Microsoft Office

Analyzing Data
with Pivot Tables
The previous chapter was an introduction to pivot tables. I presented several
examples to demonstrate the types of pivot table summaries that you
can generate from a set of data.
This chapter continues the discussion and explores the details of creating effective
pivot tables. Creating a basic pivot table is very easy, and the examples in this
chapter demonstrate additional pivot table features that you may find helpful. I
urge you to try these techniques with your own data. If you don’t have suitable
data, use the files on the companion CD-ROM.
Working with Non-Numeric Data
Most pivot tables are created from numeric data, but pivot tables are also useful
with some types of non-numeric data. Because you can’t sum non-numbers, this
technique involves counting.
IN THIS CHAPTER
How to create a pivot table from
non-numeric data
How to group items in a pivot
table
How to create a calculated field
or a calculated item in a pivot
table
How to create an attractive
report using a pivot table
Figure 35.1 shows a table and a pivot table generated from the table. The table is
a list of 400 employees, along with their location and gender. As you can see, the
table has no numeric values, but you can create a useful pivot table that counts
the items rather than sums them. The pivot table cross-tabulates the Location
field by the Sex field for the 400 employees and shows the count for each combination
of location and gender.
A workbook that demonstrates a pivot table created from nonnumeric
data is available on the companion CD-ROM. The file is
named employee list.xlsx.
ON the CD-ROM
Following are the settings I used for this pivot table:
n
n
The Sex field is used for the Column Labels.
The Location field is used for the Row Labels.
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