IT Application Tools in Business 1
Spreadsheet Tools
Module 004 Spreadsheet Tools
At the end of this module you are expected to:
1. Explain what are Spreadsheet tools and its benefit to a business.
2. Discuss the features of Spreadsheet tools.
3. Identify the different types of Spreadsheet tools being used today
Lesson 1: What are Spreadsheet Tools/Application?
Spreadsheet Tools/Application Defined
A spreadsheet application is often defined as a computer software that is used for storage,
organization, and analysis of data in tabular format. It is also equipped with the feature to
insert mathematical formula within the spreadsheet. This feature makes it an important
tool for business especially when computing for financial matters within a company.
It also has feature of creating charts such as pie charts and bar graphs. These are very
useful in a business especially if you want to visualize data such as sales and profit in your
company.
Figure 1: A Screenshot of a Spreadsheet Application
The development of Spreadsheet application is credited to a man named Dan Bricklin of
Harvard Business School in 1978, and because of this he became known as the “Father of
electronic spreadsheet”.
A spreadsheet is basically consist of rows and columns. The intersection of these rows and
columns are called cells. These cells can change in size and can display text and even
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numeric data. These text within the cell can also be formatted and can be given a variety of
border and colors.
Figure 2: A Cell of a Spreadsheet Application
The data within a cell can also be formatted in different ways. This includes currency,
percent, and dates.
Perhaps the most powerful feature of a spreadsheet is the ability to include mathematical
formula. These formula are placed within a cell. A formula in a spreadsheet application
usually starts with the “=” symbol. It also supports the basic arithmetic operators such as:
(“+” for addition, “-“ for subtraction, “/” for division, and “*” for multiplication). You
can also use parentheses “( )” to group your mathematical formula.
Figure 3: A Cell of a Spreadsheet Application with a Formula
Aside from using arithmetic operators for computations, spreadsheets usually contain
built-in functions to make computations easier. Here are some examples of the built-in
functions used in a spreadsheet.
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Spreadsheet Tools
Figure 4: Some of the Built-in Functions in a Spreadsheet
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
Also, the data found within a cell or cells can be converted into graphs. Below is an
example.
Figure 5: Graphs in a Spreadsheet Application
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
Use of Spreadsheet Application in Business
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Spreadsheets can be used in almost any field and that includes the business field. Here are
some of its uses in business.
a. Inventories
Keeping track of your inventory is important in any business. Some companies use
spreadsheet to keep track of their inventory.
b. Balance Sheet
Some companies also use spreadsheets to add values for assets and liabilities in their
company. They also utilize the software to calculate the net worth and financial ratios.
c. Budgets
Companies also do budgeting. And by doing so, the use spreadsheets. This makes it easy
for them to compute personal, partial, enterprise or complete business budget.
d. Cash Flow
Companies often compute the cash flow within their business. They do this using
spreadsheets and its advance functions.
e. Financial Planning
Companies use spreadsheets to keep track of finances like checking and savings account
as well as investment.
f. Graphs
By using graphs in a spreadsheet, data and statistics can be displayed.
g. Invoices
When billing customers, invoices are created. Companies often use excel for this.
Benefits of Spreadsheet Application in Business
Using spreadsheet in business have its benefits. Here are some of them.
a. Model Information
As mentioned in the beginning of the lesson, a spreadsheet is used to store data and
information. Spreadsheets have the ability to take this data and information manipulate
it using a spreadsheets complex built-in formula.
Spreadsheets can model financial, statistical, and other numerical data that has some
value to your business.
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Spreadsheet Tools
Figure 6: Example of a Data Model in a Spreadsheet Application
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
b. Manipulate Data
Spreadsheets allow the manipulation of data. This is possible by its ability to handle
arithmetic operators for you to be able to add your own formula. You can also choose
from a wide array of its built -in formula.
Figure 7: Example of a Data Manipulation in a Spreadsheet Application
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
c. Visualize graphically
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Spreadsheet Applications include tools for data visualization. The data that you enter in
a spreadsheet can be the basis for your graphical display. This visualization tools
include bar charts, graphs, and pie charts.
These charts are often used in a business to present data during business meetings.
Figure 8: Example of a Chart in a Spreadsheet Application
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
d. Inform Decisions
A spreadsheet’s ability to analyze and present data visually is often used by companies
to inform the decision making process.
Figure 9: Example Spreadsheet data used in Decision Making
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Spreadsheet Tools
Source: [Link]
[Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
Lesson 2: What are the Features of Spreadsheet Tools/Applications?
Spreadsheet Tool Features
These type of applications have a lot of features. These features are listed below.
a. Pivot tables
Pivot tables allow you to summarize large amounts of data from a database. The
database is usually formatted in a way that the first row contains the headings and the
other rows contain the values. It offers flexibility in summarizing data but usually the
Pivot table will have values that are summed over all the categories.
