14. Formatting & Charting

We formatted in ways that make the worksheet legible, presentable, and logical. We used the Currency Format (rather than the Accounting Format) in first lines and total lines of dollar figures - this is standard for a financial document, like an Income Statement - and the Comma Format, for all figures in between first lines and totals.

A picture helps to understand the data. The Three Dimensional Pie Chart is perfect for this project because it makes it easy to see the six monthly totals graphically. Pie Charts are great when you have limited data.

The Chart Tools Layout Tab helped to:

• Insert a Chart Title
  
• Insert Data Labels
  
• Rotate the Chart
  
• Apply a 3D Format with beveling and a special effect
  
• Explode the Pie Chart
  
• Change the color of each slice

In addition we:

• Renamed,reordered and added color to our Sheet Tabs
  
• Ran a Spell Check
  
• Ran a Print Preview to hone the Print Job
  
• Analyzed data by changing some of our Assumptions
  
• Ran Goal Seek to force the result in one cell by changing another

This Project is filled with interesting examples of how to set up a good worksheet, how formatting enhances the information, how to 'Chart' it, and how to use the analytic capabilities of Excel for making predictions. Each operation by itself is a small addition to the entire picture. But all together the result becomes a powerful means of presenting information!

Materials Covered: MS Excel - Project 3:
What-if Analysis, Charting, and Working with Large Worksheets, pp EX 161-228

Case 5: Working with Excel Tables:

• End of Year Stationery Sales
• Follow the instructions to download your file, complete work on it, and then to upload it for grading.
• In your journal, write a short note letting me know what you learned from working with Charts in this case. Thanks.