Calculating Average POS Staff

[santeria]

This is a Excel Formula Based item that has me Bamboozled... totally.
The theory is that for the Avg Pos Staff Value, the formula is

=AC2/J2*60

Which is Staff Time divided by Interval Time ( Seconds, always 30 in this case) times 60.

In the Example Below, I have just place in the Values. and the supposed results... I can't figure if the results are Kosher, or if I am doing some formatting Wrong.

I'd appreciate some assistance greatly.

Book2
	C	D	E	F	G
1	intrvl	i_staff_time		AveragePOSStaff	SUPPOSEDRESULT
2	30	83427		166854	46.3
3	0.000347222	88820		15348096000	49.3
4	0.000347222	77525		13396320000	43.1
5	0.000347222	64996		11231308800	36.1
Sheet1

Ta

 

[Joe Was]

You may have an order of operations problem.
Your formula is being solved as: AC2/(J2*60)=
where AC2=83427 & J2=30 then the answer is 46.3.

You may want to force the operation order as:

(AC2/J2)*60=166,854

If you could define what it is you have and what you want to show or represent we may have another formula?

 

[santeria]

The formula was gleaned from a combined set of Details, a Glossary of formulas, and a very reluctant Programmer who uses POWERBUILDER to construct some very obtuse programme sequences.

The Source Data is the cleanest of all the mess I have to deal with, it's the translated processes that are the hassle.

I am trying to show the number of people logged in to the system at any given half hour interval.

The stated formula is what I have above, I even had the programmer specifically state this for me. He then added that the programme makes two final passes on the data, one for an average ( .0 to .499 goes down one, and .5 and above goes up one), and then I think a weighted average pass for number of intervals happens.

If you can understand this mess, I'll be forever grateful. Trying to make Powerbuilder programmers reveal their secrets is like getting the holy grail


Ta Muchly.

 

[santeria]

What I am still trying to figure out is how you get to 46.3

I am totally puzzled as to how this happens.

Is the end result a particular format ?

The Glossary gives the format of the formula as:

(I_STAFF TIME/Interval Period*60)

Which is horribly unclear.

Any help or advice much appreciated.


Ta

 

[Seti]

If you want to get 46.3, you need to change the order of operations by adding parentheses as follows:

I_STAFF TIME/(Interval Period*60)

or

=AC2/(J2*60)

It appears that POWERBUILDER assumes that multiplication takes precedence over division so the 60 is multiplied by the Interval Period before the division takes place. Use parentheses to force this order. Excel assumes that division and multiplication are equal operations and will process them from left to right in the absence of parentheses.

 

[santeria]

Thanks a Billion !!!

It's not only Powerbuilder which makes some different process assumptions, it's the programmer who has been doing the "incorrect" translation of the Powerbuilder process to the Excel process.

Next Step is how the Average and weighted Average ( translated... Incoherant division Process) occurs.

If I could grasp the Process in the reports, I'd be a lot happier. I am so reliant on the presentation of the senior programmers who really do not seem to like divulging their private secrets

I guess I better use a similar sort of breakdown of possibilities when the results don't work out.

At this stage, these sheets are tests for later Trend Breakdowns.


Ta Muchly.

ray: ray: