basic concepts to using excel for data analysis

That is why it is much more practical compared to complicated and hard to learn database software and programs.

Excel is much easier to use than any other spreadsheet software.

The Advantages of Databases Over Spreadsheets: With the update of 2010 in Excel, Pivot Tables feature was bolted as a crucial and notably useful tool for generating reports and getting analyses on your data in.Īfter explaining each of the ways for you to use Excel as a database, now, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of using it as such. After these processes, your complex and large amount of data is presented to you in spreadsheets as a summary. Pivot Tables and also Pivot Charts are powerful tools to sort, summarize and filter your data. This automated way of updating spreadsheets and using as a database paved the way for other spreadsheet software in order to follow in these steps.Īnd the third option is Pivot Tables. It moved away from the manual approach Simple Tables carried out for more than three decades. This new feature allowed Excel to automatically create new columns and rows of data based on the information you put in.

The Excel Tables has come with the 2007 update on Excel. It comes with the option for using it as a horizontal or a vertical database. It is as a simple spreadsheet database as it can be. The Simple Tables feature has been in Excel since its integration to Microsoft since 1987. Simple Tables, Excel Tables and Pivot Tablesįor this use, Microsoft has integrated three features into Excel for you to use it as a database: Simple Tables, Excel Tables and Pivot Tables. However, it is possible to use a spreadsheet tool such as Excel as a database as well. All of the other spreadsheet software is based (or sometimes copied or cloned) from Excel. Microsoft Excel is first and foremost is a spreadsheet program included in the Microsoft Office collection. Also, the data they maintain is only raw, the information is completely unprocessed. They are far more complex in terms of data storage compared to spreadsheets. They are used to store data and this data can be managed by creating charts and graphs to accompany it.Ī database is a collection of digitally stored data. They have processed data entered in by a person. Spreadsheets: Data ManagementĪ spreadsheet is simply an electronic ledger. But first, let’s take a look at the exact definition of the concepts of spreadsheets and databases. Later in this chapter, these advantages and disadvantages are going to be detailed.

The answer would be yes… however, using Microsoft Excel as your main database can come with some disadvantages as well as its advantages. Perhaps, the first question you might ask is ‘Can I use Excel as a database?’.

Basic concepts to using excel for data analysis