Getting Started Guide for ActiveData Analytics Software

Getting Started Guide
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ActiveData extends the analytical and data manipulation capability of Excel by building on its native functions and adding several new ones. ActiveData requires Excel 2000 or above. This guide contains a number of examples that you can work through to familiarize yourself with the software. The examples make use of the sample data that is included with the software. The sample data is included in a workbook which can be opened by using the Help -> Open Sample Workbook command which is described below.
Opening ActiveData's Sample Workbook

In Excel 2007 and above use ActiveData -> Help -> Open ActiveData Sample Workbook
In previous versions of Excel use ActiveData -> Workbooks -> Open ActiveData Sample Workbook
Sample Workbook Contents

The sample workbook data contains the following worksheets:
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z z z z
Index - A hyperlinked table of contents created by ActiveData's Index Worksheet command. Invoices200x - Invoices for the year 200x organized by InvoiceNo. Invoices200x - Invoices for the year 200x organized by InvoiceNo. Products - A list of products and their prices organized by ProductNo. Customers - A list of customers and their addresses organized by CustomerNo.
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SalesPeople200x - A list of sales people employed in 200x organized by SalesPerson. z SalesPeople200x - A list of sales people employed in 200x organized by SalesPerson. The 200x will vary depending on when your copy of ActiveData was released.
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Worksheets are related to each other by one or more of the following columns: InvoiceNo ProductNo z CustomerNo z SalesPerson ActiveData commands that work with more than one worksheet use these columns to match and relate rows of data between sheets.
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Examples
The following examples are available:
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Analysis Commands Worksheet Commands Column Commands Workbook Commands
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Product Support Support Forums Demo Videos
Analysis Commands
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Summarize / Pivot Duplicates Gaps Statistics Aging Strata Top and Bottom Items Digital Analysis with Benfords Law Sampling
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Summarize / Pivot
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Summarize / Pivot command.
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1. Select SalesPerson as the column to group by and check the Amount column in the Columns to Summarize list. Click finished. Note the contents of the resulting sheet have been summarized by the SalesPerson column with totals provided for the Amount column. 2. Repeat the previous exercise but this time select SalesPerson for the column to group by and Quarter for the Then By column. Select the desired totals from the Columns to Summarize list and click finished. 3. Select SalesPerson as the column to group by and check the Amount column in the Columns to Summarize list. Check the Create Crosstab/Pivot Table option and select Quarter as the pivot column. Click finished. ActiveData will create an Excel Pivot Table for you showing you the aggregate value of the amount column by salesperson by quarter. 4. Try a summarization with the Include Statistics option checked. Note that you can select the statistical values you would like to generate by clicking on the Select Fields button to the right of the Include Statistics option. The resulting worksheet will include the selected statistical items for each group.
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Duplicates
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Duplicates command. 1. Select InvoiceNo as the column to analyze, accept the default option of tagging duplicate items and then click Finished. Once the process is finished scroll to the right hand side of the worksheet and note the addition of a new column called Tags. This column will contain a plus sign on every row where there is a duplicate invoice number. Tags can be manipulated as a group using ActiveData's Row commands. 2. Repeat the previous exercise but this time select the Extract Duplicates option and click Finished. The resulting worksheet will contain all rows where the InvoiceNo column is duplicated. The Same, Same, Different test uses 3 columns to determine if a row is a duplicate of another row. For the row to be considered a duplicate the first two columns must be the same with the third column differing. This can be useful when you're looking for suspicious activity like invoices with the same date and amount but from differing vendors.
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Gaps
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Gaps command. The Gaps command detects missing items in numeric sequences like invoice numbers, check numbers and other incrementing column types. 1. Select InvoiceNo as the column to analyze, accept the default option of showing missing items only and then click on the Preview button. Note the preview grid in the lower half of the dialog displays the results. 2. Repeat the previous exercise but this time uncheck the show missing items only option before clicking on the Preview button. Note that the grid in the lower part of the dialog now shows all of the items in the selected worksheet along with missing and duplicated items highlighted in yellow. Clicking on the Finished button results in a new worksheet containing the contents of the preview grid.
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Statistics
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Statistics command. 1. Select the Quantity and Amount columns and then click on the Select Fields buttons to choose the statistical items to calculate. Click Finished. A new sheet will be created containing the calculated statistics. 2. Repeat the previous exercise but this time check the Display Statistics Columnwise option and then click on the Finished button. Note how the statistics are transposed from rowwise to columnwise. 3. Run the Statistics command again and this time check the Tag Outliers option. Enter 2 as the # of standard deviations from the mean and then click on the Finished button. Now scroll over to the right hand side of the worksheet and note that a
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column named Tags has been added and any row where the Amount is 2 or more standard deviations away from the mean will contain a plus sign in the Tags column. Tagged items can be manipulated as a group using ActiveData's Row commands. The Add Outlier Columm option inserts a new column in the original worksheet that contains the number of standard deviations from the mean for each amount.
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Aging
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Age command. 1. Select InvoiceDate as the column to analyze and accept the default values presented. Click the Finished button. A sheet containing the results of the aging is produced along with a bar chart. You can use Excel's built in Charting options to modify the look and feel of the chart. The Age By Group option allows you to create a separate aging report for groups of transactions. For example you may want to produce a separate report for each year, region, reporting center, cost center etc.
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Strata
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Strata command. 1. Select Amount as the column to stratify and then click in the Auto Increment when entering band data ... text box. Enter 5000 and then click on the strata grid and enter the following intervals: 0 < 5000 z 5000 < 10000 z 10000 < 15000 z 15000 < 20000 Click on the Stratify button and then examine the results in the strata grid.
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Once you have stratified a set of transactions you can click on the Finished button to write the results to a new worksheet. You can also click on the Show Sample Column to reveal the sample size column. Here you can enter the desired number of items to select at random from each of the bands. Once you have entered your sample sizes you can click the Sample button to have a new worksheet created containing the sampled rows from each stratum.
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Top and Bottom Items

