Microsoft Excel is one of the most well known and used computer programs in the world. Whilst you probably know the basics of how to use it, there are many benefits to undergoing training and improving your knowledge and skills. Discover our top reasons why you need to become an expert in Excel. Improve your day-to-day work life In the majority of office jobs, there is at least some need to use Microsoft Excel, from HR tasks to big data… Read More
Excel Blog Posts
By Burningsuit
Excel Microsoft Power BI Resources 24th May 2018
Why Power BI is the future of Excel
Microsoft’s Power BI is powerful and easy to use, and with new features being added every week, it is fast becoming the future for business analysis. Excel formulas and pivot tables may well be the most popular programming language in the world, and the addition of tools like Power Query, Power Pivot, Power Map, and Power View mean you can connect to, clean, remove duplicates and transform almost any data you have. We have discussed the benefits of Power BI… Read More
By Alison Box
Excel Power BI Resources 12th May 2017
Quick Measures or Quick Fix – are Power BI’s Quick Measures up to the mark?
Hey Excel users, anyone remember this? Yes, it’s the now defunct “Lookup Wizard” which, according the MSDN Library entry of January 1996, “…helps Excel users create lookup formulas quickly. Even expert users will find the Wizard’s lookup formulas useful in advanced spreadsheet and application development projects” Well, this was obviously not the case or else this “useful” wizard would still be with us today. What “expert” Excel user can’t construct a simple Vlookup or even use the fiddly Index/Match combo?… Read More
By Stuart Box
Excel Office 2013 Office 365 Power BI Resources 2nd January 2015
Microsoft Power BI for Office 365, this is not your Father’s Spreadsheet
Microsoft Power BI for Office 365 is a fusion of tools designed to provide data analysis, visualisation, ad-hoc query and sharing of Excel data and spreadsheets. It brings together the "Power Tools" for Excel, Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View and Power Map, with cloud-based online facilities which allow you to view, store, share and query the dashboards you create with Excel and the Power tools. It is not simply an add-on to Excel, but a radical enhancement of the… Read More
By Stuart Box
Excel Power BI Resources PowerPivot 20th June 2013
PowerPivot 6 – The Joy of Sets
Time Intelligence Functions One of the most powerful features of PowerPivot is the ability to analysis your data across time periods. To use the Time Intelligence functions, you must have a table in the PowerPivot window that comprises all the dates from the date range of your data. For example, my wine sales range is between 1st September 2010 and the current date. Therefore, I’ve created a Date Table that lists all the dates between these two dates. I’ve also… Read More
By Stuart Box
Excel Power BI Resources PowerPivot 10th June 2013
PowerPivot 5 – Measure for Measure
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” ― William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure Creating Measures A Measure is a formula that is created specifically for use in the Values area of a PivotTable (or PivotChart), very similar to Calculated Fields in a normal Excel Pivot Table. However, in PowerPivot a Measure uses DAX functions. The Values area of a Pivot Table will always require some kind of aggregation and… Read More
By Stuart Box
Excel Power BI Resources PowerPivot 30th May 2013
PowerPivot – 4
Calculations in PowerPivot PowerPivot doesn’t use Excel’s formulas or functions but uses its own special expressions, known as DAX (Data Analysis Expressions). DAX Functions are different from Excel Functions in the following ways:- DAX doesn’t reference single cells or ranges of cells (e.g. B1 or C2:D11). A DAX function always references a complete column or a table. If you want to use only particular values from a table or column, you add filters to the formula. DAX includes functions that… Read More
By Stuart Box
Excel PowerPivot 2nd May 2013
PowerPivot – 1
We've started doing a lot of Training in Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel. This is a wonderful add-on to Excel that allows you to collect data from varying locations and combine than with a PivotTable or Chart. PowerPivot is often used to build Business Intelligence Dashboards in Excel. We've found that people who attend our Training get really excited in what PowerPivot can do. But the first question to answer is "How do I get PowerPivot for Excel". The answer depends… Read More