Tasks and Timelines

Projectization (I'm sure this is a new word!) of every task assigned is in vogue in every corporate!
Gantt charts are simple tools to represent the project schedule and status.
There are many types with various degree of complexity, however, a simple and easy Gantt chart can be created using excel.
You will be essentially tracking
  • Who will do?
  • What will they do?
  • When will they do?
  • How long it takes to do?
I have provided a week wise planner and also day wise planner to accomplish this tracking of "Projects".
Here you can download the excel tool. you can also download it from @Downloads
Its a DO.. CO..MO.. stuff (Download, Copy ,Modify)

Coursera : MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses

About Coursera
We are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students but millions. Our technology enables the best professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students.
Through this, we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.

Test your Linkedin Quotient !

LinkedIn Quotient. 
Yes. It is a new, essential, corporate metric!
Here is a site that tells you how well you are leveraging LinkedIn in 2 minutes.
The site has lots of stuff to learn.
You can learn how you can unleash the power of connections.
How to make business communications on LinkedIn
Try it Out. The LinkedInman
Click her or the image to test your LinkedIn Quotient !


The ' Z ' Graph for Sales - Short, Medium and Long-term Sales analysis - All at once at a glance!

Short, Medium and Long-term Sales analysis - All at once at a glance!
Sales progress is best shown in graphs.
Here is a consultant's style of showing Long-term, Medium-term and Short-term sales progress - all in one graph. All you need is, sales data for this year till this month, and the past 12 months of sales data.
The magic of the graph is it not only throws light on the long-term, medium-term and short-term, it also can show how good is your near future going to be!
Caution! 
Show it only if you have healthy & right data...if you are facing projector lens :-)
If you are the one on the other side of the lens , never forget to ask for this graph ;-)
This is called "Z" Graph.
Now let us see what are these long term, medium-term and short term sales progress
Long term sales progress is best represented by Rolling MAT
      MAT - Moving Annual Total (sum of last 12 months data - till this month)
e.g: MAT Jan-11 = Feb-10 + Mar-10 +……+ Dec-10 + Jan-11
      MAT Feb-11 = Mar-10 + Apr-10 +……+ Dec-10 + Feb-11
Medium term sales progress is best represented by YTD
YTD - Year To Date (Cumulative sales starting from the beginning of the year ..say JAN)
e.g. YTD Apr-11 = Jan-11 + Feb-11 + Mar-11 + Apr-11
       YTD Jul-11 = Jan-11 + Feb-11 + Mar-11 + Apr-11 + May-11 + Jun-11 + Jul-11
Short term sales progress is best represented by monthly sales
e.g. Jan-11 , Feb-11 , Mar-11 , Apr-11.....
Bring all the data on to a single graph, it becomes a Z-Graph.
Do not undermine the Graph, the shape of “Z”, the angle inclination, slope of arms of “Z” can through new insights.
“Z” Graph is best for sales dashboards.
Once you plot MAT,YTD and Month, You should get a graph that more or less looks like this…

The 
Red line represents Rolling MAT
Blue represents YTD and 
Green represents Monthly sales
Just to stir your thoughts, here I present you 3 scenarios!
The shape of the “Z” should give you the complete picture.

Here is one more idea to explore...
Plot your Months-To-Go and corresponding expected YTD and expected MAT figures as per the Targets/Quotas of Months-To-Go. You may get a perfect "Z" Ora a distorted "Z" like this.....


If the shape of "Z" is... as shown in the picture, it is obvious that risk is ahead unless you have a strategy to defy the trends!
All the best!
Download the excel workbook to understand better! Click Here
alternatively @downloads on this website
It's a DO.. CO..MO.. stuff (Download, Copy ,Modify)

Acknowledgements and Reference article by David Straker
One visit to David Straker’s sites will make you a regular visitor.
....In his words….
Syque (pronounced 'sike') is my knowledge-sharing site.
My purpose is to share knowledge and understanding on an unprecedented scale, adding real value for individuals and companies. Consider it as 'original books on the internet', with already over 7,000 web pages of industrial-strength knowledge freely available.

Dymanic data on a Map - Easy method using Secret Camera object in Excel

Displaying excel data on a map is a complex task as of now.
First of all, you need to have Geocoding (latitude and longitude) of the places you want to map then create a KML map. Now, use either Internet or Google Earth to display map... It's really complex!

