EXCEL at EXCEL

Now if you think software are foolproof, you need to think again. For example, open Calculator (if you are using Windows) and do the following:


1. Press 4 and then square root.
2. You will see "2". Now, subtract 2. What do you see? Zero?


This is just one of the many examples of the "flaws" in various software programs. This post is dedicated to the seemingly flawless spreadsheet software, EXCEL.


Just take this SURVEY and see for yourself the hidden flaws and other error-prone operations in Excel. By the time you finish it, you would recognize some of the sources of common errors and some methods to rectify it.


You will be quite surprised by the flaws inherent in the programming of a software, and how it could affect your operations.



UPDATE: 


My work deals with large amount of statistical data on a daily basis. We use MS Excel for our computations and calculations. There are no programmers working in our company who could create fancy macros to deal with errors. Neither could I do it myself since I am not a programmer. Hence, it was important to find out how my co-workers identified errors on a spreadsheet and how they were able to improve at identifying errors once they were introduced to the error checking options that came with MS Excel.


The Survey (see link above) itself consisted of 10 exercises aimed at finding out how my co-workers and others identified errors in a spreadsheet. They were presented with scenarios which emphasized on identifying errors without any error checking tools, with the help of MS Excel error checking tools and also with extra error checking tools and their performance was recorded for each of these three scenarios. One of the exercises also contained designing a Macro with an implicit error and identifying/rectifying the error. In an effort to find out if they were comfortable with including error detection codes, they were also presented with a scenario where they had to include a single line of code to prevent MS Excel's precision errors.


Here's what I found from the survey:


1. None of the participants could identify all the errors in the sheet without the help of error checking tools
2. Participants were able to identify few errors but not all when presented with in-built error checking tools
3. 95% of the participants preferred using such tools once they became aware of their existence.
4. Column and row total comparison helped the participants identify all the errors on the sheet.
5. 98% of the participants said that they would use this option if available.
6. Participants could identify something missing in the macro exercise but they were not good at rectifying the error.
7. Majority of the participants were not willing to include lines of codes in their sheets to identify errors.


In conclusion, the results indicate the incompetence of people in finding errors on a spreadsheet that consists of statistical data and its computations. MS Excel provides error checking tools that do not suffice this need. They are rather tools to show arrows and markers on the sheets that illustrates the relationship between data cells and formula cells. Hence there is need for introducing more tools that assist people in finding errors on a spreadsheet involving huge amounts of statistical data.


Its really amazing, in my opinion MS Office is like an ocean- you will never find its end.