UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Course Name: Introduction to Information Management (BIM100)

Lab 1.0 IIM-09: Information Storage and Processing using Microsoft
Excel Software (Spreadsheet Applications)

Software Requirements

Microsoft Internet http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/default.mspx Web Browser

Explorer (Version
6.0 or higher)

Microsoft Office http://www.microsoft.com Office Toolkit (File

software (97-2003) upload/download)
or 2007 version

Lab aims and objectives

- Introduce you to a powerful analytic, organization, and data logging tool.

Lab Description
Many times, research involves the organization and manipulation of data and information.
There are many ways to do this, including programming, spreadsheets, and custom
applications. We will use Microsoft Excel .TM

After this simple activity, you will be able to:

• Open and save files
• Insert and organize data
• Insert functions and calculations
• Plot data and write simple formulae, and organize data by adding,
multiplying or subtracting.

Within most spread sheet programs, you can:

• Insert and organize data
• Insert pictures/diagrams
• Do simple and "steroid" calculations
• Plot the results
• Use a built in optimization program, or
• Otherwise manipulate your data

TO-DO
Let’s now introduce ourselves to the actual spreadsheet. The working
area of a spread sheet file consists of cells which are designated by
which row and column they fall into. For example there are 72 cells in
the 12 rows and 6 columns in the figure below. Things to note:
• Cells can contain text, equations, images, and other useful things.
• The gray boxes are not cells, they are the headings for the rows (1 -
12) and columns (A - F.)
Excel is a spread sheet program which is menu and icon based. The GUI is shown below.

Exercise (TO-DO)
1. Open a blank workbook

2. Write the following entries into the specified cells:

C2 : Annual Fruit Sales

B3 : 1999 A4 : Apple F3 : Total

C3 : 2000 A5 : Orange G3 : Average
D3 : 2001 A6 : Banana
E3 : 2002

B4 : 1000 B5 : 2300 B6 : 500

C4 : 1250 C5 : 2500 C6 : 300
D4 : 800 D5 : 1200 D6 : 600
E4 : 1300 E5 : 1450 E6 : 250

3. Merge the cells from A2 to G2. Apply the following changes to the title line:
 • Change the horizontal and vertical text alignments as center.
• Change the row height of row 2 as 25.
• Change the font, font size, font style and font color as Tahoma, 18, bold,
blue.

4. Using range selection, select the cells from B3 to G3. Then press Ctrl key on the
keyboard and select the cells from A4 to A6. (this way you can select multiple
cells on different parts of the worksheet) Now change the font, font size and font
style of the selected cells as Times New Roman, 12, bold-italic and change the
horizontal text alignment of these cells as left with indent value 1.

5. Using the AutoSum feature, find and write the sum of cells from B4 to E4 into
cell F4. Then copy this cell to F5 and F6. (Hold the right bottom of F4 and drag it
to F5 and F6) Observe that the formulas are updated when copied.

6. Using the Average function find and write the average sales of apple over years
into cell G4. (Excel will suggest a range automatically to you, however this range
will be wrong. So you will have to select the range yourself) Using the same
method in the previous question, copy this cell to G5 and G6.

7. Add a comment to G4. Write the text “Average sales over years” into the
comment box.

8. Select the cells from B4 to G6. Change format of the selected cells to Currency
with Symbol TL and 3 decimal places.

9. Change the column width of Column A such that all the texts on this column can
fit into the cells.

10. Select the columns from B to G and apply AutoFit Selection for these columns.

11. Add a new row above the 3rd row (that is between rows 2 and 3).

12. Add outside and inside borders to your table. For the ouside border choose a
thicker line. (To add borders, select the range where you want to add borders (that
is from A2 to G7), then choose Format Cells from the shortcut menu and click the
Border tab)

13. Select the title (select the merged cell in row 2) and change the cell color to
yellow. (To change cell color, from the shortcut menu select Format Cells, then
click Pattern tab)

14. Select the cells B4 to G4 and A5 to A7 (Use Ctrl key). Change the cell color as
pink.

15. Select the cells from B5 to G7. Change the cell color as light blue.

16. Using Print Preview feature, observe how your document would appear on a
printed sheet. Add one of the automatic headers to the header. Add the page
number to the footer of the document. Change the page orientation as Landscape.
(Use the setup menu in the Print Preview mode to add header&footer and change
page orientation)

17. Write the following entries into the specified cells:

 A11 : 2002 Status

B10 : Apple
C10 : Orange
D10 : Banana

18. Click on the cell B11. Click on the Paste Function button (or the small arrow at
right of AutoSum button) and find If function. Write the necessary entries to test
whether the value of E5 (2002 sales of apple) is larger than G5 (Average sales of
apple over years). If the value of E5 is larger, then “OK” should be written to B11.
If it is smaller, “NOT OK” should be written. Apply similar operations for 2002
sales of orange and banana. (that is for E6 – G6 and E7 – G7 pairs)

19. Select the cells from B5 to G7. Click on the Chart Wizard button. Select Column
chart type and the first chart sub-types. Write “Annual Fruit Sales” as the Chart
title, “Year” as the Category (X) axis, “Value” as the Category (Y) axis. Insert the
chart as an object into Sheet 1. Place the chart on an empty place of the Sheet 1.

20. Move the legend to the bottom of the chart. (Right-click on the legend area and
choose Format Legend, then select Placement)

21. Change the pattern of the Chart Area. Select any of the patterns you like from the
Texture patterns. (Right-click on the Chart area, choose Format Chart Area, then
click on Fill Effects and select Texture tab)

To Submit
A 8-10 paged document detailing the fundamental concepts of data/information management
in Microsoft Excel medium. This should give the descriptions of what you’ve done in the
exercise above.

© Bwalya K.J. 2009