Using PowerPivot instead of VLOOKUP Blog Using PowerPivot instead of VLOOKUP Dr Nitin Paranjape Office System MVP

The Scenario: Two tables We have two tables We want to analyze data from both tables

Transactions Table

Master tables: Products and Countries

We need this report Total sales by Country (in columns) and Products (in rows) Problem: Pivot Table cannot be created on three separate blocks of data. Solution: We have to combine all three tables into a single table But how?

Traditional Solution: VLOOKUP

Disadvantages of this approach File size increases If there are many transactions, the performance slows down Workaround? Paste as values to solve the above problems… But it is additional work every time you add more data

Solution: Use PowerPivot This demo is based upon Excel 2013. For 2010 menu names are different the procedure is also different

Prepare the data Each block of data must be a Table Each table must have a legible name Transactions Countries Products

Add tables to Data Model (PowerPivot) Click inside each table Open PowerPivot tab Click Add to Data Model Repeat this for all three tables

Now all tables are visible in PowerPivot A separate window opens to show PowerPivot data Three sheets contain three tables The link sign indicates these are connected to the Excel Tables

Now we have to create relationships Relationship means informing PowerPivot about linkages between data tables It is like a database relationship The only difference is that you are doing it WITHIN Excel This eliminates the need to use an external database

Create relationship between Transactions and Countries

Create relationship between Transactions and Countries Choose the table Many table first. Many table contains more than one rows for a single row in master table.

Create relationship between Transactions and Products

Create a Pivot Table

Notice that this Pivot Table is different It shows all Tables

Create the report

Summary PowerPivot allows you to create relationship between two tables This eliminates the use of VLOOKUP PowerPivot can handle millions of rows with very good speed The file size is also reduced by using PowerPivot Try this with your data and see the difference Always work on a copy of your data to prevent damaging the original file while learning

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