EIM 222: Computer Applications II ENG. D.

MUSEKA 2021

HARARE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

EIM 222 – COMPUTER APPLICATIONS II

MICROSOFT EXCEL 2003-2007-2013

PRACTICAL MANUAL©

AUTHORED BY ENG. D. MUSEKA®

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EIM 222: Computer Applications II ENG. D. MUSEKA 2021

Microsoft Excel Lab 1

Semester II
Entering Data, Creating Formulae, Formatting and Proofing

Objectives
1. Creating a workbook
2. Entering data (both text and numbers).
3. Placing borders.
4. Centering data
5. Font formatting (bold, italicize, font color and size)
6. Cell fill
7. Spell check
8. Find and replace
9. Merge and centering

In this lab you will enter data, create formulae, format and proof your Excel Worksheet.

Activity 1
Reproduce the simple spreadsheet shown Fig. L1:

Figure L1 – Spreadsheet for January 2015 Grocery List

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1. Open the Microsoft Excel application from the “Start—Programs” menu and create a new
blank workbook with file name “LastNameLab1.xls” (where LastName is YOUR last
name). Save on the desktop in a folder with your Registration Number.

2. Enter the following field names and data types:

Grocery List for January 2015 (into cell B1)
Item (into cell A3)
Number (into cell B3)
Unit Price (into cell C3)
3. Merge and center Grocery List for January 2015. To do this, block cells A1 through C1,
click the Merge and Center button in the Home Tab of the Ribbon. You should now have
one long cell from A to C!
4. To add a fill color, click the merged cell, click the fill color tin drop down icon (hint:
once you hover your mouse over the icon it gives you a description of what the icon can
do) in the Home Tab then choose a fill color.
5. To change a font color, click the font color drop down icon in the Home Tab, choose the
font color you want by clicking on it and there you have it.
6. To center text or numbers, click the cell with the text you want to center, then under the
Home Tab in the paragraph box click the center icon and your text/number will be
automatically centered.
7. To find and replace a word/words/phrase, click the binoculars icon drop down in the
Editing pane under the Home tab, then click the replace icon. A dialogue box will open
up which will prompt you to type the word you want to find and then the word you want
to replace with. Click Find Next to replace one by one or Find All to replace all the words
at once.
8. To bold your text, click the cell in which you want to bold/italicize/underline the text,
then click the bold icon (B) in the Font pane under the Home Tab and there you have it
for your text.

Activity 2 (DIY: Do-It-Yourself)

1. Perform a spell check and write down the word/s checked for spelling
2. Find the word ‘paste’ and replace with ‘gel’
3. In the next cell (cell A26) after the item ‘Pork’ enter Total then in cell B26 and C26 enter
formulae to calculate the totals for ‘Number’ and ‘Unit Price’
4. Repeat step 3 this time entering Total Cost (in cell D3) next to ‘Unit Price’, then enter
formulae (in cells D4 to D25) to calculate the total cost for each item.
5. Find the highest priced item, lowest priced item.

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Microsoft Excel Lab 2

Semester II
Printing, List Management

Objectives
1. Page orientation
2. Printing a selection
3. Setting a print area
4. Adjusting page breaks
5. Setting a print area
6. Sorting data
7. Auto filters

Activity 1
In this lab you will set-up a page layout, select a print area, adjust page breaks, setting a print
area, sorting data and doing auto-filters.

