B SBITU 304 A P RODUCE S PREADSHEETS Janette Dempsey July 2011

Unit Purpose Select and prepare resources Plan spreadsheet design Produce simple charts Finalise spreadsheets

Designing a Spreadsheet

Good worksheet design depends on: Careful consideration of the task to be performed Effective pre-planning Adherence to basic principles of worksheet design

Your worksheet should: Reliably provide the solution to the problem Use a layout and style that both clarify and enhance the information to be conveyed Be able to be understood by end users Be easily updated

Your worksheet should: Be able to be edited by others (if necessary) Be protected from unauthorised changes (if necessary Be time and cost efficient Be memory efficient

To plan memory-efficient worksheets: Try to enter data in a way that uses more columns than rows Memory usage is based on the number of rows Less memory will be used if you keep rows to a minimum

To plan memory-efficient worksheets: Do not leave blank rows in a worksheet Alter the row height instead Titles can be made effective by increasing the row height When formatting cells with borders or shading, format only the minimum number of cells

General formatting guidelines: Just because the data is money doesn’t mean all figures need to be in $ with two decimal places!!! Headings over numbers look best right aligned

P LANNING A S PREADSHEET

Planning considerations: What should the main heading be? Are subheadings needed? What should they be? Are there any fixed values (constants) that are needed in formulas? – Absolute cell references need to be used

Planning considerations: Absolute cell references are best positioned just under the main headings but before the main body of the spreadsheet What are the names of the items about which you are entering data? This will determine – – The number of rows you will need – The row labels

Appropriate Appearance Use numeric, font, colour and border formats to enhance your spreadsheet Should aid in usability and readability

Spreadsheet purposeSpreadsheet purpose 1 Appearance standards or requirementsAppearance standards or requirements 2 Format to enhance readabilityFormat to enhance readability 3 Don’t always format money as $ with two decimal placesDon’t always format money as $ with two decimal places 4 Important Guidelines to Remember

Let’s look at some examples!

Example 1: JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMay

Example 2: JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMay , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,361.12

Example 3: