1. Copyright © 2014 Pearson Canada Inc.
Part 1: MIS and You
Application Extension 3a
Introduction to Microsoft Excel
Chapter 3 introduced business processes, innovation and strategy. One of the most important resources we have to consider how to innovate and improve business processes is information about processes. Much of this analysis of business process information is accomplished through such tools as Microsoft Excel.
This application extension teaches basic skills with Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program. If you're already familiar with Excel, use this application extension for review. If you’re not, this section will help you gain essential knowledge about a program that almost all organizations use.
Copyright © 2014 Pearson Canada Inc.

2. Study Questions What is a spreadsheet?
How do I enter data and formulas?
How can I format cells?
How can I create a chart?
Study Questions:
Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Q3 How can I format cells?
Q4 How can I create a chart?

3. What is a Spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is an application designed to handle the organization, summarization, and presentation of primary numeric data
Electronic spreadsheets provide incredible labour savings and were a major factor in the early adoption of personal computers
Spreadsheets store information in “cells” in a large table
Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
Long before the advent of the computer, accountants and financial planners used paper spreadsheets to illustrate financial calculations. Today, the term spreadsheet almost always refers to an electronic model, and most frequently to one developed in Excel. A spreadsheet is an application designed to handle the organization, summarization, and presentation of primarily numeric data. Electronic spreadsheets provide incredible labour savings and were a major factor in the early adoption of personal computers.

4. Excel Spreadsheet Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
Figure AE3a-1 Excel Spreadsheet Showing Rows and Columns

5. Excel Spreadsheet, continued
Columns are identified by a letter and rows are identified by a number
The intersection of a column and row is called a cell
Cells are flexible and can store text, numbers, and most importantly formulas
This flexibility makes spreadsheets such a powerful tool
Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
In Excel, columns are identified by a letter and rows are identified by a number. The intersection of a column and row is called a cell. In Figure AE3a-1, the cell B2 is highlighted (“B” is the column and “2” is the row). Cells are flexible and can store text (e.g., ABC), numbers (234), and, most importantly, formulas (such as A1+B3). It is this flexibility that makes spreadsheets such a powerful tool.

6. Excel Spreadsheet, continued
The more general term spreadsheet is often used interchangeably with the term workbook
Workbook is a collection of one or more worksheets
When you first start Excel, it creates a workbook
Save the workbook, to keep your changes
Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
In Excel, the more general term spreadsheet is often used interchangeably with the term workbook, which is a collection of one or more worksheets. When you first start Excel, it creates a workbook like the one shown in Figure AE3a-1. As with other computer programs, such as Word or PowerPoint, the first thing you should do once you start to work with an Excel file is save your workbook so that your changes are not lost (this is a good habit to develop whenever you’re working on the computer).

7. How Do I Enter Data and Formulas?
Spreadsheets allow you to enter information such as:
letters (not used for arithmetic operations)
numbers (used for arithmetic operations)
formulas (formulas MUST begin with an equals [=] sign)
Two ways to edit a cell
Move the cursor to the cell you want and simply start typing
click on the cell you want to edit and then move the cursor to the cell contents area
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Spreadsheets allow you to enter information such as:
• letters (which cannot be used in arithmetic operations),
• numbers (which can be used for arithmetic operations), and
• formulas (formulas MUST begin with an equals [=] sign)
There are two ways to edit the contents of a cell. You can move the cursor to the cell you want and simply start typing. This will overwrite whatever is currently in the cell. You can also click on the cell you want to edit and then move the cursor to the cell contents area, which is near the top of the screen. Choosing the cell and clicking the F2 key will accomplish the same thing.

8. Referencing Cells
Spreadsheets allow you to reference other cells when you build a formula
To reference a cell, type in the = sign (to indicate a formula) and then type the address of the cell you want to reference
From Figure AE3a-3, the formula in cell D4 references the values in the cells B4 and C4, uses the * sign to multiply the values
When you press Enter, the result of the calculation will be shown, instead of the formula.
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Referencing Cells
Spreadsheets allow you to reference other cells when you build a formula. To reference a cell, type in the = sign (to indicate a formula) and then type the address of the cell (e.g., B2 or C5) you want to reference. In the example shown in Figure AE3a-3, the formula in cell D4 references the values in the cells B4 and C4, and uses the * sign to multiply the values. When you press Enter, the result of the calculation will be shown, instead of the formula.