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Top Bottom Items command. 1. Select SalesPerson as the Group By column and then select Amount as the item column. Click on the Finished button. A new sheet will be created containing the top 10 sales items for each salesperson. You can group on up to 2 columns and specify the number of items to extract from either the top or bottom values of each group.
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Digital Analysis with Benfords Law

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Digital Analysis command. 1. Select Amount as the column to analyze and then check the following digital tests options:
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First Digit Test First 2 Digits Test
2. Click on the help button to see what explanations and online resources are available that deal with digital analysis and the application of Benford's Law. 3. Click on the Finished button. A new sheet containing the results of the analysis will be created. You can produce a separate digital analysis for different groups by selecting a group by column. This is useful if you need to analyze different subsets of your data such as by region, salesperson or quarter.
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Sampling
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Sample command. 1. Select the Random Sample tab and then enter 30 for the number of sample items. Click on the Finished button and a new worksheet will be created containing 30 rows, randomly selected from the original worksheet. 2. Run the Sample command again, click on the Help button and note the discussion about calculating sample size and the random number seed. 3. Run the Sample command and then click on the Monetary Unit (PPS) Sample tab. Select Amount as the column to sample and enter 185,000 as the sampling interval. Click on the Finished button. A new worksheet will be created containing the sampled items along with a book value and audited value column. The audited value column is used to record any differences found when the item was reviewed and is used in the sample evaluation to project the results of the sample onto the entire population.
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Worksheet Commands
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Merging Two Sheets Comparing Two Sheets Querying Sheets By Formula Querying Sheets By Example Splitting Sheets Combining Sheets
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Merging Two Sheets

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Merge Sheets command.
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1. When prompted, select the Customers Worksheet as the sheet to merge with. Select CustomerNo as the Group By column and then select ContactName, Address and City from the list of columns under the label "With These From Sheet 2" on the right hand side of the dialog. Click the Finished button. A new worksheet will be created that contains the associated names and adresses of each customer based on the CustomerNo column. 2. Select the Customers worksheet and then run the Merge command again. Select the Salespeople sheet from the latest year (either 2008 or 2011 depending on your version of the software) . Now select Address as the Group By column and then click the Check All button under the right-most list of columns to select all of the columns in the Salespeople sheet. Now check the Use Fuzzy Matching option and set the following options: Minimum difference: 2 z Maximum difference: 6 z Maximum matches: 5 Click on the Finished button. A new worksheet will be created containing the near matched found between customer and salesperson addresses. The first two columns contain the adress from each of the input worksheets followed by a column named difference. This column contains the number of keystrokes required to change the first address into the second address. The smaller the value, the closer the match. A value of 0 indicates the adresses are an exact match. A value of 5 indicates that it would take 5 keystrokes on a computer to change the first address to the second address using a combination of the backspace, delete and alphanumeric keys.
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All punctuation and spaces are ignored when testing for a fuzzy match.
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Online Resources
Comparing Two Sheets

