Can I combine MIN with an Index Match array?

[bradams]

My data set has a list of people with an assignment date. Each person can have multiple assignment dates. I need to find the earliest assignment date for each person. I am trying to solve this by first doing an index match array formula to identify all the assignment dates and then applying a MIN function to those results. It's not working as it is returning the first date it finds. For this example I'll just use assignment year.


[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]A[/TD]
[TD]B[/TD]
[TD]C[/TD]
[TD]D[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]Assignment Year[/TD]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]Earliest Assignment[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]John[/TD]
[TD]2019[/TD]
[TD]John[/TD]
[TD]< Formula >[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Bill[/TD]
[TD]2015[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]John[/TD]
[TD]2017[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Nancy[/TD]
[TD]2016[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]John[/TD]
[TD]2018[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

This is the closest I've come for the formula in D1 but, as I said, it's returning the first year matching John (2019), not the earliest year (2017).

{MIN(Index(B1:B5,MATCH(C1,A1:A5,0),1))}



As a one-off I could sort by assignment date but this is an ongoing report so I'm trying to automate this as much as possible. I cannot force the database to return the data pre-sorted and, honestly, cannot figure out how the data is being sorted.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eric W]

Try:

	A	B	C	D	E

<colgroup><col style="width: 25pxpx"><col><col><col><col><col></colgroup><thead>
</thead><tbody>
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Name[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Assignment Year[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Name[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Earliest Assignment[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="align: center"]2[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]John[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2019[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]John[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2017[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]2017[/TD]

[TD="align: center"]3[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Bill[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2015[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="align: center"]4[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]John[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2017[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="align: center"]5[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]Nancy[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2016[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="align: center"]6[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] "]John[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"]2018[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=FAFAFA]#FAFAFA[/URL] , align: right"][/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

</tbody>

Sheet3​

[TABLE="width: 85%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]Worksheet Formulas[TABLE="width: 100%"]
<thead>[TR="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=DAE7F5]#DAE7F5[/URL] "]
[TH="width: 10px"]Cell[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Formula[/TH]
[/TR]
</thead><tbody>[TR]
[TH="width: 10px, bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=DAE7F5]#DAE7F5[/URL] "]E2[/TH]
[TD="align: left"]=MINIFS(B:B,A:A,C2)[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

[TABLE="width: 85%"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]Array Formulas[TABLE="width: 100%"]
<thead>[TR="bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=DAE7F5]#DAE7F5[/URL] "]
[TH="width: 10px"]Cell[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Formula[/TH]
[/TR]
</thead><tbody>[TR]
[TH="width: 10px, bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=DAE7F5]#DAE7F5[/URL] "]D2[/TH]
[TD="align: left"]{=MIN(IF($A$2:$A$6=C2,$B$2:$B$6))}[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
Entered with Ctrl+Shift+Enter. If entered correctly, Excel will surround with curly braces {}.
Note: Do not try and enter the {} manually yourself[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]



The MINIFS is available in Excel 365.

 

[bradams]

Thanks. I was making it way more complicated than necessary.

 

[Eric W]

You're welcome. Another set of eyes can really help sometimes.