Excel for Property
Professionals
Kyleigh Perkins, CPPS
Agenda
• Excel is a powerful instrument for
manipulating data. We’ll touch on some
of the most valuable tools in this
presentation:
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Some vocabulary
Filters & sorts
SUBTOTAL vs. SUM
Pivot tables
VLOOKUP
Conditional formatting
IF
• Before we are done, I’ll leave you with some simple tricks to
increase your efficiency when working in Excel.
Vocabulary
• Formula – tells Excel to perform a calculation or other
computation as opposed to just displaying what was typed into
the cell
– Formulas always start with = to tell Excel to look for a formula
– Can be as simple as =1+1
• Parameter – the inputs to a formula, defined for each named
formula
– Each parameter will give you an indication of the data to be
provided
– Separated by commas
– =DATE(year, month, day)
• Range – a selection of cells, sometimes also referred to as an
array
– Written as the first cell, colon, last cell (top left to bottom right)
– Click & drag to select
– “A1:Z500”
Imagine this scenario…
• Your boss or your boss’s boss asks:
“What dollar value of government property do we have on
hand at that new location? I need it in 15 minutes for a
meeting.”
• You download data from your property
system to Excel, now what do you do?
Auto Filter
• On the Data ribbon, click Filter. Now
you can filter on each column to select
the data that you want.
Auto Filter
• You can even filter on colors!
Sorting
• Auto filter is great for sorting too!
Back to the scenario…
• Your data is filtered to show only the data
that you want to sum. Now what?
=SUM([range])
• How about SUM?
• In the last cell of the column to be
summed, enter =SUM( then select the
cells to be added and press enter.
=SUM([range])
• 1 billion dollars!? That can’t be right!
-- No, it’s not.
• SUM includes all values in the range,
irrespective of filters
• Now what?
=SUBTOTAL(function_num, [range])
• That’s where SUBTOTAL comes in! Subtotal
will perform the calculation specified on the
data filtered-to only.
• The FUNCTION_NUM parameter of the
SUBTOTAL function specifies the calculation
to perform on the data within the range.
We’ll use ‘9’ for SUM, but 3 for COUNTA
(number of non-blank cells) is very useful as
well.
=SUBTOTAL(function_num, [range])
• To use SUBTOTAL, enter =SUBTOTAL(, select the function
number that corresponds to the calculation to be performed,
enter a comma, select the range to calculate against, and
press enter.
• In this case, it will look like =SUBTOTAL(9, H1655:H29995)
But wait, you’re not done
yet…
• You turn in your number, and your boss
is impressed that you got it done so
quickly. Except, now he needs it
broken out by Government contract. In
ten minutes.
• How will you break out your data by contract
number?
Pivot Tables
• Pivot tables are unbelievably powerful tools to analyze data.
They allow a number of functions to be performed on data,
based on what fields are determined for the rows, columns,
etc.
• Ensure that a field within your data is selected, then on the
Insert ribbon, click PivotTable. (Filters can be on or off. Pivot
tables aren’t affected by filters on the data.)
Pivot Tables
• Excel should come up with the range
appropriate for your table in the popup box. Click OK.
Pivot Tables
• A new sheet opens with a blank pivot table.
Somewhere to the right will be the PivotTable Field
List. If it doesn’t show up for some reason, first click
in the pivot table and then click the Field List button
on the Options ribbon.
Pivot Tables
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•
We want a sum of values of government property based on the contract
and location. We will use the Report Filter section to filter just like we
did with the auto filter.
I’ll drag the Ownership Code and MaintPlant fields to the Report Filter
section.
Pivot Tables
• I now have drop-down boxes in the top left of my
pivot chart area. Click the Select Multiple Items
option from the drop-down to select more than one
data option at a time.
Pivot Tables
• We want to
see the data
broken out by
contract
number, so I
will drag the
Contract
Number field
to the Row
Labels
section.
Pivot Tables
• Finally, we have
to tell Excel what
field we want to
calculate against.
In my case, I want
the AcquistnValue
field. I will drag it
to the Values
section.
Pivot Tables
• And there it is, the data we needed in a few mouse clicks.
• There are some further things we can do:
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Number formatting
Column labels
Additional rows
Group Selection button on the Pivot Table Options ribbon
• If at any time you lose the Field List, first click in the pivot
table, then if you still don’t see it, click the Field List button
on the Options ribbon.
• If the source data changes, the pivot table needs to be
“refreshed” by clicking Refresh on the Options ribbon (when
the pivot table is selected).
Congratulations!
• Now that you’ve mastered how to
summarize and report data, you’ve become
the office Excel guru!
• Next your boss comes to you with two lists
and wants to know what items are on one
list that aren’t on the other.
• How will you compare two lists?
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
• That’s what VLOOKUP is for!
• Let’s break that formula down…
– Compare = the data that is consistent between the two lists;
most often in Property that will be the equipment/tag or
material number
– Source = the other list, starting with the column the contains the
matching data and going out as far as the data that you want to
compare to
– Column = a numerical indicator of which column in the source
data you want to compare, with 1 being the first column
selected in the source, 2 being the second column and so on…
– Approx? = are you okay with an approximate match of your
lookup value?, if so enter “TRUE”, if not enter “FALSE”; in
Property, you will almost always want FALSE
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
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Let’s try that with real data…
I want to know what items are on the list on the left that aren’t on the list on the
right.
In the list on the left, I’ll type =vlookup( then click on the equipment number.
Then a comma.
,
,
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
Now, I need to tell it where I am looking for that number, starting with
the column that would contain that number.
I’ll click on the listing on the right, starting with the equipment number
column and going to the end of table. Then type a comma.
