WAMC Roundtable Tuesday August 22, 20167 11:30 AM

It seems as if everyone uses spreadsheets. Most people don't think about them too much, but there are ways to improve your spreadsheet use.

Joe and Jesse talk about spreadsheets on The Roundtable what you probably know (that's right), what you probably know (that's irrelevant), and what you probably know (that's wrong).

Here's a link to three sets of best practice modeling standards  http://www.ssrb.org/standards

Download a comparison of several sets of standards here: Standards Comparison

It's probably more than you want to know so we'll boil it down to a few simple practices.

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Jesse's 10 Spreadsheet Suggestions

Joe and Jesse talk about spreadsheets on The Roundtable, Tuesday, August 21, 2017 11:30 AM on WAMC.

Everyone uses spreadsheets. Most people use them incorrectly. 

Here are some of Jesse's suggestions for spreadsheets.

  1. Spreadsheets are not for formatting data. If you want to make nice rows and columns, use a word processor or page layout app.
  2. If you don't have any formulas in your spreadsheet, see #1.
  3. If you have to check totals or subtotals, you're doing it wrong.
  4. If your formulas break when you add or remove data, you're probably not using SUM (and other functions) properly.
  5. If you have several tables in your spreadsheet, turn the tables into a workbook (Excel) or use separate tables (Numbers).
  6. Put a comment in your spreadsheet and update it when you make changes.
  7. Merge cells and center titles for neatness.
  8. Destroy old versions unless you clearly archive them by file and title.
  9. If you need to put multiple lines in a cell, you probably want a related table in a database (or a related spreadsheet)
  10. Run away quickly from anyone who says "According to the spreadsheet..."

 

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