+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 24 of 24

Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

  1. #1
    ElNino
    Guest

    Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    Hello,

    I am new to Excel. I am starting a business online, and I am using osCommerce to run my online shop. I have installed a contribution for osCommerce called "Easy Populate", and I am in need of help. Easy populate exports a tab-delimited text file with the info in my store's database regarding my products, and my vendor provides me with a daily ..csv file with all of the data relating to their products. Once I have these two files, I am supposed to merge them both into a single tab-delimited text file (using Easy Populate's structure) to import into my store's database.

    I have 2 questions that I need help with:

    1) How do I merge these 2 files into a single file? The rules of the resulting file should be as follows... The products whose model number already exists in the Easy Populate file should only have their prices updated, and the products whose model number does not exist in the Easy Populate file should be added either at the top or at the bottom of the resulting file because they will need to be manually edited to include the missing info that is not provided by the vendor's .csv file, and will need to be easily identified so that the import will not give errors due to missing data.

    2) The resulting file should have a formula applied to it so that the prices from the vendor's .csv file are adjusted according to the following table:

    Price -----------------> Mark Up
    $1-$50 ----------------> 30%
    $51-$100 --------------> 20%
    $101-$200 -------------> 15%
    $201+ ------------------> 10%

    I am totally clueless on even where to start on this, and am in need of dire help! Someone please give me some pointers on how to do it.

    --
    ElNino

  2. #2
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    Quick question: Are you using the retail markup method? Or just your standard (Price*Percent)+Price???

    Just want to know before I get started on question 2 that you have

    As for the rest....I'm leaving work now, but I'll read it later after class and try to help whether or not anybody responds
    Last edited by malik641; 07-28-2005 at 02:29 PM.
    -Joseph

  3. #3
    ElNino
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    Hello Malik,

    Thanks for looking into this for me! I can't even begin to tell you how much
    it is appreciated. As to your question... I think I would prefer the retail
    markup method, as it would make things easier on accounting. Thanks again! I
    can't wait to see your response!

    --
    ElNino

    >
    > Quick question: Are you using the retail markup method? Or just your
    > standard (Price*Percent)+Price???
    >
    > Just want to know before I get started on question 2 that you have




  4. #4
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    Just to double check myself....(I haven't done this in a while)...

    Retail mark-up method:

    $500 with a markup of 20%
    =(500*0.20)+500
    =$600

    And Retail margin:

    $500 with a 30% margin
    =500/0.70
    =714.29


    And you want the retail markup method, right?

  5. #5
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    I'm not too sure yet how you will combine the two files into one yet...I'm still kinda new to Excel's capabilities and how to use them
    Although I'm pretty sure you're going to need a macro to do that, which I'm trying to figure out right now. But for now, I have something for you to play with. Check out the attachment. I gave you two ways to do the markup (either a formula or a macro).

    I think you will want to use the macro function procedure because when you combine the two files into one and there is a new model number, you can use the macro that will combine the two functions to add the formula in the adjacent cell to display the markup value INSTEAD of manually typing in the formula. I'm sure you would rather it be done automatically.

    Tell me what you think of the attached file (worksheet and VB Editor).

    Hope this is a good start!
    Attached Files Attached Files

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    I have registered on these forums now. For some reason the messages I just posted on the newsgroup haven't made it here yet. I suppose it's not instantly synchronized with the newsgroup or something, but I still think that this is pretty cool. I like these types of boards better than newsgroups anyways.

  7. #7
    ElNino
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    Ahh, I see the difference now. I'm going to need the margin method actually.
    I'm probably going to need to rethink my chart now that I have been
    enlightened with this info, but I can probably adjust that easily if need be
    once I see the actual excel formula to accomplish this.
    --
    ElNino



  8. #8
    ElNino
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    Sweet! I didn't even know that excel had a built-in VB editor until now.
    That is just awesome!! It's been a while since I used VB though, and I've
    never used Excel/macros for that matter until now, so I'm going to need a
    while to learn, but this looks very promising. You have opened my eyes to
    the power of Excel! This program just became 1000 times more useful in my
    eyes. =)

    --
    ElNino


    > I think you will want to use the macro function procedure because when
    > you combine the two files into one and there is a new model number, you
    > can use the macro that will combine the two functions to add the formula
    > in the adjacent cell to display the markup value INSTEAD of manually
    > typing in the formula. I'm sure you would rather it be done
    > automatically.
    >
    > Tell me what you think of the attached file (worksheet and VB Editor).




