ADM 1370 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Microsoft Excel, Decision Analysis, Data Management
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Class 9
Why are we Learning Excel?
• Try to map your ADM1370 Course Experience to these skills
o Reflect upon your day-to-day learning through lectures, discussions and
assignments
Introduction to Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office Excel 2013/2016 (Excel)
o A computer program used to enter, analyst, and present (quantitative) data
o A spreadsheet program
• A spreadsheet is a collection of text and numbers laid out in a rectangular grid
o Often used in business for accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, inventory
management and other functions
• An electronic spreadsheet program such as excel aids a multitude of problem-solving &
decision-making processes through providing
o Data management features
o Automatic calculation functions
o Presentation tools
o Decision analysis functions
Worksheet and Workbooks
• Excel
o A computerized spreadsheet application used to build and manipulate worksheets
and workbooks
• Worksheet
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o A spreadsheet that may contain data including text, numbers, formulas, charts etc
o Sometimes a charts based worksheet is referred to as a “Chartsheet”
• Workbook
o A collection of related worksheets with one file
Basic Components of the Excel Interface
• File Tab
o Consist of file operations commands such as opening, closing, saving, printing
and sharing files
o The options and features available here are part of the “Backstage View”
• Tabs & Ribbon
o Each tab corresponds to sets of features displayed horizontally as a ribbon
o A ribbon consists of groupings, and controls
o Tabs are deigned to be task-oriented and costs of several logical groupings of
controls that perform similar functions
• Quick access Toolbar
o Contains controls/commands that are most commonly used. Additional controls
can be added through Excel Options settings through the Office Button
• Select All button
o Used to select all elements of the worksheet
• Status Bar
o Display information about a selected command or operation in progress
o Also displays basic summary information about a selected range of values
• **Handy Hack
o You can customize that status bar to show the types of tummy information you
are interested in
o Just right-click the status bar and select the options you wish to use
Planning for Good Workbook and Worksheet Design
• Plan before you start entering data
o Decide on the purpose of the spreadsheet and how it will be constructed
o Make it obvious where data is to be entered
▪ Use titles, headings, instructions, colour schemes and forms to designate
areas for data-entry
o Wherever possible setup formulas and use cell references for calculations
▪ Allow excel to do what it was designed for (I.e. automatic calculations)
▪ Try to minimize hard-coded numbers in your calculations
• Test multiple times to make sure the results are what you except
o Check your results against your mental model of what the results should be
• Formate the worksheet so it look aesthetically pleasing
• Document the worksheet as throughly as possible
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