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communITy - IT Tips and ideas for people who work in Community Health - June
June, 2009
 Vol 1/Issue 6
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Handy IT tips for people who work in Community Health
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Welcome to communITy - a monthly newsletter of IT tips and ideas for people who
work in Community Health. This edition provides an introduction to Microsoft Excel
- the spreadsheet program.
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Excel Overview
What is Excel?
Excel is a spreadsheet program designed to assist you in working with large sets
of numbers (data).
What sorts of things can you use it for?
You may find it useful in producing:
- Tallies - such as a record of the people who visit your service
- Budgets - such as the costs of an event, or a program
- Reports - such as a graph of the time each interpreter is used each week
What are the benefits of using Excel?
- Excel clearly and logically sets out your data, making it easy for you, and others,
to understand.
- Excel allows you to set up formulae to perform calculations on your data, such as
working out totals and averages of groups of numbers.
- Excel allows you to quickly and easily create graphs which allow others to immediately
grasp the important elements.
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Parts of an
Excel Spreadsheet.
The following appear in almost every spreadsheet program, including Excel.
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Column
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Columns run vertically in a spreadsheet. Each column is identified by a letter in
the column header.
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Row
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Rows run horizontally in a spreadsheet. They are identified by a number in the row
header.
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Cell
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Cells are the rectangular boxes which make up the spreadsheet. A cell is referred
to by the Column and Row it occurs in - as is shown by the grey labels in the diagram.
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Active Cell
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The active cell is the cell with the black border. This is the cell which you are
currently working with.
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Cell Ranges
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Groups of cells are referred to with the following syntax:
(Starting Cell:Ending Cell)
For example, the cell range (A2:B4) is shaded orange in the the picture above.
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Formula bar
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The formula bar displays the figure or formula in the active cell. It can also be
used to enter or edit the data in a cell.
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Formulae
Formulae are used to perform calculations on your data. Some commonly used
formulae are:
=SUM(A1:A4)
As shown below, this formula adds up the numbers specified in the cell range.
=COUNT(A1:C1)
As shown below, this formula counts the number of cells containing an entry in the
specified cell range. This can be useful for working how many entries there are
in a column or row if you are doing a tally.
=AVERAGE(A1:C4)
As shown below, this formula calculates the average of the numbers in the specified
cell range.
For more information on formulae, you may like to follow these links:
A beginner's guide to formulae
The complete list of formulae
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Where to from
here?
If you would like to learn more about Excel, you may find the following useful.
Written Tutorials
Microsoft Excel 2007 Tutorial
Microsoft Excel 2003 Tutorial
These tutorials are well laid out and very comprehensive, covering everything from
the Excel window to formatting, formulae and printing.
Video Tutorials
Motion Training
This is one of the best series of video tutorials on Excel I have seen. There are
about 11 videos in the series covering topics such as formatting text, creating
charts and printing.
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Would Excel
training help you?
I offer training in IT skills, including Excel, for community health workers. My
training is very supportive - so you don't need to be afraid if you don't know something
- and created specifically to help Community Health Workers develop the skills they
need.
Given that
- It only costs $30 per person per hour for a group of eight people
- I can run it at your site or office
- I can run it on a date and at a time that suits you - what's stopping you?
To find out more visit my training site, or contact me directly
at info@webgeneration.com.au
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Got some feedback?
An idea? Something on your mind?
I'm always up for a good discussion. Contact me at info@webgeneration.com.au
Did you find
these ideas useful?
If you have found these tips to be helpful, it's likely that your colleagues will
too. Make their day easier them by forwarding this email on to them.
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