Skip to main content

Data Tally Workflow – Sundar Mishra (My Work Secret)

Step 0: Data Import & Backup

  • Always save a raw copy before starting.

  • Document source details: file name, report name, extraction date, etc.

Step 1: Data Cleaning & Validation

Clean and standardize the dataset without altering its meaning.

🔧 Common Cleaning Formulas:

  • TRIM() → Remove unwanted spaces.

  • CLEAN() → Remove non-printable characters.

  • UPPER(), LOWER(), PROPER() → Standardize text case.

  • TEXT() → Format values (e.g., dates, numbers).

  • VALUE() → Convert text numbers to numeric format.

  • DATEVALUE() → Convert text dates to real dates.

  • ROUND(), ROUNDUP(), ROUNDDOWN() → Ensure consistent decimal places.

  • ISNUMBER(), ISTEXT(), ISERROR() → Validate data type.

🔑 Checks:

  • Totals before & after cleaning must match (SUM() check).

  • Define correct data types: Date, Number, Text.

Step 2: Understanding Data & Setting Goal

  • Verify data source and reliability.

  • Identify data pattern (repeated fields, keys, categories).

  • Define goal of tally (e.g., reconciling totals, validating balances).

  • If needed, ask senior/AI tools how to solve, not to do it for you.

🔧 Helpful Formulas for Exploration:

  • COUNT(), COUNTA(), COUNTBLANK() → Count records.

  • UNIQUE() → Identify unique values (Excel 365+).

  • SORT() / SORTBY() → Detect ordering & patterns.

  • LEN() → Spot inconsistent text lengths (e.g., ID codes).

Step 3: Tallying & Multi-way Verification

Perform tally and check in more than one way.

🔧 Core Tally / Verification Formulas:

  • SUM() → Total values.

  • SUBTOTAL() → Dynamic totals (ignores hidden rows).

  • SUMIFS() → Conditional summing.

  • COUNTIFS() → Conditional counting.

  • VLOOKUP(), HLOOKUP() → Compare values across reports.

  • INDEX() + MATCH() → Flexible lookups.

  • XLOOKUP() (if available) → Modern lookup alternative.

  • IF() / IFS() → Conditional checks.

  • IFERROR() → Handle mismatches gracefully.

  • EXACT() → Compare two text fields exactly.

  • TEXTJOIN() → Concatenate multiple fields for pattern matching.

🔑 Cross-verification techniques:

  • Totals vs. subtotals (SUMIFS() vs. SUM() check).

  • Record-level check (VLOOKUP() / XLOOKUP()).

  • Duplicate detection (COUNTIFS() > 1).

  • Mismatch highlighting (conditional formatting with formulas).

Step 4: Finalization & Reporting

  • Confirm data is error-free and consistent.

  • Prepare summary output (Excel Pivot, PDF, or Dashboard).

🔧 Useful Reporting Tools:

  • Pivot Table (with SUM, COUNT, % of Total).

  • Charts for visualization.

  • TEXT() with custom formats for clean report presentation.

📌 Final Principle: Data is finalized only if multiple methods confirm the same result.

✅ End Result: Cleaned, reliable, and thoroughly verified data ready for reporting, auditing, or deeper analysis.

Back to top