25 easy PivotTable reports

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Applies to

Microsoft Excel
2002

Having trouble visualizing how to use a PivotTable© report to analyze your data? This article shows how to

start with a basic data source and create PivotTable reports that answer common questions about your data.

While you can use these techniques for just about any type of source data, the following sections show

reports you could use to:

 Compare your salespeople

 Compare your products

 Compare your orders

 Compare your customers

To work directly with these PivotTable reports, download Excel 2002 Sample: PivotTable Reports, the

companion workbooks for this article. In addition to copies of all of the source data and reports in the article,

the workbooks contain four PivotChart reports that show you how to present the information graphically.

To make the examples extra easy to follow, they're all formatted with the Report 5 format, which you can

apply to your own PivotTable reports with the Format Report command.

Compare your salespeople

 Start with source data that contains information about your salespeople. Here are some of the source data

records used for the reports in this section. To see the entire source range, download the companion

workbooks for this article.

To set up your PivotTable:

1. Click a cell in the source data.

2. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart Report.

3. Follow the instructions in steps 1 through 3 of the wizard.

Note You can lay out the PivotTable report by clicking the Layout button in step 3 of the wizard, or

you can lay out the report directly on the worksheet.

Now you are ready to try the following reports:

What are the order amounts for each salesperson?

Drag the Salesperson field into the Row area, and then drag the Order Amount field into the Data area.
 What are the order amounts for salespeople in a specific country?

Drag the Country field into the Page area. You can then switch between "pages" to view the data for each

country.

How are salespeople ranked by order amounts?

To sort the salespeople, click the Salesperson field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and then

click Sort and Top 10. Under AutoSort Options, click Descending, and then click Sum of Order Amount

in the Using field box.

 Who are the top five salespeople?

To view the top items in a field, click the Salesperson field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and

then click Sort and Top 10. Under Top 10 AutoShow, click On, click Top in the Show box, and then enter

5.

How did salespeople perform in a specific quarter?

Drag the Order Date field into the Row area. Note that the source data contains actual order dates, but it

would be nice to group the dates by quarter. To do this, right-click the Order Date field, point to Group and

Show Detail, and then click Group. In the By box , click Quarters. Note that in the example below, the

Order Date field name has been changed to Quarters.

How does each salesperson's performance vary by quarter?

Drag the Sales person field to the left of the Order Date field. Note that in the example below, the Order Date

field name has been changed to Quarters.

What are the details for a specific order amount?

Double-click a cell in the PivotTable report to see the data "behind" it. Here are part of the details for cell C5,

Buchanan's first-quarter sales:

 What percent is a specific order of the total order amounts?

In this case, you'll create a new data field and use a custom calculation. That way, you can compare the

original data field (Summary) and the new calculated data field (Percent of Total). First, drag the Order

Amount field into the Data area. Double-click the new Order Amount field, click Options, and under Show

data as, click % of total.

What bonus amount should each salesperson receive?

All salespeople receive a 10% bonus, but you'd like to award a 15% bonus if they exceed $20,000 in orders

per quarter. To create a formula that uses PivotTable data, you can use a calculated field. Click the report,

click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, point to Formulas, and then click Calculated Field. In the
Name box , type Bonus Amount. In the Formula box , enter the formula you want. If you want to use data

from an existing field in your formula, click the field in the Fields box, and then click Insert Field.

Compare your products

Start with source data that contains information about your products. Here are some of the source data

records used for the reports in this section. To see the entire source range, download the companion

workbooks for this article.

To set up your PivotTable:

1. Click a cell in the source data.

2. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart Report.

3. Follow the instructions in steps 1 through 3 of the wizard.

Note You can lay out the PivotTable report by clicking the Layout button in step 3 of the wizard, or

you can lay out the report directly on the worksheet.

Now you are ready to try any of the following reports:

What are the sales totals for each category of product?

Drag the Category field into the Row area, and then drag the Sales field into the Data area.

What are the sales totals for each product?

Drag the Product field into the Row area.

 What are the three best-selling products in each category?

To view the top items in a field, click the Product field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and then

click Sort and Top 10. Under Top 10 AutoShow, click On. In the Show box , click Top and then enter 3.

What are the quarterly sales by product?

Drag the Quarter field into the Column area.

How do the sales in the first quarter compare with those in the second?

To focus on two quarters only, click the dropdown arrow in the Quarter field. Select the check boxes for just

the first two quarters.

 What are the average, largest, and smallest Beverage sales subtotals?

You can use more than one summary function for subtotals. Double-click the Category field, and then click

one or more options under Subtotals.

 What is the average sale and minimum sale?

In this case, you'll create two new data fields, and then change the summary function for each data field.

That way, you can compare the original data field (Sum) and the two new data fields (Average and

Minimum). First, drag the Sales field into the Data area a second time, and then drag it a third time. Double-

click the second data field, and then click Average under Summarize by. Double-click the third data field,

and then click Min under Summarize by.

