Excel Gradebook for Intermediate Users: Part III, Building Dynamic Graphs

Hey! You came back. I'm glad the IF/INDEX/MATCH combo didn't scare you off, because you're going to need it again for this final tutorial. But hey, you're turning into a real pro with your fancy-schmancy reporting tool. No harm in putting in a bit more practice, right?

If you need some review, have a look at the posts for Part I and Part II of the Intermediate series. Remember that you can download the workbook here, if you want to play the home game. And you can always pop some corn and hang out on my YouTube Channel, should you find yourself in need of seeing things again from the very beginning.

Okay, back to work.

First up is some housekeeping on the Formulas worksheet. We're going to place formulas here for the dynamic graph data. The graphs will appear on the Report. They are considered to be "dynamic" because they can autoupdate based on changes to the other worksheets. We had dynamic data and graphs in our Beginner gradebook, but we just used the space below student scores. Where you put this data is really a matter of personal preference---Excel doesn't care. If I have more than one worksheet feeding a dashboard report, I like the formulas for it on their own worksheet. It helps me stay organized and keeps the workbook looking clean. Feel free to do whatever works best for you.

For each of the four reported standards, I'm going to create a space for the student scores and then on another row, a place for the end of quarter grades. Then, it's time to add the IF/INDEX/MATCH functions.

The formula for the first score for the first standard is =IF(Report!$C$4="P1 Biology",INDEX('P1 Biology'!C$8:C$17,MATCH(Report!$C$6,P1Biology,0)),INDEX('P2 Chemistry'!C$8:C$17,MATCH(Report!$C$6,P2Chemistry,0)))  This is identical to the formulas you used in Part II to display a student's first name and current score, with a couple of minor changes (highlighted below):

=IF(Report!$C$4="P1 Biology",INDEX('P1 Biology'!C$8:C$17,MATCH(Report!$C$6,P1Biology,0)),INDEX('P2 Chemistry'!C$8:C$17,MATCH(Report!$C$6,P2Chemistry,0)))

What's the deal? The "C" column is specific to the column of data from the worksheets. This will change as we move across the sheets with the scores, but the rows (8 - 17) will not. Therefore, there is a "$" symbol before the row numbers to "lock" these and create absolute references. The columns can be relative and move when we fill to the right. Secondly, I've had to add Report! before the cells associated with the class and last name for the student. We didn't have to do this last time because the formulas were on the Report worksheet already. If we don't add it now, Excel will think we're talking about cells on the Formulas worksheet.

Okay, now fill the formula to the right. How many cells?  Well, the first biology standard occupies Columns C - I (7 columns) and chemistry C - J (8 columns). Since we're going to have to draw from one set of dynamic data for our graphs, we need 8 columns total. So, pull your formula over for 7 more columns. Alas, we're going to have alter the last one slightly. Why? Because even though there is data in the "J" column on the biology spreadsheet, it doesn't belong with this data set. Fortunately, this is very simple. Just delete the first INDEX/MATCH function and replace it with "". The "" tells Excel to leave the cell blank. Your formula will look like this:

=IF(Report!$C$4="P1 Biology","",INDEX('P2 Chemistry'!J$8:J$17,MATCH(Report!$C$6,P2Chemistry,0)))

If you're wondering if you can just use a simple INDEX/MATCH function here and skip the whole IF part, well, that would be nice. If you do that, then Excel will give you an error anytime the Report is set for a biology student. You can use another formula to eliminate displaying the error (we'll cover that another time), but why bother when you can just use the double quotes to tell Excel to leave things blank?

You're all set for the first line graph on the Report. Let's get the bar graph set up. For the first standard to be reported, only Chemistry has both 1st and 2nd quarter grades---so it's the only one we need to set up. We can use the same equation we just used (leaving the "" for Biology).

Finally, add "3" in the rows below each score. Remember from our beginner series that this will allow us to add a line for "at standard performance" to each graph. When you've done this, your worksheet will look something like this (depending upon which class/student you have selected):

Get to work setting up the information for the other three standards. Remember to pay attention to how many columns you need and when you might need blank data.

Your last step is to go back to the Report and create the graphs, just as you did for the Beginner workbook. (Don't remember how? Go here.)

If you want to check your work, you can download a finished version of the gradebook here. The last YouTube video in this series is below for your edification and enjoyment. Let me know if you have questions or need help. We'll look at some advanced strategies for building a gradebook soon. Keep practicing!