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In this short 5 mins video, we walk through a couple formulas and then add a chart to an existing Excel spreadsheet. Learn how to setup your worksheet to use formula’s to show data then use the results of those formulas to show the data graphically.
Why would you want to add a chart?
Well, you know a picture paints a thousand words (or more). Charting gives you the capability to show what is often very boring data in a graphical, eye appealing form. Let’s look at some samples of how you might use it. In this presentation, I used it to create a graphical view of some data that was collected in evaluations. Not many IT guys do evaluations. However, you might find if you did your own surveys for your organization you would find some data you collect could allow you to greatly improve the service you offer to your customers. What’s that, you do not service customers? I beg to differ… Everyone in your organization is your customer. In fact, I would expand that to suggest that not only everyone in your organization but also any partners and even in some cases vendors. Really though, why does an IT person need charting. Think about all the scenarios where your company uses excel spreadsheets or access databases, or any king of database for that matter. Excel can connect to almost any data source and generate graphical rollups of data. Ever tried to do a dump of your event logs and report on that. What a mess that kind of data would be without looking at it in a chart format. How about when you need to go to the boss to get more money for a project that you want to implement. Do you think you will have more success if you show him/her where the money is already going. Will they understand that if they are just looking at data? Probably not. How about the number of service calls you get in a week or month. How much time you spend on the phone instead of doing the “stuff” that really needs to be done. Getting this data into a spreadsheet and showing what is going on graphically can make a mountain of difference in your ability to get more money, get more help, provide better service to your customers, evaluate vendor proposals and many, many, many more things. So, happy charting… 🙂
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Checkout other great videos from Dan Stolts at his Edge landing page. You might want to checkout Dan’s blog here.