Excel Tips for Compensation Practitioners Weeks Text Formulae

Transcription

1 Excel Tips for Compensation Practitioners Weeks Text Formulae Week 70 Using Left, Mid and Right Formulae When analysing compensation data, you generally extract data from the payroll, the HR system, electronic surveys or other sources. Or, if consulting, you get sent data by clients that they have extracted into Excel. Either way, the data is often not in the format that you need to do calculations, and this is where text functions in Excel come in very useful. There are a large number of text functions, which enable you to manipulate text data into a desired format. In this series, I will cover the following text functions, which are valuable when working with employee and salary data: Left, Mid, Right, Concatenate, Len, Trim, Lower, Proper, Upper, Dollar and Text. Let s start with the Left, Mid and Right functions. These are useful where data is sitting in one field / column, but needs to be split into different fields / columns in order to use it in calculations.. The Left function extracts characters from the left of the field, Mid from the middle of the field, and Right from the right of the field. For example, I have one client who uses grades B1 4, etc. up to G1-4. This client is broad banded, so the letter refers to the broad band, and the number to the type of job in the band, for example 1 is line management and 3 is specialist. Benefits are linked to the band, while pay scales are linked to the band and the job type.

2 What I need to do with this data is: a) extract the left character (the letter of the band) and then use this in a vlookup formula (Week 9) to determine various benefits, and b) extract the left and right characters (the band letter and the job type number), and then use this in a vlookup formula to determine the applicable pay scale. One way to do this is to use the Data, Text to Columns, Delimited, function outlined in Week 2. This would break the data up into 4 columns using space as a delimiter. The other way, which I will discuss here, is to use the Left and Right functions. Beginning with the Left function, for this example, in cell C2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Left for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Left. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first grade is. If you only want to extract one character on the left of the field, you can leave Num_chars blank or you can put in a 1. If you want to extract two or more characters from the left of the field, enter 2 or a higher number as appropriate. Click OK.

3 You will now have a B sitting in cell C2. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this.

4 To extract the job type number on the right, in cell D2 click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Right for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Right. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first grade is. If you only want to extract one character on the right of the field, you can leave Num_chars blank or you can put in a 1. If you want to extract two or more characters from the right of the field, enter 2 or a higher number as appropriate. Click OK. You will now have a 1 sitting in cell D2. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this. Of course, in this example, I have only put one type of each grade. In the actual data base, there would be thousands of records with a variety of grades.

5 Where the Right function is particularly valuable is when the field is of varying length. For example, I have another client who provides data with the job title and grade together in one field, like this: Sales Manager 07 HR Assistant 04 Assistant Brand Manager 06 The job title is of varying length and a varying number of words, and I need to extract the grade, which is always two digits at the end. In this case the Right function, taking two characters from the right, is the only way to extract the grade data. Going back to the Grade and Job Type data shown in the screen shot, the next step is to combine the band and job type into one field in order to use the data in a vlookup to find the appropriate pay scale. This can be done using the Concatenate function or by joining the fields with ampersands. The method to do this is outlined in Week 3, but I will go through it again here. To combine the fields, in cell E3, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Concatenate for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Concatenate. Next to Text1 (see below), click on cell C2, where the first band is. Next to Text2 click on cell D2 where the first job type is. Click OK.

6 You will now have B1 sitting in cell E2. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this.

7 Another way to join the fields together is to type in cell E2, =C2&D2, which is quicker and easier than using the Concatenate function. Alternatively, instead of doing the formula in stages, you could write the left and right function together in one formula, joining them with ampersands, as follows =LEFT(B2)&RIGHT(B2), which would be even quicker! The last function I will discuss in this column, Mid, is useful, where you need to extract the middle part of a field. To illustrate, one of the surveys I use, Remchannel, provides job description information in an Excel spreadsheet. In this spreadsheet the industry, discipline, sub-discipline and job code (a number between 1 and 1500) are shown in separate columns, but the salary extract data combines all this data into one job code in one column. A sample of the codes is shown below. The first job code appears here as GenFinAcct1414, but in the job description table it would be shown in separate columns as Generic, Finance, Accounting, From this data I therefore need to extract the 1 to 4 digit numeric job code at the end in order to use a Vlookup formula to pull in data from the job description file, and combine this with the salary extract data. The Right function cannot be used here, as the number of digits in the numeric code varies between 1 and 4. But the Mid function is ideal. To use the Mid function, in cell C2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Mid for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Mid. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first job code is. Next to Start-num, specify the character number from where you want to start the extract. In this case I want to extract from

8 the 12 th character onwards, as the first 11 characters represent the industry, discipline and subdiscipline. Next to Num_chars enter the number of characters that you wish to extract, in this case 4. Note that it does not matter if, in some cases, there are less characters than the number specified - Mid will still work it will extract up to 4 characters. Click OK. You will now have 1414 sitting in cell C2. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this.