1. We will use the spreadsheet you created in Lab 1 to execute steps 2 onwards.
2. Set your page to landscape layout (by default the page layout is portrait). To do so click
the Page Layout Tab. Under the Page Setup pane click the orientation icon and select
Landscape. Your page changes to landscape layout!
3. Print a selection. To do so block the area/selection of data you want to print, go to print
under the File Tab or Microsoft Office button, then select print selection under ‘Print
what’ option. Your selection will be printed.
4. Adjust your page breaks. This is more like setting up pages in Excel. By default Excel
allocates pages at random and some information might overlap into other pages and thus
during printing you will have part of a sentence or word split into two at the final print.
To avoid this you adjust page breaks. Following our spreadsheet in Lab 1, got to the
View Tab and click the page break icon under the Workbook Views pane. Your
spreadsheet gets into page break mode. By dragging the blue lines you can adjust to the
number of pages you want to have on your spreadsheet!
5. Now set a print area. To do so select cells A3 to A16, then go to Page Layout Tab and
under the Page Setup pane click the Print area drop-down then click set print area. The
area you selected A3 to A16 will have broken lines around it showing the print area.
When you go to print, under ‘Print what’ select active sheets, Excel will then print the
print area only. You can always clear the print area under the Page Layout Tab and Page
Setup pane.
6. Now let’s sort our data in alphabetical ascending order (i.e. from A to Z). To do this you
will have to block the cells of text you want sorted in this case from A4 to A25. Then
under the Data Tab go to the Sort and Filter pane then click the icon AZ with an arrow
pointing downwards to its right. A dialog box will pop up asking you to expand the
selection which means that there is data associated with your selection and should be
sorted according to your selected data and in our case its Number and Unit price, so
select expand selection and your data will be sorted with the corresponding Number and
Unit price associated with the item following the sorting. If you choose ‘Continue with

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current selection’ your selection will be sorted but data associated with your selection
remains in the original cell thereby distorting your data.
7. Let’s filter our data according to items that are in quantities say 10 only. To do this block
the column heading and cell below it, in our case cell B3 to B4 and still under the Data
Tab & Sort and Filter pane, click the Filter icon. You will see a drop-down button appear
in the far right of cell B3. When you click that drop-down button, deselect everything and
then select the check box for 10 and automatically your spreadsheet will only show items
with quantities of 10. (Hint: to know whether the selection of items appearing is filtered
Excel shows the row numbers in blue.) To remove the filter, click the icon again and it
de-activates filters.

Activity 2 (DIY: Do-It-Yourself)

1. Change your page layout to landscape.
2. Set a print area for the Unit prices for all items
3. Divide your page into 3 pages using page break view.
4. Sort your items in descending order
5. Filter all items with a quantity greater than 15 and list them.

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Microsoft Excel Lab 3

Semester II
IF and Nested IF Statements

Objectives
1. IF statement
2. Nested IF statement

Activity 1
In this lab you will use the IF statement in Excel to setup condition/s which will give a desired
output.

1. We will use the spreadsheet you created in Lab 1 to execute steps 2 onwards.
2. Let’s say you want to know whether to bargain for a discount on items with a unit price
greater than $20 in your grocery list or not, you can use the ‘IF’ statement in Excel to
show you which ones. To do this I will introduce you to entering formulae in Excel
3. Entering formulae in Excel is simple. Any formulae must be preceded by an equal sign
[for example =if(….)] in the cell you want the result to appear. So getting back to step 2
above, in cell E3 type Discount (Yes/No) then put the formula with the IF statement in
cell E4 which will decide for us whether a discount is due or not as follows:
=if(B4>20,“YES”,“NO”). This formula simply means that: check to see if cell B4 is
greater than 20, if that is true put in this cell (E4) the word YES, otherwise put the word
NO. If you still have mealie-meal as your first item you should get a result of NO in it in
cell E4.
4. The nested IF statement. This one is used to test several conditions and give a result
based on the satisfaction of those conditions. For example in calculating student grades
for a class of 50 or more, nested IF statements will save you time and minimize errors in
compiling the report. Let’s try nested IF with our grocery list in step 5.
5. We want excel to tell us whether an item is expensive, cheap, cheaper or cheapest
depending on our pocket! To do this let’s set our conditions first on paper. So we jot
down as follows:
a. if an items’ unit price is greater than or equal to $5.00, it’s expensive!.
b. if an items’ unit price is greater than or equal to $2.00, it’s cheap.
c. If an item’s unit price is greater than or equal to $1.00, it’s cheaper.
d. Otherwise it’s cheapest! Means its below $1.00
6. Then we put the above conditions in Excel language using the nested IF formula as
follows:
=if(C4>=5,”Expensive!”,if(C4>=2,”Cheap”,if(C4>=1,”Cheaper”,”Cheapest”)))
Finally to see the results of other items Auto-fill (i.e. drag the formula down to row with the last
item) and there you are!