Notice that Excel created the range reference in my formula with $s.
‘[NES List B.xlsx]Sheet1’!$A$2:$C$17 -- We’ll come back to that.
,
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
Next, Excel wants to know which column from the right to bring
over to the data on the left. “1” will return the equipment
number, “2” will return the equipment class, and “3” will return
the acquisition value.
I just want to know if there is a match, so I will put “1” to return
the equipment number. Type another comma.
,
,
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
Finally, I need to tell Excel if I want an approximate
match or an exact match. I want to know if the record
exists in both places, so I need an exact match.
I type FALSE (small letters are okay) and then enter
(Excel will close the parenthetical).
That record is in both lists, so Excel returned the
matching equipment number.
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
•
Now I will copy the formula down to all of the rows in
the list on the left.
– Copy, highlight the cells to the bottom of the list, paste
– Drag down the tiny box at the bottom right of the cell
highlight box or
– Highlight the cells in column D from the top to the bottom of
the list and press CTRL+D
•
•
Excel dynamically changes each row to pick the
equipment number for that row.
Remember those $s in the formula when we selected
our source? If they were not there, Excel would also
change the source range when the formula is copied to
additional rows.
– Having the two lists in different Excel workbooks will cause
Excel to create the reference with the $s.
– You can manually add them. Or use F4 when editing a
formula to toggle between dynamic and absolute references.
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
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•
#N/A indicates that VLOOKUP couldn’t find
a match within the range that was
specified. In our case, this is what we are
looking for! These are the records that are
in list A that are not in list B.
Other errors with VLOOKUP:
– #REF! indicates that the column number
indicated is outside the range provided in the
source. In this example, 4 or anything larger
than 3 would return this errror.
– Numbers stored as text: if one list has numbers
stored as numbers (data on the right side of the
cell) and the other has numbers stored as text
(data on the left side of the field), VLOOKUP
won’t see those values as the same.
– Microsoft has a great reference for
troubleshooting VLOOKUP:
http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/enus/files/397/327/AF102038056.pdf
=VLOOKUP(Compare, Source, Column,
Approx?)
• For a bonus, here’s what I get when my column
parameter = 3. This is useful for comparing
elements within a record, not just whether the
same item is in two different lists.
Had enough?
• Those #N/A errors are pretty
unsightly. What if you wanted to take
them out?
• How would you remove the #N/A errors?
=IF(logical test, true result, false result)
• IF returns two different results for each field depending on a
true/false condition in the first parameter.
• To get Excel to look past the #N/A result, we’ll use another
formula, ISNA.
• ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2, ‘[NES List B.xlsx]Sheet1’!$A$2:$C$17, 1,
FALSE)) will return “TRUE” if the VLOOKUP returns a #N/A
error and “FALSE” if it returns an actual value.
=IF(logical test, true result, false result)
• Now let’s put those two formulas together:
• =IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2, ‘[NES List
B.xlsx]Sheet1’!$A$2:$C$17, 1, FALSE)) , “Not Found”,
“Found”)
• In words: if the VLOOKUP doesn’t find a match, return
Not Found. If it does find a match, return Found.
I frequently build IF statements in layers like this, starting with the VLOOKUP
and building out from there.
Almost done…
• The Not Found cells don’t stand out
very much.
• How would you make the Not Found cells
stand out?
Conditional Formatting
• Conditional formatting changes the formatting of a cell
based on the data within the cell (or based on a
referenced cell).
• Highlight the cells to apply the formatting to and click
Conditional Formatting on the Home ribbon.
Conditional Formatting
• The options within the conditional formatting drop down are
extensive. We’ll choose Highlight Cells Rules and Text that
Contains…
• In the pop-up box, type No Match in the text box and on the
right, select the desired formatting type. Select custom
format to open the entire Format Cells dialog box.
Tricks & Tips
• I promised some tricks before we
part!
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Paste Values
Freeze Panes
Customize your Quick Access Toolbar
Keyboard Shortcuts
Paste Values
• You might not want the formulas to continue to be in
your spreadsheet, especially with VLOOKUP, where
the second data set might get separated from your
data.
• Paste values will replace a cell containing a formula
with the result of that formula.
• First, select the cells to replace, copy, then select
paste values from the paste drop down.
or
Freeze Panes
• Want to scroll down without losing your
titles in your first row? Click Freeze Panes
from the View ribbon and select Freeze Top
Row.
Customize Your Quick Access
Toolbar
• You can add frequently-used commands to
your Quick Access Toolbar to the top right
of the Office button.
• Click the drop down and select More
Commands…
Here are some that I
strongly suggest:
 Pivot table(Insert Tab)
 Filter (Home Tab)
 Clear Filters (Home Tab)
Keyboard Shortcuts
• Some of my favorite keyboard shortcuts:
– CNTL+arrow key – jumps to the end of the data in the direction
selected
• For example, CNTL+down arrow will move the cursor to the last cell in the
column with data (which may or may not be the end of the column)
• Can be combined with SHIFT for extra impact (for example, for selecting a
range)
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CNTL+C – Copy
CNTL+V – Paste
CNTL+Z – Undo
CNTL+Y – Redo (undo an undo)
CNTL+D – Copy first cell from selection to all cells selected
CNTL+S – Save
Further Information
• Suggested sources for more
information:
– Google – Look up a specific formula, or even
just something you wish Excel would do, for
example “excel difference between two dates”
– Books from the library
– Excel’s help (F1)
Questions?
• For more information, you can contact
me at:
• kyleigh.g.perkins@ulalaunch.com
• 303.269.5539