Ms excel & its application in business Microsoft Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for

Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. In a single sheet, it consists of rows and columns and cells. Every cell has different address. In excel sum, product, subtraction, division and many mathematical, logical functions are available with this application.It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. More and more businesses,
especially those dealing with statistical and financial information, are finding its powers critical to their future success. This course exposes students to some of the advanced capabilities of Excel, including statistical analysis, financial analysis and modeling, PivotTables, scenario tools, a variety of add-ins, the creation of macros, and advanced charts and graphs. After taking this course, students will have demonstrated knowledge of the more advanced features of Microsoft Excel.

Definition - What does Microsoft Excel mean? Microsoft Excel is a software program produced by Microsoft Corp. that allow users to organize, format and calculate data with formulas using a spreadsheet system. This software as part of the Microsoft office suite and is compatible with other applications in the office suite. Techopedia explains Microsoft Excel Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application produced and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features the ability to perform basic calculations, use graphing tools, create pivot tables and and create macro programming language. Excel has the same basic features as every spreadsheet, which use a collection of cells arranged into rows and columns to organize data manipulation. They also display data as charts, histograms and line graphs. Excel permits users to section data so as to view various factors from a different perspective. Visual Basic is used for applications in Excel, allowing users to create variety of complex numerical methods. Programmers are given an option to code directly using the Visual Basic Editor, including Windows for writing code, debugging and code module organization.

Features of Excel:1. Hyperlink:-We can link one file to another file or page with the use of Excel. 2. Clip art:- In this we can add images and also audio, video clips can be added here. 3. Charts:- With charts, we can clearly shown products evaluation to the clients. For example which product sale is more or less in this month. 4. Tables:- Tables are created with different fields eg -name, age, address, roll no so we add a table to fill these values. 5. Functions:- MATHEMATICAL:Add, subtract, div, multiply. LOGICAL:average, sum, mod, product

6.Images and Backgrounds:- In this we add images and backgrounds in sheet. 7. Macros:- Macros are used for recording events for further use. 8. Database:- We can add database from other sources with data feature. 9. Sorting and Filter:- In sorting we can sort our data and also filter our data so that repetitions will be removed. 10. Data Validations:- In data tools there are data validations consolidate etc are used. 11. Grouping:- In this we can use group, ungroup subtotal etc. 12: Page layout:- In this themes, colors, sheets, margins, size, backgrounds, breaks, print, titles, sheets height, width, scaling, gridness, headings, views, bring to front of font or back alignment etc will be used.
Featuresof MSExcel Some of the most important features of Excel are: Windowsbasedapplication : MS Excel has an interface similar to Windows operating system. Like all Windows applications, Excel has toolbars, shortcut menus, AutoCorrect, Online help and Wizards. This makes Excel easier to learn for users of Windows. Workbooks : Workbooks are containers that hold one or more worksheets. Keeping all sheets that are related to-a project in one file reduces the need to maintain different files. Auditing : Worksheet auditing is a feature that checks a worksheet for errors. Auditing can be used to relate formulas in different cells and locate the source of a calculation error. OLEsupport : Excel worksheets can contain any object, like a document, a picture or a video clip. This feature is known as Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). This capability can be used to integrate Excel with all other applications. Data entry forms : You can create custom data entry forms within a worksheet. Validation rules and formatting can be included within a form. Largedata managementcapacity : Excel can maintain large volumes of data at a time. A worksheet can contain 65,536 rows and 256 columns. A single cell can contain a maximum of 255 characters. One workbook can contain a maximum of 255 worksheets. Such data management capacities make Excel a powerful spreadsheet application. Data analysisfeatures : Excel contains powerful tools that help in data analysis. Pivot tables, Microsoft Query and Data Map tools allow users to present data in different ways to facilitate analysis

With its powerful functions, Excel has been a very widely applied spreadsheet in many fields, this article shows some example on What is Microsoft Excel really used for?

1. Manage data records like name list The commenly useage of Excel is to manage data records and name lists. You don't have to plan in advance on how the table should look like, as the preset layout alllows you to create the tables on the fly, just fill in the information, the table is developed on the go. Another more attractive point is that you have the ability to sort the list and filter the listing like a database tool. You can download the template of list.

