Data model

Data model is used to add and connect tables in a whole, in order to retrieve the data needed for reporting. This is a pseudo-base, part of Excel document. By adding a table into the Model data are automatically compressed; later, when we need them for reporting, they are decompressed and used as a reporting dimension in the pivot table. Data model is basis for use of “Power” technologies, i.e. “self-service” business intelligence tools.

Current prices

The catalog is a list of items associated with prices that and, by rule, it should not be changed more than once a day. In practice it is formed by consecutive adding codes of items, dates and prices in the table. How to find the last (current) price? Although at first glance it seems simple, this can be a considerable brain teaser. Also, this is an excellent demonstration of the practical application of formulas containing arrays and one of the “recipes” you will surely like.

Statistical analysis of wages

In one of the earlier „recipes“ I briefly described the statistical functions in Excel. My knowledge of statistics is quite modest (one of these days will probably take some additional lessons to improve my knowledge). However, I would like to dedicate one article to this area. On a practical case, the analysis of wages in a small company, I’ll show you how you can use these functions to make you come up with some interesting conclusions.

How strong is our competition?

When making Marketing Plan one of the activities being carried out is the analysis of competition. How strong is our competition? There are several ways to find this out, and this is perhaps most easily accomplished by tracking revenue and profit of competitors over several years. The following text will show you several Excel charts which should show where is our company and where are competitors on the market.

Decorating the Christmas tree

There is a time of Christmas holidays, the time when everybody, more or less, decorates the Christmas tree, and this served as an inspiration for the text on the application of one more type of Excel chart. It is a subtype of the Scatter called Bubble and by which we can get a “XY” chart whereby a multicolored “balls” are found on the section. To create this diagram all we need are: a table of data, a picture of the Christmas tree and a little work in Excel!