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Power excel 2016 with mrexcel Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis in Excel 2010–2013 (Bill Jelen) (z-lib.org).pdf
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PART 4: MAKING THINGS LOOK GOOD

439

 

 

SEE DETAIL ON LARGE & SMALL DATA POINTS

For our monthly sales and operations plan-

 

ning meeting, I plot the forecast and actual

 

for 30 model lines. Some of the models sell

 

30,000 a month and some sell 300 a month.

 

No one can make out the detail on 80% of the

 

models.

 

Strategy: Use a Log scale. In a Log scale, the

 

distance from 10 to 100 is the same as the

 

distance from 1,000 to 10,000. This lets you

 

zoom in on the smaller items.

 

1. Choose Layout, Axes, Primary Vertical

 

Axis, Show Axis with a Log Scale.

 

Figure 1104 The first 12 models are too small to see.

The first two gridlines on the chart include no data points.

 

Because the purpose of the chart is to see if the forecast was

 

within 15% of the actuals, it would help to zoom in. Double-

 

click the numbers along the vertical axis to access the Format

 

Axis dialog.

 

2. Change the Minimum and Maximum from Automatic

 

to Fixed. Enter 100 as the Minimum and 100000 as the

 

Maximum. By the way, the Major Unit and Minor unit

Figure 1105 Zoom in with Min=100.

control where the gridlines will be drawn.

3. The markers are too large for this chart. Choose each series. In the Format Series dialog choose

 

Marker Style and either None or a smaller size for the marker.

 

4. To help the reader’s eye travel from the label

 

to the point, use Layout, Lines, Drop Lines.

 

Select the drop lines. Use Format, Shape

 

Outline. In this dropdown, choose Dashes

 

4

and color to make the lines less prominent.

5. The Error Bars are showing ±15% from the

 

 

forecast. To set these up, choose the Forecast

 

series. Use Layout, Error Bars, More Error

 

Bar Options. Choose Both for the direction.

 

Choose Percentage, 15%.

Figure 1106 Error bars for each forecast point.

 

Result: You have a chart to review at the sales and operations planning meeting. Any time that the sales team’s forecast was not within 15%, have a discussion about what happened.

Figure 1107 See detail for small and large points with a log scale.

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POWER EXCEL WITH MR EXCEL

 

 

 

CHART TWO SERIES WITH DIFFERING ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE

Problem: I’m trying to create a combo chart that shows revenue and gross profit percentage. In Excel

2010, the legend shows that both items are in the chart, but I can see only the Revenue series on the chart.

Strategy: Excel 2013 now easily handles this with their Recommended Charts feature. Make sure the gross profit percent series is formatted with a % format. Select the data. Go to Insert, Recommended Charts. Excel 2013 will offer a Clustered Column - Line on Secondary Axis chart:

Figure 1108 In Excel 2013, the combo chart is easy.

In Excel 2010, you have to create the combo chart through a longer series of steps. Initially, the GP% series is on the chart, but the numbers are too small to be seen. You need to plot the series along a secondary axis and change the chart type.

Figure 1109 The GP% series is too small to be seen.

Follow these steps:

1. Click on the chart to activate it.

PART 4: MAKING THINGS LOOK GOOD

441

 

 

2.Select Format, Current Selection dropdown, Series GP%. Excel will select the nearly invisible col- umns.

3.Select Format, Format Selection. Excel displays the Format Data Series dialog.

4.In the Series Options category in the Format Data Series dialog, change the Plot Series On setting from Primary Axis to Secondary Axis. You can now see the red columns.

Figure 1110 Move the GP% to the secondary axis.

5. Excel will add numbers from 38% to 50% along the right axis of the chart. One problem with this setting is that Excel will now draw the red columns directly in front of the blue columns. In every month except November and December, you can’t even see the blue columns. One option is to increase the gap width for the GP% series and make the columns thinner. Instead, I prefer to change the series to a line chart, as described in step 6.

6. Make sure that Series GP% is still the current selection. Select Design, Change Chart Type. Choose a line chart. The reader can now see both the increasing trend of Revenue in December and the plummeting GP% in the same month.

4

Figure 1111 Revenue and GP% are both visible.

Gotcha: When the range of a series is less than 20% of the maximum value of the series, Excel automatically zooms in on the range. For GP%, the range is 42% to 49%—a 7% range. 7/49 is less than 20%, so Excel has chosen to show 38% to 50% as the range for the second vertical axis. This allows you to see more detail in the GP%, but some purists always want the axis to start at 0.

Additional Details: If the chart is going to be printed in color, I change the font for the right axis to match the color of the GP% line. This helps the reader to figure out that the right scale applies to the red line.

Follow these steps to format the axis:

1. Right-click on any number along the right axis. Choose Format Axis.

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POWER EXCEL WITH MR EXCEL

 

 

2.In the Axis Options section, Minimum and Maximum are set to automatic. In the grayed out Minimum text box, you can see 0.38. Click the Fixed option button for Minimum and type the value 0.

3.You won’t find a font color setting in the Format Axis dialog, so select the Home, Font Color drop- down, Red. (All the Font settings in the Home tab will work to format the numbers along the axis.).

4.Click on the numbers along the left axis. Use the Home tab to change the font color to blue.

5.Steps 3 and 4 won’t help if the chart is being printed in monochrome, so select Layout, Axis Titles, Secondary Vertical Axis Title, Rotated Title. Excel will add “Axis Title” along the right axis.

6.While the axis title is selected, type the new title GP%. As you are typing the characters, they will appear in the formula bar. When you press Enter, these characters will replace the axis title.

These steps are optional, but they are reflected in the final result below. 7. Layout, Legend, Show Legend at Top

8. Layout, Axes, Primary Vertical Axis, Show axis in thousands. Results: The final chart is shown below.

Figure 1112 You can see both series on the chart.

Additional Details: You can apply the steps above to build many different combination charts in Excel 2010. Excel 2013 offers a new interface for controlling combo charts. Select Change Chart Type, Combo, and you can choose a chart type and axis for each series.

Figure 1113 Combo charts are easier in Excel 2013.

HIDE SUBTOTALS FROM CHART IN EXCEL 2013

Problem: My data has subtotals that cause spikes in the chart.

Figure 1114 Charting data with subtotals does not look good.