Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool that plays a vital role in the world of business analytics. Business analysts use Excel to analyze data, create reports, and develop insights that drive decision-making. One of the reasons Excel is so popular is its vast array of built-in functions. In this blog post, we’ll cover the top 10 Excel functions every business analyst should know to work more efficiently and effectively with data.
VLOOKUP
Link to Microsoft Documentation
VLOOKUP is a vertical lookup function that searches for a specific value in the first column of a table and returns a corresponding value from another column in the same row.
Example Use: Find the price of a product in a table of product IDs and prices.
Syntax:
=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])
| Attribute | Description |
| lookup_value | The value to search for in the first column of the table. |
| table_array | The table or range containing the data. |
| col_index_num | The column number in the table from which to return a value. |
| range_lookup (optional) | Specifies whether to perform an exact or approximate match. The default is an approximate match. |
XLOOKUP
Link to Microsoft Documentation
The XLOOKUP function is a lookup and reference function in Excel that searches for a specific value in a column or row of a table and returns a corresponding value from another column or row in the same table. It is a more versatile and powerful version of the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions, as it can perform both vertical and horizontal lookups, and can return array results.
Example use: Search for the price of a product in a table of products and prices, and return the corresponding price. You can also perform approximate matches to find the closest match to the lookup value in the table. For example, you can search for a value within a range of values, such as finding the commission rate for a salesperson based on their sales volume.
Syntax:
=XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array,[if_not_found], [match_mode], [search_mode])| Attribute | Description |
| lookup_value | The value to search for in the lookup_array. |
| lookup_array | The column or row that contains the values to search. |
| return_array | The column or row that contains the values to return. |
| if_not_found (optional) | Specifies value to return if no match found. |
match_mode (optional) | Specifies whether to perform an exact or approximate match. The default is an exact match. |
search_mode (optional) | Specifies whether to search from the beginning or end of the lookup_array. The default is to search from the beginning. |
INDEX and MATCH
Link to Microsoft Documentation – INDEX
Link to Microsoft Documentation – MATCH
These functions are used together as a more flexible alternative to VLOOKUP. INDEX returns the value of a cell in a specified range, while MATCH locates the position of a value within a range. When combined, they can look up data based on a unique identifier, similar to VLOOKUP but with added versatility.
Example Use: Find the price of a product in a table of product names and prices.
Syntax (combined):
=INDEX(return_range, MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_range, match_type))
| Attribute | Description |
| return_range | The range containing the values to return. |
| lookup_value | The value to search for in the lookup_range. |
| lookup_range | The range containing the values to search. |
| match_type (optional) | Specifies whether to perform an exact or approximate match. The default is an exact match. |
IF
Link to Microsoft Documentation
The IF function is a logical function that returns one value if a specified condition is true and another value if the condition is false. This function is helpful for making decisions based on criteria.
Example Use: Calculate a salesperson’s commission based on their sales volume, with different commission rates for different tiers of sales.
Syntax:
=IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value_if_false)
| Attribute | Description |
| logical_test | The condition to evaluate. |
| value_if_true | The value to return if the logical_test is true. |
| value_if_false | The value to return if the logical_test is false. |
SUMIFS
Link to Microsoft Documentation
The SUMIFS function allows you to sum values in a range that meet multiple specified criteria. This function is ideal for aggregating data based on multiple conditions.
Example Use: Calculate the total sales for a specific product in a given period.
Syntax:
=SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], ...)
| Attribute | Description |
| sum_range | The range of cells to be added. |
| criteria_range1 | The range of cells to evaluate against the first criterion. |
| criteria1 | The first condition to be met. |
| criteria_range2, criteria2, … (optional) | Additional criteria and their respective ranges. |
COUNTIFS
Link to Microsoft Documentation
Similar to SUMIFS, the COUNTIFS function counts the number of cells in a range that meet multiple specified criteria. This function is useful for counting occurrences based on various conditions.
Example Use: Count the number of orders for a specific product with a status of “Delivered.”
Syntax:
=COUNTIFS(criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], ...)
| Attribute | Description |
| criteria_range | The range of cells to evaluate against the first criterion. |
| criteria1 | The first condition to be met. |
| criteria_range2, criteria2, … (optional) | Additional criteria and their respective ranges. |
AVERAGEIFS
Link to Microsoft Documentation
TAVERAGEIFS is a conditional averaging function that calculates the average of cells in a range that meet one or more criteria.
Example Use: Calculate the average sales for a specific product in a given period.
Syntax:
=AVERAGEIFS(average_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria2], ...)
| Attribute | Description |
| average_range | The range of cells to calculate the average. |
| criteria_range1 | The range of cells to evaluate against the first criterion. |
| criteria1 | The first condition to be met. |
| criteria_range2, criteria2, … (optional) | Additional criteria and their respective ranges. |
TEXTJOIN
Link to Microsoft Documentation
TEXTJOIN are text functions that join multiple text strings into a single text string. TEXTJOIN allows you to specify a delimiter between the combined text strings.
Example Use: Combine first name and last name with a space in between.
Syntax:
=TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)
| Attribute | Description |
| delimiter | The character(s) to separate the combined text strings. |
| ignore_empty | The range of cells to evaluate against the first criterion. |
| text1, text2, … | The text strings to join. |
LEFT, RIGHT, and MID
Link to Microsoft Documentation – LEFT
Link to Microsoft Documentation – MID
Link to Microsoft Documentation – RIGHT
These text functions allow you to extract specific characters from a text string. LEFT extracts characters from the left, RIGHT from the right, and MID from the middle of a string. These functions are handy when dealing with text data that needs to be parsed or cleaned.
Example Use: Extract the area code from a phone number formatted as “(123) 456-7890.”
Syntax:
=LEFT(text, [num_chars])
=RIGHT(text, [num_chars])
=MID(text, start_num, num_chars)
| Attribute | Description |
| text | The text string to extract characters from. |
| num_chars (optional for LEFT and RIGHT) | The number of characters to extract. |
| start_num (for MID) | The position of the first character to extract. |
| num_chars (for MID) | The number of characters to extract. |
TEXT
Link to Microsoft Documentation
The TEXT function converts a numeric value to a text string in a specified format. This function is useful when you need to display numbers in a specific format, such as currency or dates.
Example Use: Format a date as a text string in the format “Month Day, Year.”
Syntax:
=TEXT(value, format_text)
| Attribute | Description |
| text | The numeric value to format as text. |
| format_text | The number format to apply, using Excel’s formatting codes (e.g., “mmmm dd, yyyy” for the date example). |
Mastering these 10 essential Excel functions will significantly enhance your capabilities as a business analyst. By using these functions in your daily work, you’ll be able to perform more efficient data analysis, make better-informed decisions, and create more insightful reports. Invest some time in learning and practicing these functions, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming an Excel expert.
