Create reports in excel from data

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Excel reports output a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that contains the defined data set and any templates, charts, tables, or other elements added to the customized Excel template. Excel reports use the Report wizard’s filters and groupings/summaries, and once the report parameters have been defined in the rest of the wizard, you can download the Excel template in the Customize Excel tab of the Report wizard and begin to customize it. For example, after defining the data, filters, groupings, and other parameters, you might customize the template to include a PivotTable analyzing the data, and a PivotChart to display the results at a glance.

Unlike graphical, HTML, and text reports, Excel reports can pull data from multiple tables. You can then use PivotTables and charts to analyze the data in any combination. To create an Excel report with data from multiple tables, configure an Excel report in each table with the data you want to use, and then create a combined report that uses those reports as data sources.

Example Reports

Before you create your own Excel reports, it can be helpful to explore an example to see how these reports work differently from graphical charts, custom summary reports, or HTML and text reports. In this section, you can follow a guided tour of two example Excel templates.

Single-Source Example

Let’s begin with a simple example template that pulls data from a single source.

1. Download Contracts Excel Dashboard.zip, extract the Excel file, and open it.
2. Explore the contents of the Sample Dashboard worksheet. This worksheet arranges all the configured charts onto one screen to function as a dashboard.
3. Click through the next worksheets, which each contain one of the charts shown on the Sample Dashboard worksheet. In this example, each chart is placed with its corresponding PivotTable on its own worksheet, and duplicated on the Dashboard worksheet. Keeping PivotTables separated can help prevent problems and make maintenance easier.
4. Open the last worksheet, titled Data. This worksheet contains the data pulled by the report and placed into the Excel file. The columns are determined by the report’s defined view, and the records included are determined by the report parameters. The charts and PivotTables we explored in steps 2 and 3 refer to this worksheet, so it’s important to preserve the layout and format of the Data worksheet. For example, if someone updated the view for this report and removed the Contract Start Date, several of the charts would break.

To create a similar single-source Excel report, complete the steps in the Create a Basic Excel Report and the Customize the Excel Template sections.

Multi-Source Example

Now, let’s explore a more complex example that pulls data from four sources.

1. Download Combined Dashboard.zip, extract the Excel file, and open it.
2. Explore the contents of the Dashboard worksheet. This worksheet arranges several charts onto one screen to function as a dashboard.
3. Open the next worksheet, Pivot Tables. This example places all the PivotTables onto a single worksheet. These tables are used to create the charts on the Dashboard worksheet. When the template includes several automatically-created Data worksheets, you might find it helpful to concentrate your PivotTables onto a single shared worksheet to make the file easier to navigate.
4. Click through the last four worksheets, titled Data1, Data2, Data3, and Data4. Each worksheet contains the data pulled by one of the specified source reports. Each worksheet has its own set of columns defined by the view of the source report, and the records included are determined by the source report parameters. The charts and PivotTables we explored in steps 2 and 3 refer to these worksheets, so it’s important to preserve the layout and format of the Data worksheet, and not to change the order of the source reports after you’ve configured the Excel template.

To create a similar multi-source Excel report, create a basic Excel report for each source table. Then, create a combined report using the basic reports you created, and finally complete the steps to Customize the Excel Template.

Create a Basic Excel Report

In general, report parameters depend heavily on your specific reporting needs. When you set up an Excel report, there are additional considerations for certain parameters.

Create a View for the Report

The view you choose for an Excel report determines how the report data is imported and formatted into the Data worksheet of the final file. All your template customization will rely on the column arrangement of the Data worksheet, so it is important to configure the view correctly the first time you set up the report, to avoid accidentally breaking the report.

1. Before you begin, determine the purpose of this view. Specifically, decide whether the view will be used outside of Excel reporting, and whether the view will be used for just this report or for multiple Excel reports.

   We recommend creating a view specifically for Excel reports that is not used in the normal table view. If you are comfortable working with Excel, you might be able to create one view to use in all Excel reports for the table; this requires including more data than you need for any individual report and combing through the data in Excel later. If you are less comfortable working with lots of data in Excel, or if your system has an unusually large amount of data, you should consider creating individual views for each Excel report you create.

