Ways to Optimize Your Excel Uses

Any business that works around the number to keep track of its finances definitely needs Excel. Excel is a great way to organize and categorize your numeric data and compute further meaningful information out of raw data sets.

Here is how you can make the most out of your Excel usage:

Plan meticulously

Before you start working on an Excel report, it always helps to plan the layout in advance. Don’t start tossing the data left and night only to end up with a mess later on. Think of your end goal and why you want to create an excel spreadsheet in the first place.

It always helps to write down these goals separately so you can match them with the progress and keep track of how well you’re doing. This also diminishes the chances of any structural issues.

Try and understand how the Excel calculation stack works. Excel always creates a calculation stack before performing any calculations. This approach calculates the number of cells based on their dependencies. This ensures a very logical flow of all the dependencies. Keep the formulas minimal and organized. Don’t get unnecessary duplicates. It’ll only slow down the program speed. Please keep it simple.

Understand the named range creation

To create a dashboard, you need to be very particular about your named ranges. Every time you name certain objects or values in your Excel dashboard, the system senses things from a fresher perspective. It always helps to choose the names smartly.

You need to use your range creation to make it easier for the rest of the staff to understand the Excel data. Choose names that help you identify different data sets. You also need to think of what kind of names work well with the computer system. Choose names that can easily be accommodated in the formulas and won’t necessarily the calculations.

It’s not recommended to use spaces in the names being entered in a single cell. For instance, combining ‘Excise Tax’ into ‘ExciseTax’ is a good idea. You can also place the two words in two separate columns. Feel free to use lowercase and uppercase letters. They make no difference to your calculations.

Know your functions

Excel comes with a wide range of functions, controls, and formulas. You could get these formulas to perform almost every calculation job in the world. At the same time, it’s vital that you know what these formulas do so you don’t overwhelm the spreadsheet with unnecessary formulas.

Delete any unnecessary and repetitive formulas. Don’t link to other workbooks, and don’t post pictures in the workbook—this will only confuse your viewers. Try and reap the maximum benefit of ActiveX controls. These include any additional option buttons, checkboxes, and text boxes.

We don’t recommend using custom VBA formulas—especially if you’re using those to compute data sets based on non-standard attributes.

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