Home Page Icon
Home Page
Table of Contents for
Excel® Dashboards & Reports For Dummies®
Close
Excel® Dashboards & Reports For Dummies®
by Michael Alexander
Excel Dashboards and Reports for Dummies, 3rd Edition
Cover
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used In This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Getting Started with Excel Dashboards & Reports
Chapter 1: Getting In the Dashboard State of Mind
Defining Dashboards and Reports
Preparing for Greatness
A Quick Look at Dashboard Design Principles
Key Questions to Ask Before Distributing Your Dashboard
Chapter 2: Building a Super Model
Data Modeling Best Practices
Excel Functions That Really Deliver
Using Smart Tables That Expand with Data
Part II: Building Basic Dashboard Components
Chapter 3: Dressing Up Your Data Tables
Table Design Principles
Getting Fancy with Custom Number Formatting
Chapter 4: Sparking Inspiration with Sparklines
Introducing Sparklines
Understanding Sparklines
Customizing Sparklines
Chapter 5: Formatting Your Way to Visualizations
Enhancing Reports with Conditional Formatting
Using Symbols to Enhance Reporting
Wielding the Magical Camera Tool
Making Waffles with Conditional Formatting and the Camera Tool
Chapter 6: The Pivotal Pivot Table
An Introduction to the Pivot Table
The Four Areas of a Pivot Table
Creating Your First Pivot Table
Customizing Pivot Table Reports
Creating Useful Pivot-Driven Views
Part III: Building Advanced Dashboard Components
Chapter 7: Charts That Show Trending
Trending Dos and Don’ts
Comparative Trending
Emphasizing Periods of Time
Other Trending Techniques
Chapter 8: Grouping and Bucketing Data
Creating Top and Bottom Displays
Top Values in Charts
Using Histograms to Track Relationships and Frequency
Chapter 9: Displaying Performance against a Target
Showing Performance with Variances
Showing Performance against Organizational Trends
Using a Thermometer-Style Chart
Using a Bullet Graph
Showing Performance against a Target Range
Part IV: Advanced Reporting Techniques
Chapter 10: Macro-Charged Dashboarding
Why Use a Macro?
Recording Your First Macro
Running Your Macros
Enabling and Trusting Macros
Examining Some Macro Examples
Chapter 11: Giving Users an Interactive Interface
Getting Started with Form Controls
Using the Button Control
Using the Check Box Control
Toggling a Chart Series On and Off
Using the Option Button Control
Showing Many Views through One Chart
Using the Combo Box Control
Changing Chart Data with a Drop-Down Selector
Using the List Box Control
Controlling Multiple Charts with One Selector
Chapter 12: Adding Interactivity with Pivot Slicers
Understanding Slicers
Creating a Standard Slicer
Getting Fancy with Slicer Customizations
Controlling Multiple Pivot Tables with One Slicer
Creating a Timeline Slicer
Using Slicers as Form Controls
Part V: Working with the Outside World
Chapter 13: Using External Data for Your Dashboards and Reports
Importing Data from Microsoft Access
Importing Data from SQL Server
Leveraging Power Query to Extract and Transform Data
Chapter 14: Sharing Your Workbook with the Outside World
Protecting Your Dashboards and Reports
Linking Your Excel Dashboards to PowerPoint
Distributing Your Dashboards via a PDF
Distributing Your Dashboards to OneDrive
Limitations When Publishing to the Web
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Ten Chart Design Principles
Avoid Fancy Formatting
Skip the Unnecessary Chart Junk
Format Large Numbers Where Possible
Use Data Tables Instead of Data Labels
Make Effective Use of Chart Titles
Sort Your Data before Charting
Limit the Use of Pie Charts
Don’t Be Afraid to Parse Data into Separate Charts
Maintain Appropriate Aspect Ratios
Don’t Be Afraid to Use Something Other Than a Chart
Chapter 16: Ten Excel Chart Types and When to Use Them
Line Chart
Column Chart
Clustered Column Chart
Stacked Column Chart
Pie Chart
Bar Chart
Area Chart
Combination Chart
XY Scatter Plot Chart
Bubble Chart
About the Author
Cheat Sheet
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
Search in book...
Toggle Font Controls
Playlists
Add To
Create new playlist
Name your new playlist
Playlist description (optional)
Cancel
Create playlist
Sign In
Email address
Password
Forgot Password?
