COMPO1 Midterm Lecture What is Microsoft Excel used for?

Posted by Simpo Tech keywords: microsoft excel Microsoft Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. With its powerful functions, Excel has been a very widely applied spreadsheet in many fields, this article shows some example on What is Microsoft Excel really used for? 1. Manage data records like name list The commenly useage of Excel is to manage data records and name lists. You don't have to plan in advance on how the table should look like, as the preset layout alllows you to create the tables on the fly, just fill in the information, the table is developed on the go. Another more attractive point is that you have the ability to sort the list and filter the listing like a database tool. 2. Used as an analytical tool Besides the good use on managing data, Excel is a great analytical tool for business. With the pivot tablecontained within Excel, you can easily analyse a large number of data, as the pivot table can automatically sort, count, and total the data stored in one table or spreadsheet and create a second table displaying the summarized data. It has gone through many revision. In each revision, we see its power being enhanced. In the latest version of Excel 2010, there are many new features added: It added almost six new caculations, a 'Show Value As' function and some great visual tools. 3. Create forms and consolidate results You can use Excel to create not only a simple form that contains boxes, but also professional forms which include option buttons that allow you to select answers, dropdown list to select a particular answer from list of items. Together with charts, you can use Excel to compile answers to tests or quizzes and analyze the profile of the class (If you are a teacher) or your team (If you are a supervisor). 4. Corporate Budgeting

A major business application of Excel is in corporate budgeting. Many companies, from big corporations to small companies use Excel for their budgeting. Despite numerous calls by suppliers of Business Performance Management Systems (BPM) to move away from Excel as a budgeting tool, 70% to 80% of all corporations still use Excel as their primary budgeting tool. 5. Inventory Management Excel provide many functions and formulas that will not only help you manage your data records efficiently but will also allow you to analyse your data based on your constantly changing business environment. Through the use of Microsoft Excel formulas, you can create comprehensive drop down boxes to facilitate data inputs and reduce erroneous entries. And through the use of pivot tables, you could get a good detailed analysis of your stock movement and also your inventory level at any point in time. 6. Finding Profit Breakeven Finding breakeven is never easy without using Excel. To manually find out the breakeven for a project, you have to perform many calculations using different numbers as it's inputs. And the calculation becomes even more complex if the components include fixed cost and step up cost. But with the goal seek function in Excel, this task can be completed in a few seconds. Question: What is Microsoft Excel and When Would I Use it? Answer: Excel is an Electronic Spreadsheet Program Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that can be used for storing, organizing and manipulating data. When you look at the Excel screen (refer to the example on this page) you see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns. The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1,2,3) and the vertical columns with letters of the alphabet (A,B,C). For columns beyond 26, columns are identified by two or more letters such as AA, AB, AC. The intersection point between a column and a row is a small rectangular box known as a cell. A cell is the basic unit for storing data in the spreadsheet. Because an Excel spreadsheet contains thousands of these cells, each is given acell reference or address to identify it. The cell reference is a combination of the column letter and the row number such as A3, B6, AA345.

Data Types, Formulas, and Functions The types of data that a cell can hold include numbers, text or formulas. Just as in math class, formulas are used for calculations usually involving data contained in other cells. Excel and other electronic spreadsheets include a number of built in formulas used for common tasks known as functions. Excel and Financial Data Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include:

Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns and rows of figures. Finding the average, maximum, or minimum values in a specified range of data.

Excel's Other Uses Other common operations that Excel can be used for include:

graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends. sorting and filtering data to find specific information.

The information garnered in a spreadsheet can easily be incorporated into electronic presentations, web pages, or printed off in report form. The Original "Killer App" Spreadsheets were the original killer apps for personal computers. Early spreadsheet programs such as VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 were largely responsible for the growth in popularity of computers like the Apple II and the IBM PC as a business tool.

Common Parts of Excel Active Cell In a worksheet, it is the cell with the black outline. Data is always entered into the active cell. Column Letter Columns run vertically on a worksheet and each one is identified by a letter in the column header.

Formula Bar Located above the worksheet, this area displays the contents of the active cell. It can also be used for entering or editing data and formulas. Name Box Located next to the formula bar, the Name Box displays the cell reference or the name of the active cell. Row Number Rows run horizontally in an Excel worksheet and are identified by a number in the row header. Sheet Tab Switching between worksheets in a Microsft Excel file is done by clicking on the sheet tab at the bottom of the screen Improved features of different higher version 2007: Quick Access Toolbar This customizable toolbar allows you to add frequently used commands. Click on the down arrow at the end of the toolbar to display the toolbar's options. Office Button Clicking on the Office Button displays a drop down menu containing a number of options, such as open, save, and print. The options in the Office Button menu are very similar to those found under the File menu in previous versions of Excel. Ribbon The Ribbon is the strip of buttons and icons located above the work area in Excel 2007. The Ribbon replaces the menus and toolbars found in earlier versions of Excel

2010: File Tab The File tab is new to Excel 2010 - Sort of. It is a replacement for the Office Button in Excel 2007 which was a replacement for the file menu in earlier versions of Excel. Like the old file menu, the File tab options are mostly related to file management such as opening new or existing worksheet files, saving, printing, and a new feature - saving and sending Excel files in PDF format. Quick Access Toolbar

This customizable toolbar allows you to add frequently used commands. Click on the down arrow at the end of the toolbar to display the toolbar's options. Ribbon The Ribbon is the strip of buttons and icons located above the work area. The Ribbon is organized into a series of tabs - such as File, Home, and Formulas. Each tab contains a number of related features and options. First introduced in Excel 2007, the Ribbon replaced the menus and toolbars found in Excel 2003 and earlier versions Microsoft Excel shortcut keys

Below is a listing of all the major shortcut keys in Microsoft Excel. See the computer shortcut page if you are looking for other shortcut keys used in other programs.
Shortcut Keys F2 F5 F7 F11 Ctrl + Shift + ; Ctrl + ; Alt + Shift + F1 Shift + F3 Shift + F5 Ctrl + A Ctrl + B Ctrl + I Description Edit the selected cell. Go to a specific cell. For example, C6. Spell check Selected text or document. Create chart. Enter the current time. Enter the current date. Insert New Worksheet. Open the Excel formula window. Bring up search box. Select all contents of the worksheet. Bold highlighted selection. Italic highlighted selection.

Ctrl + K Ctrl + U Ctrl + 5 Ctrl + P Ctrl + Z Ctrl + F9 Ctrl + F10 Ctrl + F6 Ctrl + Page up Ctrl + Page down Ctrl + Tab Alt + = Ctrl + ' Ctrl + Shift + ! Ctrl + Shift + $ Ctrl + Shift + # Ctrl + Shift + % Ctrl + Shift + ^ Ctrl + Shift + @ Ctrl + Arrow key Ctrl + Space

Insert link. Underline highlighted selection. Strikethrough highlighted selection. Bring up the print dialog box to begin printing. Undo last action. Minimize current window. Maximize currently selected window. Switch between open workbooks / windows.

Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel docume

Move between Excel work sheets in the same Excel docume Move between Two or more open Excel files. Create a formula to sum all of the above cells

Insert the value of the above cell into cell currently selected Format number in comma format. Format number in currency format. Format number in date format. Format number in percentage format. Format number in scientific format. Format number in time format. Move to next section of text. Select entire column.

Shift + Space

Select entire row.