Some techniques are IF statements, the TEXT function, PivotTables and Filtering, Grouping, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP and MATCH.

IF Statements For example, this allows you to summarize the data by showing how many questions were asked at the help desks and those that were asked in other customer touch point.

The TEXT function We might want to calculate the weekday from a date. We would like Excel to tell us automatically which day of the week the transaction took place on, based on the date, to show how reference transactions were distributed over days of the week.

PivotTables and filtering PivotTables allow you to summarise information from large data sets for analysis quickly. It is possible automatically to count, sum, sort, add, find averages, and/or spot trends, patterns and comparisons.

PivotTables allows you to view the data from different angles by dragging and dropping (pivoting) columns and headings and their related data. PivotTables are also pretty accommodating if one needs to update data, add a new record, or make other changes; the table automatically adjusts to the changes.

PivotTables are especially great for large data sets with hundreds or thousands of rows. Using a PivotTable is immensely more efficient than sorting, counting rows, or doing other manual chugging through data.