Average Function (include Blank Cells and Zeros)

[candice.sy]

Hi, can someone help me?

My "final" worksheet is linked to another "input" worksheet. I wish for
my final worksheet to mirror exactly whatever is in the input
worksheet. For example, weekends/non-working days/holidays are "blank"
while weekdays/working days are filled with numbers (including zeros on
working days whenever there's no order). I've already accomplished this
part.

However, another dilemma arises when I have to average the daily
figures by the number of calendar days for all departments. Note that
all departments update their figures on different times. For example,
as of June 8, Operations dept may have already updated their figures as
of latest date (June8) while Marketing has only updated as of June 7.

Also, I don't want to update the daily average calculation (changing
the divisor depending upon the latest no. of calendar days) everytime a
department updates their figures. Is it possible to just have a
standard average formula for all departments?

My "final" worksheet as of June 8,
Operations Dept (sum divided by 8 working days)
June1(Mon) = 34
June2(Tue) = 31
June3(Wed) = 0
June4(Thur) = 23
June5(Fri) = 21
June6(Sat) = " "
June7(Sun) = " "
June8(Mon) = 23
June 9 onwards is still blank.

Marketing Dept (sum divided by 7 working days)
June1(Mon) = 34
June2(Tue) = 31
June3(Wed) = 0
June4(Thur) = 23
June5(Fri) = 21
June6(Sat) = " "
June7(Sun) = " "
June8 onwards is still blank.

Is there a solution to my problem? Thanks in advance for the help! =)

 

[CLR]

=AVERAGE(A1:A10) includes zeros

=SUM(A1:A10)/COUNTIF(A1:A10,"<>0") does not include zeros

hth
Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

 

[Dominic LeVasseur]

Candice,

The average function, as you know, won't include blank cells.

You could use something like:

=sum(b1:b10)/count(a1:a10)

Where your data is in column B and your dates are in column A

You would need to create a formula for each department range.

HTH

 

[candice.sy]

Hi, I appreciate all the help.

I can't use =sum(b1:b30)/count(a1:a30).

It seems that the count function does not include or consider blank
spaces in its calculation. As mentioned, weekends are left blank on my
worksheet. I need to divide by the number of calendar days (as of
latest day of inputs encoded by each department). So for example, if
today is June 16 and marketing has updated their inputs as of June 16,
my divisor should be 16. On the other hand, operations has not yet
updated their inputs and their inputs is as of June 15, my divisor
should be 15.

As much as possible, I don't want to update the divisor everytime a
department refreshes their inputs. Is this possible?

 

[candice.sy]

I need to include the zeros as well because I am averaging by the
number of calendar days thus far. Weekends are left blank. Meanwhile,
some working days have zero orders.

Is it possible to have a standard average function for all departments?
The divisor being the number of calendar days last updated by every
department.

 

[candice.sy]

My bad, my formula is wrong.

A1:AD1 = number of calendar days (June1 to June30)
A2:AD2 = data (for example, no. of orders)
A3:AD3 = data
so on and so forth.

 

[DangerMouse]

I dont wish to hi-jack this thread, but might I ask how you accomplished
the displaying of blank cells as blanks in a linked workbook?

thanks

steve

 

[Dave Peterson]

In cell in the same worksheet, you could use a formula like:
=if(a1="","",a1)

in a cell in a different worksheet in the same workbook:
=if(sheet1!a1="","",sheet1!a1)

Between two workbooks:
=IF([book1.xls]Sheet1!$A$1="","",[book1.xls]Sheet1!$A$1)

I let excel do the heavy lifting when the formula gets too long for me.

I edit|Copy the cell
then Edit|paste special|links
and just mimic what it pasted in my =IF() statement.

 

[Dominic LeVasseur]

Candice,

Yes, exactly.

That is why you use the count function on the date row, not the data row.

So, for example:

A1 - June1
B1 - June2
C1 - June3
D1 - June4

A2 - 10
B2 - 15
C2 - blank
D2 - blank

=sum(a2:d2)/count(a1:d1)

This gives you the result 6.25

Isn't this what you are looking for?

You don't ever have to change the divisor if you leave 31 columns for date
data as you mention.

Does that help?

 

[candice.sy]

Thanks for your help, really appreciate it. =)

However, using the formula that you've suggested, I think I'll still
have to change the average function for all departments daily.

My worksheet is already pre-formatted. A1 to AD1 contains 1 to 30 (for
the month of June).

Assuming today is June 20, my average function is set to
=sum(a2:ad2)/count(a1:ad1).

My average will be wrong since I'm averaging for the whole month of
June already. My divisor would be 30 now instead of 20. I need to
compute the average as of the current date that a department updates
(for example, mktg has updated as of june 19 while operations has
updated as of june 20).