Here is a simple trick - hidden in excel!
This trick helps you display data automatically and with little tricks, you can make it dynamic.
You can also manipulate the data and display it by using a bit of imagination!

You got to use a "Camera Tool" in excel to do this
First, let me tell you where this Camera Object is hiding.... It's hidden in excel tools and you need to take it out first!

Step 1: Go to Tools on the main menu and click Customize
Step 2: In Customize,Go to Tools search for Camera.

Now hold that "Camera" and drag this to your to the toolbar on your excel.
Here is the picture to look at....
We are almost done!



















In Excel 2010, The Navigation to find the Camera tool is here...






















Now search for a map that meets your needs.
You can get enough and more on Google Image search - (Please check for copyrights...)
Paste the map on an excel sheet.
So now we have a Map pasted as an Image in excel and also the data to be displayed.

Now go the excel, select the range you want to display on the map
Click on the "Camera" - you will find the range - selected.
Now  - leave it on the map! Adjust the size. Do a bit of formating. Now you have the object on the map...

The magic with this is it carries the reference with it! 
Just to check, Select the object - you just left on the map. 
You will find its reference in the formula bar!
So, any change you make for the reference cell, the data in the object changes accordingly!

I added Increase and decrease tabs to make data dynamic.
You can use colours, In-cell Graphs, Dynamically change data...using the formula!
The trick is here for you to explore 
Rest, I leave to your imagination and innovation......explore it!

Take a look at the outcome.

Download the excel  here
Its a DO.. CO..MO.. stuff (Download, Copy ,Modify) You Can also download @downloads

Being Gandhi & Be in Gandhi

2'October , 143 rd Gandhi Birth Anniversary : Remembering Mahatma (Great Soul)

His Two Weapons  : Truth and non-violence.

Data Calisthenics : Gapminder Motion Chart - 5 ways to create these Motion Chart with your own data

Sometime back I wrote blog post on Gapminder.
It’s one of the most viewed posts. Here is the link for the same:
Having used and worked with the motion chart, I found that many are fascinated by the insights a Motion Chart (Gapminder) throws out. 
Boring stats Can be transformed into brilliant data dancing!
As I explore the Web world, I find many have tried various methods of presenting data the Gapminder way
Here I list out the possibilities I have come across.
It's a compilation of various methods of creating Motion Charts.
Each one is a masterpiece.. and efforts are worth a zillion claps....
The First: Use Google Docs
            The easiest way to make data dance.....
            Google Docs: MotionChart  : a Chart type in Google Docs
            Another link to explore is Quick Guide to Motion Chart
Here below is an example created by me with the Population and GDP of BRIC TM over a period of time.
The Second: Use Excel
            Making it possible in excel
Jon Peltier, author of the famous site http://peltiertech.com writes a post on how you can create motion charts in excel. Here is the link to his post
Jorge Camoes in his famous blog excelcharts. Here is his post
Anand from his brilliant blog http://www.s-anand.net/blog/
Here is the link to his post
The Third: Use Tableau
Andy Cotgreave in his Awesome Blog  Thedatastudio created a Motion chart with all possible paraphernalia on Tableau
here below are the links to his posts

The Fourth: Use Crystal Xcelsius
             http://www.ideas2evidence.com/showcase.html
             http://www.ideas2evidence.com/demos/CO2-demo.html

The Fifth : Use TrendCompass from Epic systems
          Trend compass is commercial software from Epic systems.
          Trend compass uses the basic idea of showing five variables in a single graph
          (X,Y,Bubble size, Bubble Color and Time) as a motion chart.
The user interphase is quite intuitive and simple to create Visualizations. However, for first time user, arranging data may be a challenge. The simple solution is to follow Trend Compass's instructions and their model of Excel to arrange data.
Trend Compass helps you present your business data from your own desktop without the hassle of connecting to the internet and hopping between presentation and web.
Here is a demo of Trendcompass from the website http://www.epicsyst.com/test/v2/mastercard_vs_visa/
You can download a demo version that works for 30 days....

For those who want to start from the basics, you can watch the video below from Steve



Last but not least...

You can download Gapminder for desktop
Yet another great site for data is OECD- Factbook
Though You can not use these with your own data, You have enough and more to explore..
Now...Play.....