Analytics Using Excel Workshop 1

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Data Analysis Techniques in DSS

Queries
◦ Vast quantities of data make manual analysis difficult.
◦ Decisions often facilitated by simply asking specific questions about the data

Statistical analysis => Used to determine trends and patterns in the data
Data mining
◦ With larger corporate databases
◦ New tools to look for “hidden” patterns, trends, and relationships in the data .

On-line analytical processing (OLAP) tools

◦ An intuitive way to view corporate data, typically stored in data warehouses.
◦ Aggregates data along common business dimensions
◦ Let users navigate through the hierarchies and dimensions by drilling down, up, or across levels.
◦ Also provide sophisticated statistical tools to analyze these data and tools to present them.
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Why Pivot Tables?

One of the most important and powerful analytics tools in Excel

Provides multi-dimensional analysis capabilities => Fast, Accurate, and Flexible

PivotTables allows you to organize easily, filter, summarize and analyze data

*Before you start => make sure the source data is organized as

Variables laid out as Columns with a clear header name

Observations laid out as Rows

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Inserting a PivotTable
Select any cell within the dataset
Go to INSERT -> PivotTable -> Make sure all the options are selected as shown below and
press OK

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PivotTable Field List

Field List on top lays out all of the
columns available in your source
data with check marks for any fields that
are currently included somewhere in the
pivot

Drag the fields to FILTERS BOX to filter

the dataset
Variables included in the COLUMNS
field will appear as individual columns
within the Pivot

Variables included in the ROWS field

will appear as individual rows within the
Pivot Numerical variables are almost always
included in the values field (sales,
revenue, etc.)

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Sum of all Sales by Region and Month

Sum of Sales Column Labels
Row Labels Central East South West Grand Total
Jan 27.008 37.408 42.66 134.944 242.02
Feb 16.176 122.312 138.488
Mar 116.216 587.988 411.206 84.912 1200.322
Apr 102.976 55.48 324.138 142.838 625.432
May 36.656 204.736 128.4 109.32 479.112
Jun 225.48 412.866 372.704 79.14 1090.19
Jul 86.976 292.1 41.28 375.976 796.332
Aug 46.552 416.236 364 1190.596 2017.384
Sep 334.496 518.88 137.488 454.494 1445.358
Oct 341.328 141.936 88.768 231.538 803.57
Grand Total 1333.864 2667.63 1910.644 2926.07 8838.208

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Data Visualization
A picture is worth a thousand words

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Excel Charts
Go to Insert and look for charts

Data Visualization Key Principles:

Strive for clarity and simplicity => Maximize the impact
Don’t just show data; tell a story
Select right type of chart => functional and beautiful

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Before Adding a Plot – Identify

The type of data you are working with => numbers, categorial, time-series, geo-spatial, etc.

The story (what are you trying to communicate) => Comparison, Composition, Distribution,
Trend, etc.

Who is the audience => analyst, CEO, client, etc.

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Which Chart is Better and Why?

Display the total sales for each month and the number of orders placed for each month.

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Bar and Column Chart

Commonly used for comparing the numerical data across categories.
Examples:
◦ Sales by Region
◦ Sales by Customer Segment
◦ Sales by State
◦ Sales by month/quarter

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Bar and Column Chart

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Histograms
Histograms are designed to show frequencies
The X-axis shows the bins/ranges

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Line Charts
Shows how numerical values change over
some scale.
If the scale is time, called time series.
Uses:
◦ Trends
◦ Variation

Examples:
◦ Sales by day, week, month, …..

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Pie & Donut Charts

Pie charts show the proportion for each category (%).
Shows similar information as bar graphs.
Uses: Summarizing data that are in categories.

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Scatter plot
Shows the relationship between two variables.
Exploring the correlation between the two series.
Uses:
◦ If a relationship exists, it can be used to make
predication.
◦ Caution: Correlation does not mean causation.

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Maps
You can use a map chart to compare values
and show categories across geographical
regions.

Use it when you have geographical regions in

your data, like countries/regions, states,
counties or postal codes.

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Box and Whisker Plot

Visualizing the statistical characteristics across
data series
Breaks numerical data into quarters. Each
section represents 25% of the data.
Uses:
◦ Center and Variation
◦ Distribution
◦ Outliers

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And So Many More

Check out https://www.data-to-viz.com/ for a
whole list of data visualization techniques.

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