Need help w/dates

[Armando Martellini]

i can't figure out how to solve this problem, this is the information i have:
BEGINN ENDING PERIOD Dates
01/01/05 01/31/05 P01-05 07/23/05
01/02/05 28/02/05 P02-05 08/09/05
01/03/05 31/03/05 P03-05 08/08/05
01/04/05 30/04/05 P04-05 08/18/05
01/05/05 31/05/05 P05-05 08/10/05
01/06/05 30/06/05 P06-05 08/12/05
01/07/05 31/07/05 P07-05 08/24/05
01/08/05 31/08/05 P08-05
01/09/05 30/09/05 P09-05
01/10/05 31/20/05 P10-05
01/11/05 30/11/05 P11-05
01/12/05 31/12/05 P12-05
i would like a formula that looking at the "Dates", would place the date in
the correct "Period" according to the "beginning" and "Ending" of the chart,
can anybody help me please?

 

[Jay]

i have: BEGINN ENDING PERIOD Dates

01/01/05 01/31/05 P01-05 07/23/05
01/02/05 28/02/05 P02-05 08/09/05
01/03/05 31/03/05 P03-05 08/08/05
01/04/05 30/04/05 P04-05 08/18/05
01/05/05 31/05/05 P05-05 08/10/05
01/06/05 30/06/05 P06-05 08/12/05
01/07/05 31/07/05 P07-05 08/24/05
01/08/05 31/08/05 P08-05
01/09/05 30/09/05 P09-05
01/10/05 31/20/05 P10-05
01/11/05 30/11/05 P11-05
01/12/05 31/12/05 P12-05
i would like a formula that looking at the "Dates", would place the
date in the correct "Period" according to the "beginning" and "Ending"
of the chart, can anybody help me please?

First clean up the date formats. It appears that the beginning and ending
dates have different day/month orders.

I'm assuming column E is the Dates column.

If the ranges are always the calendar months. You can put
=E2
in cell F2 and copy down, then select column F use:
Format > Cells > Number > Custom > Pmm"-"yy

Otherwise, you might want to look into the VLOOKUP function.

 

[Armando Martellini]

Jay i think i simplified the problem a little too much, my actual "table of
reference" is this:
BEGINN ENDING PERIOD Dates
1/4/2005 2/3/2005 P01-05 7/23/2005
2/4/2005 3/31/2005 P02-05 8/9/2005
4/1/2005 5/5/2005 P03-05 8/8/2005
5/6/2005 6/2/2005 P04-05 8/18/2005
6/3/2005 6/30/2005 P05-05 8/10/2005
7/1/2005 8/4/2005 P06-05 8/12/2005
8/5/2005 9/1/2005 P07-05 8/24/2005
9/2/2005 9/29/2005 P08-05
9/30/2005 10/3/2005 P09-05
10/4/2005 12/1/2005 P10-05
12/2/2005 12/29/2005 P11-05
12/30/2005 2/2/2006 P12-05

so, i don't need just the month, can you please assist? thanks

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Armando

Set up a table as follows:-
A1 = 1/4/2005 B1 = P01-05
A2 = 2/3/2005 B2 = P02-05
A3 = 31/3/2005 B3 = P03-05
etc.

Mark the range of cells and in the white pane to the left of column A and
above Row 1, type Periods and press Enter. This will create a named range

Wherever you have entered on your sheet 23/7/2005 , lets say in cell D1,
enter in E1
=VLOOKUP(D1,Periods,2)


Regards

Roger Govier

 

[Armando Martellini]

Roger, maybe i didn't understand your instructions, but i can't seem to make
it work, in the vlookup you suggested, i can't find any indication that i'm
looking for a value in between 2 ranges to get the "period" value. can you
advice? Thanks for your help

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Armando

Because we are not using the 4th argument of VLOOKUP, False or 0, then
instead of looking for an exact match, Vlookup returns the highest value
that does not exceed the lookup value.

Therefore with the table as I had set it out, as long as you continued it on
downward to give values for all periods through to P12-05, (as below), then
with a date to be looked up of 23/7/2005, this is less than 04/08/2005, so
it would take the previous value of 30/06/2005 which has P06-05 in the
column next to it.

i.e. 23/07/2005 is between 30/06/2005 and 04/08/2005

NB Dates here in UK format as opposed to US format as posted to you in my
previous response.

04/01/2005 P01-05
03/02/2005 p02-05
31/03/2005 p03-05
05/05/2005 P04-05
02/06/2005 P05-05
30/06/2005 P06-05
04/08/2005 P07-05
01/09/2005 P08-05
29/09/2005 P09-05
03/10/2005 P10-05
01/12/2005 P11-05
29/12/2005 P12-05
02/02/2006 P12-05


Regards

Roger Govier

 

[Armando]

Roger, i did exactly as you said but the formula returns a #REF value or a
#NAME (depending on how i try to "move around" the information. have you
tried the formula on a spreadsheet? if so would you be so kind to send it to
me, i can't figure out what i'm doing wrong. my e-mail address is
(e-mail address removed).
Thanks (again)

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Armando

Yes I did try it and it works.
I can send you a file direct if you let me have you email address.

#Name suggests you haven't managed to set up the named range correctly.
Try Insert>Name>Define and in the top Name pane type Periods, and in the
lower pane Refers to type =$A$1:$B$13

You would get a #N/A result if there is no data in D1 or any other cell
being used as the lookup. This can be overcome by modifying the formula I
gave as follows


Regards

Roger Govier

 

[Roger Govier]

Sorry Armando

Hit the send button before posting the revised formula
=IF(D1="","",VLOOKUP(D1,Periods,2))

Regards

Roger Govier

 

[Armando Martellini]

Roger thank you again for your patience, i tried everything and verified that
my range was correct, but i can't seem to make it work, the result i get is
38568 which doesn't make any sense. can you please send me the spreadsheet
you created my address is (e-mail address removed)

 

[Gord Dibben]

Armando

38568 is the serial number of August 4th, 2005 when formatted as a date.

See Chip Pearson's site for explanation of date serial numbers.

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datetime.htm#AddingDates


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Armando

Working file sent to you.
As Gord pointed out, the result you were getting was the serial date for 4th
August 2005. However, you should have got P07-05 which is the correct
period, so your VLOOKUP is picking up one column too few. The offset needs
to be one greater in the formula, which either means you have not set up
your table the same as me, or you did not copy the formula.

Anyway, take a look at the file I have sent you.

Regards

Roger Govier

 

[Armando Martellini]

Roger, thank you very much for your help, i did everything correctly but
canceling the column with the information i didn't need (i just Hid it). now
it works perfectly, but i have another question how can i do a vlookup using
the "periods" information, when i try it gives me a #REF because it sees the
result as a formula instead of just "PXX". if you don't have time i would
understand, you solved my biggest problem.
thanks again

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi Armando

I'm not sure what you are trying to do.
Mail me back your sheet with a description of what you are trying to do and
I will see if I can sort it out.

Regards

Roger Govier