Excel Tips for Compensation Practitioners Weeks 9-12 Working with Lookup Formulae

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1 Excel Tips for Compensation Practitioners Weeks 9-12 Working with Lookup Formulae Week 9 Using lookup functions Microsoft Excel is essentially a spreadsheet tool, while Microsoft Access is a database tool. However Excel has certain functionality built into in it, such as lookup formulae and lists, which enable it to act like a relational database. For the next four weeks this column will cover the use of lookup functions, which are one of the most powerful tools in Excel, and are an essential tool for compensation practitioners. This week we will discuss the most commonly used lookup function, vlookup and next week the less frequently used hlookup. Following this we will cover how to name ranges when doing look ups, and will end with how to avoid the irritating #N/A s, that result from lookup formulae, by using the if and isna or iserror functions. Using the vlookup formula The vlookup formula (the v stands for vertical) enables you to take data from a separate table, spreadsheet or workbook and incorporate it into your original data. In order to do this, there must be a field that is common to both sets of data. This could be any type of employee identification e.g. employee number, social security number, ID number, or it could be a grade, level, job code, department code, or employment category. If the field is a number, ensure that the number is formatted in the same way, i.e. as text or as a number, in both sets of data, otherwise the vlookup will yield a #N/A. Some examples of how a vlookup could be used are: a) Comparing basic salary for this year s employees to salary for the same employees last year. b) Incorporating commission for your sales employees from a separate worksheet into your base pay worksheet to get to a total cash figure. c) Incorporating an allowance linked to grade from a table into your compensation data worksheet. d) Looking up the job title or market data for a job code, or the department name associated with a department code. Let s work with the last example, of looking up the job title for a job code. In the first spreadsheet you need to have a column in your table with job code in it, as per the example below.

2 You also need to have a table, preferably in a different spreadsheet, with your job code and job title data. The field you are looking up, in this case job code, must be in the first column of the table, as per the example below. In the first spreadsheet, in cell F3, under the heading, Job Title, click the fx icon, select Lookup & Reference for Category, then Vlookup for function. As per the screen shot below, next to Lookup_value, click on the first job code in cell E3.

3 Next to Table_array, designate the job code-job title table in the second spreadsheet, excluding the headings. Press the F4 key to make the table an absolute value dollar signs will appear before the column letters and row numbers of the table. This is very important!!, as you need the vlookup to continue to look up this same table, as you copy it down the worksheet. Next to Col_index_num indicate the number of columns that Excel must look across in the table. In this case the required data, job title, is in the second column of the table, so enter column 2. Remember, it is the column position in the table that is used, not the column position in the total spreadsheet. Next to Range_Lookup type the word false. This is also very important!!, and must be done whenever you are looking for an exact match in the table, for example grade, code or employee number, or if the table is not in ascending order. If you do not type false, and Excel cannot find an exact match, it will find the closest match in ascending order, which could be another employee number or code. If the table is in ascending order, and you are looking for the nearest match, for example a salary below a certain salary limit, then and only then, can you omit the false. Next press enter. The job title associated with the job code will now appear in cell F3. If Excel cannot find a match, the #N/A sign will appear. Copy the vlookup formula down the spreadsheet using the double click method described in Week 1. It will read each successive employee job code, but continue to reference the same table, as you have made the table an absolute value. The vlookup is one of the most powerful and time saving functions in Excel. People often battle with the formula because they forget to make the table array absolute, or forget to put false at the end. But if you can get these aspects right, you will find it has a thousand applications. I use it more than any other formula in my compensation work. Next week we will demonstrate the hlookup formula.

4 Week 10 Using the hlookup formula Last week we explored how to use a vlookup formula. This week we will cover the hlookup formula. Hlookup (the h stands for horizontal) performs exactly the same function as vlookup, i.e. it enables you to take data from a separate table, spreadsheet or workbook and incorporate it into your original data. The only difference is that, while the vlookup looks down the table and then across, the hlookup looks across the table and then down to find the matching data. The vlookup is more commonly used, but the hlookup is also useful if your table is set up in a different format. As with the vlookup, there must be a field that is common to both sets of data. This could be any type of employee identification e.g. employee number, social security number, ID number, or it could be a grade, level, job code, department code, or employment category. Let s work with an example, where you need to incorporate an allowance linked to grade from a table into your compensation data worksheet. In the first spreadsheet you need to have a column in your table with grade in it, as per the example below. You also need to have a table, preferably in a different spreadsheet, with the grade and allowance data. The field you are looking up, in this case grade, must be in the first row of the table, as per the example below. Note, this is different from the vlookup, where the field must be in the first column of the table.