2. Either from the Grouping/Summary tab in the Report wizard or from the table you are reporting on, create a new view.
   
3. If you plan to use this view only for Excel reports, clear the check boxes for selection, edit, and view icons. In Excel, these icons don’t do anything.
4. Set Max lines per record and Max lines per linked field to all. This makes sure the complete value is sent to Excel.
5. Check the Display check box for the appropriate fields, with the following considerations:
   • If you aren’t sure whether you need a field, it’s better to include it. You can always ignore the data in Excel, but it’s difficult to add fields to the view after you create an Excel report.
   • If you plan to use this view for other Excel reports, select every field you might need in any of those reports. If you don’t select a field, your Excel reports will not receive any data for that field.
   • Always include the ID field and, if possible, a second field with unique values, such as the summary field.
6. Go to the Order/Colors tab and configure the field order. This corresponds to the order of the columns in the Excel data worksheet. We recommend putting the ID field and other important fields on the left, just like you do for regular views.
7. If you plan to use this view outside of Excel, configure row coloring or notification icons as desired. If you plan to use this view only for Excel reports, you can configure row coloring directly in Excel later.
8. Go to the General tab and name the view. Include «DO NOT EDIT» in the name to help prevent users from accidentally editing the view and breaking the report. If you plan to use this view only for Excel reports or only for a specific Excel report, mention that in the name as well.
9. Set the Maximum View Width to a high value, such as 900 characters. You can adjust the column width in Excel later.
10. Set the Records Per Page to the highest value available.
11. Go to the Apply tab and make the view visible to every group that needs to view or edit the Excel report.

Set Up the Report

With your view ready to go, set up your Excel report as desired, with the following options:

• If you’re using this report to create a combined report, on the General tab, make sure the report title mentions the table name. For example, you might name your report «Service Requests Data for Combined Dashboard».
• On the Filter tab, leave the saved search set to None. Results can be filtered using a PivotTable in Excel, so usually a saved search filter isn’t necessary.
• On the Grouping/Summary tab, select the view you created and set a high value in Show not more than X records in each grouping, such as 100,000. This determines how many records are sent to Excel.
• If you aren’t using this report to create a combined report, when you reach the Customize Excel tab, click Create/Download New Excel File and proceed to the Customize the Excel Template section. If you’re using this report to create a combined report, you can skip the customized template.

Combined Reports

If you’re creating a combined Excel report with data from many tables, the first step is creating individual Excel reports in each table you’ll use as a data source. For example, if your combined report includes data from the Service Requests, Incidents, Problems, and Change Requests tables, you need to create an Excel report in each of those tables to identify the data set you want to use. For more guidance on creating usable Excel reports, refer to the Excel Report Parameters section.

After you create all the necessary source reports, your next step is creating a combined report that pulls from the other reports you created.

1. In the left pane, expand the Home section and click Summary/combined reports.
2. Click New.
3. Give your report a title and description. Make sure the description lists the tables you’re using to provide source data.
4. Select the Excel output format.
5. Go to the Select Reports tab and click New.
6. In the Combined Report wizard, select the table and then select the Excel report you created. Click Finish.

7. Repeat step 6 for each table and Excel report you want to include. Each one you select will create a separate Data worksheet in the Excel file.

   The reports are sent to the Excel template in the same order they’re listed here. If you want to change the order, click and drag to move the reports.

8. Go to the Customize Excel tab.
9. Click Create/Download New Excel File and proceed to the Customize the Excel Template section.
10. When you finish your Excel template, configure the Schedule and Apply tabs as needed. For details, see Create and Edit Charts and Reports.

Customize the Excel Template

After you configure the first set of report parameters, you need to create a template the system will use to generate your Excel reports. When a report is generated, your template is replicated exactly with the exception of the Data worksheet. The Data worksheet is replaced with new data from the system, pulled in using the parameters and view you configured. The rest of your template is automatically refreshed so the new data is applied.

