Microsoft Excel Step by Step (Office 2021 and Microsoft 365)

16. Create forecasts and visualizations

In this chapter

• Create forecast worksheets

• Define and manage measures

• Define and display key performance indicators

• Create 3D data maps

The business intelligence tools built into Excel for Microsoft 365 greatly extend the app’s analytical and visualization capabilities. For example, although you have always been able to forecast future data based on current trends, you can now use an advanced technique called exponential smoothing to give greater weight to recent values instead of considering all historical data equally.

You can also use the Excel Data Model to create forecast worksheets, measures, key performance indicators (KPIs), and 3D maps with which to visualize your data. Forecast worksheets use ...