If you’ve ever used Excel to manually work on large amounts of data, then we’re sure you’ll know the struggle of finding data and reducing certain mistakes all too well. But what are you meant to do about it? When copying and pasting thousands of lines, applying long and complex formulae, mistakes are bound to happen. Thankfully, there is a way to easily discover data in Excel files and get the output needed… Though it doesn’t require this Microsoft Office staple.
In Finance, it is exceptionally common to work with large datasets made up of transactions, positions, costs, market data, and lots of other important information. This often leads to huge files that require multiple sheets and Excel cells data calculations, making them hard to sift through manually.
Of course, you could use things like ‘VLOOKUP’ and ‘IF’ in your formulae to search data and then apply calculations, but when working with multiple tables, and very complex formulae, these tools do not guarantee a straightforward path to success. And that’s especially so when working with timestamps, which most financial data does. Instead, you will need to manually go through each cell to figure out what went wrong where or spend hours Googling a workaround on how to do it.
But let’s make it easy for you: the workaround won’t be found because Excel has not been designed to manage certain transformations and many other controls on data. So, the question is: what else can we do to find data quickly and spot mistakes?
We have seen many clients making large data entries in Excel across multiple tables to try to get this job done, something which has meant duplicate data and extremely large files that actually increase the risk of errors. That’s why our recommendation is to store your raw data in a database so that it can then be used by a custom-coded program to transform it quickly, apply any controls needed, and reduce errors in the process.
This software already exists and is called AUTOMAN. Created by our team of financial and technical experts, this data-processing tool allows you to automatically gather data from multiple sources and in multiple formats, organise it in a way that works for you, and apply any calculations required. It then exports the finalised, processed data into a clean and manageable Excel file that you and your team can easily use.
But there’s more! The software also alerts you to any problems and errors in the data according to your rules, and points out where to check, specifically. This saves you plenty of time and headaches in the process.
In other words, by keeping Excel outside of the query, you will decrease the chances of errors in your data and make life easier for everyone involved.
So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us to find out how AUTOMAN could benefit you!