Spreadsheet Solutions

20 features for better spreadsheets

Part 21 of 22 - Separate dashboard

What’s the difference between a report and a dashboard? No, this isn’t a joke. A report is a detailed dive into the data. A dashboard is a high-level view of KPIs that lead you to know what to address or to report on. Many just morph these two into a weird combination of a mess. Keep the two separate and keep them doing what they should be. A dashboard should be to look at the spot key issues, and a report should be to analyse what has taken place and to help make key decisions. If you combine these two, it could render them both ineffective.

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20 features for better spreadsheets

Part 15 of 22 - Dynamic drop-down options or calculation over-ride

This is tricky to explain but I will try. Let’s say you have a value column, which is 99% always the same value (or calculated value) but in the odd occasion it might need to be changed. If you make it a data entry cell, you’re always entering it, even when it should be automated. If you make it a formulated cell, you can’t change it when you need to. There are 2 options here. Either use a drop-down list to show you the calculated value, with the option to over-ride, so you simply select the correct value as default. Or, have an ‘Over-ride’ column, which you only complete if it differs to the norm. Then you can calculate the norm as default, unless an over-ride is entered.

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