PE6_Excel Pivot Tables

Working with raw data and statistics on a normal basis, I have always watched my boss use Excel’s Pivot Tables to summarize, sort, and format data to help better understand our employee’s performance.  I recently started playing with Pivot Tables using data, however am not familiar with the tools nor am I comfortable with using the functions.  While looking through the offered trainings on Lynda.com, I came across this course: “Excel 2010: Pivot Tables in Depth” for Pivot Tables and that trains how to build, manipulate, and format tables to filter through higher quantities of data.  Not only will I be able to use this to help me in my position, my boss will be excited to see that I am able to use Pivot Tables to help manage my team through manipulating the data for coaching purposes as I will be able to identify trends once I become familiar with this tool.

Curt Frye instructed the course, and made the use of pivot tables extremely easy to understand as he cruised through the instructions of how to use these for basic functionality.  I imported raw data that I had from my team’s call stats into an excel spreadsheet so that I could begin working with the pivots.  I started manipulating the data by grabbing different titled columns and dragging them into the Pivot Table Builder under the different filters.  Once I got the data set to where it was easy to read and illustrate, I began to play with the charts to see what those could illustrate from my pivot table.  I also took the data that I manipulated and used some of the basic functionality of Excel by imputing the data into some different formulas to help illustrate my data by showing percentages on a performance level.

This course was extremely interesting and helpful, as it took me on a journey from creating the pivot, to sorting and filtering, to conditional formatting, to manipulating the date in the pivots so that I am able to control the results that come from raw data.  Often data sets in large quantities can be frightening to look at and attempt to analyze, but using pivot tables now will make my job much easier.  Excel proves one more time to me that its value is more than I like to give it credit for.