Using Excel XY (Scatter) Charts for Stock Analysis with HLOC Plots
One way to improve your abilities in Excel is to improve your understanding of the kinds of solutions Excel can generate when you use—or...
Introducing the Power of Year-Over-Year Performance Charts in Excel
The purpose of management reports should be to help readers find and track patterns of performance…quickly and easily.
That’s the attraction of charts, of course....
Fun with XY (Scatter) Charts in Excel
Because I’d been working hard on a project for many months, I once decided to take a break and play around with XY charts…which...
How to Create Dynamic Chart Legends in Excel
When I saw a chart designed like the ones below in the Wall Street Journal, I knew I had to create one just like...
Excel Bar Charts with Economic Indicators
The Excel figure below shows three indicators of the US economy. Two show economic improvements and one doesn't.
The Excel Perspective
Using column charts rather than...
Three More Simple Tricks to Improve Excel Charts for Business
In 3 Simple Tricks to Improve Analytical Charting in Excel, I showed you how to shift time periods, index your data, and chart your rate...
How to Create Cycle Plots in Excel to Chart Seasonal Sales Data
If your company's sales are seasonable, you've probably seen a chart that looks something like the first one below.
This Excel chart shows the continuous...
Compare Metrics by Category Using Excel Dot Plot Charts
Management reports often must compare measures of performance by some type of category.
For example, reports could compare sales by product, variance by department, sales...
How to Create Bullet Graphs to Replace Gauges in Excel
Business presentations desperately need a replacement for dashboard gauges. Gauges consume too much space in a report. They use excessive "chart junk." They're not...
Professional Quality Excel Chart Labels, Legends, and Colors
The following Excel chart shows that Excel really CAN generate professional-quality chart figures.
Here are some general strategies to consider…
1. Set up your data-plumbing correctly....
Latest Articles
Getting Radical with Excel
It's time to think about Excel in a radical new way—when we use it to work with business or economic data.
It's time, in fact,...
How Fast Is Too Fast?
(Originally published in Inc Magazine.)
What typically tops the list of worries of the chief executive officers of fast growing companies? Financing that growth, according...
How to Smooth Data by Using the TREND Function
Years ago, I read that Prof. William S. Cleveland had suggested that data could be smoothed by calculating a centered trendline through adjacent data—a...
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