Case 8-2
Last year, your cousin Margie started a small business selling crafting and needlework supplies to small retailers across the state. She has recorded her company's annual sales data totals in a worksheet indicating city, store, and product. Going forward, Margie needs to direct her limited resources toward promoting her top products and improving her business relationships with her top retailers. To do this, she needs to carefully analyze the first year's sales data.
-Margie sends you a text message inviting you to lunch on Saturday. She needs your help with her sales analysis. During lunch, Margie tells you she has tried filtering the worksheet sales data, but can't quite get to the information she needs. You suggest that she ____.
A) just sort the data in the desired order; then copy the sorted data and paste it on a new worksheet for analysis
B) hire an accounting firm to do the analysis
C) copy the data and paste it into a Word document as a table; then analyze the data using Word's superior analysis tools
D) create a PivotTable based on the data so that she can interactively group and total her data in a variety of ways

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Creating a PivotTable based on the data is the best choice as it allows for interactively grouping and totaling the data in a variety of ways, which is exactly what Margie needs to analyze the sales data by city, store, and product. Sorting the data or copying it into a Word document are more manual and time-consuming options, and hiring an accounting firm may not be a cost-effective solution for a small business like Margie's.

Case 8-2 Last Year, Your Cousin Margie Started a Small Business Selling