Compare your orders

Start with source data that contains information about your orders. Here are some of the source data

records used for the reports in this section. To see the entire source range, download the companion

workbooks for this article.

 To set up your PivotTable:

1. Click a cell in the source data.

2. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart Report.

3. Follow the instructions in steps 1 through 3 of the wizard.

Note You can lay out the PivotTable report by clicking the Layout button in step 3 of the wizard, or

you can lay out the report directly on the worksheet.

Now you are ready to try the following reports:

How do you view an individual order?

Drag the Product, Unit Price, Quantity, and Discount fields into the Row area. Drag the Extended Price field

into the Data area. Then drag the OrderID field into the Page area. You can then switch between "pages" to

view the data for each order.

PivotTable reports can include or exclude hidden information in subtotals. For example, the totals in the

orders below don't include items for tax and freight charges. If you want to include all items in the totals, you

can use the Include Hidden Items in Totals button on the PivotTable toolbar.
 How many units of each product were sold?

Drag the Product field into the Row area, and then drag the Quantity field into the Data area.

What's the average unit price of each product?

Drag the Product field into the Row area, and then drag the Unit Price field into the Data area. Now you can

change the summary function for the Unit Price data field from Sum to Average. Double-click the Unit Price

field, and then click Average under Summarize by.

 What are the ten most expensive products?

First, you need to change the summary function for the Unit Price data field to Maximum. Double-click the

Unit Price field, and then click Max under Summarize by. Next, display the top ten items in the Product

field. Click the Product field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and then click Sort and Top 10.

Under Top 10 AutoShow, click On. In the Show box , click Top and then enter 10.

Compare your customers

Start with source data that contains information about your customers. Here are some of the source data

records used for the reports in this section. To see the entire source range, download the companion

workbooks for this article.

 To set up your PivotTable:

1. Click a cell in the source data.

2. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart Report.

3. Follow the instructions in steps 1 through 3 of the wizard.

Note You can lay out the PivotTable report by clicking the Layout button in step 3 of the wizard, or

you can lay out the report directly on the worksheet.

Now you are ready to try the following reports:

What products do your customers purchase, and in which quarter?

Drag the Customer and Product fields into the Row area. Then drag the Qtr 1, Qtr 2, Qtr 3, and Qtr 4 fields

into the Data area.

 What were the top two products purchased by each customer in the third quarter?

Click the Product field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and then click Sort and Top 10. Under

Top 10 AutoShow, click On. In the Show box , click Top and then enter 2.

Who was your top customer in the first quarter?

Click the Customer field, click PivotTable on the PivotTable toolbar, and then click Sort and Top 10. Under

Top 10 AutoShow, click On. In the Show box , click Top and then enter 1.
 Who were the top two customers for each product?

Drag the Product field to the left of the Customer field. Click the Customer field, click PivotTable on the

PivotTable toolbar, and then click Sort and Top 10. Under Top 10 AutoShow, click On. In the Show box ,

click Top and then enter 2.

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Posted by Alan PengellySaturday, November 01, 2008 10:44 PMIs it possible to create a pivot
table to combine several different, but identically structured workbook files? In this case I have
people entering their time sheet data allocated to different tasks (and their own pivot table), and I
am copying & pasting to a central worksheet and doing the pivot table from that, but this is open to
errors by me and is unwieldy. The other option is to have them enter the data in the central shared
worksheet, but then they cannot easily see their own times. I suppose I could do remote pivots from
the central source to each of them, but I would rather do it the other way round (possible conflicts). I
have checked linking and pivots from multiple sources, but they do not seem to be relevant, or I
have misunderstood something. Point me towards an article or book? Thanks in advance. I would do
all this easily in Visual Foxpro (VFP9.2), but the boss prefers a spreadsheet answer.
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Posted by Paul PackardMonday, November 17, 2008 6:46 PMTo: Alan Pengelly

If you need a "spreadsheet answer" you might want to try linking each timesheet to a central sheet
that contains everyones sheet. That way it should match exactly what is on each users timesheet.
You can leave extra rows in this master sheet for multiple reporting periods, etc. That way, you can
have your Pivot read the entire master sheet, and filter out blanks in the pivot button drop-down.
That also would facilitate allowing each user to maintain their own pivot table which could only read
their own timesheet.
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Posted by sjkaurWednesday, December 17, 2008 1:47 AMI need some help

I've got a table generated from a form that has 5 options in one cell eg.

(laptop, gps, caravan, camera)

I've sorted this to appear in different columns using text to column

Not sure how to use pivot tables to sort them according to their columns

Before:

col1 col2 col3 col4

laptop gps caravan
laptop gps caravan camera
gps camera

What I Need:

laptop gps caravan

laptop gps caravan
blank gps blank camera

Hope someone can help..

Thanks
Sharon
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