1. In the Customize Excel tab, click Create/Download New Excel File to download the report with the current parameters.
2. If necessary, customize the column width and text wrapping on the Data worksheets to make them readable.
   Important: Do not rename Data, Data1, Data2, or similarly named worksheets. The system uses these worksheet names to generate the report correctly.
3. Add any necessary customization to create your report.
   • Create new worksheets for your tables, charts, and dashboards as needed

   • Create PivotTables and PivotCharts on the new worksheets

   • Set the design and colors appropriately
   • Arrange charts and tables to make the report easy to use
4. Save the file.
5. Click Choose File and select the Excel report.
6. Click Upload Customized Excel File.
7. Test the report thoroughly and make adjustments as needed.
8. When the report is next run according to the schedule, the system will take the run-time data and apply it to the new Excel report template.

This approach provides a high level of customization using advanced Excel features such as pivot tables, which allow you to segregate a lot of different data into easy views for granular analysis. In this case, 

Agiloft simply provides the report data, and the template handles all of the presentation and formatting requirements. This requires the person building the template to have familiarity with advanced Excel functions. 

Detailed Excel Customization Example

If you haven’t worked with Excel in the past, you can use this section to learn how to make a basic Excel report using your data. Note that this section assumes you have already completed the steps in  

Agiloft to determine your report parameters and specify what data to pull from the system.

Note that the steps refer to the Data worksheet, but if you are working on a combined report, you will have multiple Data worksheets that the steps apply to.

1. In the Customize Excel tab, click Create/Download New Excel File to download the report with the current parameters.
2. On the Data worksheet, see how your report looks. The Data worksheet is overwritten each time the report is run, so we won’t spend much time on customization here, but you can adjust the column width and turn Wrap Text on or off. For example, if your Data worksheet includes a working notes field with lots of text, you might want to turn Wrap Text on for that column to make the text readable, or turn Wrap Text off and make the column narrow if you don’t intend for anyone to read the text in those fields.
3. When you’re satisfied with your Data worksheet formatting, go to Insert > PivotTable.
4. Make sure the New Worksheet option is selected and click OK.
5. To keep our report tidy, double-click the Sheet1 worksheet at the bottom and rename it PivotTables.

6. Review the PivotTable Fields list and drag some fields into the rows, columns, and values boxes. You can use the drop-down arrow to see additional analysis options for the field, and you can create nested fields by dragging additional fields on top of fields you already added. Experiment with the options until you are satisfied with your table.

   If you’ve never created a PivotTable before, start by dragging the ID field into the Values box. Click the drop-down arrow in the box and select Value Field Settings, then change the selection from Sum to Count and click OK. Now, drag another field, such as Status or Priority, into the Rows box. Finally, drag a third field, such as Assigned Team or Department, into the Filters box. This will give you a basic table to use for this exercise.

Now that you’ve created a table, you can create slicers. Slicers make it easy to filter the data without changing the configuration of the PivotTable. Later, we’ll put the slicers on the dashboard next to the corresponding PivotChart, so we can use our dashboard without looking at the PivotTable at all.

1. Select a cell inside the PivotTable and go to Analyze > Insert Slicer. Slicers make it easy to filter data directly in the PivotChart we will create from the table, without having to filter the data out of the report entirely or having to narrow your report parameters too closely. For example, you might want to be able to see the number of tickets for a specific team; with a slicer, you can switch between different teams easily, without removing any data from your report.
2. If you added a field to the Filters box, select that field for your filter. Otherwise, choose a field such as Assigned Team or Department.
3. Click OK.
4. With the slicer selected, open the Options ribbon and select a color for this filter. Use the same color for the same type of filter consistently in your report so that your report is easier to read. For example, if you set a Priority slicer to dark blue, you should use the same color for Priority slicers in other tables, and not use dark blue for any other slicers.
5. Right-click inside the PivotTable and click PivotTable Options.
6. Give the table a clear, descriptive name to differentiate it from other PivotTables you might create later.
7. Clear the «Autofit column widths on update» check box. This prevents the column widths from changing unexpectedly when you run the report.
8. Click OK.
9. Now that the PivotTable is set up, select a cell in the table and open the Design ribbon. Explore the options to change the presentation of the table. For example, change the Report Layout to Tabular Form and see what changes. Play around with these settings to find the best design for your report.

With the PivotTable finalized, it’s time to create a chart and build our dashboard.