  9. #9
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    Quote Originally Posted by ElNino
    so I'm going to need a
    while to learn...
    Meeeee toooo....I bought 2 books on excel (formulas and VBA) because I've been working with it SOO much! And yes, excel is EXTREMELY powerful.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    OK, I have thunk up a new chart based on the retail margin method and here it is:

    $1-50 -> 25% (Cost/.75)
    $51-75 -> 20% (Cost/.8)
    $76-100 -> 15% (Cost/.85)
    $101+ -> 10% (Cost/.9)

    Now I just need to figure out the formula/macro to make it work.

  11. #11
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    So, have ya given up on me? I still need help on this.... anyone???

  12. #12
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    Sorry ElNino...haven't checked this forum in a day or 2

    Here ya go!
    Attached Files Attached Files

  13. #13
    David McRitchie
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    For your information, and I should have noticed it was going to be a zip file

    Invalid Attachment specified. I

    "malik641" <[email protected]> wrote
    > Sorry ElNino...haven't checked this forum in a day or 2




  14. #14
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    huh......
    I thought zip files were valid file extensions????

    maybe I'll try this again. If it doesn't work I'm sorry and you can PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.
    Attached Files Attached Files

  15. #15
    David McRitchie
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    The newsgroups are strictly text, so have no idea what Excel Forum
    actually does, as long as attachments stay at Excel Forum they
    don't cause a problem with newsgroups. Didn't you get an error
    when you clicked on it.

    "malik641" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    >
    > huh......
    > I thought zip files were valid file extensions????
    >
    > maybe I'll try this again. If it doesn't work I'm sorry and you can PM
    > me with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.
    >
    >
    > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
    > |Filename: Example.zip |
    > |Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=3664 |
    > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
    >
    > --
    > malik641
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > malik641's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=24190
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=391062
    >




  16. #16
    Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    06-10-2005
    Location
    Central Jersey
    Posts
    117
    No, no error...

    I'm not joined to any news groups either.....so I guess you have to be a registered user to view it????

    Where would I find an Excel newsgroup??

  17. #17
    David McRitchie
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    You are posting from ExcelForum so I presume you joined that.

    If you are not behind a firewall, the best way to view the newsgroup
    is via Outlook Express, almost a necessity if you are on dial-up.
    If you use Outlook Express for your email, then you can use it
    for your newsgroups as well.

    http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/xlnews.htm
    http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/ie/oe6.htm

    ---
    HTH,
    David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
    My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
    Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

    "malik641" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    >
    > No, no error...
    >
    > I'm not joined to any news groups either.....so I guess you have to be
    > a registered user to view it????
    >
    > Where would I find an Excel newsgroup??
    >
    >
    > --
    > malik641
    >
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > malik641's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=24190
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=391062
    >




  18. #18
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    I was able to download both files just fine.

    Thanks for your help malik! The info on VB and the macros were very helpful, but I really don't know how to apply it to what I'm trying to accomplish. Is there someone out there that could possibly give me a step-by-step process on how to do this?

  19. #19
    David McRitchie
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    To install the macros once unzipped see
    http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

    This thread illustrates one of the problems of not using a newsreader
    to read and post messages, you replied to Malik, but your
    message was threaded as if a reply to mine because mine was
    the last reply in the thread. See the threaded view in Google,
    and it is a threaded view of postings that people using a newsreader
    would see, if not hiding postings they had read, and in any case
    their replies would be threaded directly under (indented) to the post they
    replied to..
    http://google.com/groups?threadm=ElN...rum-nospam.com

    Note Google Groups is set apart from Google Web search with many
    of the reposting websites, a web search is forced to have go through
    both in fact probably several instances of postings in newsgroups.

    You get new stuff, hints of what to look for in newsgroups, but you
    normally get (used to anyway) a more organized structure of

    ---
    HTH,
    David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
    My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
    Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

    "ElNino" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    >
    > I was able to download both files just fine.
    >
    > Thanks for your help malik! The info on VB and the macros were very
    > helpful, but I really don't know how to apply it to what I'm trying to
    > accomplish. Is there someone out there that could possibly give me a
    > step-by-step process on how to do this?
    >
    >
    > --
    > ElNino
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > ElNino's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=25725
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=391062
    >





  20. #20
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    Thanks David, that info was pretty helpful to me in understanding macros and their usage, but what I am looking for is a more personalized guide on how I can take the 2 spreadsheets I have (one from my vendor, and another from my site) and insert certain data from the vendor's spreadsheet into the one from my site, then run the macro to update the prices.

