Card, mobile credential, payment and security
In the latest installment of the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU) Positive IDentity Blog, Georgian College's Jen McDonald shares an Excel formula that she can't live without. An Excel enthusiast, McDonald works in Georgian College's ONEcard Office and discovered a helpful formula for the job's accounting demands.
"Before I began my role in the ONEcard Office, I had a basic understanding of Excel and primarily used it for data tracking and quick stats," writes McDonald. "Once I joined the card office, and now needed to add accounting tasks to my list of responsibilities, I quickly realized the value of upping my skill level in all things Excel."
The invaluable Excel formula that she now swears by is the VLOOKUP.
"If you’re already familiar with this little gem, then I likely don’t need to tell you how helpful it can be," says McDonald.
For those unfamiliar, McDonald illustrates the importance of the formula.
"I find myself frequently, in fact on an almost daily basis, needing to combine data from two different sets," she explains. "A few examples would be needing to compare a list of registered students to a list of accounts with balances, or perhaps you want to compare data in your test environment to that of PROD."
That, according to McDonald, is where VLOOKUP comes in. She offers some top tips for maximizing the effectiveness of the formula:
McDonald concludes her blog entry by soliciting advice from fellow card office pros for their own Excel formula suggestions. "I would love to hear about it! Okay, maybe love is a little strong, but I would certainly find it interesting."
