Development and Application Fundamentals (ISTN103) – Excel 2019

Business Applications - Practical 1

Lookup Functions and Pivot Tables

This practical is intended to introduce you to Lookup Functions, Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts. It is
advisable to complete this practical on your own so that you can better grasp the concepts.

Exercise 1 - Lookup Functions

1. On the Learn2021 site, open the Practical 1 folder. Open the Excel workbook called Exercise 1
and 2.
2. You will find the three tables on the Exercise 1 worksheet, namely: Pricing Table, Delivery Table
and Sales Table. Hover the mouse over each comment (i.e. the small red triangle) to see the
names of each table.
3. Using a lookup function, write a formula in cell C10 to determine the Total Cost of products
purchased. Column B lists the Units Sold. Write the formula so that it works when copied to
cells C11:C19.
4. Using a lookup function, write a formula in cell D10 to determine the Unit Delivery. Column A
lists the Delivery Method. Write the formula so that it works when copied to cells D11:D19.
5. Work out the Total Delivery cost for cells E10:E19.
6. Your company offers various discounts based on the total cost of products sold. You are
required to create at LEAST three different levels of discount. Create a lookup table for the
Delivery Discounts so that you can use a lookup function to calculate the delivery discount for
each order. Your table should look similar to the one below:

7. Write a formula in cell F10 to lookup the correct Delivery Discount using the Delivery lookup
table. You must try the different discount options for each row in the Delivery Discount column
(i.e. do not use one discount for the entire Delivery Discount column.).
8. Calculate the Final Total for cells G10:G19.
9. Save the workbook as Prac1 Ex 1 and 2 in a folder called BusApps Prac 1 on your H: drive.

Exercise 2 - Lookup Functions

The Agriculture department at a South African university has decided to give a bonus to each of its
employees at the end of the year. The value of this bonus depends on the number of years that an
employee has worked for the university and the employee’s level of qualification.
1. In the same workbook, on the Exercise 2 worksheet, you will find two tables displaying the
corresponding data.

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Business Applications - Practical 1

2. Using a Lookup function, calculate the bonus due to employees in cell D11.
3. Save your workbook.

Hint: Use a VLOOKUP function with a nested IF function.

Exercise 3 - Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

General Guidelines:

 Where appropriate format data using the currency format (use zero decimal places). Format
number data using the comma separator (e.g. 3,590 as opposed to 3590).
 Be sure to format row and column totals.
 Pivot Table and Pivot Chart should be on the same worksheet.
 Narrative material may be placed in the same sheet as a Pivot Table. The associated graph should
appear in the same worksheet.
 All charts should be clustered column charts. Do not include row or column totals in your chart.
These totals will distort the scale of the chart and are not comparable to the other elements in the
chart.

1. On the Learn2021 site, open the Practical 1 folder. Open the

Excel workbook called Exercise 3.
2. Save the workbook
3. The worksheet called Data List contains data on specific
company that wants to see how well their products sold.
Create a Pivot Table to display the total quantity sold in ALL
branches. Place your Pivot Table in a new worksheet.

Note: To enable dragging of fields directly onto the Pivot Table

grid, do the following:
 On the Pivot Table Tools
contextual tab, click on the
Options tab and from the
Pivot Table group.
 Click the Options drop down arrow and select
Options.
 Select Display from the PivotTable Options dialog
box.
 Check Classic PivotTable layout (enables dragging of fields in the grid). Once you have
completed the steps above, the image above will change to a grid.

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Business Applications - Practical 1

4. Change the Pivot Table to display the quantity sold in each specific branch.
5. Change the Pivot Table back to display ALL branches.
6. Create a Pivot Chart report from the existing Pivot Table based on the total quantity sold in ALL
branches and place it into the existing worksheet (i.e. the worksheet containing the Pivot Table).
7. Change the Pivot Table to display the total quantity sold in EACH branch. Notice what happens to
the Pivot Chart.
8. Move the Pivot Chart to a new worksheet.
9. Rename the worksheet containing your Pivot Table to Pivot Table and the Pivot Chart worksheet
must be renamed to Pivot Chart.
10. Save the workbook as Prac1 Ex 3 in the folder called BusApps
Prac 1 on your H: drive.

Note: You will continue with this workbook in your next practical
session so ensure you save.

Exercise 4 - Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

1. On the Learn2021 site, open the Practical 1 folder. Open

the Excel workbook called Exercise 4. You will find a table
displaying the sales figures for an organisation.
2. Create a Pivot Table on a new worksheet to display ALL
Financial Periods. Your Pivot Table should look exactly like the
image below.
3. Rename the worksheet containing the Pivot Table to Pivot
Table.
4. Change the Pivot Table to display the first Financial Period.
5. Create a Pivot Chart report for the Pivot Table based on both
Financial Periods and place it into a new worksheet.
6. Rename the worksheet containing the Pivot Chart to Pivot
Chart.
7. Save the workbook as Prac1 Ex 4 in the folder called BusApps
Prac 1 on your H: drive.

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Business Applications - Practical 1

Exercise 5 - Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

1. On the Learn2021 site, open the Practical 1 folder. Open the Excel workbook called Exercise 5.
You will find a table displaying the sales transactions for a company. There are 50 records in
this list excluding the header row. Each row corresponds to a sales transaction.
The data captured for each transaction includes the transaction number, the name of person who
made the sale, the number of units sold, the Rand value of the sale, the month of the sales, and
the location of the sale. Before answering the questions below, think about the aggregate
functions (e.g. sum, count, average) that will best answer the questions.

2. Insert a new worksheet and call it Q1 which you will use to answer the following questions using
Pivot Tables (Tip: the count function is not the correct function to use here):
a) What is the best selling product (in terms of units sold) in each location?
b) For each product, what is the best selling location (in terms of units sold)?

The output should include a Pivot Table and a Pivot Chart, both on worksheet Q1.

3. Insert a new worksheet and call it Q2 which you will use to answer the following questions using
Pivot Tables:
a) For each product, who is the sales person with the most sales (in Rand)?
b) For each sales person, which product do they sell the most (in Rand)?

The output should include a Pivot Table and a Pivot Chart, both on worksheet Q2.

4. Save the workbook as Prac1 Ex 5 in the folder called BusApps Prac 1 on your H: drive.

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