9. Referencing Cells, continued
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Figure AE3a-3 Adding a Formula in Excel

10. Filling Formulas
Fill function allows use of the formula that has been created to generate similar formulas
To fill in the remaining formulas, you first click once on the formula you want to copy
Move your mouse carefully to the bottom-right corner of the cell, where you see a small square “handle” on the cell.
Notice that your mouse icon changes to the + icon when you move over this small square
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Now that we have the first formula, we can use Excel’s Fill function to create more formulas with less work. Consider the example above. Without the Fill function, we would have to create the rest of the formulas in cells D5 and D6 by retyping the formula. Fill allows us to use the formula we have already created to generate similar formulas. To fill in the remaining formulas, you first click once on the formula you want to copy. Now move your mouse carefully to the bottom-right corner of the cell, where you see a small square “handle” on the cell. You will notice that your mouse icon changes to the + icon when you move over this small square. This is shown in Figure AE3a-4.

11. Filling Formulas, continued
Now click and hold the mouse button and drag the selection down through cells
When you let go of the mouse button, the formulas will be “filled” and copied to the highlighted cells
Notice that the new formulas reference different cells than the original formula
The formula uses relative cell addressing, which keeps the relative position of the formula and the cells it references intact
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Now click and hold the mouse button and drag the selection down through cells D5 and D6. When you let go of the mouse button, the formulas will be “filled” and copied to the highlighted cells. Notice that the new formulas reference different cells than the original formula. This occurs because the formula uses what is referred to as relative cell addressing, which keeps the relative position of the formula and the cells it references intact.

12. Filling Formulas, continued
Figure AE3a-4 Selecting the “Handle” for Filling Formulas

13. Absolute Cell Addressing
Relative cell addressing can be a little more complicated with filling formulas
To fix this, use absolute cell addressing in formulas to tie a particular cell to many formulas
When the $ symbol is included in the cell address, the cell reference will not change when the formula is filled or copied to another cell
Another method you can use for absolute cell addressing is to create a range name
A range name is simply a cell that you can attach a text-based name to
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
We learned about cell addressing in the above section. But it can be a little more complicated when we think about filling formulas, as we described earlier. To see the complication, we are now going to “fill down” the formula we just created into cells D5 and D6. Figure AE3a-6 shows the results. Why did we get 40 in the Total with Tax column for E5 and E6? Shouldn’t we have got 44, the total plus the tax?
To fix this, you can use absolute cell addressing in formulas if you want to tie a particular cell to many formulas. When we create the formula, however, we tie down the tax rate cell by placing the $ symbol in front of the letter and/or number of the cell address. When the $ symbol is included in the cell address, the cell reference will not change when the formula is filled or copied to another cell. So we can go back to our original formula in cell E4, add the $ symbols, and change the formula in E4 to =D4*(1+$C$8). This is shown in Figure AE3a-7
Another method you can use for absolute cell addressing is to create a range name. A range name is simply a cell that you can attach a text-based name to. For example, instead of typing in cell C8 above, we could instead create a range name called “TaxRate” and then use the name “TaxRate” in our formula to refer to cell C8. Using range names usually make formulas easier to understand. Note that we did not use a space in the name “TaxRate.” Range names won’t allow a space to be included in the range name.

14. Absolute Cell Addressing, continued
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
Figure AE3a-7 Using Absolute Cell Referencing

15. How Can I Format Cells?
Different cells contain different types of data
It is useful to show these different cells with an appropriate format
To format a cell or a group of cells, highlight what you want to format and choose the appropriate formatting option from the menu bar
Changes are made using the small formatting buttons available on the Home tab. Such changes include:
formatting rate as a percentage
formatting a cell as currency
using bolding and centring on table titles
changing the font size and the colour on the worksheet’s title
Other formatting options can used to also improve your work
Q3 How can I format cells?
Different cells contain different types of data. It is useful to show these different cells with an appropriate format (for example, the tax rate should be a percentage, and price and totals should be in dollars). To do this, use the functions on the Home tab. To format a cell or a group of cells, highlight what you want to format and choose the appropriate formatting option from the menu bar. Figure AE3a-9 shows the same spreadsheet as in AE3a-7 except for formatting changes. All of these changes were accomplished using the small formatting buttons available on the Home tab, as shown in Figure AE3a-1. These changes include the following:
• formatting the tax rate as a percentage
• formatting Totals and Totals with Tax as currency
• using bolding and centring on table titles
• changing the font size and the colour on the worksheet’s title
Were you able to figure out how to use these formatting options? There are many more options and not enough room in this application extension to look at them all. Other formatting options, such as alignment, font, underlines, and borders, will improve the look of your spreadsheet and can be used to highlight.

