Data Analysis in Excel

This section illustrates the powerful features that Excel offers for analyzing
data.

Sort Data in Excel

You can sort your Excel data by one column or multiple columns. You can
sort in ascending or descending order.
Sort by One Column
To sort by one column in Excel, execute the following steps.

1. Click any cell in the column you want to sort.

2. To sort in ascending order, on the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click
AZ.
Result:

Note: to sort in descending order, click ZA.

Sort by Multiple Columns

To sort by multiple columns in Excel, execute the following steps.

1. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.

The Sort dialog box appears.

2. Select Last Name from the 'Sort by' drop-down list.

3. Click on Add Level.

4. Select Sales from the 'Then by' drop-down list.

5. Click OK.

Result: records are sorted by Last Name first and Sales second.
 Filter Data in Excel
Filter your Excel data to only display records that meet certain criteria. This
is page 1 of 10 in our comprehensive filtering course.
1. Click any single cell inside a data set.

2. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Filter.

Arrows in the column headers appear.

3. Click the arrow next to Country.

4. Click on Select All to clear all the check boxes, and click the check box
next to USA.
5. Click OK.

Result: Excel only displays the sales in the USA.

6. Click the arrow next to Quarter.

7. Click on Select All to clear all the check boxes, and click the check box
next to Qtr 4.

8. Click OK.
Result: Excel only displays the sales in the USA in Qtr 4.

9. To remove the filter, on the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Clear.
To remove the filter and the arrows, click Filter.

There's a quicker way to filter Excel data.

10. Select a cell.

11. Right click, and then click Filter, Filter by Selected Cell's Value.
Result: Excel only displays the sales in the USA.

Note: simply select another cell in another column to further filter this data
set.

Conditional Formatting in Excel

Use conditional formatting in Excel to automatically highlight cells based on
their content. Apply a rule or use a formula to determine which cells to
format.
Highlight Cells Rules
To highlight cells that are greater than a value, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A10.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Click Highlight Cells Rules, Greater Than.

4. Enter the value 80 and select a formatting style.

5. Click OK.

Result: Excel highlights the cells that are greater than 80.
6. Change the value of cell A1 to 81.

Result: Excel changes the format of cell A1 automatically.

Note: you can also use this category (see step 3) to highlight cells that are
less than a value, between two values, equal to a value, cells that contain
specific text, dates (today, last week, next month, etc.), duplicates or unique
values.
Clear Rules
To clear a conditional formatting rule, execute the following steps.
1. Select the range A1:A10.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Click Clear Rules, Clear Rules from Selected Cells.

Top/Bottom Rules
To highlight cells that are above average, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:A10.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Click Top/Bottom Rules, Above Average.

4. Select a formatting style.

5. Click OK.

Result: Excel calculates the average (42.5) and formats the cells that are
above this average.
Note: you can also use this category (see step 3) to highlight the top n items,
the top n percent, the bottom n items, the bottom n percent or cells that are
below average.

Conditional Formatting with Formulas

Take your Excel skills to the next level and use a formula to determine which
cells to format. Formulas that apply conditional formatting must evaluate to
TRUE or FALSE.

1. Select the range A1:E5.

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting.

3. Click New Rule.

4. Select 'Use a formula to determine which cells to format'.

5. Enter the formula =ISODD(A1)

6. Select a formatting style and click OK.

Result: Excel highlights all odd numbers.

Explanation: always write the formula for the upper-left cell in the selected
range. Excel automatically copies the formula to the other cells. Thus, cell A2
contains the formula =ISODD(A2), cell A3 contains the formula =ISODD(A3),
etc.

Here's another example.

7. Select the range A2:D7.

8. Repeat steps 2-4 above.

9. Enter the formula =$C2="USA"

10. Select a formatting style and click OK.

Result: Excel highlights all USA orders.

Explanation: we locked the reference to column C by placing a $ symbol in

front of the column letter ($C2). As a result, cell B2, C2 and cell D2 also
contain the formula =$C2="USA", cell A3, B3, C3 and D3 contain the formula
=$C3="USA", etc.
Color Scales
Use awesome color scales to assign different colors to different values. This
allows you to quickly identify high and low points in your dataset.
Highlight Blank Cells
You can also use conditional formatting in Excel to format blank cells. This is
useful for ensuring data completeness and quickly shows where information
is missing.
 Charts in Excel
A simple chart in Excel can say more than a sheet full of numbers. As you'll see,
creating charts is very easy.