5 In the first spreadsheet, in cell G3, under the heading, Allowance, click the fx icon, select Lookup & Reference for Category, then Hlookup for function. As per the screen shot below, next to Lookup_value, click on the first grade in cell E3. Next to Table_array, designate the grade-allowance table in the second spreadsheet, excluding the headings. Press the F4 key to make the table an absolute value dollar signs will appear before the column letters and row numbers of the table. This is very important, as you need the hlookup to continue to look up this same table, as you copy it down the worksheet. Next to Row_index_num indicate the number of rows that Excel must look down in the table. In this case the required data, allowance, is in the second row of the table, so enter row 2. Remember, it is the row position in the table that is used, not the row position in the total spreadsheet. Next to Range_Lookup type the word false. This must be done whenever you are looking for an exact match in the table, for example grade, code or employee number, or if the table is not in ascending order. If you do not type false, Excel will find the closest match in ascending order, which could be another employee number or grade. If the table is in ascending order, and you are looking for the nearest match, for example a salary below a certain salary limit, you can omit the false. Next press enter.

6 The allowance associated with the grade will now appear in cell G3. If Excel cannot find a match, the #N/A sign will appear. Copy the hlookup formula down the spreadsheet using the double click method described in Week 1. It will read each successive employee grade, but continue to reference the same table, as you have made the table an absolute value. Next week we will explore how to name ranges. This makes specifying the table array in the vlookup or hlookup formulae much easier.

7 Week 11 Naming Ranges In the last two weeks we explored how to use the vlookup and hlookup formulae. These functions require you to specify a table or range of data in the Table_array section of the formula. It is important to make this table absolute, as you need the vlookup or hlookup to continue to look up the same table, as you copy the formula down the worksheet. You can make the table / range absolute, as suggested previously, by using the F4 key to add dollar signs before the column letters and row numbers. However, another way to make the table / range absolute and to make it easier to reference is to name the range. Once the range is named, it can be referred to in all formulae or statistics by the range name, instead of having to designate the row and column parameters of the range. A range can be named in two ways. The second method is the same on Excel 2003 and 2007, but the first method differs. In Excel 2003, the first method is as follows: As per the screen shot below, select the range, then click Insert, Name, Define, enter a name e.g. allowances, OK.

8 In Excel 2007, the first method is as follows: As per the screen shot below, select the range, then click Formulas, Define Name. Enter a name e.g. allowances, OK. The second method, which is much simpler, is to select the range. In the name box to the left of the formula bar, replace the column and row number of the top left corner of the cell with a range name. In the example below, C2 has been replaced with the name allowances. Press enter. The name must either be one word or have an underscore between the words e.g. job_titles.

9 Once the range has been named, the name on its own can be used in any formula. For example, the hlookup formula referred to last week could now be written as per the screen shot below. This is particularly useful if you need to use the table often, or if you need to do a number of statistics on the range of data, e.g. calculating an average, count, quartiles, minimum, maximum etc. Once you have named the range, you can use the range name in any sheet in the workbook, and you can press the F5 key or Control G and click on the range name to take you to the range. Next week we will look at how to avoid the #N/A s in lookup formulae by using the if and isna or iserror functions.

10 Week 12 Isna and Iserror functions When using the vlookup or hlookup functions, Excel sometimes cannot find a match for the data being looked up. This particularly happens when using employee number as a lookup field and when you are looking for an exact match. In this case the #N/A sign will appear as the result of the formula. This makes the data look messy, but it also causes problems in that, if you try to sum or average a column with a #N/A in it, you will also get a #N/A sign. There are a number of ways to solve this problem. You could use the data filter to filter down to the #N/A s and delete them. You could also sort the data by that column, so that the #N/A s are grouped together, and then delete them. You could convert the formulae to values, and then use the edit, replace function to replace the #N/A s with a blank. However all these methods will also delete the lookup formulae, which can cause problems if you update your reference table with new data. A better way to deal with the problem is to use the if and isna formulae together with the lookup. For example, as per the screen shot below, say you are using the employee number in cell B3 to look up commission payments from a worksheet, and you have named the range commission. You will end up with a lookup formula as follows: =vlookup(b3,commission,2,false). If employee 1032 in the example did not earn commission this month, the employee number will not be in the commission table, and the vlookup formula will yield a #N/A. To avoid this, re-write the vlook up formula as follows: =if(isna(vlookup(b3,commission,2,false)),0,vlookup(b3,commission,2,false)). What this formula says is if the lookup is not applicable, i.e. it returns a #N/A value, then put a zero, else put the lookup value. You could substitute the zero for a blank by typing instead of the zero. To make the formula less complicated to write, I normally write the vlookup formula

11 first, then put the if(isna( in front of the vlookup, put the ),0, after the vlookup formula, then copy paste the vlookup formula to the end of the formula and add another ) at the end. There are several other similar formulae to isna, the most useful being iserror. Iserror will pick up any error value (see screen shot below), including #N/A s, and works in exactly the same way as isna. If used on its own, it will yield a true or false answer. If used in conjunction with the if formula as in the isna example given, it can be used to replace the error with a blank or a zero. While these are complex formulae to write, they are very useful, and I use them often to avoid the messy and problematic error values arising from lookups and other functions.