  21. #21
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    UPDATE:

    I just thought I'd drop in and let you guys know that I figured out the hardest part of this project today - FINALLY!

    My brain must have gone into overtime today, lol because It just dawned on me all of a sudden (strange how these things happen, eh?). Anyways, I'll explain how I was able to do this with 2 simple excel formulas.

    First of all, in my vendor's spreadsheet, they give the stock quantities of 12 of their locations seperately, so I needed to figure out a formula to add them all up. They also have a "status" column that states if the product is active or discontinuing, so I needed to make sure the quantity of the products whos status is "discontinuing" was 0. Also, in some of the products, instead of giving an exact stock quantity, they put the word "Available" in the cell that is supposed to contain the quantity. I don't know why they did this, but since I had no idea how many were actualy available, I chose to replace the word "Available" with 99 in the same formula. The status column was column K and the quantity columns were L-W. To make this work, first I selected empty cell X2, and made the following formula:
    Please Login or Register  to view this content.
    Then after applying this formula to cell X2, I highlighted it, and the rest of the cells below it and edit-> fill -> down to fill the rest of the cells in that column with data.

    The only problem I had with this formula is when I put *IF(K2="DISCONTINUING",0,1) at the very end like I wanted it instead of right after the SUM statement, it didn't calculate right. I dunno why this happened, but it did. So I am just going to have to deal with the very few products whos status is discontinuing, and their quantity is "Available" getting a number other than 0 for now (no biggie). If anyone could tell me why this is happening, I would really love to know.

    For the next formula, I needed to get my vendor's price from column F and apply that price to my markup chart. For simplicity's sake, I decided not to use the retail markup method. I made up a new chart once again,and this is the one I am going to stick with:
    <$10 ---------------- Add $3
    $10-$49.99 ---------- *1.3 (30%)
    $50-$74.99 ---------- *1.2 (20%)
    $75-$99.99 ---------- *1.15 (15%)
    $100+ --------------- *1.1 (10%)

    Once the markup is applied, I needed to output the result to column Y. Here is the magical formula that made this work, which has forever eluded me until today:

    *drumroll*
    Please Login or Register  to view this content.
    Once this code was applied to Y2, I used the same method of filling the rest of the column as earlier.

    Only took me 6 months to figure out, lol. But I am proud of myself considering that I had already given up and was going to hire someone to do this for me. Now,I just need to get figure out a way to have these formulas automatically applied to my daily vendor spreadsheet, delete the unnecessary rows, and merge with the easy populate spreadsheet from my website so it can be uploaded.

    I don't think that will be nearly as much of a brain teaser as these damn formulas were for me though.

  22. #22
    Don Guillett
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    a cursory look suggests a bit shorter
    countif(l2:w2,"available")*99