Figure 10: Example of a Pivot Table
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
b. Conditional Formatting
With conditional formatting, you will be able change the format of a cell dependent on
the content of the cell, or a range of cells, or another cell or cells in a workbook.
By using this feature of a spreadsheet, you will be able to quickly focus on important
aspects of spreadsheets or to highlight errors and identify important patterns in data.
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Figure 10: Conditional Formatting in MS Excel
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
c. Sorting and Filtering
There are times when you work with large amounts of data in a spreadsheet. With
sorting and filtering, you will be able to find the data or information you need.
This powerful feature of spreadsheets allow you to sort and filter data in alphabetical
order, descending, or ascending order.
Figure 11: Sorting Function in MS Excel
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
d. Basic Math
This is perhaps the most used feature of a spreadsheet. This is the ability to incorporate
mathematical equations and expressions. With this feature, you will be able to
customize the spreadsheet computation tailor-fitted with the needs of your business.
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Spreadsheet Tools
In addition to this, spreadsheets contain built-in mathematical functions that you can
use for your needs.
Figure 12: Entering Formula in MS Excel
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
e. Mixed Type Charts
You can use spreadsheets to present data visually. This is because of the wide selections
of charts that you can use. These charts include pie charts, line graph, and bar graph just
to name a few.
This feature is particularly useful if you want to present data visually such as sales
trend.
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Figure 13: Charts in MS Excel
Source: [Link]
Date Accessed: August 24, 2018
Lesson 3: Types of Spreadsheet Tools/Applications
There are different spreadsheet applications that can be used. Here are some examples of
the most widely used spreadsheet application.
a. Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is the most well-known spreadsheet application today. It is part of the
MS Office software bundle when it was first introduced in 1990.
MS Excel provides a great deal of basic functionality that we now take for granted. With
Excel, it is possible to calculate formulas, extrapolate trends and work with sets of data.
Charts can be produced to illustrate data sets and data can be filtered and sorted as
required.
It is available across a variety of different platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS,
Android and Windows Phone.
Figure 14: Microsoft Excel
b. Apache OpenOffice Calc
OpenOffice was created as a free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office. It began
life as StarOffice in 1985 and was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999. In 2011, the
platform was donated to Apache, which continues to run it to this day.
Most of the functionality of Calc is based around Microsoft Excel. Amongst Calc's main
features are DataPilot, which allows users to import raw data in a variety of formats,
Natural Language Formulas that allow users to type commands with normal words, and
the Intelligent Sum Button that inserts a sum function or a subtotal automatically,
depending on context.
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Figure 15: Apache OpenOffice Calc
c. Google Sheets
Sheets is part of Google Docs, Google's productivity suite. It has the core functionality of
a spreadsheet but lacks advance features you can find in Microsoft Excel.
Sheets is a cloud-based application meaning it can be accessed anywhere through a
browser. It also take advantage of the collaboration feature of Google Docs which allow
multiple people to work on the same file at once.
It has an autosave function and a version history that allows you to revert back to your
previous saves.
Figure 16: Google Sheets
d. Zoho Sheets
Zoho sheet is similar to Google Sheets in terms of functionality. It offers core
spreadsheet functionality without the advance features of other spreadsheet
applications. It also offers collaboration feature just like on Google Sheets.
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Figure 17: Zoho Sheets
e. Apple Numbers
Numbers is a spreadsheet application developed by apple as part of the iWork package.
It has all the core functionalities of a spreadsheet and other advance feature you can
find on Microsoft Excel and Apache OpenOffice Calc.
Figure 18: Apple Numbers
References and Supplementary Materials
Books and Journals
1. Jain, R.K. (2015). IT Tools and Business Systems. Delhi, India: Khanna Book
Publishing
2. McFedries, P. (2016). My Office 2016. Pearson Education
3. Rich, J.R. (2017). Working in the Cloud: Using Web-Based Applications and Tools to
Collaborate Online. Indianapolis, Indiana: QUE Publishing
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Spreadsheet Tools
Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. 5 Features of MS Excel you Should be Using [Link]
features-of-microsoft-excel-you-should-be-using Date of Access: August 24, 2018
2. What are the Features of Spreadsheets?
[Link] Date
of Access: August 24, 2018
3. Word Processing [Link]
software/spreadsheet-software-top-five-on-the-market-1257738 Date of Access:
August 24, 2018
Online Instructional Videos
1. Spreadsheets #1: Introduction [Link]
Date of Access: August 24, 2018
2. A Beginner’s Guide to Excel 2017
[Link] Date of Access: August 16,
2018
3. Google Sheets Tutorial 2018 [Link]
Date of Access: August 16, 2018
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