16. How Can I Format Cells?, continued
Q3 How can I format cells?
Figure AE3a-9 A Formatted Worksheet

17. How Can I Create a Chart? Excel provides powerful graphing features
The first thing we do is set up the basic worksheet
Create all of the formulas that will be used
Use the Fill Down option to add formulas to the table
To create a graph, select all of the data along with the names of the items
On the Insert tab, select your graph types - Column, Line, Pie, Bar, and Area
Q4 How can I create a chart?
Excel provides powerful graphing features. We will use a simple example to show you how easy they are to use. Uncle Eddy’s Hotdawgs is a fictional hot-dog stand. Eddy wants to predict how many hot dogs and pops he will sell in the coming season. He knows the quantity he sold for March (they are provided in Figure AE3a-10), and he estimates 5 percent growth in sales each month until the end of July. He would like to see this illustrated in a graph.
The first thing we do is set up the basic worksheet. When we add the date in cell B5, we do not have to type in all of the months. We can use the Auto Fill feature in Excel to do that. To use Auto Fill, first type “March” in cell B5 and then press Enter. Now look for the handle at the bottom-right corner of the cell. Click and hold the mouse button down and then drag the cursor to the right. The months will be automatically added sequentially as you drag. This is shown in Figure AE3a-10.
We can now use the Fill Down option to copy the formula down the column. If you keep the selection, you can also use the Fill Across option to fill across all of the columns, out to July. Remember to look for the handle at the bottom right of the selected cells
Now that all of the formulas have been created, we are ready to graph the estimates. To create a graph, select all of the data along with the names of the items being sold, as shown in Figure AE3a-13. After selecting the data, click on the Insert tab at the top of the screen. On the Insert tab, you will find a number of graph types, including Column, Line, Pie, Bar, and Area. Select the Line graph, as shown in AE3a-13. And then click your mouse anywhere in the spreadsheet. The line graph will appear.

18. How Can I create a Chart?, continued
Q4 How can I create a chart?
Figure AE3a-13 Selecting Data for a Line Graph

19. How Can I create a Chart?, continued
Q4 How can I create a chart?
Figure AE3a-14
Line Chart for Uncle Eddy’s Hotdawgs

20. Active Review 1. What is a spreadsheet?
Can you explain the difference between a worksheet and a workbook? Can you save a workbook? What can be found on the Home tab in Excel? Can you rename a worksheet?
2. How do I enter data and formulas?
What can a cell in Excel contain? Can you build a formula in a cell? How do you fill formulas in new cells? What is relative cell addressing? How can you create an absolute cell address? What is the first rule in spreadsheet design? What is a range name and when might it be useful?
Q1 What is a spreadsheet?
Can you explain the difference between a worksheet and a workbook? Can you save a workbook? What can be found on the Home tab in Excel? Can you rename a worksheet?
Q2 How do I enter data and formulas?
What can a cell in Excel contain? Can you build a formula in a cell? How do you fill formulas in new cells? What is relative cell addressing? How can you create an absolute cell address? What is the first rule in spreadsheet design? What is a range name and when might it be useful?

21. Active Review 3. How do I format cells? How can I create a chart?
Can you use cell format features such as percentage, currency, bold, and centring?
How can I create a chart?
Can you use absolute cell addressing to create a worksheet that includes a growth rate? Are you able to select data for charting including titles? Are you aware of the different types of charts that Excel can create? Are you able to create a line chart?
Q3 How do I format cells?
Can you use cell format features such as percentage, currency, bold, and centring?
Q4 How can I create a chart?
Can you use absolute cell addressing to create a worksheet that includes a growth rate? Are you able to select data for charting including titles? Are you aware of the different types of charts that Excel can create? Are you able to create a line chart?