Words tangle. Numbers blur. Information has become obscure, unable to be understood. The endless lines of a spreadsheet (no matter how efficient, no matter how precise) overwhelm. There is too much data to decipher and too little desire to do so. And you stare at a file, wondering how your employer could have thought this to be acceptable. The entire… year is outlined, and the months all lose their meanings when trapped so closely together. You can’t read this chart. You can only look away.
This is an all too easy situation — and it’s also one that could be just as easily avoided.
Stuffing spreadsheets with information is understood as necessary. This does not make them wanted, however. Individuals (such as yourself) can grow weary of the endless cells. The facts contained within them are simply too much to bear.
They don’t have to be.
Through the use of Excel those facts can instead be offered quickly — and efficiently. And the process only requires sparklines.
Simply explained, sparklines are the insertions of individual charts within rows. They can be placed beside data, explaining it in a graph (rather than forcing readers to examine every single cell). The trends of a specified period of time can be viewed, allowing for all increases, decreases and stagnations to be understood. A singular glance can unravel a whole year.
And this is invaluable for those who must look at spreadsheet after spreadsheet. Sparklines allow for a fast comprehension of all pertinent information. All details are still offered. They are simply drawn. This enables them to be recognized and absorbed — traits that are too often lost when relying purely on numbers.
Excel’s ability to create impeccable rows and statistics could never be denied; but its inclusion of sparklines ensures that even casual viewers can gain value from it. All data can be given and all trends can be observed.
Excel makes it possible. Sparklines make it easy.