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Excel is known to be one of the most useful tools when it comes to finances. With that being said, it can also be very tricky and confusing. We recently spoke with Pat Rosemas, A&amp;F’s fiscal planning manager, to gather a few of his tips and tricks when it comes to Excel.



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<li>First things first, Google is your friend. There is an answer to “how do you do ‘X’ in Excel” for pretty much anything you can think of.</li>



<li>LinkedIn Learning, which we all have free access to, offers training programs ranging from beginner to advanced</li>



<li>Sumif(s), and Vlookup are two of the most commonly used functions used in finance and accounting, while Pivot Tables are one of the most common tools used for aggregating data for reporting and analysis</li>



<li>Microsoft offers a lot of pre-built Excel templates for all sorts of needs. These generally need to purchased.Free templates can also be found but it’s recommended to only download them from reliable sources, especially if they contain macros</li>



<li>It’s possible to connect Excel to outside data sources/table (e.g., Access), for developing reports when the outside data source doesn’t have an integrated report building application</li>



<li>Using Tables can make it easier to manage data sets. They allow for easy formatting, headers remain visible when scrolling down, formulas and formatting copy down when adding rows, and you can create dynamic pivot tables and charts from them (i.e. you don’t need to change the data range every time you add a new row of data)</li>



<li>If you have a large workbook where all the tabs don’t fit on one screen, right clicking on the left/right arrows in the bottom left corner of the screen will pull up a list of tabs that can be selected for quicker navigation</li>



<li>If you want to center text, such as a header over multiple columns, but merging cells creates complications, you can format cells to “Center Across Selection” instead</li>



<li>Under the Formulas Menu option there are drop down menus with functions organized by category that you can use to peruse your options</li>



<li>“Text to Columns” can be helpful if you’re copying data from a separate source to Excel and it all pastes into one column. Text to Columns can convert the data back into multiple columns.</li>



<li>You can create a custom “quick access tool bar” if there are functions and/or formatting you commonly use</li>



<li>If linking cells in a report or model Ctrl + [ is a hotkey to take you to the cell you’re linked to.</li>



<li>The “Choose” function is something I rarely see used but is useful to build models with multiple scenarios or forecasting methodology options. Index is another one I love that is similar and useful in both financial modeling and reporting.You can also imbed functions within other functions, such as Vlookup within Choose.</li>
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While there is a science to Excel, there is also an art to it, so have fun and be creative!

Spreadsheet titled Nutrition Tools on a MacBook Pro showing daily calorie and meal tracking data.

Between the Spreadsheets. Excel Tips from A&F’s Pat Rosemas

Four years ago Student Accounts felt like the office of “no”. Working with student finances, timely payments, avoiding registration holds, and often telling students “no” was a stressful environment for both students and employees. Student Accounts leadership realized that a change was needed.



Business Transformation Manager Lori Serna and University Controller Marc Benadiba enlisted Director of Student Financial Services Justin Vastine, and Solution Support Facilitator John Buerger, and the team began with some basic data collection. Questions such as who are our customers? How do they engage with us? And what questions are they asking? Were further investigated to help better understand the issues. Once the collected data had been studied, they went to work creating a plan.



Enter Solutions Support. Based on empathy, digging deeper and providing help, Solutions Support is Student Accounts’ innovative way of thinking about customer support.



Enacting Solutions Support required two main ingredients, consistency and culture.



As it does, consistency came over time. Every message had to have a templated response so all students can receive stable, reliable support. Each experience is rooted in empathy with the objective to give students a clear path. Lastly, the brand was based on none other than Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing motto, a hands-on experience that pairs nicely with Solutions Support.



Arguably more important than consistency was the change in culture. This culture specifically was, and still is, all about building relationships with partners while constantly trying to improve.



Each element of Solutions Support was so unique that the team was invited to the Western Association of College and University Business Officers (WACUBO) for 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was cancelled but interest in Solutions Support was so high that the team was invited back in 2021. The goal of this conference was to allow university leaders around the world to share their success stories in hopes of inspiring others. At this conference, the Solutions Support presentation did just that.



“We were thrilled to share our story to other universities through WACUBO but we would be even more excited to share what we&#8217;ve learned with other parts of Cal Poly so they can benefit from our experiences,” Vastine said. “Solutions Support is an approach that can be applied to any problem-solving scenario, and truly elevates the Learn by Doing experience.”

Man wearing a face mask and green jacket using a corded phone at an office desk with a computer monitor.

Solutions Support – a New Way to Look at Customer Service

Almost overnight, our world changed. Students and employees alike are now faced with the task of performing work online. Zoom has become the new form of communication, and is being used on several platforms for an assortment of reasons. Whether it is making an international business call, or happy hour with old high school friends, this is how millions of Americans are socially interacting during this quarantine.



Who is on Zoom? The short answer: everyone. Television talk shows, live concerts, Fortune 500 companies, church services, birthday parties, the list goes on.



“A common joke among college students is that they all go to ‘Zoom University’,” wrote Taylor Lorenze, Erin Griffith, and Mike Isaac in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/style/zoom-parties-coronavirus-memes.html">New York Times</a>&nbsp;article title We Live in Zoom Now.



College students have been thrust into this Zoom movement.



“I really enjoy how I can take my laptop to the park, or even from the comfort of my own bed. Learning outside of a classroom setting is more pleasant,” according to Rajan Mody, a third year Business Major at Cal Poly.



There are, however, downsides to using Zoom for work and school. The interpersonal and emotional communication is very limited when talking into a computer; these aspects of business and education are vitally important and often require a more personal feel in order for the speaker to deliver their message.



“You are still not able to be in the room with people to relate with them on a personal level (i.e. read body language, shift in energies, etc.). Your personal connection with people is stunted by a two-dimensional screen,” said Christina Diaz, the administrative support coordinator for the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology at Cal Poly.



As more universities are pushed towards virtual learning models throughout the COVID-19 pandemic a growing number of students will be looking for new avenues of education that they may not have considered before. Finding the easy way to complete course credits through online classes is a problem the education system will face as Zoom classes continue to grow in usage and popularity.



“This could create a race to the bottom effect, where students search for online classes (e.g., GEs) that they can transfer into Cal Poly based on comments on how easy they are in terms of time to complete,” said Steve Hamilton, a professor of Economics at Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business.



Hamilton’s concern is that students could be missing out on learning important skills, even though their online credits will grant them a diploma in the end.



“Students are going to end up not gaining needed skills, but may not care much, because a diploma will still get them a job,” Hamilton said. “Students might feel like their employers will train them.”



The health of our educators and students is of the utmost importance during this COVID-19 crisis, and this leaves little choice but to continue to search for solutions as to how to deliver a quality, comprehensive educational experience while maintaining physical distance and safety.



Holding virtual classes, while not ideal, is an appropriate and practical solution to continuing education during quarantine. However, is the decision to maintain online education even after the smoke has settled on coronavirus a wise conclusion? Can we arguably forfeit the communication of genuine knowledge just for the sake of convenience?



Jay Cuccia is a journalism senior who spent his last quarter (spring 2020) at Cal Poly finishing up his studies remotely as the campus went virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He interned in the Cal Poly Corporation Marketing and Communications office.

Multiple participants in a virtual meeting, most with Cal Poly backgrounds or natural home/office settings.

Tag: Digital Learning

Between the Spreadsheets. Excel Tips from A&F’s Pat Rosemas

Solutions Support – a New Way to Look at Customer Service

Learning Via Zoom