1. EXCEL POWER MOVES http://home.uchicago.edu/~greenland AIR 2015
Bethany Butson (Purdue)
Leonard Goldfine (Minnesota)
Will Greenland (Chicago)
Luzat Khandkar (Chicago)

2. Motivation/Introduction
Excel is a highly useful and flexible tool
Used right it is extremely powerful for rapid report development
Sticking to basic good practice helps avoid most frequent mistakes/errors
Various “power moves” enhance productivity further

3. Basic Good Practice Three content tabs: Data Calc Report
Standard additional tabs for calculation and meta-information:
Scratch calculation
Notes
Checklist
Lookups
Create a “shared language of spreadsheets” to save time when working with multiple users

4. Before You Get Started
Default version of Excel doesn’t have useful functions enabled:
Developer tab
Click File  Options  Customize Ribbon  Check the Developer box
Analysis Tool Pack and Tool Pack VBA
Click File  Options  Add-Ins  Manage  Click Go  Check Analysis Tool Pack and Tool Pack VBA  Click OK
Bethany
Enable functions!

5. Power Move 1: Drop-Down Getting started – 2 worksheets Data Lists
Creating Lists
Simply create lists by entering desired fields in each column
Activating Lists
Use the Data Validation feature
Select “List” option from the Allow drop down menu
Use the Source drop down menu to select appropriate list
Lists can be edited
Bethany

6. Power Move 2: Using VBA for Data Clean up
Example) CIP code missing leading zeros
Create VBA master file that contains code that can be used to clean up CIP codes
Master file can contain several VBA modules
Bethany

7. Power Move 3: Creating a Report Publication in Excel
Create report template
Add data sheet(s)
Insert data into report template using charts/linked tables/images/etc.
Bethany

8. Power Move 4: Survey Response Analysis in Excel
Use DCOUNT, DSUM etc. to create a frequency table in calculation tab
Multiple filter columns allow subpopulation comparisons
Once template is created, duplicate to model multiple questions
Combine with approach discussed above to produce live survey output report
Utilize Pivot Tables for further data manipulation

9. Power Move 5: Use VBA to Automate More Complex Analysis (1/2)
Ad-hoc survey reporting tool has familiar requirements:
Side-by-side subpopulation reporting
Repeatable for future survey iterations
Adaptable to new survey designs
But also has further analysis needs that are not simple to produce in “pure Excel”:
Median, standard deviation etc.

10. Power Move 5: Use VBA to Automate More Complex Analysis (2/2)
VBA macros can be used to:
Iterate through multiple questions/settings
Copy/paste output from unformatted calculation area/tab to report
Or, pasted output via VBA can itself be the underlying source for a final round of calculation (e.g., significant differences) before formatted output

11. Final Observations/Wrap-Up
Start from a simple/structured place:
Data
Calc
Report
Make notes on things that change, explain how the whole workbook fits together
Use common “recipes” to solve similar problems
Use VBA to automate repeated tasks, especially:
Copy/paste (moving data around)
Generate near-identical reports changing simple settings

12. Bethany Butson: bbutson@purdue.edu Leonard Goldfine: gold0154@umn.edu
Contact Information
Bethany Butson:
Leonard Goldfine:
Will Greenland:
Luzat Khandkar: