Let me start with a scenario: You're sitting at your desk at work, when your boss asks you to quickly update and print some information in Excel 2010. Perhaps it's next week's payroll or sales figures for a meeting, perhaps it's a record of event attendance. You easily pull up Excel and find the appropriate file. Now, how do you handle the update? Do you copy and paste information? Do you find another file with the formula that seems right and paste it into your file? Do you cut out lines of numbers and paste them into a Word document, then pull out a calculator? Do you wonder if there is an easier way to get Excel to do what you want it to or are you resigned to its perceived limitations?

I've seen these scenarios and worse. It's simply not uncommon for a business to lack someone with real expertise in Microsoft Excel. Employees make do with the templates that have been floating around their office for the last few years and cut and paste their way to the information that they're looking for.

Now, add in the fact that the latest version, Microsoft Office 2010, is becoming more common, along with PowerPivot - a new addition and completely free add-on that integrates with Excel and allows users to manage massive amounts of data. Think millions of rows worth. The need for expertise becomes critical.

PowerPivot alone has added even greater functionality to Excel. The uses of this new tool for information professionals are many and varied. Imagine being able to track all sorts of business needs, from email lists and events information to payroll and sales projections. As with all of the Office tools, Excel and PowerPivot are able to link with and include data from other Office applications, extending the usefulness even further. Access databases, Word documents - information is easily integrated so that no time is wasted transferring data from one application to another. Simply insert it as an Object and it all appears right in Excel. No cut and paste needed or wanted.

By adding PowerPivot to Excel, it can be used to filter larger quantities of data and turn it into useful information. Rather than combing through rows and rows of a spreadsheet, filters allow users to set up specific rules and jump right to the information that they're looking for. Of course, that information can then be transformed into just about every kind of chart imaginable - from pie charts to bar graphs to scatter plots - there's a chart for any need, making it much easier to graphically display your results in a way that is coherent to the general public. Rather lines of text quickly slapped onto a Word document, you could show up to your meeting with a multi-colored, professional quality chart of event attendance history or sales projections all done in just a couple of minutes.

There is an easier way to get Excel to do what you want, and even to get it to do what your boss wants. Learn a few of Excel's tricks and you'll be amazed at just how many uses you can get out of it. Add some serious Excel expertise to your job qualifications arsenal and watch how quickly you become just as necessary to your business as Excel is itself.

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What do you about think about "PowerPivot: A Microsoft Excel Addin"? Feel free to provide comments and start a discussion!

So, if you are an interested information professional and want to know what classes in SLIS teach these ideas, take a tour!

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[1] PowerPivot Addin