9 Note that the job code numbers are still at this stage a text formula. To convert the fields from a formula to the result of the formula, select the whole of column C. Click Copy, click on the down arrow under or next to Paste, then select Paste Values. The data will now have green triangle markers to indicate that the numbers are stored as text. Select all the data, click on the arrow next to the exclamation mark next to the first cell, and select Convert to Number to convert the data to numbers. The data can now be used in a vlookup formula as it will be in a numeric form. Note that an alternative method in this case to extract the numeric job code would be to use Data, Text to Columns, Fixed Width (See Week 2), specifying a break after the 11 th character. Next week we will look at how to use the Len function in combination with the Left function with variable length fields, and where the Trim function can be very useful in rewards work.

10 Week 71 Using Len and Trim Formulae Last week, we looked at where the Left, Mid and Right functions could be valuable in rewards work. This week we will examine how the Len function can be used together with the Left function, when dealing with variable length fields, and the use of the Trim function. With the Left, Mid and Right functions, you specify how many characters you want to extract from the left, middle or right of a field. These work well if the field is a consistent length, or if the data you want to extract is always a consistent number of digits on the left or the right, as in the examples illustrated last week. However sometimes you have a situation where the field you want to extract is a variable length and a variable number of words. For example, as mentioned last week, the salary extract I get from one of my clients has job title and grade together in the same field. I need to extract job title into one column and grade into another column, as both of these fields are used in pivot tables and vlookups in the compensation analysis. This is where the Len function comes in handy. To illustrate, let s work with the following set of job titles and grades. This data cannot be separated into job title and grade by using Data, Text to Columns, with space as a delimiter, because the job title varies between one and three words, so the grade may end up in the second, third or fourth column. Data, Text to Columns, Fixed Width will also not work, as the length of the job title is variable. The grade can be extracted into a column using the Right function, taking the right two digits, as demonstrated last week. However this still leaves you with the problem of how to extract job title from the field. The answer lies with the Len function, which measures the number of characters in a field. So, to solve the problem, you first measure the number of characters in the job title-grade field as follows.

11 In cell C2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Len for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Len. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first job title-grade is. Click OK. You will now have the number of characters (including spaces) of the first job title-grade, 22, sitting in cell C2. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this. Now that you know the length of the field, you can extract the job title, as the job title will always be, from the left, the number of characters in the field less 3 (the space and 2 digit grade on the right of the job title).

12 To extract the job title, in cell D2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Left for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Left. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first job title-grade is. Next to Num_chars click on cell C2, where the length of the field is stored and then type in -3. You will now have the job title sitting in cell D2 minus the space and grade at the end of the field. Use the Right function to extract the grade into cell E2, and the double click method to copy both formulae down the worksheet, and your data will look like this, with job title and grade separated. You can also if you wish incorporate the Length and the Left formulae into one cell, in which case the formula for the job title field would look like this: =LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-3).

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14 Another text function which is useful for rewards work is the Trim function this trims excess spaces off words, either spaces at the end of a word, or where there is more than one space between words. This is very valuable when you are using job title in a vlookup formula, for example, to look up a survey job code, as in the following example. The first two job titles look identical, and they both have correct vlookup formulae to read the job code from the job title survey job code table. Yet, for the second job title, the vlookup formula is yielding a not applicable value. This is because there is a space at the end of Accounts Supervisor, and the formula can therefore not find an exact match in the survey job code table. The space is not visible, but causes the vlookup formula to fail. The same applies to the first Sales Administrator job title, and the first Creditors Clerk job title has an additional space between Creditors and Clerk. The Trim function is ideal to sort out this problem. To use the Trim function, insert a column after Job Title, and in cell C2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Trim for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Trim. Next to Text (see below), click on cell B2, where the first job title is. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet.