2. Used as an analytical tool Besides the good use on managing data, Excel is a great analytical tool for business. With the pivot tablecontained within Excel, you can easily analyse a large number of data, as the pivot table can automatically sort, count, and total the data stored in one table or spreadsheet and create a second table displaying the summarized data. It has gone through many revision. In each revision, we see its power being enhanced. In the latest version of Excel 2010, there are many new features added: It added almost six new caculations, a 'Show Value As' function and some great visual tools. Download this sales analytics if you need.

3. Create forms and consolidate results You can use Excel to create not only a simple form that contains boxes, but also professional forms which include option buttons that allow you to select answers, dropdown list to select a particular answer from list of items. Together with charts, you can use Excel to compile answers to tests or quizzes and analyze the profile of the class (If you are a teacher) or your team (If you are a supervisor).

4. Corporate Budgeting A major business application of Excel is in corporate budgeting. Many companies, from big corporations to small companies use Excel for their budgeting. Despite numerous calls by suppliers of Business Performance Management Systems (BPM) to move away from Excel as a budgeting tool, 70% to 80% of all corporations still use Excel as their primary budgeting tool. This is a marketing budget plan from Microsoft website.

5. Inventory Management Excel provide many functions and formulas that will not only help you manage your data records efficiently but will also allow you to analyse your data based on your constantly changing business environment. Through the use of Microsoft Excel formulas, you can create comprehensive drop down

boxes to facilitate data inputs and reduce erroneous entries. And through the use of pivot tables, you could get a good detailed analysis of your stock movement and also your inventory level at any point in time.

6. Finding Profit Breakeven Finding breakeven is never easy without using Excel. To manually find out the breakeven for a project, you have to perform many calculations using different numbers as it's inputs. And the calculation becomes even more complex if the components include fixed cost and step up cost. But with the goal seek function in Excel, this task can be completed in a few seconds. This template is for breakeven analysis, you can download it for use.

Tips: there will be a problem if you want to convert Excel to PDF: the formula and function do not work anymore. But in some situations, people would like to export PDF to Excel to make changes in a table.

Benefits Here are the top 10 ways Office Excel 2007 can help you (as taken from the Microsoft website).

1. Office Excel 2007 features the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface to help you find powerful tools when you need them.

Find the tools you want when you need them using the results-oriented Office Fluent user interface in Office Excel 2007. Based on the job you need to accomplish, whether its creating a table or writing a formula, Office Excel 2007 presents the appropriate commands when you need them.
2. Import, organize, and explore massive data sets within significantly expanded spreadsheets.

Work with massive amounts of data in Office Excel 2007, which supports spreadsheets that can be up to 1 million rows by 16,000 columns. In addition to the bigger grid, Office Excel 2007 supports multicore processor platforms for faster calculation of formula-intense spreadsheets.
3. Use the completely redesigned charting engine in Office Excel 2007 to communicate your analysis in professional-looking charts.

Build professional-looking charts faster with fewer clicks using charting tools in the Office Fluent user interface. Apply rich visual enhancements to your charts such as 3-D effects, soft shadowing, and transparency. Create and interact with charts the same way, regardless of the application you are using, because the charting engine in Office Excel 2007 is consistent in Microsoft Office Word 2007 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.

4. Enjoy improved and powerful support for working with tables.

Create, format, expand, filter, and refer to tables within formulas because Office Excel 2007 has greatly improved support for tables. When youre viewing data contained in a large table, Office Excel 2007 keeps table headings in view while you scroll.
5. Create and work with interactive PivotTable views with ease.

PivotTable views enable you to quickly reorient your data to help you answer multiple questions. Find the answers you need faster and create and use PivotTable views more easily by dragging fields where you want them to be displayed.
6. See important trends and find exceptions in your data.

Apply conditional formatting to your information more easily to discover patterns and highlight trends in your data. New schemes include colour gradients, heat maps, data bars, and performance indicator icons.
7. Use Office Excel 2007 and Excel Services to help share spreadsheets more securely with others.

