Excel Worksheet Directions

Objectives: Demonstrate the ability to follow directions, use Excel to create a professional document, and become responsible for calculating your grade in the course.

This assignment does not provide an example. You will not be given examples at work and you will need to follow directions, either written or oral. I am not looking for “perfect” spreadsheet. Just that you follow the directions and get the basics correct.

Why: You will use Excel to present numerical information in your job no matter what your major or job. It is a good skill to have: to be able to prepare a professional looking Excel document. You never want to make more work for your boss if they are trying to read a document.

You will use the BbLearn grade book as a source for information to input the assignment names, your points, and the points possible into the Excel worksheet. Use the template provided to start the project as it has several required titles and column headers. When inputting the assignment names ask yourself if the names look nice, if you can put something in the section header rather repeat in every assignment name to make the names more visually appealing and easier to see which one goes with which chapter.

The worksheet should be professional, visually balanced on the sheet, and easy to follow. Where there are subtotals, totals, and percentages, use formulas. Below are specific items that I expect to see. Use proper capitalization where appropriate. I realize “professional” is a subjective term. I suggest preparing the assignment as if it were being submitted to the dean of the FCB. Some color is okay as well as little different font but keep it tame. Bright, neon color usually isn’t considered professional. Let’s go with usual for this assignment

NOTE: Your total points possible may not match BbLearn. If you did not do an assignment in BbLean/MindTap, BbLearn puts a “-“ in your points earned. If that is the case, BbLearn may not record the points possible for that assignment either. I think that issue is fixed now but just in case, I wanted to mention it.

See the rubric to see how the worksheet will be graded. This will show you the points associated with each of the following items.

Follow these directions CAREFULLY. Seriously. Don’t read half way and start doing things.

1.Center all worksheet titles over all columns that have information. You will need to merge the cells in the rows to do this. An example of a worksheet title would be “Balance Sheet”. It tells the reader what the sheet is about.

2.Format the all worksheet titles in an attractive, professional manner. Change the font and other formatting as you see fit. Titles should be different from the rest of the text in the worksheet.

3.Center the column headers and format them nicely by changing the font or using other font changes.

4.Enter assignment names, your points, and points possible in the spreadsheet. Group all similar assignments together with a section header and a subtotal. Use the table in our syllabus as a guide for how the assignments should be grouped. Please do not group by week.

5.All numbers should be right aligned in the cells and all text (excluding titles and headers) should be left aligned in the cells. Treat any assignments that use dates in the name as text and left align these.

6.Widen column A to fit the assignment names (not the worksheet titles). If it doesn’t fit well (meaning that the column is super wide and looks unbalanced on the page), use the text wrap functionality and adjust the row height accordingly. Please Google the wrap function or use the Excel help function. It will take only a moment. Also consider abbreviating the words. Better yet put words that appear in each description in the section header. For example, don’t put “MindTap Chapter 8 Homework, MindTap Chapter 9 Homework” and so on in each row for the section. Put “MindTap Homework” in the section header and then just put “Chapter 8, Chapter 9” and so on in the rows below.

7.Format all numbers with the same number of decimal places, being sure to not cut off any numbers. This means that if I know the assignment is worth 22.5 points, don’t show 22 points. If one assignment in entire column has two decimal places, the whole column should have two decimal places. NOTE: BbLearn does dumb things and shows out to the fourth, fifth, and sixth decimal place. Only go to TWO decimal places please.

8.Format cells with subtotals with a line at the top of the cell with the subtotal. Do not underline words – only cells with numbers. DO not us underline – use borders.

9.For the CPAs, review the syllabus and evaluate if you will meet the minimum and allocate points as appropriate. If you have the passed the minimum CPAs (8) then you will include 10 points for each CPA passed up to 10 CPAs. If you anticipate passing all 11 CPAs, then you will have 90 points for CPAs as shown in the points possible table in the syllabus and 20 extra credit points for the two extra CPAs. If you have not missed or failed any you can assume that you will have the minimum required to earn 10 points per CPA. If you have missed three CPAs, factor that into your points estimate on the Excel worksheet.

10.Include totals at the bottom of both columns. Do not use the total possible for the class. Only the totals for the assignments completed to date.

11.For cells with totals (not subtotals), format the cell with a line at the top of the cell and a double underline at the bottom of the cell. Do not underline words – only cells with numbers.

12.Include a percentage calculation at the bottom of the page, under the points possible total. The number should be formatted as a percentage with two decimal places showing (i.e., 88.88%). Do not include a percentage for every assignment – just your overall grade. We just want to see your overall percent for the class to see what your grade in the class is at that time.

13.If you would like to add other formatting, that is fine. Just be sure the document looks professional. Ask yourself if you would present it to the CEO of IBM. I like fun stuff but we are learning to be professional so don’t make it fun for Dunfee – think CEO of IBM.

14.Center the entire document horizontally. Use the “page set up” function, access the margins tab, and in the lower left is a checkbox to center horizontally. This will allow the document to be centered on the page when you print, which is what you want in presenting a professional document.

15.Include all assignments that have been graded to date or would have been graded based on the due date (maybe you missed an assignment). If you know you did an assignment and don’t see a grade, now is a great time to pop me an email in BbLearn and let me know. I can check it out.