Some source materials for Pivottables regarding from the perspective of Computer Assisted Reporting in the Journalism world. Links to office.microsoft.com for the following topics: 1. Calculation with formulas and operators 2. Use Excel tables to manage information 3. A pivot table: an interactive way to quickly summarize large amounts of data 4. Visualizing with Excel charts 5. Import data from external data sources 6. Using macro’s to speed up your work from rows to columns 7. Distribute the contents of a cell to adjacent columns 8. Understand data at a glance with conditional formatting 9. Not: BI database sources only RDBM sources

1. Pivottables in Excel for a CAR
oriented approach
Ann.Deraedt@howest.be 20 Januar 2014

2. Computer-Assisted-Reporting
Workshop is based on the concept article “Data
Journalism or Computer Assisted Reporting” by
Elena Egawhary and Cynthia O-Murchu
http://www.tcij.org/resources/handbooks/datajournalism
Only support for page 7- 27
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3. Workshop topics
CAR oriented approach
1. Calculation with formulas and operators
2. Use Excel tables to manage information
3. A pivot table: an interactive way to quickly summarize large
amounts of data
4. Visualizing with Excel charts
5. Import data from external data sources
6. Using macro’s to speed up your work from rows to columns
7. Distribute the contents of a cell to adjacent columns
8. Understand data at a glance with conditional formatting
9. Not: BI database sources only RDBM sources
All sources can be found on http://office.microsoft.com
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4. 1. Calculation with formulas and
operators
- Celreferences:
http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/excelformulas/ss/formula_begin_3.htm
- Operator: + - / * : influenced empty fields
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/calculation-operatorsand-precedence-HP010078886.aspx?CTT=1
- video: introduction to formulas in Excel 2010
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/videos/video-introduction-toformulas-in-excel-2010-VA102502537.aspx?CTT=1
- Video: more complex formulas in Excel 2013
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/video-more-complexformulas-in-excel-2013-VA103990859.aspx?CTT=1
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5. 2. Use Excel tables to manage
information
Demo: Organize your data by using an Excel table
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/demo-organize-your-databy-using-an-excel-table-HA010237617.aspx?CTT=1
Training:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/use-exceltables-to-manage-information-RZ102252956.aspx?CTT=1
- Format data
- Sort & filter
- Add totals
- Use formulas
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6. 3. Pivot table: interactive way to
quickly summarize large amounts
Article and training on
http://office.microsoft.com/enus/results.aspx?qu=pivottable&ex=1&origin=EC079000070
- Row, Column, Value, Report Filter
- Different calculations in value fields
- Refresh
- Layout
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7. 4. Visualizing with Excel charts
Articles, demo and training on
http://office.microsoft.com/en-
us/results.aspx?qu=excel+charts&ex=1&origin=EC079000070
- Series: values, names and legend
- Different types
- Save as chart template
- Pivotgraphics
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8. 5. Import data from external data
sources
Article:
http://www.office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/importdata-from-external-data-sources-HA104003952.aspx
Data from the Belgian government:
http://www4dar.vlaanderen.be/sites/svr/Cijfers/Pages/Excel.aspx
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9. 6. Using macro’s to speed up your
work from rows to columns
Training:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/save-timeby-creating-and-running-macros-in-excel-2010RZ102337714.aspx?CTT=1
- Use relative macro’s in current map
- Add a shortcut key to speed up execution
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10. 7. Distribute the contents of a cell to
adjacent columns
Articles: split text to different cells:
- http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/de-inhoud-van-een-celover-aangrenzende-kolommen-verdelen-HP001216399.aspx
- http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/tekst-splitsen-en-oververschillende-cellen-verdelen-HA102809804.aspx
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11. 8. Understand data at a glance with
conditional formatting
Training understand:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/macexcel-help/training-understand-data-at-a-glance-with-conditionalformatting-RZ103796396.aspx?CTT=1
Training use conditional formatting:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/use-conditional-
formatting-RZ104078009.aspx?CTT=1
Find duplicate values fast:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/course-summary-useconditional-formatting-HA104104022.aspx?CTT=1
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12. 9. Not: BI database only RDBM
sources
Business Intelligence or Business Analytic data are
structured on FACT & DIMENSIONS
(http://www.cio.com/article/40296/Business_Intelligence_Definition_and_Solutions )
Most sources are structured OLTP databases
(OnLine Transaction Processing), mainly in the 3NF
rule of the CODD Normalization
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