Last week I was testing Excel 2010 and discovered an ugly bug. I looked for the same bug in Excel 2007 and found it.

Here's why the bug is so bad:

Under certain conditions, Excel 2007 and 2010 automatically delete range names when a workbook is opened. If you save the workbook, or any workbooks that reference it, you could damage those workbooks.

Also, last week, I was setting up my new ExcelUser Blog. This seemed like a perfect topic for my first blog entry. You'll find the entry at Excel Bug Deletes Some External Range Names Automatically.

In this first entry, I explain how the bug works. And in the next few entries, I'll explain how useful certain range name strategies are for reporting, how the bug affects those strategies, and what appears to be the best way to avoid the bug.

Many companies experience seasonal variations in their sales. Some experience monthly variations, some experience weekly variations, and some experience both.

Years ago, I discovered an old statistics book that showed a simple way to calculate seasonal indexes. I set up the method in Lotus 1-2-3 and later duplicated it in one of the earliest versions of Excel.

I recently found that old Excel workbook and updated the method for current versions of Excel. (I've not been able to find the statistics book, however.) You'll find my article about the method in How to Analyze Seasonal Sales in Excel.
 

I recently read John P. Kotter's new book, "A Sense of Urgency." He argues that a significant reason companies don't adapt as they should is because they haven't instilled a constructive sense of urgency within the company.

"A sense of urgency is not an attitude that I must have the project team meeting today," he wrote, "but that the meeting must accomplish something important today."

Kotter discusses four tactics for heightening the sense of urgency. One of these can influence Excel reporting significantly. He wrote that companies need to concentrate a lot more on external data.

As he told Inc magazine in a recent interview, "A lot of people create heavy-duty measurement systems to track the progress of their companies, but that's not how leaders with the greatest sense of urgency do it. They pay attention to their internal numbers, but they're much more interested in what's going on outside. They want to have as many metrics about their competitors as they do about themselves."

In "Spark A Sense of Urgency to Improve Performance...Using Excel Dashboards" I explain Kotter's ideas in greater detail and explain why Excel dashboard reports can help to support Kotter's ideas.

Enough for now. Check out my blog...

Charley

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