currently using office 2010.
Fairly familiar with Excel, but only with basic formula and filter uses.
reached a point where it is becoming too time-consuming to manually set a series of filters etc for each match.
I think what I want to be able to produce is called a dashboard.. E.g. pie chart or similar from the underlying sets of figures.(quick visual reference)
I am going to upgrade my Excel to 2013, as this seems to have more of these features built-in.
What I really need to know, is whether if I progress my Excel knowledge I will be able to do this, or am I embarking into the world of VBA etc
sorry if this question is a little vague,, but then so is my knowledge..
Regards Alan
Excel guidance
Hi Alan,
Just my opinion....
99% of people use less than 10% of the functionality with the Office suite. With each new release, MS concentrate on making that 10% easier to use.
If you're in that 1% of people who want to do more (and I'd say that a lot of people on here on in that group), then firstly I doubt that Excel 2013 will make much difference to you and secondly, VBA in Excel 2010 may open up huge possibilities and functionality.
If you want charts that adjust based on the data that you have in your sheets and automatically update P&L estimates etc., then you don't need VBA.
If you want to do more complex things such as firing bets based on complex criteria, importing disparate data sources, screen-scraping data from websites etc., then VBA will open up a new world.
If you're new to programming then 'learning' VBA can be quite a challenge, but there are very few easier languages and the tools within Excel make it as simple as possible. Also the beauty is that you can mix-n-match - use code for somethings and formulas/functions for others.
Good luck!
Regards
Ian
Just my opinion....
99% of people use less than 10% of the functionality with the Office suite. With each new release, MS concentrate on making that 10% easier to use.
If you're in that 1% of people who want to do more (and I'd say that a lot of people on here on in that group), then firstly I doubt that Excel 2013 will make much difference to you and secondly, VBA in Excel 2010 may open up huge possibilities and functionality.
If you want charts that adjust based on the data that you have in your sheets and automatically update P&L estimates etc., then you don't need VBA.
If you want to do more complex things such as firing bets based on complex criteria, importing disparate data sources, screen-scraping data from websites etc., then VBA will open up a new world.
If you're new to programming then 'learning' VBA can be quite a challenge, but there are very few easier languages and the tools within Excel make it as simple as possible. Also the beauty is that you can mix-n-match - use code for somethings and formulas/functions for others.
Good luck!
Regards
Ian