Practical Excel and data write-ups for analytics, finance, operations, marketing and product teams — every one with a working formula and, usually, a free workbook.
A mid-lease renewal moves two balances by two different amounts, and almost every Excel lease template on the internet only ever tracks one of them. Here's the classic PV + INDEX build, the Excel 365 SCAN engine that spills both schedules from three cells, and a free workbook that ties them to the cent.
One contract modification has three possible accounting answers, and the one you land on is decided by a ratio most workbooks never calculate. Here's the classic build that derives the classification instead of asking for it, the Excel 365 LET that spills all three treatments side by side, and a free workbook that ties every one of them back to total consideration.
Most amortization tables are a fragile ladder of copy-down formulas that shatter the moment you insert a row. Here's the classic PMT/IPMT/PPMT build that never chains off the row above, the Excel 365 spill that produces all 360 rows from one cell, and a free workbook that also prices what an overpayment actually buys you.
Excel's NPV function quietly assumes your first cash flow lands one full period in the future, so it discounts the whole project by an extra period and hands you a number that is 9% light. Here's the classic fix, the XNPV/XIRR way for real dates, and a free workbook that reproduces every answer from first principles.
Standard Data Validation dropdowns have no idea what's already been chosen elsewhere — which is exactly how the same meeting room, laptop or seat ends up double-booked. Here's the classic OFFSET trick, the one-formula 365 FILTER fix, the one hole neither of them closes, and a free workbook.
LARGE + MATCH silently repeats a row and drops a real entrant the moment two scores tie — a bug that hides in plain sight on every sales leaderboard, because the total still comes out right. Here's the classic RANK+COUNTIF fix, the one-formula 365 SORTBY+TAKE alternative, and a free workbook.
VLOOKUP and INDEX-MATCH always grab the first match — a silent bug the moment your data is a running log, and one that reports every order in the sheet as still sitting at step one. Here's the classic LOOKUP trick, the one-line XLOOKUP fix, and a free workbook that runs both side by side.
VLOOKUP hands the whole amount one flat rate. Graduated commission, tax brackets and bulk pricing need marginal maths instead — here's the SUMPRODUCT one-liner that works in every Excel, the 365 MAP version that spills the whole column, and a free workbook that proves both against a hand-built calculation.