 

[candice.sy]

Steve, just us the IS function.

If you want to your final worksheet to mirror exactly your input
worksheet, use =IF(ISBLANK(inputworksheetA1," ",inputworksheetA1).

Final worksheet will no longer reflect zeros whenever your input
worksheet is blank.

 

[Dominic LeVasseur]

Candice,

I'm sorry, I misunderstood your spreadsheet layout.

Perhaps you could accomplish what you want to do by using the "counta"
function.

Instead of returning a empty string "" when there is no value in the input
sheet, you could return a space " ".

Then for your average you could use: =sum(a2:ad2)/counta(a2:ad2)

This should give you what you want.

Does that help?

 

[candice.sy]

Dominic,

What's the difference between an empty string and a space? How do I
return a space? Currently, my final worksheet uses the ISBLANK function
to exactly mirror/reflect my input worksheet.

As you would know, linking worksheets would reflect zeros on days
ahead. For example, my input worksheet has data up to June 22 only
while June 23 onwards is blank. Consequently, my final worksheet would
have 0s on June 23 onwards. I've already eliminated this problem by
using the ISBLANK function.

Going back to my problem, I've tried using the counta function already.
The problem now is it counts all the blank cells. For example, today is
June 22. Using counta function should give me 22.

My final worksheet looks like A1 to AD1 = June 1 to June 30.
A2 to AD2 = Data
A3 to AD3 = Data
so on and so forth....

I'm sorry I'm being too redundant but just to give you a clearer
picture, my final worksheet is the exact image of my input worksheet.
Therefore, as you can imagine, June 23 onwards is still blank.

Using a "standard" (meaning, I won't have to change the average
function anymore everytime a dept updates) average function of
=sum(A2:AD2)/counta(A2:AD2) as of June 22, would give me a divisor of
30.

Thanks for all your patience and help. =)

 

[candice.sy]

Sorry, it's me again. Just realized that I get what you're saying now.

You said, Instead of returning a empty string "" when there is no value
in the input
sheet, you could return a space " ".

My final worksheet uses this pre-formatted function (for June1 to June
30) =if(ISBLANK(InputWrksheetA2)," ",InputWrksheetA2)).

But using the counta function for June 22 still gives me a divisor of
30, instead of 22.

 

[Dominic LeVasseur]

Candice,

You are currently returning a space " " instead of an empty string "" when
the input sheet cell is blank. I would change this to return an empty string
"", there is no space between the quotes.

This will eliminate the counta function from counting those cells. However,
you now need to account for the weekend days that are left blank. Is there a
reason you don't want to put a zero in the weekend days? You want these
included in the average correct? I would suggest using a zero for these days
unless there is reason not to.

If you do have reason not to, then I would suggest putting a space in those
weekend cells, so that the counta function will count these cells in the
average functions.

Does that make sense?

 

[candice.sy]

Dominic,

You must be shaking your head wondering why am I making my work
complicated. I've figured a very simple solution to my problem but I
just wanted to try my luck and see if there really is a better
solution. I guess I've exhausted all my options already and my last
resort was to ask for help as I was finding for some answers in google.

As you've mentioned, a simple solution would be putting 0s on weekends.
I wanted to keep my final worksheet clean (only a couple of 0s will
appear occasionally on some working days) and also, to be able to
differentiate right away the working days from the non-working days.

I guess the best option afterall is to return 0s on weekends.

For the Nth time, thanks so much for all the help and patience. =)

 

[Dominic LeVasseur]

Candice,

You're welcome. But if you don't want 0's for weekends please read the rest
of my last post. You could also use a "space" for the weekend (input a space
in the input sheet). This will appear blank, but will be included in the
counta function.

You will also need to change your isblank formula in the final worksheet to
return an empty string "" if there is no value in the input worksheet.

Does this make sense?

 

[candice.sy]

I did try that also.

I changed my isblank formula to return an empty string instead but the
problem is,
if today is June 27, my counta function would return 30 instead of 27.

How do I input a "space" in my input worksheet? Currently, what I do is
to just leave it blank, is this right? Aside from the previous
weekends, June 28 onwards is also still blank as well.

My final worksheet is already preset to =if(ISBLANK(A2),"",A2) to
=if(ISBLANK(AD2),"",AD2). This is for June 1 to 30. And AE1 is preset
to = sum(A2:AD2)/counta(A2:AD2).

Row 1 = No. of calendar days (A1 to AD1 = 1 to 30)
Row 2 = Mktg data (A2:AD2)
Row 3 = Ops (A3:AD3), so on and so forth.

My counta should return the latest day the inputs were updated, which
may vary for each department.

Many thanks again. =)