1. Go to Analyze > PivotChart. Select one of the simple charts, such as a basic bar or line graph, and click OK.
2. We want to show our chart on a dashboard, not the PivotTable worksheet. Right-click the worksheet farthest on the left and click Insert. Click OK to add a worksheet, double-click the new worksheet, and rename it Dashboard.
3. Go back to the PivotTables worksheet. Right-click the chart and click Cut.
4. Go back to the Dashboard worksheet and Paste the chart.
5. Cut the slicer from the PivotTables worksheet and Paste it on the Dashboard worksheet.
6. Arrange the chart and the slicer together on the page.

The dashboard is starting to come together. Now, clean up the look of the chart:

1. Right-click the field buttons in the upper-left corner and click Hide All Field Buttons on Chart.
2. Open the Design ribbon and select a default chart design.
3. Right-click a data point on the chart and click Format Data Series. Open the paint bucket tab, expand the Fill options, and select the Vary colors by point check box.
4. Open the Design ribbon and click Add Chart Element to add or remove any chart element as needed. For example, if the axis labels and the legend show the same information, you could change the Legend element to None.
5. Adjust the format of the chart as needed by right-clicking the element you want to change and opening the options for that element.

Finally, clean up the dashboard:

1. Select a cell outside the chart and slicer.
2. Open the View ribbon and clear the Gridlines check box.
3. Open the Home ribbon and use the paint bucket tool to fill in the background with a contrasting color, like dark gray.

Now, you have a basic Excel report with a dashboard and a worksheet for PivotTables. You can add new tables and charts to your report using the same steps as above.

Do you want to know how to analyze data in excel?

Are you looking for the best way to analyze data in excel?

Keep Reading!

Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used tools in any industry. While some enjoy playing with pivotal tables and histograms, others limit themselves to simple pie-charts and conditional formatting.

Some may create an artwork out of the dull monochrome Excel, while others may be satisfied with its data analysis. In this discussion, we will make a deep delving analysis of Microsoft Excel and its utility. We will focus on how to analyze data in Excel Analytics, the various tricks, and techniques for it. The discussion will also explore the various ways to analyze data in Excel.

We will discuss the different features of Excel analytics to know how to analyze data in excel (much of which are unexplored to the mass), functions, and best practices.

Our discussion will include, but not be limited to:

(i) Best Way to Analyze Data in Excel

(ii) How to Analyze Sales Data in Excel

(iii) Analyzing Data Sets with Excel

(iv) Data Segregation with Excel

(v) The Importance of Data Reporting

(vi) How to Analyze Data in Excel

How to Analyze Sales Data in Excel: Make Pivot Table your Best Friend

A pivot tool helps us summarize huge amounts of data. One of the best ways to analyze data in excel, it is mostly used to understand and recognize patterns in the data set.

Recognizing patterns in a small dataset is pretty simple. But the enormity of the datasets often calls for additional efforts to find the patterns. In such cases, a pivot table can be a huge advantage as it takes only a few minutes to summarize groups of data using a pivot table.

A data analysis example can be, you have a dataset consisting of regions and number of sales. You may want to know the number of sales based on the regions, which can be used to determine why a region is lacking and how to possibly improve in that area. Using a pivot table, you can create a report in excel within a few minutes and save it for future analysis.

A Pivot Table allows you to summarize data as averages, sums, or counts in Excel from data that is stored in another Spreadsheet, or table. It is great for quickly building reports because you can sort and visualize the data quickly.

Taking a data analysis example like, you may have put together a spreadsheet, which you can copy, and paste into Excel, or use in Google Docs if you would prefer (just click File > Make a Copy).

The spreadsheet contains data with a mock company’s customer purchase information. Since companies purchase at different dates, a pivot table will help us to consolidate this data to allow us to see total buys per company, as well as to compare purchases across companies, for quick analysis.

The Pivot table allows you to take a table with a lot of data in it and rearrange the table so that you only look at only what matters to you.

1. a) Whether you are using a Mac or a PC, you can select the whole dataset that you want to look at and select: “Data” -> “Pivot Table”. When you hit that, a new tab should be opened with a table.

