Does the Worksheet Rely on Imported Data?

Many people work with data that is compiled elsewhere as the basis for their worksheet analyses. For example, a database located either on your computer or somewhere on a network is often the repository for specific information that you extract and analyze. If this is the case, try to make it easy on yourself. Often, people use the "ad hoc" approach to working-that is, they do it quickly, when it's needed, with no particular attention paid to repeatability. If you gather information from a database, you might be able to construct queries that you can execute again and again, on whatever schedule you need, rather than starting from scratch each time. This way, you can ensure that the imported data will be structured in the same way each time. Then you might use the structure of the imported data as the basis for your worksheet design. Or it might make sense to keep the imported data on a separate worksheet no one will see and then construct nicely formatted worksheets you can use to extract only the pertinent information. For example, Figure 5-6 shows just such a worksheet. You can see that the raw data is on a separate worksheet behind the information worksheet.

Figure 5-6: You can put raw imported data on its own worksheet and use a formatted worksheet to present the pertinent information.

For information about using information stored elsewhere, see Chapter 23, "Working with External Data," as well as the chapters in Part 8, "Collaborating."

Databases, Fields, and Records

Sometimes when you say the word database, you can see people's eyes glaze over in anticipation of a barrage of incomprehensible terminology. Although using a database program can be overwhelmingly complex, consider that many of the worksheets you'll create in Office Excel 2007 (such as the underlying worksheet in Figure 5-6) are actually rudimentary databases. The telephone directory is an example of a database in printed form. In database terminology, each phone listing in the directory is a record of the database, and each item of information in a listing (first name, last name, address, and telephone number) is a field of the record.