It would be neat if Excel could do this…

Almost everyone has said those words at some point.  The answer is, Excel does do that, you probably just do not know how to get it done.  While you could figure it out on your own (and it might even be kind of fun) the reality is that you have a job to get done.  Probably, your job is NOT to figure out how to make Excel do what you need.  At JAAD Group, we are masters of Excel formulas and functionality.  Let us help you streamline and structure your spreadsheets to make the most of your time, thereby saving your money.

Are multiple columns being used in order to help find the solution to a complex formula? For instance, if your cursor was on a cell and the formula read something like this:

What does that tell you? What are you trying to find? It is hard to tell. Would this work better?

While you might not understand what the SUMIFS function does, it is much easier to see and understand exactly what data is being used. Also notice that when cell ranges change because of added or deleted rows/columns, the second formula does not need to be updated. The first one would take a long time to update manually.

You might not think this type of structure matters when creating a complex spreadsheet. But once completed, unless you are the creator of the document, only you will understand all those references! If someone else ever needs to “fix” an error that is found, it will take longer and be more prone to additional errors.

Normally, this is due to hundreds of data lookups. Excel needs to work everything twice. The first pass updates the first group of cells. The second pass verifies that everything that relies on something else was updated properly. When dealing with large data groups, most users simple use a range of cells. However, JAAD Group can re-organize your data so that calculation time and updates are no longer an issue in most cases.

So what should you do? After you get your data or spreadsheet looking as close as possible to the way you want it. Get some professional help. You already do this when it comes to accounting or legal requirements. You let the professionals handle it so you can concentrate on doing your job.