15 You will now have the job titles without the additional spaces in column C. Change the first vlookup formula in column D from =VLOOKUP(B2,$F$2:$G$10,2,FALSE) to =VLOOKUP(C2,$F$2:$G$10,2,FALSE), so that the formula is reading the trimmed job titles rather than the original job titles. Copy this formula down the worksheet, and your data will look like this, with all the vlookup formulae working correctly. Next week we will look at how to use the Lower, Proper and Upper formulae, and how to use the Replace function to correct incorrect cases after converting to proper case.

16 Week 72 Using Lower, Proper and Upper functions Often text data extracted from the payroll or from salary surveys appears as upper case data. This is harder to read than proper case data, where just the first letter is capitalised, and also takes up much more room on the spreadsheet. On Word, it is very easy to convert data to another case - you just highlight the data, in Word 2007 click the Change Case icon, or in Word 2003 click Format, Change Case, and select the desired case. In Excel it is a little more fiddly, but can still be achieved without too much difficulty using text functions. Let s use the following data as an example this is from the Remchannel survey job description table discussed last week. The survey job title is shown in capital letters in the job description table to identify it as the most important field in the data set, but when I pull the data into a job comparison analysis, I would prefer it to be in proper case, as it takes up less room. To convert the data to proper case, insert a column next to the field you are wanting to convert, in this case, the data in column E. In cell F2, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Proper for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Proper. Next to Text (see below), click on cell E2, where the first job title is.

17 Your job title will now be converted to proper case. Use the double click method to copy this down the worksheet, and your data will look like this. Note that, when you insert a column, it always applies the same width as the column to its left. But the proper case job title data in column F takes up much less room than the upper case data in column E, so the column width could be considerably reduced. The only problem with the conversion is that CREDIT ANALYST II now shows up as Credit Analyst Ii rather than Credit Analyst II. To fix this and the remaining roman numerals, you first need to convert the proper case job title column from a formula to the result of a formula. To do this, select the whole column, click Copy, click on the down arrow under or next to Paste, then select Paste Values. You can now delete column E as column F is no longer linked to it.

18 Next, select the whole column of proper case job titles, hold down the control key and press H to bring up the replace function. Alternatively, in Excel 2003 click Edit, Replace, or in Excel 2007, click Home, Find & Select in the Editing Group, then Replace. In the Replace window, see below, next to Find what: type in Ii, and next to Replace with: type in II. Click on Replace All. Leave the Replace window open. Then, next to Find what:, see below, type in IIi (because you have partially fixed the Iii with the previous Replace), and next to Replace with: type in III. Click on Replace All. Leave the Replace window open. Lastly, next to Find what:, see below, type in Iv (put a space in front, so that you don t replace part of a job title as well, e.g. the iv in the word driver), and next to Replace with: type in IV also with a space in front. Click on Replace All.

19 Your data will now look like this, with all the roman numerals corrected. You can also use the replace function to replace other abbreviations, such as It with IT, Hr with HR, etc. Excel also two other case functions, Upper and Lower. These work in exactly the same way as Proper, and can be used to convert text to upper case, with all capitals, or to lower case, with no capitals. Another way to convert to a different case in Excel is to use the add in ASAP Utilities function, which is available as a download from the web site To use this function, first install ASAP Utilities. Next select all the data to be converted to a different case. Click on

20 the ASAP Utilities menu, select Text, then option 7 Start Each Word With Upper Case see below. Note that the menu looks a little different in Excel 2003, but the ASAP Utilities menu options and numbering are the same. This will convert all the text to proper case without having to insert columns and apply formulae. It operates in a similar way to the Word Change Case function, and is therefore much quicker to use. Next week we will look at how to use the Dollar and Text functions when doing mail merges, and their value in Excel headings.

21 Week 73 Using Dollar and Text functions This week we will look at the Dollar and Text functions, which convert a number to a specific text format, and are very valuable when doing a mail merge from Excel to Word. They can also be used to create headings in Excel based on data in tables. When doing a mail merge, you first need to set up your Excel database with the merge data. Let s say that you have the following set of data which you want to use in a mail merge letter to your Sales Representatives informing them of their salary, commission and travel expense claims paid for the last month. Because you have formatted your data to no decimal places, it looks as though there are no decimals in the data. However when you merge it to Word, any decimals in the data will show up in the mail merge see the example below. These decimals are sometimes there because formulae have been used to calculate the pay outs, or because data has been converted from annual to monthly or monthly to weekly etc.

