slicers and pivots to determine trip destination

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(This solution requires Excel 2010 (since we use slicers, this isn’t available for any Excel for Mac versions)

Pivot Tables as a Diagnostic Tool

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This is a companion to a blogpost for EmeryEvaluation.com the full blogpost can be found at: http://emeryevaluation.com/2013/03/18/ozdusoleil/

Here, we expand the use of pivot tables beyond data analysis. Today, we received a report and out first action was to drop it into a pivot table to investigate the data quality … which turned out not to be so good.

Please have a look and share your comments.

Channel Trailer

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CSV to clear merged cells in Excel

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Someone recently had a huge challenge. He wanted to do analysis on a spreadsheet that was formatted for people to read. It wasn’t set up for data crunching.

When we try to sort or add a pivot table we learn that there are merged cells all throughout the document.

Save as CSV to destroy any and all formatting–merged cells, bold font, colors … everything!

Keeping Crap Data Out Of Our Dataset: Demo of Excel Data Validation

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This is a demonstration of what’s possible with Excel’s data validation.
Too often spreadsheets have no layer of protection so, the doors are open wide for crap data to enter our datasets. We’ve got to stop being naughty and close those doors

Here, I show 3 spreadsheets and demonstrate various protective methods:
dependent dropdown lists, protected cells, protected sheets, cells that can only accept integers between 1 and 12.

I don’t go into the how-to detail. The goal here is to show the uninitiated what can be done. There are plenty of how-to tutorials around the internet. Sometimes we just don’t know what’s possible..

You can find me at: http:DataScopic.net

Oz Reviews Sriracha Lays Potato Chips

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Pleasantly surprising. As a lover of sriracha, I had to try these out if for no other reason than to say that “yes, I’ve tried them.”

There’s some effort that’s been put in here. After a few chips, I have that warm tingle in my mouth. So, I’m not disappointed like I thought I would be. I’m not in love with these, either; but I’d buy them again.

My preference for spicy food is the level of heat that takes you into the capsaicin-induced euphoria while being balanced with flavor. We’re far from that level of heat still, the effort Lay’s made is impressive.

And thank you to Tyler Raineri of Lake Zurich, IL for the idea!

Rosemary Hayes and Rufflentuck can be found at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/rufflentuck

Excel 2013: Slicers & Tables

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UPDATE: Mac users have Slicers as of Excel 2016

New in Excel 2013, a wonderful analytical tool: using Slicers with Tables to analyze and/or filter data sets.

Slicers could be used with Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts, and Excel 2013 takes it a step further. EXCELLENT!

VLOOKUP w/TRUE to assign dates in custom periods

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Here’s an example of using True in a VLOOKUP because an approximate match is required.

We have a list of dates, and the company uses custom start and end dates to mark monthly periods. Here, “June” is officially 26MAY thru 24JUN.

In order to get 26MAY to show up as June, we use:
=VLOOKUP(A2,$G$2:$H$13,2,TRUE)

IMPORTANT NOTE: I explain the search incorrectly. It’s a common myth that the True starts at the top and goes until it finds the next highest entry. The real explanation is found here:

True conducts a “binary search” as I explain in the other video.

Sampling Jim’s Habanero Ghost Cheese

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Oz du Soleil samples Habanero Ghost Pepper Cheese from Jim’s Cheese Pantry
This is a fantastic cheese that balances the heat of the peppers, makes excellent use of the ghost peppers inside of a cheese that stands up and matches well with the peppers.

An all-around excellent experience. Add some red wine, and we’ve got LIVE ACTION!