Create account
Login
or
Continue with Facebook
Continue with Google
Sign Up
Full Name
Email address
Confirm Email Address
Password
Login
Create account
or
Continue with Facebook
Continue with Google
Prev
Previous Chapter
Excel® Dashboards & Reports 3rd Edition
Next
Next Chapter
Introduction
Excel® Dashboards & Reports For Dummies®
Visit
www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/exceldashboardsreports
to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used In This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Getting Started with Excel Dashboards & Reports
Chapter 1: Getting In the Dashboard State of Mind
Defining Dashboards and Reports
Preparing for Greatness
A Quick Look at Dashboard Design Principles
Key Questions to Ask Before Distributing Your Dashboard
Chapter 2: Building a Super Model
Data Modeling Best Practices
Excel Functions That Really Deliver
Using Smart Tables That Expand with Data
Part II: Building Basic Dashboard Components
Chapter 3: Dressing Up Your Data Tables
Table Design Principles
Getting Fancy with Custom Number Formatting
Chapter 4: Sparking Inspiration with Sparklines
Introducing Sparklines
Understanding Sparklines
Customizing Sparklines
Chapter 5: Formatting Your Way to Visualizations
Enhancing Reports with Conditional Formatting
Using Symbols to Enhance Reporting
Wielding the Magical Camera Tool
Making Waffles with Conditional Formatting and the Camera Tool
Chapter 6: The Pivotal Pivot Table
An Introduction to the Pivot Table
The Four Areas of a Pivot Table
Creating Your First Pivot Table
Customizing Pivot Table Reports
Creating Useful Pivot-Driven Views
Part III: Building Advanced Dashboard Components
Chapter 7: Charts That Show Trending
Trending Dos and Don’ts
Comparative Trending
Emphasizing Periods of Time
Other Trending Techniques
Chapter 8: Grouping and Bucketing Data
Creating Top and Bottom Displays
Top Values in Charts
Using Histograms to Track Relationships and Frequency
Chapter 9: Displaying Performance against a Target
Showing Performance with Variances
Showing Performance against Organizational Trends
Using a Thermometer-Style Chart
Using a Bullet Graph
Showing Performance against a Target Range
Part IV: Advanced Reporting Techniques
Chapter 10: Macro-Charged Dashboarding
Why Use a Macro?
Recording Your First Macro
Running Your Macros
Enabling and Trusting Macros
Examining Some Macro Examples
Chapter 11: Giving Users an Interactive Interface
Getting Started with Form Controls
Using the Button Control
Using the Check Box Control
Toggling a Chart Series On and Off
Using the Option Button Control
Showing Many Views through One Chart
Using the Combo Box Control
Changing Chart Data with a Drop-Down Selector
Using the List Box Control
Controlling Multiple Charts with One Selector
Chapter 12: Adding Interactivity with Pivot Slicers
Understanding Slicers
Creating a Standard Slicer
Getting Fancy with Slicer Customizations
Controlling Multiple Pivot Tables with One Slicer
Creating a Timeline Slicer
Using Slicers as Form Controls
Part V: Working with the Outside World
Chapter 13: Using External Data for Your Dashboards and Reports
Importing Data from Microsoft Access
Importing Data from SQL Server
Leveraging Power Query to Extract and Transform Data
Chapter 14: Sharing Your Workbook with the Outside World
Protecting Your Dashboards and Reports
Linking Your Excel Dashboards to PowerPoint
Distributing Your Dashboards via a PDF
Distributing Your Dashboards to OneDrive
Limitations When Publishing to the Web
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Ten Chart Design Principles
Avoid Fancy Formatting
Skip the Unnecessary Chart Junk
Format Large Numbers Where Possible
Use Data Tables Instead of Data Labels
Make Effective Use of Chart Titles
Sort Your Data before Charting
Limit the Use of Pie Charts
Don’t Be Afraid to Parse Data into Separate Charts
Maintain Appropriate Aspect Ratios
Don’t Be Afraid to Use Something Other Than a Chart
Chapter 16: Ten Excel Chart Types and When to Use Them
Line Chart
Column Chart
Clustered Column Chart
Stacked Column Chart
Pie Chart
Bar Chart
Area Chart
Combination Chart
XY Scatter Plot Chart
Bubble Chart
About the Author
Cheat Sheet
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
iii
iv
vii
viii
ix
x
xi
xii
xiii
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
339
340
341
342
343
344
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
Add Highlight
No Comment
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click
here
login for view all page.
Day Mode
Cloud Mode
Night Mode
Reset