Select the Invoices2008 sheet (or Invoices2011 sheet depending upon your version of the software) in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Compare Sheets command.
1. Select the Invoices2007 (or Invoices2010) worksheet as the sheet to compare with. Select CustomerNo as the Group By column and then select the Amount column from both the sheet1 and sheet2 total columns lists. Click on the Finished button. A
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new worksheet will be created that presents the differences between the original worksheets. The resulting sheet includes the following information for each Customer:
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The number of invoices (count) from 2008 The number of invoices (count) from 2007 The difference between these two counts The total Amount for all of the 2008 invoices for the customer The total Amount for all of the 2007 invoices for the customer
2. Run the Compare command again using the SalesPeople2008 and SalesPeople2007 worksheets, setting the Group By column to SalesPerson and leaving the total columns unchecked to see which salespeople were hired and which salepople left between the two years.
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Querying Sheets By Formula

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Query Sheet -> Query By Formula command.
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1. Click on the Formula button and enter the following criteria: Amount > 10000 Click the Finished button to run the Query. A new worksheet will be created containing all of the rows that matched the criteria specified.
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Querying Sheets By Example

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Query
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Sheet -> Query By Example command.
1. Check the Amount column in the Columns To Query list. Check the Column >= option in the "Select Rows Where" group and enter 10000. Click the Finished button to run the Query. A new worksheet will be created containing all of the rows that matched the criteria specified. 2. Run the Query By Example command again. Check the ProductNo column in the Columns To Query list. Check the Column Equals option in the "Select Rows Where" group and enter 1,2,3,4. This will select all rows where the ProductNo is one of 1, 2, 3 or 4. Click the Finished button to run the Query. 3. Run the Query By Example command again. Check the CustomerNo column in the Columns To Query list. Check the Column Equals option in the "Select Rows Where"
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group and then click on the Range button. Select the Customers worksheet and then highlight the first 10 or so items in the CustomerNo column and click the Select Range dialog's OK button. Click Finished. You can select up to 30 items in the range selection dialog box. If you need more then you can use the Query Sheet -> Query By Match command.
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Splitting Sheets
Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Split Sheet -> Split Sheet By Date command.
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1. Select the InvoiceDate column and then select the Day Of Week option in the "Split Date By" group. Click Finished. A new worksheet will be created for each day of the week. The worksheet will contain all of the rows from the orignal sheet where the InvoiceDate was on that day. 2. Now may be a good time to use ActiveData's Workbook Navigator to clean up your sample workbook and remove unwanted sheets. Select Navigators -> Workbook Navigator and then select the sheet or sheets (use Windows' Control+Click and Shift+Click to select multiple sheets) followed by the Delete button. Note how Excel's active worksheet changes when you select a worksheet in the Workbook Navigator. Double-click on a worksheet and the navigator will select that sheet and then shrink itself so it can be recalled later simply by clicking on it. The navigator makes it simpler to move around in a workbook that contains a large number of worksheets.
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Combining Sheets
Select ActiveData's Navigators -> Workbook Navigator command.
1. Select the SalesPeople2008 and SalesPeople2007 sheets (you can use Windows' Control+Click and / or Shift+Click to select multiple sheets) to remove followed by the Combine button. A new sheet containing the contents of both sheets is created. Note how Excel's active worksheet changes when you select a worksheet in the Workbook Navigator. Double-click on a worksheet and the navigator will select that sheet and then shrink itself so it can be recalled later simply by clicking on it. The navigator makes it simpler to move around in a workbook that contains a large number of worksheets. 2. The workbook navigator also allows you to:
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z z z z z z z
Copy sheets in and between workbooks Rename worksheets Combine the selected worksheets into a new worksheet Delete multiple worksheets Print multiple worksheets Protect and Unprotect worksheets and workbooks Hide and Unhide worksheets
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Column Commands
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Adding Calculated Columns Splitting Columns Combining Columns Arranging Columns
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Adding Calculated Columns

