Learn how to organize your data to create consistent pivot tables & chart

The easiest way to organize your data if you want to use the powerful tool of pivot table in Excel is to work by columns with titles on first row, such as the example below:
Example: Tracking of an provisional store . The store wants to track the number of products sold depending of the brand (Brand 1 / Brand 2), the product of the brand (Product 1 / Product 2) and by date.

1) Organization of data base

Instead of presenting the database like this for example: It may look presentable, but not friendly when you want to generate reports quickly out of the data you have.

Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts01

Pick up the different variables of the spreadsheet (Date, Brand, Product, Number of sales) and organize the database by columns, with the titles of the different variables in first row:

 Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts02

2) Create a Pivot Chart

Select the entire table and click on “Pivot Chart” (Menu “Insert”).
Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts03
Then locate the cell you want the pivot table to be created (Note that a pivot chart is always based on a pivot table).
Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts04

3) Set up of the pivot chart

Example 1: Display the sum of products sold by each brand:
Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts05
Example 2: Display the sum of sales by Product and by Brand:
Organize Data to Make Consistent Pivot Tables & Charts06
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