Data Set

1. b) Once you have your table in front of you, you can drag and drop the Column Labels, Row Labels, and Report Filter

• Column Labels go across the top row of your table (for example Date, Month, Company Name)
• Row Labels go across the left-hand side of your table [for example Date, Month, Company Name (same as with column labels, it depends on how you would prefer to look at the data, vertically or horizontally)]
• The Values section is where you put the data you would like calculated (for example Purchases, Revenue)
• Report Filter helps you refine your results. Add anything you would like to Filter by (for example you want to look at Lead Referral Sources, but exclude Google and Direct)

Pivot tables are a great way to manage the data from your reports. You can copy and paste the data into your own Excel file, or create a copy in Google Apps (File > Make a Copy).

How to Analyze Data in Excel:  Analyzing Data Sets with Excel

To know how to analyze data in excel, you can instantly create different types of charts, including line and column charts, or add miniature graphs. You can also apply a table style, create PivotTables, quickly insert totals, and apply conditional formatting. Analyzing large data sets with Excel makes work easier if you follow a few simple rules:

• Select the cells that contain the data you want to analyze.
• Click the Quick Analysis button image button that appears to the bottom right of your selected data (or press CRTL + Q).
• Selected data with Quick Analysis Lens button visible
• In the Quick Analysis gallery, select a tab you want. For example, choose Charts to see your data in a chart.
• Pick an option, or just point to each one to see a preview.
• You might notice that the options you can choose are not always the same. That is often because the options change based on the type of data you have selected in your workbook.

To understand the best way to analyze data in excel, you might want to know which analysis option is suitable for you. Here we offer you a basic overview of some of the best options to choose from.

• Formatting: Formatting lets you highlight parts of your data by adding things like data bars and colors. This lets you quickly see high and low values, among other things.
• Charts: Charts Excel recommends different charts, based on the type of data you have selected. If you do not see the chart you want, click More Charts.
• Totals: Totals let you calculate the numbers in columns and rows. For example, Running Total inserts a total that grows as you add items to your data. Click the little black arrows on the right and left to see additional options.
• Tables: Tables make it easy to filter and sort your data. If you do not see the table style you want, click More.
• Sparklines: Sparklines are like tiny graphs that you can show alongside your data. They provide a quick way to see trends.

Ways to Analyze Data in Excel: Tips and Tricks

It is fun to analyze data in MS Excel if you play it right. Here, we offer some quick hacks so that you know how to analyze data in excel.

• How to Analyze Data in Excel: Data Cleaning

Data Cleaning, one of the very basic excel functions, becomes simpler with a few tips and tricks. You may learn how to use a native Excel feature and how to accomplish the same goal with Power Query. Power Query is a built-in feature in Excel 2016 and an Add-in for Excel 2010/2013. It helps you to extract, transform, and load your data with just a few clicks.

    1. Change the format of numbers from text to numeric

Sometimes when you import data from an external source other than Excel, numbers are imported as text. Excel will alert you by showing a green tooltip in the top-left corner of the cell.

Depending on the number of values in the range, you can quickly convert the values to numbers by clicking on ‘Convert to a number’ within the tooltip options.

However, if you have more than 1000 values, you will have to wait a couple of seconds while Excel finishes the conversion.

You may also convert the values to number format is to use Text-to-Columns using the following steps:

• Select the range with the values to be converted.
• Go to Data > Text to Columns.
• Select Delimited and click Next.
• Uncheck all the checkboxes for delimiters (see below) and click Next.
• Text-Columns-Checkboxes

    2. Select General and click on Finish

When you have lots of numbers to convert this tip will be much faster than waiting for all the numbers to be converted. In Power Query, you just have to right-click on the column header of the column you want to convert.

• Then go to Change Type.
• Then select the type of number you want (such as Decimal or Whole Number)
• Power-Query-Data-Type

How to Analyze Data in Excel: Data Analysis

Data Analysis is simpler and faster with Excel analytics. Here, we offer some tips for work:

• Create auto expandable ranges with Excel tables: One of the most underused features of MS Excel is Excel Tables. Excel Tables have wonderful properties that allow you to work more efficiently. Some of these features include:
• Formula Auto Fill: Once you enter a formula in a table it will be automatically be copied to the rest of the table.
• Auto Expansion: New items typed below or at the right of the table become part of the table.
• Visible headers: Regardless of your position within the table, your headers will always be visible.
• Automatic Total Row: To calculate the total of a row, you just have to select the desired formula.
• Use Excel Tables as part of a formula: Like in dropdown lists, if you have a formula that depends on a Table, when you add new items to the Table, the reference in the formula will be automatically updated.
• Use Excel Tables as a source for a chart: Charts will be updated automatically as well if you use an Excel Table as a source. As you can see, Excel Tables allow you to create data sources that do not have to be updated when new data is included.

