Anlysis of Business Data Essay

Submitted By AshleyNMSD
Words: 569
Pages: 3

Using Graphs from the portfolio project spreadsheet

The portfolio project excel spreadsheet contains a number of graphs which update automatically as the new raw data is added. It may, however, be necessary to adjust the formatting so that it fits the new data.

In particular the scale of the horizontal axis on the comparison graph may need to be updated as the minimum and maximum value (i.e. the first and last date) aren’t updated automatically (the others do).

To update the horizontal axis select the first date in the series (right click in the cell) and select Format Cells…

On the Number tab click general and note the number given, in this case 41061, and then cancel. Do the same for the last date in the series.

Then place the mouse pointer over the horizontal axis and right click, select Format Axis…

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Under Axis Options update the minimum and maximum values then click Close

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The graph will then be updated and the horizontal axis will run from the earliest to the most recent date for the sample data

Check that all companies have been included in the graph, if more than four have been included in the portfolio not all will be included

If this is the case place the mouse pointer over the chart area, right click and then select Select Data…

The data range will be highlighted in the source data box and will be indicated on the spreadsheet by a broken line around the data that is included

In this case the data for Sainsbury’s and Whitbread is not included

While holding down the control key, drag and select the additional columns of data

The additional data is added to the Select Data Source dialog box. Click OK to agree to the update

Check that the vertical axis scale is appropriate for the data, none of the data series plotted should disappear off the top or the bottom of the graph and nor should the data be squashed in the middle with lots of blank space at the top and bottom.

To adjust the scale, right click on the vertical axis and select Format Axis…

Under Axis Options update the minimum and maximum values so that they