help anyone good at doing spreadsheets?

[helsi]

I need help. I need to do a spreadsheet that calulates various peices of data and I don't know where to start.

[Fran1]

I can't really help, occasionally use these and have to play around for sometime each time before i get the hang of it!!

But starting point is, use excel, go to tools and click options. There you have the calculations.

Also clicking on data gives you ways to 'sort' your columns, into alphatbetical etc.

Good luck!!

[helsi]

ahhhhh I am a real technophobe!!

does excel help you create them with a wizard or something?

[Fran1]

it probably has the help wizard.

Do you have excel installed?

[Fran1]

Yes i just typed calculation into the help wizard and it comes up with a few suggestions of ways to carry out calculation.

If you have excel, type some figures in and just have a play around with it.

[helsi]

yes thanks Fran I do have excel dh has informed me. better have a play around and stop chatting.

[helsi]

nope still haven't got a clue. Oh flippin' heck. Can anyone help?

[sarjon]

are you working in excel?

[gigglinggoblin]

work out the titles for your columns of data, then tell us what you need to do with the data and someone may know!

[squigglesmum]

If you can get the book "excel for dummies" from your library, it's great and deals with things from the very beginning.

[helsi]

ok. I will try my best. I want something that will help me report on how many claims I have received that week by topic. How many total number of oustanding claims I have by topic. How many claims each individual has cleared by topic and the number as a percentage of the total number cleared that month by individual.

In other words I want to start giving each member of staff individual stats on how they have performed that month based on the number they cleared out of the number received.

[sarjon]

there are various formulas that you can input into excel for a basic formula where you are just wanting to get a total of a column (for example) then you need to type the following

=SUM(A1+A2+A3+A4)under the column

which would give you the total for cell a1, a2, a3 and a4.

does that make any sense?

[helsi]

thanks I have worked out the basic adding bit but it is the % bit I am having trouble with now. I am rubbish at maths and so struggle a bit. putting me in charge of a finace section is dangerous. what were they thinking?

[MrsGordonRamsay]

Gordon here taking a break from the kitchen.

You can create a total by highlighting an unused cell (normally below the numbers to be added), selecting the total symbol on your toolbar(Greek S, sorry no equivalent here), highlight the numbers to be added and press return.

You can then create the percentages by using a formula such as C4/$C$25*100 where C4 is the individuals score and $C$25 is the total just created (the dollars stop the value changing when you copy the formula). You can then copy this formula down each line to give all percentages.

Does this make sense to you (it seems easy to me but then I use it every day)?

[Eve]

helsi...sounds like you need a pivot table set up. Don't panic, not as hard as it sounds, 1stly is all your data ina page with column titles and then rows of data, with no blanks in any of the fields.

Or look at it via filters...?

[MrsGordonRamsay]

Bet you are sorry you asked

Hunky and talented, what a boy

[NoPearls]

You might find these counting functions useful:

If you want to count the number of claims in your list, click in the cell at the bottom of a column full of data (perhaps claim reference) and type in
=counta(firstcell:lastcell)
eg
=counta(B2:B100)
remember to make sure that you don't include a cell with a heading at the top or this will get counted as well

If you only want to count certain entries within the column of data, eg claims processed by a certain person, then you can use COUNTIF

At the bottom of a column full of names type in
=COUNTIF(firstcell:lastcell,"name of person")
eg
=COUNTIF(C2:C100,"Helsi")

Hope that hasn't made it even more confusing. I love spreadsheets so am very happy to share the joy with anyone who wants to know...