How many of you sit there for hours on end looking at sheets of data and struggling to understand what it’s telling you?

Or maybe you’re not sure how to use the data effectively to boost your productivity and future sales… This is where PivotTables can be a fantastic tool – read on to see how…

For those that are new to the world of Excel and would like to use it for more analysis, you can’t go wrong with using PivotTables. This powerful tool is often used to calculate, summarise and analyse data – it lets you see comparisons, patterns and trends in your data – something every business should want to keep an eye on.

My Excel PivotTable Masterclass will show you how to create PivotTables and Charts just like the ones you see below.

As an example, PivotTables are used by Project Managers, Finance Analysts, Auditors, Cost Controllers, Sales Analysts, Financial Controllers, Human Resources, Doctors and Statisticians to name a few. Anybody who has lots of data and wants to use it more should fully embrace the power of PivotTables.

Here’s a brief overview of what they are capable of:

They can help you to see the bigger picture when the raw data hasn’t been summarised, this is where a PivotChart can come to the rescue; they’re great for adding that easy-on-the-eye visualisation where you can see the whole picture at a glance.

In the picture below you will see the raw data on the left-hand side and the resulting PivotChart on the right-hand side – looks so much nicer don’t you think..?

You can also add a slicer to your filtering. Slicers provide you with buttons that you can quickly click on to filter data or PivotTable data. They also indicate the current filtering state; this makes it a lot easier to understand what exactly the PivotTable is filtered on. There are so many ways you can show your data and at the click of a button too, why wouldn’t you want to use them…? 

The image below shows where slicers have been added on the right hand side for you to select the filters you want i.e. you can select to see how many items were bought by one customer, by each customer or all sales for all customers. 

We’ve added a second image below the slicers – this shows the data set sheet that holds over 2,000 lines of data, so you can see at a glance just how easy it is to find the information you need at just the click of a button….

Rather than filtering on dates, you can create a PivotTable Timeline; this is dynamic filtering option that allows you to easily filter by date/time and then zoom in on the required period with a slider control. This option is very much like the slicer in that you create the timeline once, keep it with your PivotTable and then filter on the range of time whenever you want, this can be particularly helpful if you want to analyse sales especially in the run up to holidays such as Christmas for example and how your sales look after a big holiday – it could help you with the decision of whether to have a post season sale and so much more…

You filter on the time period in one of four time levels – years, quarters, months or days.

You can also use the Timeline with multiple PivotTables, as long as they’re all using the same data source and you can change them so that each one is a different colour making it easy to see the differences – who wouldn’t want a bit of colour anyway….

Another feature of PivotTables is calculating values. As an example – you could add a calculated item with the formula for the sales commission, which could be different for each region. The PivotTable would then automatically include the commission in the subtotals and grand totals.

In Summary

If you run a business, whether it’s small, medium or large, at some point you’re going to want to start analysing your data as this can provide you with powerful insights and help you to increase your sales and boost your business. You can also find where most of your profit is coming from, you can see where there are gaps in your product range and where you need to focus more, they really are one of the best ways you can help your business.

PivotTables are an excellent way to view and analyse the data in one place. They’re great for creating dashboards and MI (Management Information) reports and viewing trends over a period of time, these are particularly good if you have investors or stakeholders in your business that would like to see how the business is performing, a few graphs really do go a long way… They could also be used to help you with business expansion, showing your business is doing great and the potential that it has in the future.

Masterclass

If the thought of doing PivotTables/Charts is something you’re not keen on or you struggle to grasp how they work – this is where I can help you. I’ve created a Masterclass that you can do in your own time and you also have access to the data that I use in the videos so you can see the exact same results I get.

The Masterclass is priced at £58 and is a series of 3 videos showing you different aspects to the PivotTables. It’s based on some training I recently did for an ex-colleague, she said the training was invaluable and has really helped her in her role – check out the feedback here 

I want to help you and your business succeed