Create a Chart
To create a line chart, execute the following steps.

1. Select the range A1:D7.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click the Line symbol.

3. Click Line with Markers.

Result:

Note: enter a title by clicking on Chart Title. For example, Wildlife Population.

Change Chart Type

You can easily change to a different type of chart at any time.
1. Select the chart.

2. On the Chart Design tab, in the Type group, click Change Chart Type.

3. On the left side, click Column.

4. Click OK.

Result:
Switch Row/Column
If you want to display the animals (instead of the months) on the horizontal
axis, execute the following steps.

1. Select the chart.

2. On the Chart Design tab, in the Data group, click Switch Row/Column.

Result:
Legend Position
To move the legend to the right side of the chart, execute the following
steps.

1. Select the chart.

2. Click the + button on the right side of the chart, click the arrow next to
Legend and click Right.

Result:
Data Labels
You can use data labels to focus your readers' attention on a single data
series or data point.

1. Select the chart.

2. Click a green bar to select the Jun data series.

3. Hold down CTRL and use your arrow keys to select the population of
Dolphins in June (tiny green bar).

4. Click the + button on the right side of the chart and click the check box
next to Data Labels.

Result:
 Pivot Tables in Excel
Pivot tables are one of Excel's most powerful features. A pivot table allows you to
extract the significance from a large, detailed data set.

Our data set consists of 213 records and 6 fields. Order ID, Product,
Category, Amount, Date and Country.

Insert a Pivot Table

To insert a pivot table, execute the following steps.
1. Click any single cell inside the data set.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click PivotTable.

The following dialog box appears. Excel automatically selects the data for
you. The default location for a new pivot table is New Worksheet.

3. Click OK.

Drag fields
The PivotTable Fields pane appears. To get the total amount exported of
each product, drag the following fields to the different areas.
1. Product field to the Rows area.

2. Amount field to the Values area.

3. Country field to the Filters area.

Below you can find the pivot table. Bananas are our main export product.
That's how easy pivot tables can be!
Sort a Pivot Table
To get Banana at the top of the list, sort the pivot table.

1. Click any cell inside the Sum of Amount column.

2. Right click and click on Sort, Sort Largest to Smallest.

Result:

Filter a Pivot Table

Because we added the Country field to the Filters area, we can filter this
pivot table by Country. For example, which products do we export the most
to France?
1. Click the filter drop-down and select France.

Result: Apples are our main export product to France.

Note: you can use the standard filter (triangle next to Row Labels) to only
show the amounts of specific products.

Change Summary Calculation

By default, Excel summarizes your data by either summing or counting the
items. To change the type of calculation that you want to use, execute the
following steps.

1. Click any cell inside the Sum of Amount column.

2. Right click and click on Value Field Settings.

3. Choose the type of calculation you want to use. For example, click Count.

4. Click OK.

Result: 16 out of the 28 orders to France were 'Apple' orders.

Two-dimensional Pivot Table
If you drag a field to the Rows area and Columns area, you can create a two-
dimensional pivot table. First, insert a pivot table. Next, to get the total
amount exported to each country, of each product, drag the following fields
to the different areas.
1. Country field to the Rows area.

2. Product field to the Columns area.

3. Amount field to the Values area.

4. Category field to the Filters area.

Below you can find the two-dimensional pivot table.
Pivot Chart
To easily compare these numbers, create a pivot chart and apply a filter.
Maybe this is one step too far for you at this stage, but it shows you one of
the many other powerful pivot table features Excel has to offer.

Tables in Excel
Master Excel tables and analyze your data quickly and easily. Learn how to
create a table, sort a table, filter a table, and much more.
Create a Table
To create a table, execute the following steps.
1. Click any single cell inside the data set.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table (or simply press Ctrl +
T).

The Create Table dialog box appears.