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Microsoft Excel Lab 4

Semester II
Goal Seek

Objectives
1. Goal Seek

Let’s assume you have 20 bolts in stock and want to find how much you should sell one bolt so
as to get a revenue of $111 from all of them.
Step 1
Setup your spreadsheet as shown in Fig. GST1, where Initial Value is your stock at hand, Goal
Seek Value is the selling price of each bolt which Excel will calculate for you and Desired Value
is your revenue of $111.
Note in that cell there is a zero because we put a formula not 111 and the formula for revenue is
initial value (20, which you type in) multiplied by goal seek value (leave blank).

Fig. GST1 – Goal Seek Spreadsheet Setup

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Step 2
Under the data tab look for the Forecast pane and click the What-if-Analysis icon and choose
goal seek as shown in Fig. GST2.

Fig. GST2 – Forecast pane

Step 3
The result of clicking goal seek is the dialogue box shown in Fig. GST3.
Set cell is your desired value cell $E$11 (you select this by clicking the red arrow on the far right
of that box and press enter to return).
To value is the revenue you want which is 111 (you type it in).
By changing cell $E$10 (this is your goal seek value cell which you select by clicking the red
arrow on the far right of that box and press enter to return).
Then click OK (Excel begins to calculate).

Fig. GST3 – Goal Seek Dialogue Box

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Step 4
Excel finishes the calculation as shown in Fig. GST4.
Click OK to see the Goal Seek Value which is the unit price for each bolt ($5.55) to get a
revenue of $111,

Fig. GST4 – Goal Seek Status

Your spreadsheet will look like Fig. GST5.

Fig. GST5 – Goal Seek Result

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Microsoft Excel Lab 5

Semester II
Scenario Manager

Objective
1. Scenario Manager

Let’s assume as the Engineering Manager you want to optimise your workers so as to have a
plant availability of 121 hours at the end of the 1st quarter of the year so as to do a quarterly
maintenance shutdown.
Step 1
Setup your spreadsheet as shown in Fig. SMT1.
Utilisation is the amount of time a worker is busy (from workstudy results).
Available is the total amount of time at your disposal in that whole quarter (enter 1200).
Total hours used is the sum of utilisation hours for all workers.
Plant availability is the hours the plant is not busy or idle, that is $D$3 minus $B$12 (you enter
the formula =D3-B12 in that cell $C$13.

Fig. SMT1 – Spreadsheet Setup

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Step 2
Under the data tab locate the Forecast pane and click the What-if-Analysis icon as shown in Fig.
SMT2.

Fig. SMT2 – Forecast pane

Step 3
Click Scenario Manager as shown in Fig. SMT3.

Fig. SMT3 – What-if-Analysis

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Step 4
The scenario manager dialogue box pops-up as shown in Fig. SMT4.
Click Add to add the current scenario which is on your current spreadsheet.

Fig. SMT4 – Scenario Manager

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Step 5
The Add Scenario dialogue box pops-up as shown in Fig. SMT5.
Enter the Scenario name as Current Status.
Changing cells should be selected by clicking the red arrow at the far right of the cell and you
select $B$3, then press ctrl key to select $B$7 and $B$9. (Please note the moment you enter the
changing cells the dialogue box name changes to Edit Scenario. This is normal).
Click OK.

Fig. SMT5 – Add Scenario

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Step 6
The Scenario Values dialogue box pops-up as shown in Fig. SMT6.
By default Excel picks the values of the changing cells you selected, so you just click OK.

Fig. SMT6 – Scenario Values

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Step 7
The Scenario Manager dialogue box returns again as shown in Fig. SMT7, this time with your
current status saved.
Click Add button to add the optimised status.

Fig. SMT7 – Adding Optimised Scenario

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Step 8
The Add Scenario dialogue box opens as shown in Fig. SMT8.
Under Scenario name type Optimised Status.
The rest is picked up by Excel by default, then click OK

Fig. SMT8 – Optimised Scenario

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Step 9
The scenario values dialogue box pops-up and this where you enter values for each of the
changing cells (workers you wish to optimise) as shown in Fig. SMT9.
These values are entered by trial and error and checking the spreadsheet to see if the availability
is now at the desired value as explained in Step 10.
In this Tutorial we enter the values 300 for Cell $B$3, 140 for Cell $B$7 and 250 for Cell $B$9.
Click OK.

