IT1 Spreadsheet Modelling (Section B of the examination)

Use the following table to make revision notes for section B of the exam. You will have to give full answers, including cell references, what the
formula/function does and possible outcomes, in order to score full marks – see specimen/past papers for examples.

It would be useful if you annotate a copy of the spreadsheet with brief notes as well.

You exam answers must relate to your own spreadsheet not general descriptions and must be clearly evidenced in the submitted
spreadsheet.

What could be asked What you have used Describe how used/purpose
USER REQUIREMENTS
What is the purpose of your To help a car company organise their orders.
spreadsheet?
What will it be used for? How will it It will be used so that the company can easily keep tabs on all the orders they have and how
be used? much each car will cost.
DESIGN and IMPLEMENTATION
Group A – they could ask for two SUM SUM is used in cell G21 on the customer entry form and is used to
in the exam: calculate the total cost of the customer’s car from cell C23 on the same
– SUM sheet.
– COUNT
– MAX AVERAGE AVERAGE is used in cell O16 on the monthly sales sheet and
– MIN
determines the average income from previous months sales which can
– AVERAGE
- RAND be found in cells O9 to O15 on the monthly sales
And Group B –they could ask for
two in the exam:
– SINGLE IF SINGLE IF SINGLE IF has been used in cells H5 to H19 on the order sheet and
– MULTIPLE IF will help to show the total income for the month so far as if the cells
 – DATE
– ROUND
Other formulae used in your
spreadsheet (probably won’t ask for
more than 2 so include 4/5 here)
Multiple sheets and 3D links
from the range G5-G19 contains a “Y” the price of the car will be added
to the total income for the month, however if it contains a “N” it will
show “To Pay” and the cost of the car will not be added to the total
income.
MULTIPLE IF This is used in a sum formula in cell G21, it looks at the cell G13 and if
it contains “Collection” no extra cost will be added but if it shows
“Delivery” an extra £50 will be shown on the total cost. Then if cell C21
shows “No” only £100 will be added on to the total cost, however if it
shows “Yes” an extra £200 will be added on the total cost.
DATE The date function is used on the title sheet and can be found in cell C3
and is used so that the date is known upon the spreadsheet being
opened last.
VLOOKUP VLOOKUP is used in cell D5 to find the price for Mr. A. Alexander’s
car; it looks up cell C5 and returns the answer from cell range B5:G24
and column 6 for the corresponding answer which would be
£104,650.00.
COUNTIF
COUNTIF is used in cell H21 in the orders sheet and counts the
amount of “N” in the range G5-G19, this is used so that the business
can see how many customers still need to pay for their car.
Multiple Sheets Sheets used for a title, orders, customers entry, chart and data
3D links I used a VLOOKUP to link the orders and the data sheet to show the
corresponding data for each customer’s car. The formula is used in
cells D5-D19 and will show the price for the car, which is in column 6 in
the data sheet.
VLOOKUP was used to link the customer entry and data sheet, the

Simplification of data entry
• drop down list boxes
• Lists
• Spinners
• logical True or False or Tick
Boxes or Option boxes
• lookup or vlookup or
hlookup tables
Ease of use and professionalism
• startup user interface
• data entry forms
• Control buttons should be
used to initiate macros. e.g.
navigation / print/ data
transfer
customer entry sheet uses the data sheet to find the price of the car, its
make and model whether it’s a petrol or diesel and its engine size
which are located in columns A, B, C, D. these values will then be
shown in the corresponding values in the customer order.
Drop down boxes Used on the customer entry form to select whether the customer wants
metallic paint can be found in cell C21 (Metallic Paint) and only yes or
no can be selected
Spinners Spinner is used in the customer entry sheet to select what number car
they want to bring up the appropriate car with its details. This is in cells
C15 to 16 (Vehicle Number). The vehicle number goes up by 1 each
time. And has a range of 1-20
Tick Boxes
Used in the orders sheet in cells E5 to E19 and used to see clearly
what customers are collecting their cars and which ones are having
theirs delivered to them.
Start-up user A menu page with the title ‘Birdie’s Motors’ and macro buttons to take
interface you to each of the appropriate sheets.
Data Entry Forms Data entry used on the customer entry sheet and the orders sheet. On
the orders sheet data entry is used to in put the customer’s name,
order number and the vehicle number.
Data entry is also used in the customer entry sheet for customer

Error trapping e.g. validation
techniques and error messages
produced NOT spinners or lists
Processing
• sorting techniques
• Search for specific criteria
e.g. single and multiple
criteria
Use of graphs such as bar or column
graphs, line graphs, pie charts,
scatter graphs, pictographs
EVALUATION
forename, customer surname, customer address and postcode
Macro Buttons Eight macro buttons have been used on the spreadsheet; four of
these are on the title sheet and take you to each sheet. Then another
button on each sheet to take you back to the main menu.
Validation Used on the customer entry sheet to only allow the age of the driver to
be 17 or above. This is in cell G9 (Drivers Age)
Error Messages When the age of the driver is a number below 17 a message box
displaying the message “Insert an age that is above 17”
Sorting Technique Used on the orders sheet for columns A, Customer ID B, Customer
Name C, Car Order Number D, Price Of Car E, Collection F, Delivery
G, Paid? H, Cost. Can be sorted ascending or descending
Searching for specific Ability to search for specific things such as customer who has yet to
criteria pay for their car. This would be done by highlighting the cell G4 and
clicking on the drop down button and selecting “N” this would then
display all the customers who have yet to pay for their car.
Bar Chart Used on the Monthly Sales sheet and is used to see how many cars of
what make have been sold in the past month for the ability to compare
this months sales to previous months.
What worked?
Some aspects of the spreadsheet or
system which could be improved
Future developments to the
spreadsheet or system
I was happy with the VLOOKUP formulas I used as this can save time of having to switch
between sheets to check prices for the cars. The if statements I used worked well in helping
ease the need of doing calculations for extras such as metallic paint or delivery of the car to the
customer. The graph was well laid out and professional as on the Monthly Sales sheet in which
it can be found you are able to see the most popular car for the month and then the average
amount of income for the month.
The spreadsheet looks a little plain without much colour, and thus I feel it doesn’t look as
professional as it perhaps could. Colours such as reds and blacks could help to improve this.
The Customer entry sheet could have been grouped a little closer together to save the user
having to scroll around the sheet to enter different pieces of data. The macro buttons could
have also been labelled more clearly so that they clearly show what sheet they link to.
Add more colour to the spreadsheet as it has very little colour already on it.
Change the ‘Customer Entry’ sheet to say ‘Customer Order Entry’ so that it is clearly what its
purpose is. Name the macro buttons so they are easily identifiable as to what sheet they are
linked to. Place the customer entry sheet fields closer together to help with faster data entry so
the user will not be scrolling around the sheet.

Remember:
• You will also have some theory questions on simulation and modelling in this section
• You are advised to spend 45 minutes on section B