www.sharexxx.net - free books & magazines Excel Best Practices for Business Loren Abdulezer Loren’s book provides a way for companies to quickly and efficiently use Assistive Technology to make basic spreadsheets accessible. His approach is direct and easy to follow, hands-on, and practical. His innovation, Assistive Portals, opens the door to making graphical interfaces embedded in decision analysis spreadsheets readily accessible to individuals with visual impairments. While making technology accessible is a difficult challenge for the business world, this book brings it well within reach. More importantly, making something accessible doesn’t require watering it down. We think these ideas warrant serious attention and represent a milestone in leveling the playing field for individuals with disabilities.” Crista Earl, Director of Web Operations/American Foundation for the Blind “XML and spreadsheets are not usually thought of in the same breath. Loren’s concepts and implementation of Spreadsheet Portals using the IBM WebSphere tools combines these two in an elegant and natural manner, and makes best use of what these technologies have to offer. It’s not everyday that you get a clear and lucid explanation of best practices, new ideas and wealth of information all wrapped up into a single book. In a fast paced world where on demand business decisions are being made in Internet time, Excel Best Practice for Business is a “must-read” for today’s busy professionals working with quantitative information.” Tom Inman Vice President, WebSphere Foundation & Tools IBM Software Group URL: www.ibm.com/websphere Excel Best Practices for Business Excel Best Practices for Business Loren Abdulezer Excel Best Practices for Business Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Control Number: 2003105683 ISBN: 0-7645-4120-X Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/SZ/RQ/QT/IN No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-Mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com. is a trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES REPRESENTATIVES OR WRITTEN SALES MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR SITUATION. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A PROFESSIONAL WHERE APPROPRIATE. 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About the Author Loren Abdulezer (Brooklyn, NY) President of Evolving Technologies Corporation, is an experienced IT professional who has worked with several Fortune 500 companies, such as JP Morgan Chase, IBM, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer. Over a five-year period at JP Morgan Chase, he has consulted on MIS/Web reporting, Java and object-oriented programming, Internet security, and business continuity plan- ning. He has played an integral, hands-on role in the implementation and deploy- ment teams for a variety of strategic technologies for the bank including the first wireless Internet application and a Public Key Infrastructure/Smart Card initiative. Credits ACQUISITIONS EDITOR Greg Croy PROJECT EDITOR Susan Christophersen TECHNICAL EDITOR William Good COPY EDITOR Susan Christophersen EDITORIAL MANAGER Carol Sheehan VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE GROUP PUBLISHER Richard Swadley VICE PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Andy Cummings EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mary Corder PROJECT COORDINATOR Kristie Rees GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION SPECIALISTS Beth Brooks Carrie Foster Joyce Haughey LeAndra Hosier Michael Kruzil Kristin McMullan Barry Offringa Lynsey Osborn Heather Pope QUALITY CONTROL TECHNICIANS Laura Albert Carl William Pierce Dwight Ramsey Brian Walls PERMISSIONS EDITOR Carmen Krikorian MEDIA DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Greg Stafford PROOFREADING AND INDEXING TECHBOOKS Production Services [...]... techniques and guidance for real business situations is what this book is all about Because this is a book about techniques, you’ll find plenty of “Take-Aways” on the accompanying CD that you can immediately put to use The examples illustrated throughout Excel Best Practices for Business all incorporate Excel 2003 Fortunately, best practices are largely independent of which version of Excel you happen to... exchange for business This development will catapult Excel to center stage, and Excel Best Practices for Business readies you for this by introducing the topic of Spreadsheet Portals, among other things Also important is the need to make the contents of spreadsheets accessible to individuals with disabilities For federal agencies, making electronic information accessible has been mandated by law under... relevant to Excel users working with the Macintosh platform xxix Part I Best Practice Essentials CHAPTER 1 A Foundation for Developing Best Practices CHAPTER 2 Mastering Spreadsheet Construction Techniques CHAPTER 3 Your Handy Reference for Manipulating Data CHAPTER 4 Compiling, Managing, and Viewing Your Data Chapter 1 A Foundation for Developing Best Practices IN THIS CHAPTER ◆ Understanding alternative... book reintroduces the use of the R1C1 style for representing Excel formulas Excel spreadsheets and their formulas can be rendered using either the A1 Style or R1C1 Style Although you may be used to using the A1 Style, you will find some compelling reasons, discussed in Chapter 1, for adopting the R1C1 Style To give you the benefit of easily switching back and forth, I have provided on the CD-ROM a SwitchTool... book as being intended is for intermediate to advanced users of Excel, rest assured that even if you consider yourself a beginner, the book can serve as a wonderful learning tool for you as well You will probably want to have some additional source of information at your disposal, however Because this book focuses on spreadsheet construction and best practices within the business setting, there are... important and useful Excel functions are introduced, but focus is on their usage rather than giving a formal treatment Preliminaries This is a book about best practices In my mind, the notion of best practices conjures up an image of working smartly and efficiently when using spreadsheets To be sure, there is no shortage of “esoterica” or sophistication in this book, but there is plenty of time for that later... notation for designating this cell position is R13C2 Excel understands this notation, so you can use it directly in your formulas Excel also understands a different way of expressing formulas, which involves having columns that use letters instead of numbers This section explains that approach and discusses the implications and benefits of both types of notation Excel provides two basic ways to display formulas... 11 Going for the Facelift: Spreadsheet Makeovers 273 Spreadsheet Auditing: Challenging the Numbers of Others 315 Spreadsheet Portals, XML, and Web Services 335 Assistive Technologies and Assistive Portals 375 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Appendix A: Excel Configuration and Setup 433 Appendix B: Information for Macintosh Users 453 Appendix C: Excel Best Practice... instead of coordinates for cell referencing 11 Computing a Number in Excel 12 Best Practice Topic: Evolving a strategy toward Absolute vs Relative vs Hybrid cell references More useful information about working with formulas Keyboard and cursor navigation tips User-defined names within Excel spreadsheets ... 420 Basic ingredients needed for an Assistive Portal 420 An Assistive Portal implementation 421 Time to shift into high gear 428 Closing Thoughts 429 Contents Appendix A: Excel Configuration and Setup 433 Appendix B: Information for Macintosh Users 453 Appendix C: Excel Best Practice Techniques and Hip . Software Group URL: www.ibm.com/websphere Excel Best Practices for Business Excel Best Practices for Business Loren Abdulezer Excel Best Practices for Business Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475. Excel Best Practices for Business all incorporate Excel 2003. Fortunately, best practices are largely independent of which version of Excel you happen to be using. You need to be aware that Excel. where on demand business decisions are being made in Internet time, Excel Best Practice for Business is a “must-read” for today’s busy professionals working with quantitative information.” Tom