Fig. SMT9 – Optimised Scenario Values

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Step 10
The Scenario Manager dialogue box pops-up again showing both the saved current and
optimised statuses as shown in Fig. SMT10.
With the Optimised Status highlighted as shown in Fig. SMT10 click show.

Fig. SMT10 – Showing Optimised Scenario Spreadsheet Values

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The spreadsheet changes values of cells $B$3, $B$7, $B$9 (our changing cells) and $C$13 (our
desired plant availability). Please note you’ll have to drag the dialogue box to the right so as to
see the changes as shown in Fig. SMT10.1.

Fig. SMT10.1 – Optimised Scenario Spreadsheet Values

If the plant availability ($B$13) is not yet at the desired value, with the optimised status
highlighted you click edit, OK, then change scenario values.
Click OK. With the Optimised Status highlighted as shown in Fig. SMT10 click show.
If value is not yet at desired value, repeat Step 10 until you have the desired plant availability,
then move to Step 11.

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Step 11
Click Summary as shown in Fig. SMT11.

Fig. SMT11 – Scenario Summary Setup 1

The Scenario Summary dialogue box pops-up as shown in Fig. SMT11.1.

Fig. SMT11.1 – Scenario Summary Setup 2

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By default the Scenario Summary radio button is selected, click OK. A new spreadsheet is
created with the tab name Scenario Summary showing your current status values and optimised
status values as shown in Fig. SMT11.2.

Fig. SMT11.2 – Scenario Summary Spreadsheet

If you want the Scenario PivotTable report you just select it’s radio button. For this Tutorial we
chose the Scenario Summary only.

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Microsoft Excel Lab 6

Semester II
VLOOKUP and PivotTables

Objectives
2. VLOOKUP
3. PivotTables in Excel

Activity 1
In this Lab we will look at a special function called VLOOUP in Excel and also do PivotTables.
Enjoy!
1. Still using our example from Lab 1 we would like Excel to look for an item of grocery
say salt and tell us the unit price. That’s interesting! Let’s interest ourselves in step 2!
2. VLOOKUP is a function in excel and to get it work it must be entered in formula style
that means preceded by a ‘=’ sign. So with our item of salt in mind, go to cell F3 and type
Search Item:, then we are going to enter our VLOOKUP formula in cell F4 as follows:
a. =VLOOKUP(G3,A3:C25,3,FALSE)
This should give you a unit price associated with Salt. FALSE here means we want an
exact match, otherwise if left blank Excel will return an approximate match.
3. Once you enter Salt in cell G3, you will get the Price of Salt in cell F4.
4. PivotTables make reporting in Excel smarter and flexible. Let’s create a PivotTable for
our Grocery List. To do this:
a. Go to the Insert Tab and under the Tables pane click the PivotTable icon
b. A PivotTable dialog box will pop up prompting you to select the table/range for
your table.
c. Block the whole table from cell A2:C24 (i.e. depending in which cell ‘Item’ is
and ‘Unit Price’ is). The whole area should now be surrounded by flashing dotted
lines.
d. You can choose to create the PivotTable in a new worksheet or insert it in the
current worksheet. For this lab we will choose the default ‘New Worksheet’.
Notice your PivotTable has been created in a new worksheet, Sheet 4. And it
looks blank, of course it is blank!
e. You fill it up by dragging the fields in the PivotTable field list to the appropriate
areas below the field list, until you are satisfied with arrangement of fields.
f. You can also insert a PivotChart which changes according to changes which you
apply to the PivotTable.