Excel Services, a feature of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, dynamically renders a spreadsheet as HTML so others can access the information using a Web browser. Because of the high degree of fidelity with the Office Excel 2007 client, Excel Services users can navigate, sort, filter, input parameters, and interact with the information, all within their Web browser.
8. Help ensure you and your organization work with the most current business information.

Prevent the spread of multiple or outdated copies of a spreadsheet throughout your organization by using Office Excel 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007. Control which users can view and modify spreadsheets on the server using permission-based access.

Use in Business

Businesses often use Excel, a Microsoft spreadsheet application often installed by default as part of the Microsoft Office suite on business computers. Excel workbooks contain individual worksheets, which you can use to create lists and spreadsheets. Once you become accustomed to the application and familiar with the more powerful functions available, you'll find many uses for this business tool.

Scheduling
Businesses create basic employee and resource schedules with Excel that can be color-coded and designed to automatically update as the schedules change. Create weekly worksheets with column headings of each day, and name the rows based on hourly slots or work shifts. Fill in each slot with the employee or resource name for a given day. A conference room resource schedule sheet may have Monday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. marked for an executive meeting for example, while Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. is reserved for a conference call. All departments can work from the same resource sheet so that everyone knows when a given resource is available for use.

Return On Investment
Tracking total business sales in dollars along with total advertising and marketing expenditures with Excel allows you to see your Return on Investment for each campaign. If you know you normally sell 100 units of a product each week at $20 profit each and you launch an advertising campaign that costs $2,000 for one week, you'll need to see an additional 100 product sales to break even on that campaign. If you're tracking the sales, you'll be able to see how long it takes you to reach break even or additional profit levels from an ad campaign.

Customer Data
The inclination to make ad-hoc lists with Excel often translates into creating a full-fledged customer database. The Advanced Excel Business Center explains that databases do not have to be planned out in full when you use Excel to gather and track data. This makes Excel a popular choice for storing customer information that grows in detail over time, because you can add fields as they're needed without causing any problems with the existing data.

Fact Check
While its possible to do some of the calculations required for an Excel spreadsheet in your head, on paper or with a calculator, you wont need to take that possible risk of entry error. Excel relieves you of the need to perform calculations with a couple of included features. Located on the Home tabs AutoSum button are instantly clickable ways to add addition, averaging, division and subtraction to your spreadsheets. For example, if youre totaling up payroll expenses for your 20-person staff, highlight the salary cells and click the AutoSum button to instantly see the total spent. Any time you click in to change a payroll number, the AutoSum feature automatically updates.

Printing Press
Although your business will have to take care of the actual printing, Excel can turn your small business into a small printing press without having to enlist graphic designers, desktop publishers or layout personnel. Found on Excels File tabs New option is a large collection of templates. Use these templates to create materials without having to start from scratch, saving you setup time on forms such as receipts, invoices, labels and timesheets, as well as more creative items such as cards, booklets, presentations and fliers. All of Excels templates are completely customizable, which means your business can benefit from all of the setup but still leave personal stamps such as inserting a logo or changing the colors and fonts on the materials.

Accessible Records
One of the main benefits of the program is how you can always access the information on your spreadsheets. Unlike keeping data in a ledger, which can get messy with cross-outs, erasures and liquid paper, Excel spreadsheets remain in their easy-to-read format and are available even enlargable with the zoom features any time you need to get your information. You can update records by creating templates, which you open, add a line or two of information to, then resave with a new version number, giving you ways to both create, and cover, your tracks.

Collection Spot
Excel offers innumerable ways to assist in the day-to-day business functions of finance and math, but it can also serve your business as a catch-all. If youre preparing one spreadsheet from multiple documents including other spreadsheets, images, portable document format files and other files, Excel can help your business corral everything into one single file. Use the Insert tab to add other objects directly onto the spreadsheet, keeping everything together. Add extra sheets to the spreadsheet at the bottom of the work page, or keep everything on one sheet and take advantage of the scroll bar. Collecting multiple files in one spreadsheet may make the Excel file slightly larger, but you then only have one file to send rather than many.