Select one of the Invoices sheets in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Columns -> Add Calculated Columns command.
1. Set the column type to Formula and then click on the Formula button ( ) to the right. Enter the following formula: Quantity * UnitPrice Click the Finished button followed by the Add button. A new column is created. 2. Run the Add Calculated Columns command again. This time set the column type to Conditional Value and then enter the following: Condition: Amount > 25000 z Value If True: .50 z Value If False: .25 Click the Add button. This will create a new column that is set equal to .5 if the
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amount column is greater than 25,000 or .25 otherwise. 3. Run the Add Calculated Columns command again. Set the column type to Random # Between and then enter 1 and 49 in the input boxes displayed to the right of the option. Click on the Add button. A new column containing random numbers between 1 and 49 is created.
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Splitting Columns
Select the Customers sheet in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Columns -> Split Columns command.
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1. Check the ContactName column in the Columns To Split list and then check the Split Column Into Words option. Enter the following parameters: Delimiter Character: Space Alternate Delimiter: None z Maximum # of Words: 3 z New Column Name: Name Click the Finished button. ActiveData will create three columns containing the ContactName's first, middle and last name. Note that where there are more than three names in the data, the last column created will contain the extra names.
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2. Select one of the Invoices sheets and run the Split Columns command again. Select InvoiceDate and then check the Split Month Into New Column option. Click Finished. A new column will be created that contains the month (1-12) of the InvoiceDate column.
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Combining Columns
This exercise assumes that you have split the ContactName column in the Customers worksheet into three words using the Split Columns exercise. Select the Customers sheet in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Columns -> Combine Columns command.
1. Select the ContactName1 column on the left-hand side and then click the Add Column >> button. In the separator text box below, enter a space (by default it contains the last value you entered) and then click the Separator >> button. Now click the ContactName2 column followed by the Add Column >> button and the Separator >> button. Click the ContactName3 button followed by the Add Column >> button. Now click the Finished button. ActiveData will reassemble the Contact name for you based on the three columns that you specified.
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Product Support Support Forums Demo Videos
Arranging Columns
Select any worksheet in the sample workbook and then ActiveData's Columns -> Arrange Columns command.
1. Arrange Columns is useful where your worksheet contains a large number of columns and you need to move them around. TO move a column to a different position in the sheet, select a column and then click on the Move Up button to move the column left, the Move Down button to move the column right or the Move To button to move the column to a position relative to another column in the sheet. 2. The Arrange Columns dialog also allows you to:
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Hide/Unhide columns Format the cells in a column Rename the column's heading Insert a new column AutoFit the width of a column to the widest entry in that column Delete a column
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Workbook Commands
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Index Sheets Workbook Navigation Import File and Folder Listings
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Index Sheets
The Index Sheets command creates a hyperlinked table of contents worksheet for the current workbook. To generate this sheet, select ActiveData's Index Sheets and Books -> Index Sheets command. Consult the help file for more information about the columns displayed in the table of contents / index sheet.
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Workbook Navigation
Select ActiveData's Navigators -> Workbook Navigator command.
1. Now may be a good time to use ActiveData's Workbook Navigator to clean up your sample workbook and remove unwanted sheets. Select the sheet or sheets (use Windows' Control+Click and Shift+Click to select multiple sheets) to remove followed by the Delete button.
Note how Excel's active worksheet changes when you select a worksheet in the Workbook Navigator. Double-click on a worksheet and the navigator will select that sheet and then shrink itself so it can be recalled later simply by clicking on it. The
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navigator makes it simpler to move around in a workbook that contains a large number of worksheets. 2. The workbook navigator also allows you to:
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Copy sheets in and between workbooks Rename worksheets Combine the selected worksheets into a new worksheet Delete multiple worksheets Print multiple worksheets Protect and Unprotect worksheets and workbooks Hide and Unhide worksheets
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Import File and Folder Listings

The Import File and Folder Listings command creates a worksheet that contains a hyperlinked listing of the files and folders contained in the path that you specify.
1. Select ActiveData's Import -> Import File And Folder Listings command and then
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select a location on your computer using the Browse button. Check the Include Sub Folder option and then click the Import button. A new sheet will be created listing all of the files and folders found in and beneath the location that you specified.
2. If you check the Tabular Format option then you'll be able to perform further analysis on the file listing like summarizing on folder size and sorting by file size to determine where all of your valuable disk space has gone. It's also a convenient way to produce a good old fashioned directory listing of your files.
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Other Resources
The following resources are available:
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ActiveData Training Material Buy Online Links to additional resources appear at the bottom of this page.
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