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Microsoft Excel Lab 7

Semester II
Solver and Macros

Objectives
1. Solver
2. Macros

Activity 1
1. You have been asked to use Microsoft Excel Solver to maximize subject
to
2. To do this you should have Excel Solver added to your workbook. By default your
workbook comes without this add-in. To install this add-in, go to File-Options, Add-ins,
click Solver Add-in, then click Go next to Excel Add-ins. A dialog box for add-ins
should pop up, check the Solver Add-in and then press enter. Your solver add-in will be
installed and you can find it under the Data tab.
3. Now that you have Solver let’s look at solving the problem in step 1. The first thing is to
set-up your worksheet by setting the objective cell, decision variables cells, constraints
cells and lower bounds/non-negative cells as in Fig. L5.1:

Fig. L5.1 Spreadsheet Arrangement for LP problem using Excel Solver

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a. In cell A3 type ‘Objective’.

b. Type ‘Profit’ in cell A5, note your objective is to maximize profits and so your
maximum result will show up in cell B5 but in cell B5 you have to type the
formula shown i.e. =200*B9+500*B10 which is coming from the linear equation
.
c. Type ‘Decision Variables’ in cell A7. Your decision variables (these decide the
maximum or minimum profit) are x and y. Therefore in cells A9 and A10 type x
and y respectively. The quantity of x and y that will maximize our profits will be
shown in cells B9 and B10 and so these should be left blank.
d. In cell A12 type ‘Constraints’. Your constraints are listed as ‘Inequality 1 to
Inequality 4’ for our case and also the non-negative constraints are listed as ‘Non-
negative one and Non-negative two’.
e. So in cells A14 to A19 type the words shown in Fig. L5.1 and in cells B14 to B19
enter the formulae shown in Fig. L5.1. Then finally type the figures shown in
cells C14 to C19.
f. The formulae in cells B14 to B19 are the algebraic part of the inequalities in our
problem. Then the figures in cells C14 to C19 are the numeric figures on the other
side of our inequalities. Having done this our spreadsheet is ready for Excel
Solver.
g. Go to the Data Tab and under the Analysis pane click Solver, the Solver
parameters dialog box appears prompting you to set the target/objective cell in our
case click cell B5. Next is to set this target/objective cell to ‘maximum’,
‘minimum’ or ‘equal to’ depending on the problem requirements and in our case
we set to ‘Max’ by changing (our Decision variable) cells B9 and B10.
h. Now we add the Constraints (our Inequalities). Click add, and an add constraint
dialog box appears. For cell reference click the icon with a red arrow inside, then
click cell B14 then enter, on the sign leave it at default which is less or equal to
then for the constraint click the icon with the red arrow inside it and then click
cell C14. Click Add and you have just entered the 1st constraint (i.e.
20x+y<=200). Note that it clears all fields afater you click ‘Add’. To know
whether or not it has been truly added click ‘Cancel’ and then in the ‘Subject to
Constraints box’ the constraint you have just added will appear. To add another
constraint click add again.
i. Repeat step h for all inequalities and non-negative constraints. Then click solve.
You should have a result shown in Fig. L5.2:

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Fig. L5.2 Solver Report

4. We want to create a macro that cuts the contents of cell A1 and pastes them into cell B7.
To do this ensure the developer tab is installed, if not go to Excel Options and click
customize ribbon, under the main tabs box click the Developer option and the developer
tab will be added to your Main Tabs ribbon. Now, macros as explained in the handout,
are recordings of repetitive actions done every now and then and so to save on time one
would just want to record and let excel do all the actions whilst they sit.
5. To do the task in step 4, ensure you are in cell A1 then under the Developer Tab click
record macro. A dialog box pops-up and prompts you to give a name to your macro.
Let’s give ours the name CUT then let’s use the shortcut key Ctrl+Shift+T (you do this
by pressing the Shift button on your keyboard and the letter T), then click OK. You are
now in record mode. Any action you take is now being recorded, so be careful.
6. Click cell A1 just to make sure you are there then click cut under the Home tab. Cell A1
should be flashing now. Then go to cell B7 and click the paste icon under the Home Tab,
then click the stop button positioned exactly where you clicked the record macro icon
under the Developer Tab.
7. Type ‘Jesus’ in cell A1 then press Ctrl+Shift+T and Jesus is cut and pasted to cell B7!
(Hint: Always remember your shortcut key or else go to Macros, choose the one you
want to run then click run!)

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