Excel for Xcelsius

Duration 2 Days

AudienceThe target audience for this course is the general business user who wants to understand Excel formulas and functions to create more dynamic and interactive presentations with Xcelsius.

* This course has been specially developed by InfoSol and is not endorsed, sponsored by or provided by or on behalf of SAP Business Objects.

PrerequisitesWorking knowledge of Xcelsius

SynopsisThis two day course is designed to provide learners with an understanding of Excel formulas and functions needed to create dynamic dashboards in Xcelsius and gain an understanding of how to set up data in Excel for best presentation in Xcelsius dashboards. By the end of the course, learners will understand how to effectively use Excel formulas and functions specifically targeted for Xcelsius. Students will have the opportunity to practice creating dynamic models through a series of workshops.

ObjectivesThis course offers best-practice methodology for preparing Excel spreadsheets for dynamic display of complex data in Xcelsius.

TopicsExcel Introduction
  • Sum Function and dragging formulas
  • Running totals
  • Concatenate vs. Ampersand
  • Simple math for sliders
  • Absolute positioning
  • Count
  • CountA

    Conditional Formulas
  • IF
  • IF AND
  • IF OR

    Date Functions
  • Today
  • Month
  • Quarter
  • Year

    Extracting Data
  • Match
  • Index

    Other Useful Tricks
  • Transpose
  • Rand

    Calculations to Avoid with Xcelsius
  • Memory intensive functions
    • SUMIF
    • COUNTIF
    • DCOUNT
    • DCOUNTA
    • DSUM
    • Ranking
  • Unreliable results
    • VLOOKUP
    • HLOOKUP

    Excel Errors and how Xcelsius Handles them
  • #NA!, #VALUE!, DIV/0!, etc.

    Data Layout in Excel for Optimal use in Xcelsius
  • "Pivot" tables and multi-dimensional layout
  • How to handle "ugly data" (data that does not chart well together)
  • Best layout scenarios
  • Ways to handle too much data
  • Excel options for improving dashboard performance
  • Examples of good and bad data layout and labeling