BTEC ICT Unit 9

Spreadsheet Development
Learning Aim A
Uses and Features of Spreadsheets

How and Why are

Spreadsheets Used

How spreadsheets are used

More effective data handling. Formulae can be used to instantly

recalculate totals. For example, if the builder changed his call-out
charge, the total cost would be instantly recalculated taking the
change into account.

You can carry out "what if?" investigations.

The information can be presented in different ways. (E.g. Graph)

It is easy to make these changes, save your work and print it out again.

Why spreadsheets are used:

You can see any errors or mistakes in data input

It is basically a calculator so playing around with numbers will be easy

It is a efficient way to present data results (e.g. grades of students)

Example Spreadsheet 1

Purpose

The purpose is to record names and

marks of the so we can track their
grades in a table because we can
figure out the average mark of the
whole class and compare to the grades
of the previous year group

The purpose of the tools is to show

grade boundaries and easily work out
their percentage grade, which are then
shown by different colours.

Audience

Input

teacher

Examiner

Output

Students parents, Ofsted,

Example Spreadsheet 1
Features used
Feature

Conditional formatting can

set different colours
depending on the number

Formulas to
..add/average/high max/low
min/ most/mode/common

Tables sort and filter data

The 2 tables can be

compared to find any
differences

Countif : count the number

of cells that meet a criteria

Example Spreadsheet 1
Strengths

Weaknesses

1.

Easy of input

1.

Possible input errors

2.

Easy of finding and

reading results

2.

Lack of graphs

3.

Overuse of conditional
formatting

3.

Accuracy of
calculations

4.

Simplicity

5.

Absolute cell reference

Example Spreadsheet 2
How the spreadsheet
is used

Purpose

One of the main purpose is to monitor sales.

The spreadsheets purpose is to calculate profit
and loss by selling different types of products
(like clothing, hats, etc)

Tools like auto sum was used to work out the

total income and profit. The software
automatically calculates for us because it is
more accurate than us manually typing it in a
calculator and adding up many numbers.

The tools are also quicker so we dont need to

waste any extra time working on the
calculations.

Audience

Input

Manager of the company ,seniors higher

positions of the company

Output

workers

The worksheet

Example
Spreadsheet 2
Features used

Formulas to
..add/average/high max/low
min/ most/mode/common

Formulae values shown

Conditional formatting
longer bars to for data
which has profit (%)

Tables sort and filter data

Target margin and profit

margin (%)

Countif : count the number

of cells that meet a criteria

The worksheet

Example Spreadsheet 2
Strengths
1.

Shows total profit of

different products

2.

Easy of finding and

reading results

3.

Accuracy of calculations

4.

Simplicity

5.

Absolute cell reference

Weaknesses
1.

Too many data hard to

search for what youre
looking for and you may even
create errors or mistakes
because there are so many
input data

2.

Lack of graphs