Excel Dashboards & Reports For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 3

The Pivotal Pivot Table

IN THIS CHAPTER

Introducing pivot tables

Building your first pivot table

Customizing your pivot tables

Using pivot-driven reports

Creating top and bottom reports

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 not only are easy to set up, but can also be refreshed with the simple press of a button. Then you can 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 reading ...