Having sat through several workshops where the presenters gave a number of examples of, and reasons for, using Excel’s PivotTables, I was very interested in reviewing a book on the subject. How could anyone find enough material to write one? A look at the table of contents quickly showed me that those workshops just scratched the surface of possible ways PivotTables could be used. What about differences between versions of Excel? Appendix A lists the differences between Excel 2000, 2002, and 2003.
The book starts off by explaining the level of understanding you need to successfully use the book, providing a brief overview of the book’s organization, and explaining where to find the sample data used in each chapter’s examples. Each chapter also reviews the various menus under discussion, and has a series of detailed hands-on examples, including what you should see on the screen. Each example asks a question, and then shows the needed steps to get an answer. Also included are common troubleshooting problems and their solutions. Some of these tips are repeated throughout the book, which I took as a positive sign of the thoroughness of the author. This is a perfect way to learn the material.
Chapter 1 demonstrates some of the reasons why PivotTables are so useful, by contrasting the same worked examples using subtotals, formulas, filters, data validation, or crosstab tables. PivotTables do not behave badly if the user rearranges the rows and columns, whereas the other methods do.
Chapter 2 discusses creating PivotTables, by illustrating the wizard and all of its commonly used menus and submenus. Chapter 3 continues the introduction to PivotTables, by explaining how to use the various components available, including the toolbar. The author continues the explanation of all the options, especially the ones that may confuse the beginner. Between chapters 2 and 3, the author illustrates different ways of accomplishing the same result. This is a nice feature. Chapter 4 analyzes pseudo real-world examples, using the methods developed in the previous two chapters, by asking various questions, and then showing the reader how easy it is to get answers.
Chapter 5 shows readers how PivotCharts can extend PivotTables when looking at figures doesn’t help you analyze the data. PivotCharts, like their charts counterparts in Excel, include a variety of two- and three-dimensional graphs, along with new ones like “doughnut” when some normal charts are not available. This chapter includes a glossary of terms. The author finishes the discussion section with the pros and cons of PivotCharts, along with all changeable options. Chapter 6 extends PivotTables by using multi-dimensional data. The author starts this chapter with various types of data sets, including an Access database, and explains how to add robustness to the data through multiple dimensions. He then discusses how the icons and toolbar change for this type of data (cube files). Chapter 7 discusses how to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code with PivotTables. The author points out what background you should have in order to best lear!n the topics covered in this chapter. There are many code examples, ranging from simple to fairly complex, covering a variety of subject areas.
I found two problems with the book. The first problem I found was with the index. I looked up “page fields” to find its definition, and found it listed on three sets of pages, one of which defines the term by inference. Perhaps a glossary of standard PivotTable terms should be included in the next edition. The other problem was with some of the worked examples. When you follow the indicated steps, you don’t get the picture shown, which is a bit confusing at first. Initially, I thought I had missed a step, but when I tried the chapter 2 example a second time, and got the same results, I was puzzled.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book. The author did a very good job of making the process of creating and using PivotTables easy for Excel users.
