Sum of Amount as values. If the PivotTable shows individual dates in the 1st column instead of months,
you have to group the dates into months: activate a cell with a date and group with PivotTable Tools/
Analyze/ Group/ Group Field.
f) Modify the “Quarter by Town” report to show summarized amounts as a percentage of the total, alongside
the Sum of Amount: put a second Amount field in Values and change its settings to show values as “% of
Grand Total”.
g) Create one more PivotTable report with any initial layout. Experiment with the table and be prepared to
demonstrate what “pivot” means and how you can filter, change options and redesign a table.
h) Inspect the values in any pivot table. Are there formulas or calculated values? Will they be automatically
updated if you change the source table values?
2. Pivot Charts
a) Make a visual representation of an existing PivotTable in the “Tabular” worksheet: activate a cell within
the PivotTable and create a stacked-column PivotChart out of that report (PivotTable/ Analyze/ Tools/
PivotChart).
b) Create a PivotChart from scratch in a new worksheet: in the RECORDS sheet activate a cell within the
data range and press Insert/ Tables/ PivotTable/ PivotChart (click the lower part of the button) and design
any meaningful layout.
c) Can the PivotChart be pivoted (rearranged) and filtered? What happens to the underlying PivotTable when
you modify the chart? Experiment.
»Save your work – you will need it later.
 Information Technology – Lab Assignment List p.8

Assignment E9. Creating Complex Documents – Embedding and Linking Objects

Topics: Inserting Excel tables and charts into Word Documents.
Create a Microsoft Word document – a report for the Hog-Dog Inc. managers with some results of the analysis
made in the previous assignment. Start off typing a few lines of text and experiment with the various methods
of embedding objects in text to decide how you will insert the pivot tables and charts into the report.
Note: the methods of embedding objects and data interchange covered by this assignment are not specific to
Microsoft Word and Excel. These are system-wide techniques that work in many applications.
1. Embedding new (empty) objects
a) Insert an Excel worksheet into the document (Insert/ Text/ Object, select Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet).
Enter some numbers into the cells and make the object bigger by dragging its edge. Click outside of the
object.
b) Observe the Word ribbon and double-click the object. Is the object editable? What’s happened to the ribbon
after you double-clicked the object?
c) Create two new Excel charts in the Word document – one with Insert/ Illustrations/ Chart, and the second
with Insert/ Text/ Object. What is the difference between these two methods?
d) Try to Insert/ Tables/ Table/ Excel spreadsheet. Is the sheet obtained with this method different than the one
inserted with Insert/ Text/ Object?
e) Save your Word document to a location you will remember. How many files got saved? Look for the files
that contain the Excel workbooks created (inserted/embedded) above. Where are they located?
2. Embedding existing objects
a) Launch or activate Microsoft Excel with your pivot tables and charts. Select a PivotTable and copy it to the
clipboard. Switch back to Microsoft Word and paste.
b) Position the insertion point 2 lines below the pasted table and click Home/ Clipboard/ Paste (the lower part
of the button)/ Paste Special, select Excel Worksheet Object.
c) Experiment with clicking and double-clicking those two just inserted tables. What is the difference between
both paste methods?
d) Double-click the second table and change values or delete a few cells. Click outside of the object and make
sure you can see those altered cells. Now activate Excel and examine the same cells. Is the change inside
the object in Word reflected in the Excel spreadsheet? Does it update the opposite way? Explain the
behavior.
e) Copy a range of cells again in Excel and Paste Special in Word as an object but select the Paste Link option
this time. Now double-click the object and change a few cells. Explain the behavior.
f) Copy a chart in Excel and paste in Word (regular Paste or Paste Special as an object). What happens when
you click or double-click the chart object? How can you edit the source data? Change a cell value in the
chart source data. What gets updated and where? Explain the behavior.
g) What are the other methods of inserting objects into a Word document? Hint: examine the Insert / Object
dialog box carefully. Can an object be embedded inside an Excel spreadsheet as well?