Excel University Blog

Read on for in-depth articles, tutorials, and videos. Search or browse for specific topics. Be sure to subscribe if you'd like to be notified when we write something new.

Data Model

Man making notes on a large calendar underneath an open laptop

Top 5 Excel Calendar Tutorials & Free Templates

By Excel University | June 28, 2022 |

Do you use Excel to keep track of your to-do lists, upcoming events, deadlines, etc.? Since spreadsheets are so customizable, many Excel users rely on the software to create unique calendars tailored to their needs. It’s one of the most popular uses for Excel and great practice for users of all skill levels. If you’re…

Read More
Text over a man standing underneath lightbulbs that reads "How to Use Pivot Tables in Excel - Our Top 5 Posts"

Learn How to Use Pivot Tables in Excel – Our Top 5 Posts

By Excel University | April 12, 2022 |

Excel’s PivotTables are one of its most useful features. Learn how to use pivot tables in Excel with our Top 5 PivotTable posts!

Read More

Stop Wasting Time 4

By Jeff Lenning | May 6, 2019 |

In this post, we are going to use the data model to improve our reporting process. This is the fourth post in the Stop Wasting Time series, and this is where everything we’ve learned comes together. By the time we have finished this post, updating our report will be extremely easy. In fact, it will…

Read More

Impossible PivotTables 4 – Average of Distinct Count

By Jeff Lenning | July 24, 2018 |

This is the 4th and final post in the Impossible PivotTables series, where we are exploring Power Pivot by looking at some limitations encountered with traditional PivotTables. In this post, we’ll look at how to compute the average when there are multiple rows per item. That is, where a simple sum divided by the count…

Read More

Data Model Walkthrough CalCPA Article

By Jeff Lenning | July 17, 2018 |

Have you heard people talking about Power Pivot and the data model, but you aren’t exactly sure what they are or how to use them? Well, in this article, we’ll use them to build a basic PivotTable. Workbooks used to summarize exported data can potentially be improved by using Power Pivot and the Data Model. Check…

Read More

Impossible PivotTables 3 – Multiple Data Tables

By Jeff Lenning | July 10, 2018 |

This is the 3rd post in the Impossible PivotTables series. This series is designed to explore Power Pivot. I thought looking at a few limitations of traditional PivotTables would be a fun way to do this. So, in this post, we will look at how traditional PivotTables support a single data table while Power Pivot…

Read More

Impossible PivotTables 2 – Show Values As

By Jeff Lenning | July 2, 2018 |

This is the second post in the Impossible PivotTables series, where we are exploring Power Pivot. In the first post, we examined the limitation of calculated field references in a traditional PivotTable. In this post, we’ll address the limitation of using the Show Values As option for subsequent calculations. If we use the Show Values…

Read More

Impossible PivotTables 1 – Calculated Fields

By Jeff Lenning | June 27, 2018 |

This is the first post in a series called Impossible PivotTables. The purpose of this series is to explore Power Pivot. I thought a fun way to do that would be to demonstrate how using the data model enables us to build PivotTables that are either impossible with traditional PivotTables or that require workarounds. I…

Read More

Power Pivot CalCPA Article

By Jeff Lenning | May 16, 2018 | Comments Off on Power Pivot CalCPA Article

I’m assuming you love PivotTables. I mean, who doesn’t, right? Well, traditional PivotTables are amazing, but they’re not without limits. Instead of using a traditional table as the PivotTable source, you can take your PivotTables to the next level when you use Power Pivot instead. In this California CPA Magazine article, I talk about a…

Read More

PivotTable from Many CSV Files

By Jeff Lenning | March 7, 2018 |

In this post, we’ll summarize data from multiple CSV files with a PivotTable. Specifically, we’ll use a Get & Transform query (Power Query) to retrieve and prepare data from numerous CSV files. Then, we’ll send the query results into the data model (Power Pivot). Then, we’ll build our summary report using a PivotTable based on…

Read More