Tag: Excel tips

Risk Analysis using Excel’s Scenario Manager

This is something I first wrote up in 2017 but never got around to publishing. Scenarios still work in Excel. What is described below is still a fine starting point for a broad or moderately robust risk analysis effort. However, more complex projects or a combination of multiple projects will require different methods to properly assess uncertainty and risk. 

Consider two project development engineers working in parallel universes. You know, any normal day. Common Carl and Rare Randy each receive the final lighting line-by-line analysis from their trusted lighting partner. Carl takes the total $ savings shown, plugs them into his financial model, and recommends a guaranteed savings factor of 95% for this project because, well, “it’s lighting.” Before he emails the team, he runs out to get a turkey club and a peach Snapple.

Randy, on the other hand, is rare. He does things a little differently. Continue reading Risk Analysis using Excel’s Scenario Manager

XLQtip: OFFSET with List, Combo, and Check Boxes

Sometimes you need to pull together something that is both satisfying and of good quality, in little time, and with what is on hand. This is certainly true in cooking. You may know how to use every ingredient out there and each implement in your kitchen, but you need to balance the immediate objective with your resources and constraints (e.g. time, what you have to work with, preferences and expectations of those who will be consuming what you prepare). This is also true in other endeavors, too. Take what you do for a living, for instance. Continue reading XLQtip: OFFSET with List, Combo, and Check Boxes

XLQtip: Slicers

When I go to a party and see those little cucumber slices with a dab of herbed cream cheese on top, I know we’re in for a good time.

Why? Mainly because I think those little things are delicious. When I eat things that taste good, I am happy and enjoy myself. My party experience is better.

If your Excel workbook is a party, then Slicers are the thing for you to serve. Continue reading XLQtip: Slicers

XLQtip: Tables

I have to tell you something but I don’t have much time. Here it is.

Use Tables.

What?

“I use Excel, therefore I use tables,” you may say. But not every contiguous group of cells in a tabular format is a Table. If it’s not a Table, it is just a list of data. That’s not all bad – a list could be all you need.  But, sometimes, you need more.

Continue reading XLQtip: Tables