Things to Understand Before You Create Metrics in Excel

Metrics will allow you to monitor the performance of your business so that you can make the right decisions as you go on. To design them, you can choose a third party software application which will aid you a lot in this process or you can create metrics in Excel. If you are wary of downloading and installing pieces of software into your computer, the latter is the ideal method for you. Since most PCs come with Excel installed already, you do not have to bother yourself in finding the application on the web. So when you have finally decided to create metrics in Excel, you should first think about what your Excel dashboard will look like. Design is crucial since it is not only you who will view the contents of your metrics. In addition, it is essential that everyone understands the results or what the document is telling them without hassle.

Excel basics are important especially in the design process. Learn about how you can resize the columns and rows, enter or modify formulas, format the cells, view or hide gridlines, column or row headers and insert hyperlinks among others. Now, another important thing that you should know about is the computation or the formula that you will use for the metrics. Since we are dealing with metrics, you will mostly encounter numbers and so formulas are constant here.

Apart from that, gathering reports is significant here. You cannot just let the results sit on your desk and do nothing with them. It is essential that you take the necessary actions after you have viewed the outcome from the metrics. The data can either be dynamic or static. Dynamic data are those that are connected to a source wherein when it updates, the result will also be updated. In short, this is an adjustable existing data. Static on the other hand is the opposite. This is when there is no change even when the source data have been updated or modified. When you create metrics in Excel, this type is ideal for sets of rows that are varied particularly because this can be used when referencing data from another sheet.

If/then formulas are also handy as you create metrics in Excel. These are conditional statements that allow you to handle errors specifically div/0 errors and also enables you to generate "smart" formulas that have the ability to adjust themselves quickly. One of the best things about creating an Excel dashboard is that you can use the said application in making metric charts. Such charts also allow you to compare metrics so that you can easily obtain the information that you need regarding the performance of your business. Using the chart, you can determine which areas are performing well as expected by the organization and which ones need more attention from the managers.

To create metrics in Excel that work, you must consider the facts that you will base your metrics upon. Also, choose the right formulas. Take note that the selection of formulas can make the entire metric management system different. For instance, you will get varied results when you use averages instead of the exact total number of tests done.

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