Managing Data with Microsoft Excel

Title:
Managing Data with Microsoft Excel

Publisher:
Que Publishing

Year:
2004

Target group:
Intermediate Excel-users who wants to manage data from external sources.

Ranking:
On a scale from 1 to 5: 4
On a scale from 1 to 10: 7,5


Comments:
Mr Carlberg has been around since the early 90's and has written several books about Excel. His writing style is clear and easy to follow and it's always a pleasure to take part of his books. This book is no exception and the subject, manages external data, is today an emergency question for many Excel-users.

The book can be divided into three parts:

1. Excel and data management from a wider approach, including pitfalls in using Excel as a data management tool.

2. Excel's built-in functions /list and Auto-filter for handling data.

3. Excel and Databases, focused on Access-databases with both DAO and ADO and also MS Query (including basic introduction to SQL). It relies heavily on VBA and cover about 70 % of the whole book.

At present this is the only book explicit target the subject and I like very much the first chapter about misusing Excel as a datamanagement tool. Unlike the last years other books it explicit cover DAO. DAO is both powerful and useful when it comes to data-exchange and manipulation of Access-databases as it explicit target and is optimized to work with Access-databases. The book includes many practical examples and gives a "how-to" approach to solve different kind of issues.

What I miss are those little hints & tips that really boost things up. Another thing is that many users and developers today work with other databases such as SQL Server/MySQL/Oracle/DB2 etc. Therefore it would have been a welcome contribution if the book at least mentioned other databases!

If You know that Your knowledge and skillness in this area is weak then this book is highly recommended.

Kind regards,
Dennis