Excel Dashboards and Reports For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6

The Pivotal Pivot Table

In This Chapter

Introducing pivot tables

Building your first pivot table

Creating top and bottom reports

Using pivot-driven views

I know what you’re thinking. Am I supposed to be jumping right in with pivot tables? My answer is an emphatic yes!

In Chapter 2, I introduce the concept of reporting models that separate the data, analysis, and presentation layers. As you discover in this chapter, pivot tables lend themselves nicely to this concept. With pivot tables, you can build reporting models that are not only easy to set up, but also can be refreshed with a simple press of a button. This allows you to spend less time maintaining your dashboards and reports and more time doing other useful things. No utility in the whole of Excel allows you to achieve this efficient data model better than a pivot table.

Pivot tables have a reputation for being complicated, but if you’re new to pivot tables, relax a bit. After going through this introduction, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to create and use pivot tables. Later, you’ll find some ...