Using Microsoft Excel to Integrate Data Systems
Integrating multiple systems is a problem for any business. In the past few months, it’s been a good problem to have for the Digital Workshop. As our volume of students has increased dramatically, we’ve been trying to figure out how to better handle our multiple systems internally. One of the most common issues that come with having multiple systems is they don’t talk nicely to each other. By “talk,” I mean data does not transfer easily between them. For example, a system for human resources data may export a text file of employee info that a payment tracking system doesn’t understand....
read moreFive Excel© Features That Everyone Should Know
Microsoft Excel is just about as famous for being frustratingly difficult as it is for being exceedingly useful. These five tricks will make your data-crunching experience a much more relaxing one. 1. What Day Is It? Excel’s “Today” feature is no doubt a quick way to insert the day’s date into your spreadsheet. If you are not familiar with it, entering =TODAY() into a blank cell puts the day’s date into the cell. A word of warning, though – Even though this seems like it would be a useful tool to track when you input important data into your spreadsheet, the date will automatically update...
read moreMicrosoft Excel: Using Conditional Formatting
[Note: This article was originally published in The Coloradoan on 2/24/12] A client recently came in looking for help with Excel spreadsheet issues. As the director of a youth program, she was using an Excel spreadsheet to track participants’ enrollment information. She needed the name of an active participant to show in green. If the participant was transitioning out the name was to show in yellow, and if the participant had left the program, the name was highlighted in red. She had approximately 3,000 participants to work with at any given time, and she manually went through every...
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