    --
    Don Guillett
    SalesAid Software
    [email protected]
    "ElNino" <[email protected]> wrote in
    message news:[email protected]...
    >
    > UPDATE:
    >
    > I just thought I'd drop in and let you guys know that I figured out the
    > hardest part of this project today - FINALLY!
    >
    > My brain must have gone into overtime today, lol because It just dawned
    > on me all of a sudden (strange how these things happen, eh?). Anyways,
    > I'll explain how I was able to do this with 2 simple excel formulas.
    >
    > First of all, in my vendor's spreadsheet, they give the stock
    > quantities of 12 of their locations seperately, so I needed to figure
    > out a formula to add them all up. They also have a "status" column that
    > states if the product is active or discontinuing, so I needed to make
    > sure the quantity of the products whos status is "discontinuing" was 0.
    > Also, in some of the products, instead of giving an exact stock
    > quantity, they put the word "Available" in the cell that is supposed to
    > contain the quantity. I don't know why they did this, but since I had no
    > idea how many were actualy available, I chose to replace the word
    > "Available" with 99 in the same formula. The status column was column K
    > and the quantity columns were L-W. To make this work, first I selected
    > empty cell X2, and made the following formula:
    >
    > Code:
    > --------------------
    >
    > =SUM(L2:W2)*IF(K2="DISCONTINUING",0,1)+IF(L2="Available",99,0)+IF(M2="Available",99,0)+IF(N2="Available",99,0)+IF(O2="Available",99,0)+IF(P2="Available",99,0)+IF(Q2="Available",99,0)+IF(R2="Available",99,0)+IF(S2="Available",99,0)+IF(T2="Available",99,0)+IF(U2="Available",99,0)+IF(V2="Available",99,0)+IF(W2="Available",99,0)
    > --------------------
    >
    > Then after applying this formula to cell X2, I highlighted it, and the
    > rest of the cells below it and edit-> fill -> down to fill the rest of
    > the cells in that column with data.
    >
    > The only problem I had with this formula is when I put
    > *IF(K2="DISCONTINUING",0,1) at the very end like I wanted it instead of
    > right after the SUM statement, it didn't calculate right. I dunno why
    > this happened, but it did. So I am just going to have to deal with the
    > very few products whos status is discontinuing, and their quantity is
    > "Available" getting a number other than 0 for now (no biggie). If
    > anyone could tell me why this is happening, I would really love to
    > know.
    >
    > For the next formula, I needed to get my vendor's price from column F
    > and apply that price to my markup chart. For simplicity's sake, I
    > decided not to use the retail markup method. I made up a new chart once
    > again,and this is the one I am going to stick with:
    > <$10 ---------------- Add $3
    > $10-$49.99 ---------- *1.3 (30%)
    > $50-$74.99 ---------- *1.2 (20%)
    > $75-$99.99 ---------- *1.15 (15%)
    > $100+ --------------- *1.1 (10%)
    >
    > Once the markup is applied, I needed to output the result to column Y.
    > Here is the magical formula that made this work, which has forever
    > eluded me until today:
    >
    > *drumroll*
    >
    > Code:
    > --------------------
    >
    > =IF(F2<10,F2+3,IF(AND(F2>=10,F2<50),F2*1.3,IF(AND(F2>=50,F2<75),F2*1.2,IF(AND(F2>=75,F2<100),F2*1.15,F2*1.1))))
    > --------------------
    >
    >
    > Once this code was applied to Y2, I used the same method of filling the
    > rest of the column as earlier.
    >
    > Only took me 6 months to figure out, lol. But I am proud of myself
    > considering that I had already given up and was going to hire someone
    > to do this for me. Now,I just need to get figure out a way to have
    > these formulas automatically applied to my daily vendor spreadsheet,
    > delete the unnecessary rows, and merge with the easy populate
    > spreadsheet from my website so it can be uploaded.
    >
    > I don't think that will be nearly as much of a brain teaser as these
    > damn formulas were for me though.
    >
    >
    > --
    > ElNino
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > ElNino's Profile:
    > http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=25725
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=391062
    >




  23. #23
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-29-2005
    Posts
    8
    Quote Originally Posted by Don Guillett
    a cursory look suggests a bit shorter
    countif(l2:w2,"available")*99

    --
    Don Guillett
    SalesAid Software
    [email protected]
    Hey, thanks Don... it worked! I even figured out why it wouldn't add up correctly if I placed *IF(K2="discontinuing",0,1) at the end of this formula (I had to seperate the equations). So, this is my new formula to add up the quantitty:
    Please Login or Register  to view this content.

  24. #24
    Don Guillett
    Guest

    Re: Need help making a spreadsheet for my business.

    glad to help

    --
    Don Guillett
    SalesAid Software
    [email protected]
    "ElNino" <[email protected]> wrote in
    message news:[email protected]...
    >
    > Don Guillett Wrote:
    >> a cursory look suggests a bit shorter
    >> countif(l2:w2,"available")*99
    >>
    >> --
    >> Don Guillett
    >> SalesAid Software
    >> [email protected]

    >
    > Hey, thanks Don... it worked! I even figured out why it wouldn't add up
    > correctly if I placed *IF(K2="discontinuing",0,1) at the end of this
    > formula (I had to seperate the equations). So, this is my new formula
    > to add up the quantitty:
    >
    > Code:
    > --------------------
    > =(SUM(L2:W2)+COUNTIF(L2:W2,"Available")*99)*IF(K2="discontinuing",0,1)
    > --------------------
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > ElNino
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > ElNino's Profile:
    > http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=25725
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=391062
    >




+ Reply to Thread

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 RC 1