1

a colleague of mine uses Excel to merge and analyse datasets (~10k lines).

Her spreadsheets are mazes of vlookup and nested if formulas.

How can I convince her to take a look at databases?

What would be a good way to start? I'm an sqlite fan, but wonder whether the entry threshold to Access is lower?

Are there any books that you'd recommend to get started? I checked this SO question What's a good book for introduction to databases for web developers - any additions to the list there?

Thanks,

Simone

Community
  • 1
  • 1
simone
  • 4,667
  • 4
  • 25
  • 47

2 Answers2

1

re: How can I convince her to take a look at databases?

show her why your way is better.

redo what she did in Excel with your preferred tool and the same input data and see if you can find differences in the output.

Also, after both systems are set up, run them side-by-side for awhile noting performance and maintenance differences. If she agrees your way is better, she might decide to use it.

Beth
  • 9,531
  • 1
  • 24
  • 43
0

Not a direct answer to your question but as a developer who has done extensive work on data analysis in Excel a few observations.

  • If the primary goal is data analysis then using Excel might be good enough.
  • Specially if the different data sets (you mentioned merging) are provided as csv files - as and when required - going through the 'hassle' of first importing data into a sql database and then running queries to extract data for the analysis step might be too much.
  • Excel gives you the flexibility of playing around with your data, very easily trying different things, charting, pivot tables etc. If the reports that your friend needs are more or less static with only the data varying, then maybe a simple Access/SQL database with a small application on top would be a better solution. But then again, if this is the case, your friend probably has an Excel sheet with all the relevant formulas where only the data needs to be plugged in.

For most of my data-analysis in Excel the only real thing I have missed is the ability to gather data using foreign keys. Once you have that covered with vlookup, the rest of the analysis is usually quicker/easier in Excel.

mtariq
  • 400
  • 1
  • 10