Lightweight data exploration in Excel

[Von Pookie]

As I found on Digg this morning:

We often are given a chunk of data in Excel that we need to explore. Of course, the first tool you should pull out of your toolbox in cases like this is the trusty PivotTable (it slices, it dices!). But at times we have to dig a little deeper into the toolbox and pull out the in-cell bar chart.

The write-up (and screenshots) are here:
http://juiceanalytics.com/weblog/?p=236

 

[Richard Schollar]

Kristy

I really like that - and it's not something I would have thought of if given the task of presenting the data.

Definitely a useful additional to the analysis armoury!

Richard

 

[Von Pookie]

Yeah, I thought it was a neat little trick, myself

 

[zraj07]

Have already just made use of the concept. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[Zack Barresse]

Wow, that looks eerily like my contribution in Bill's book, The Spreadsheet at 25.. LOL!

 

[Von Pookie]

Looks like there's a follow up post with more examples and a sample workbook for download, now:
http://www.juiceanalytics.com/weblog/?p=239

 

[SydneyGeek]

Reminds me of how they implemented charts in FileMaker. I reckon I could put that to good use...

Denis

 

[Richard Schollar]

Hey Denis

Do you use FileMaker much? I've never used it, but I have heard it touted as a possible replacement for Excel, even though it's a database program. What do you reckon?

Best regards

Richard

 

[SydneyGeek]

Hi Richard

I used to use Filemaker quite a bit, but hardly at all in the last couple of years. All my clients have Access, so that's my weapon at the moment.

The thing about using FM as a replacement for Excel is a bit of a furphy. If you're filtering, sorting or collating, yep. If you're comparing across a column, FM has all the typical database issues of having to create long expressions full of field names.

A couple of things I do like:
1. To import an Excel file, you drag and drop it
2. In version 7 and above, you can create some unusual relationships -- A > B, for example.
3. In the latest version you can have a live feed of Web data straight into the database.

The scripting language is not quite as flexible as VBA though, and it doesn't hook into Windows quite as well as Access, but if you're in a mixed Mac / Windows environment it's the way to go. Files are absolutely compatible between the two, and the server version of FM installs natively on Windows Server, MacOS or Linux (Red Hat).

Denis

 

[Richard Schollar]

Thanks for the heads up Denis

Given that I have Access (on a Windows PC), would there be any benefit to me having FM too? I don't actually have any plans to use FM, but I have wondered what benefits it might have over say an MS Office suite.

Richard