Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 21 Jun 2004

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Reviewed By: David Robinson

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

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Specs

ISBN 0735619018

How many of us use more than a handful of the components of Microsoft Office? Precious few, I guess. We get locked into using the options we know and don't have time to learn new techniques that may save us hours of effort or even a few quid. This is probably even truer for Excel and Access than it is for Word.

Author Wayne L Winston, a modest soul, says in the introduction: "As proof of my teaching excellence I received an MBA teaching award for 18 consecutive years." Hubris aside, however, he has produced a book that is worth exploring. He mixes discussion of various labour-saving techniques with general uses (natural language range names, lookup tables, match, text and date functions and so on) and provides example problems and their solutions. He covers a range of projects from deciding whether to rent or buy to forecasting methods, descriptive statistics, queuing theory and even evaluating choices for fantasy football (the USA gridiron variety but, no doubt, adaptable).

Much of the subject matter would be covered on an intensive MBA course, so 700 pages can't provide exhaustive coverage. But if you want to use Excel for more than simple tables there's a lot to be learnt here.

All the models discussed are included on a CD so you don't have to type them all in and debug them. If you're an intermediate Excel user, this book can teach you at least half a dozen new tricks. It is available at the attractive price of £19.59 from www.compman.co.uk.

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