Out of all the things I've picked up about analysis and working in Excel, probably the most under-rated thing is getting clean data. And by "clean" I mean like a csv file with each row being one record and each column being a different data field. Once you've got that, you have all kinds of wizardry at your fingertips. You probably have had to deal with pulling data out of a file that's organized like the first picture. It's quick to build things that way, but then doing year-over-year analysis becomes time consuming. But if you can get the data into a clean table like the second pic, then you have many more options. You can run a pivot table, export it for analysis elsewhere, search it, add additional columns with relevant metrics — the options you have multiply quickly. The key is structure. Structured Data gives you flexibility. And Flexibility lets you say, "Yes, I can do that" when others struggle. At work I have one pivot table that has more than a million (I think it may be 2M) rows of data behind it. It lets us look at trends on a daily basis for the last 7-8 years and its at the transaction level. Every transaction. Need to see monthly seasonality? No Problem. How product mix has evolved? No Problem. What's the effect on prices with one product that's under a recall? No Problem. Well structured data is like good infrastructure: nobody wants to build the big road, but once it's built, everyone wants to use it and it's hard to imagine what it was like before. Take the time. It's worth it.

Hello everyone — I think I owe you all an apology for being absent these many months. I had a few things in my personal life I had to address, and now I’m back. Looking forward to sharing and growing together in Excel, and Analysis, and Life. — Aaron

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