What's the best way to represent the variance between two groups of dates? (Charting/Formula)

[hmmmidk220]

Hi!

So lets say we have two sets of dates when something is predicted to be delivered/finished. Each set has two columns: Date of delivery and order number. Assume each order number matches between the two sets, it's just that each set has a different delivery date.

If we wanted to see as a whole how 'off' we are between the two sets of dates, what's the best way to show that? What formula could be used? (some kind of % change?) What kind of chart would show it best?

Thanks!

 

[Eric W]

Maybe:

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M
Date	Order #	Date	Order #	Average variance	Order #	Difference	Difference	Count
Average

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[TD="align: right"]5-Jan[/TD]
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[TD="align: right"]5-Jan[/TD]
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Sheet1​

[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]
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[TH="width: 10px, bgcolor: [URL=https://www.mrexcel.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=DAE7F5]#DAE7F5[/URL] "]J8[/TH]
[TD="align: left"]=AVERAGE(J2:J6)[/TD]
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</tbody>[/TABLE]
[/TD]
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</tbody>[/TABLE]

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[TD]Array Formulas[TABLE="width: 100%"]
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[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] "]G2[/TH]
[TD="align: left"]{=(SUM(SUMIF(E:E,E2:E10,D:D))-SUM(SUMIF(B:B,E2:E10,A:A)))/COUNT(D:D)}[/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]
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</tbody>[/TABLE]



The formula in G2 figures out the average difference in days between the dates in A and the dates in D, matching order number. It expects all order numbers to have a corresponding number in the other group, otherwise the result is meaningless. But there's a lot of details you need to consider. In this example, order 5 came early, which improves the average.

As far as a chart, you can organize your data in groups such as I:J and L:M. You can select the data in those groups and play with charts to see if anything works for you. About the best I saw was to select L1:M9 and choose a bar chart.