22 You can use either the dollar or text function to get around this problem. As a first step, copy the Monthly Salary, Commission and Travel Claims headings to the right, and set the decimal places for these columns to 2, so that you can see what data will go into the mail merge. Next, in cell F2, where the new Monthly Salary column is, click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Dollar for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Dollar. Next to Text (see below), click on cell C2, where the original monthly salary is. You can leave Decimals blank, if you are happy with the default of 2 decimal places, or change this to no decimal places if you want the data rounded to the nearest dollar or other currency.

23 What this formula does is convert the numeric field to a text field using whatever country currency is set up on your computer. In my case I am based in South Africa, so the Dollar function converts the numeric field to a rand currency. If you are based in the United States, it will convert to dollars, in Europe to euros etc. If you repeat the dollar formula in the new Commission and Travel Claims columns, and copy the formula down the spreadsheet, your data will look like this, or a different currency as applicable. Now, when you do the mail merge, use the data in columns F to H instead of the data in columns C to E as your merge fields. Your mail merge will now look like this.

24 The Text function works in a similar way to Dollar, and can also be used to format the data for a mail merge. The Text function is more complicated to write, but has the advantage that it enables you to display data in any format desired. Working with the same set of data, instead of using the Dollar function in columns F to H, you could use the Text function. To do so, in cell F2 click the fx icon, select Text for Category, then Text for function. Or alternatively, in Excel 2007, click on the Formulas Tab, select Text, click on the down arrow beneath Text and select Text. I know this sounds odd, but Text is one of the functions available under Text! Next to Value (see below), click on cell C2, where the original monthly salary is. Format_text, you need to specify how you want the data to be displayed. Next to If you want the data displayed as currency, you specify which currency sign you want in front and how many decimal places you require. For the formatting, you can use any format that is available under the Format cells dialog box, including the Custom free field option, so you could format the data as a percentage, a date or time, a telephone number, zip code or any other format desired. If for example you wanted the data as a telephone number you could format it as (000) If you wanted it as a date, you could format it as mm-dd-yyyy (or look at Week 6 to find lots of other date formatting options). Once you have chosen the desired format, click OK. In this example, you could use the same formula for the commission and travel claims fields, and copy this down the worksheet. Your data would then look like this.

25 The advantage of using Text over Dollar is the flexibility you have in formatting. For example, you might be operating across several countries, and need to do mail merge in different currencies for different countries. You would then not want to use the default currency set up on your computer. Where these functions are also useful is when you want to create headings based on data in a table. Working with the same set of data, let s say that you have region and month data in the first columns, and that the data is sent to you as a separate spreadsheet per region per month. Each month you need to print the sheets and give them to the sales manager to sign off. The first sheet of data now looks like this.

26 What you want to do is to add a heading to each sheet before it is printed. You could type out the heading manually for each sheet, but much easier than this is to set up a formula using the Text function and ampersands, to automatically create a heading for each sheet based on the region and month data in cells A5 and B5. To do this, in cell A2, type in the following formula: ="Sales Commission and Travel Claims Data for "&A5&" - "&TEXT(B5,"mmmm yyyy") What this formula does is first put in some text, then the region that is sitting in A5, then a dash with spaces around it, then the date that is sitting in cell B5 formatted to show as the full month and a 4 digit year. Your worksheet will now look like this. This formula can be copied into all the worksheets in the file and it will reflect the appropriate heading for each region and date in each sheet. This is a very efficient way to create headings. Also, if you update the sheet with new data each month, the heading will automatically pick up the new date. Another area where I use the Text function is where I need to have actual monetary values in a spreadsheet for calculation purposes, for example, company turnover, but I wish to display the data as $m. In this case I would put the actual monetary value into one cell, say A1, and in B1 I would write the formula =TEXT(A1/ ,"$0")&"m". This formula says divide the value in cell A1 by a million, then format it to no decimal places with a dollar sign in front, and put an m at the end.

27 If cell A1 had the value , cell B1 would show as $560m, which is easier data to assimilate. This concludes the series on text functions. Next week we will start a new series looking at some of the mathematical and statistical functions not yet covered in Excel.