How to Analyze Data in Excel: Data Visualization

Quickly visualize trends with sparklines: Sparklines are a visualization feature of MS Excel that allows you to quickly visualize the overall trend of a set of values. Sparklines are mini-graphs located inside of cells. You may want to visualize the overall trend of monthly sales by a group of salesmen.

To create the sparklines, follow these steps below:

1. Select the range that contains the data that you will plot (This step is recommended but not required, you can select the data range later).
2. Go to Insert > Sparklines > Select the type of sparkline you want (Line, Column, or Win/Loss). For this specific example, I will choose Lines.
3. Click on the range selection button Select Range Excel Button to browse for the location of the sparklines, press Enter and click OK. Make sure you select a location that is proportional to the data source. For example, if the data source range contains 6 rows then the location of the sparkline must contain 6 rows.

To format the sparkline you may try the following:

To change the colour of markers:

1. Click on any cell within the sparkline to show the Sparkline Tools menu.
2. In the Sparkline tools menu, go to Marker Color and change the colour for the specific markers you want.

For example High points on the green, Low points on red, and the remaining in blue.

To change the width of the lines:

1. Click on any cell within the sparkline to show the Sparkline Tools menu.
2. In the Sparkline tools contextual menu, go to Sparkline Color > Weight and change the width of the line as you desire.

Save Time with Quick Analysis: One of the major improvements introduced back in Excel 2013 was the Quick Analysis feature. This feature allows you to quickly create graphs, sparklines, PivotTables, PivotCharts, and summary functions by just clicking on a button.

When you select data in Excel 2013 or later, you will see the Quick Analysis button Quick Analysis Excel Button in the bottom-right corner of the range selected. If you click on the Quick Analysis button you will see the following options:

• Formatting
• Charts
• Totals
• Tables
• Sparklines

When you click on any of the options, Excel will show a preview of the possible results you could obtain given the data you selected.

• If you click on the Quick Analysis button and go to charts, you could quickly create the graph below just by clicking a button.
• If you go to Totals, you can quickly insert a row with the average for each column:
• If you click on Sparklines, you can quickly insert Sparklines:
• As you can see, the Quick Analysis feature really allows you to quickly perform different visualizations and analysis with almost no effort.

How to Analyze Data in Excel: Data reporting

Data reporting in Excel analytics requires more than just accounting skills, it also requires a thorough knowledge of excel functionalities and the ability to add beauty to your report.

• Turn Auto Refresh off before editing the Excel workbook. This will stop the table from refreshing when you are making changes on the worksheet. To do this, click on the Refresh icon at the bottom of the Excel Report Designer Task Pane and then select “Switch auto-refresh off”.
• When adding a new row to the layout, select a cell in the table area below where you want to insert the new row. Then right-click and from the context menu select Insert > Table Rows Above.
• When deleting columns or rows make sure you use the Table Delete functions similar to the Insert functions above. To remove a column or row, select a cell in the table area of the row or column you want to remove.  Then right-click and from the context menu select Delete and then either Table Columns or Table Rows.
• Remove unneeded rows or columns from the table. Having fewer cells in the layout makes it easier for the table to refresh, so removing any unneeded ones will improve performance.

Excel has several other uses that may not have been covered here. Play around with visualize complex data or organize disparate numbers, to discover the infinite variety of functions in Excel analytics. Strong knowledge of excel is a boon if you are looking forward to a career in data analytics.

This was all about how to analyze data in excel, how to analyze sales data in excel along with a few data analysis example.

Hopefully, you must have understood the best way to analyze data in excel.

We offer one of the best-known courses in Data Analytics Using Excel Course. The course enables you to learn tools such as Advanced Excel, PowerBI, and SQL.  The live projects and intensive training program also empower you to come up with solutions for real-life problems.