Microsoft Office

Part V
Analyzing Data with Excel
Pivot tables have been around since Excel 97. Unfortunately, many users overlook this feature because they
think it’s too complicated. The pivot table feature in Excel 2007 is vastly improved, and creating and working
with pivot tables is easier than ever.
NOTE
If you’ve used pivot tables in a previous version of Excel, be aware that the rarely used option
to create a pivot table from “multiple consolidation ranges” is no longer available.
A pivot table example
The best way to understand the concept of a pivot table is to see one. Start with Figure 34.1, which shows a
portion of the data used in creating the pivot table in this chapter.
FIGURE 34.1
This table is used to create a pivot table.
This table consists of a month’s worth of new account information for a three-branch bank. The table contains
712 rows, and each row represents a new account. The table has the following columns:
n
n
n
n
n
n
The date the account was opened
The opening amount
The account type (CD, checking, savings, or IRA)
Who opened the account (a teller or a new-account representative)
The branch at which it was opened (Central, Westside, or North County)
The type of customer (an existing customer or a new customer)
ON the CD-ROM
This workbook, named bank accounts.xlsx, is available on the companion CD-ROM.
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