3. Excel automatically selects the data for you. Check 'My table has headers'
and click on OK.

Result: Excel creates a nicely formatted table for you. This may still seem
like a normal data range to you but many powerful features are now just a
click of a button away.
Sort
To sort by Last Name first and Sales second, execute the following steps.

1. First, click the arrow next to Sales and click Sort Smallest to Largest.

2. Next, click the arrow next to Last Name and click Sort A to Z.

Result:
Filter
To filter a table, execute the following steps.

1. Click the arrow next to Country and only check USA.

Result:

Total Row
To display a total row at the end of the table, execute the following steps.

1. First, select a cell inside the table. Next, on the Table Design tab, in the
Table Style Options group, check Total Row (or simply press Ctrl + Shift + T).
Result:

2. Click any cell in the last row to calculate the Total (Average, Count, Max,
Min, Sum etc.) of a column. For example, calculate the sum of the Sales
column.
Note: in the formula bar, see how Excel uses the SUBTOTAL function to
calculate the sum. 109 is the argument for Sum if you use the SUBTOTAL
function. Excel uses this function (and not the standard SUM function) to
correctly calculate table totals of filtered tables.
Table Name
Each table has a unique name. You can use this name in formulas. If you like,
you can edit the name of a table.

1. First, select a cell inside the table. Next, on the Table Design tab, in the
Properties group, we can see that Table1 is the name of this table.

2. The formula below refers to Table1 and counts the total number of
records.
Note: visit our page about structured references to learn more about table
formulas.
AutoExpansion
Tables in Excel expand automatically when adding new rows or columns.
This is a great feature.

1. First, select a cell inside the table.

2. Press Ctrl + Shift + T to quickly remove the total row.

3. Select cell A16 and type Brown (Excel automatically formats this new row
for you).
Conclusion: this new row is automatically part of the table. All formulas
referring to Table1 will be updated automatically (see cell G2). Wow!

What-If Analysis in Excel

What-If Analysis in Excel allows you to try out different values (scenarios) for
formulas. The following example helps you master what-if analysis quickly and
easily.

Assume you own a book store and have 100 books in storage. You sell a
certain % for the highest price of $50 and a certain % for the lower price of
$20.

If you sell 60% for the highest price, cell D10 calculates a total profit of 60 *
$50 + 40 * $20 = $3800.

Create Different Scenarios

But what if you sell 70% for the highest price? And what if you sell 80% for
the highest price? Or 90%, or even 100%? Each different percentage is a
different scenario. You can use the Scenario Manager to create these
scenarios.
Note: you can simply type in a different percentage into cell C4 to see the
corresponding result of a scenario in cell D10. However, what-if analysis
enables you to easily compare the results of different scenarios. Read on.
1. On the Data tab, in the Forecast group, click What-If Analysis.

2. Click Scenario Manager.

The Scenario Manager dialog box appears.

3. Add a scenario by clicking on Add.

4. Type a name (60% highest), select cell C4 (% sold for the highest price)
for the Changing cells and click on OK.
5. Enter the corresponding value 0.6 and click on OK again.

6. Next, add 4 other scenarios (70%, 80%, 90% and 100%).

Finally, your Scenario Manager should be consistent with the picture below:
Note: to see the result of a scenario, select the scenario and click on the
Show button. Excel will change the value of cell C4 accordingly for you to see
the corresponding result on the sheet.

Scenario Summary
To easily compare the results of these scenarios, execute the following
steps.

1. Click the Summary button in the Scenario Manager.

2. Next, select cell D10 (total profit) for the result cell and click on OK.

Result:
Conclusion: if you sell 70% for the highest price, you obtain a total profit of
$4100, if you sell 80% for the highest price, you obtain a total profit of
$4400, etc. That's how easy what-if analysis in Excel can be.

Goal Seek
What if you want to know how many books you need to sell for the highest
price, to obtain a total profit of exactly $4700? You can use Excel's Goal
Seek feature to find the answer.
1. On the Data tab, in the Forecast group, click What-If Analysis.

2. Click Goal Seek.

The Goal Seek dialog box appears.

3. Select cell D10.

4. Click in the 'To value' box and type 4700.

5. Click in the 'By changing cell' box and select cell C4.

6. Click OK.
Result: you need to sell 90% of the books for the highest price to obtain a
total profit of exactly $4700.