COLLECT MEANINGFUL DATA: Data Quality – Excel Tips and Tricks

Purpose: Data are crucial for making program decisions, reporting to funders, tracking More emPower Tools
emerging client issues and delivering high quality services. You want your data quality to + learn more about each topic
be as high as possible so you can make decisions with confidence. In this tool, we share thecapacitycollective.org/
our favorite tips for using Excel to check data quality. The same concepts work for resources
Google Sheets. For more details on what makes data high quality, and for tips and tricks
on collecting high quality data, also see the Collect Meaningful Data: Data Quality Tips and Tools emPower Tool.

How do I get started?

1. Export the 3. Save a new

4. Clean up
Data as .csv or copy of the
2. Open file in data (remove
.xlsx file so no data
Excel columns you
(if needed) are lost while
do not need)
you work

What Data Quality Issues Do I Look For?

Blanks Outliers Duplicates Spaces Variations Error Codes
Data that are Numbers higher Same data point Extra spaces Using different Formulas that
missing or lower than (like a person’s before, after or words or are broken or
reasonable name) listed between words spellings for the not working
more than once same thing properly

How Do I Find Data Quality Issues?

Conditional Formatting
Sort + Filter the Data
(Home Ribbon > Conditional Formatting)
(Home Ribbon > Sort and Filter)
• Conditional Formatting allows you to
Sorting: The sorting tool allows you to put the data into apply specific formatting (such as fill
a particular order by date, number, alphabetic order color and/or font color) to cells that
and more. meet certain criteria (such as above,
Data Quality: Look at the top and bottom of the sorted below or equal to a value you define)
data. Look for outliers that are lower/higher than
• For example, use color to highlight,
expected numbers (like a 1902 or 2118 birth year).
emphasize or differentiate among
Filtering: The filtering tool allows you to isolate data in a spreadsheet
particular data based on criteria you choose, and hides
the rest, so you can focus on just that data (like • Once you apply the conditional
particular clients, or a specific group or date). formatting, all cells with values
outside the criteria range you set will
Data Quality: Filtering will cluster similar answers
appear in the formatting you specified
together, so you can see if there are duplicates,
so you can see them.
misspellings, spaces, and so forth. Click “(Select All)” to
deselect all of the options, then click on the checkbox of • For example, conditional formatting
the data you want to isolate. can show you all duplicate participant
names

1
 How Do I Apply Conditional Formatting?

1. Select the 2. Home 3. Hover on 5. Specify the 6. Select the

4. Select the
column(s) Ribbon > type of rule criteria formatting
rule that best
you want to Conditional (Highlight or (threshold you want to
applies
format Formatting Top/Bottom) value) apply

“Highlight Cells” Rules Conditional Formatting Options

Rule Type Example Use Choose the text and fill colors
People with income over $xxx may
Greater Than…
not be eligible for services
Light Orange Fill with Dark Orange Text
Anyone with fewer than 1 home
Less Than… Red Border
visit/month may not be active
Looking for all the children
Between… Light Orange Fill
between ages 0 and 3 for outreach
Specifically highlight clients
Equal To… Solid Fill
receiving TANF funding
Any case notes that mention
Text That Contains… Gradient Fill
“success” to pull out for reporting
Children’s birth dates should
A Date Occurring… Note: You can apply multiple conditional formatting
logically fall between 2015-2020
rules to the same data so you can see
Client seems to have two kids with
Duplicate Values… various patterns at the same time!
the same name: possible error

How Do I FIX How Do I PREVENT

Data Quality Issues? Data Quality Issues?

Other Excel Tricks

Manually Fix Data Data Culture
Formulas
If you are sure you know Get buy-in: show staff why data
quality matters and involve them =COUNTBLANK counts the number
what the data should be, of blank cells in the selected data.
in data decisions (see the Data
manually enter the correct
Quality Tips and Tools and Create =MAX/=MIN shows you the
info into the cell. a Data Culture emPower Tools). high/low numbers in selected data.
Find + Replace Error Codes
Spot Checks
If you need to make more Do not wait for reporting time. Find and resolve all of the error
than a few of the same Check early and often and give messages in your data and
changes (like a common feedback as needed. Integrate formulas. Look for red triangles or
spelling error) use Find data checks into your routine. error codes in cells to identify
(Ctrl+F) to locate all of the potential issues.
incorrect data and Replace Excel: Data Validation
Cell Formats (Home Ribbon)
to change all of the same Excel allows you to create
If anything seems strange, check
error at once. dropdown options for cells so you
the cell formats. Make sure Excel is
can choose an answer rather than
reading dates as dates, numbers as
typing from scratch each time.
Triple check for accuracy! numbers and text as text.

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intellectual property of The Capacity Collective. Please do not duplicate parts, or adapt, without the express permission of The Capacity Collective.
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