VLOOKUP Functions How do I?

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1 For Adviser use only (Not to be relied on by anyone else)

2 Once you ve produced your ISA subscription report and client listings report you then use the VLOOKUP to create all the information you need into the one excel spreadsheet. You can then generate a mail merge from the data on your newly created spreadsheet. VLOOKUP is an Excel function to import information from one spreadsheet into another. To use VLOOKUP, there must be one unique data item or reference that exists in both spreadsheets. For Wrap, this will be the WP number. In this example we have table 1 that shows WP numbers, names and addresses. The second table shows just the account product value and WP number. If you want to add the product value to the first table, you could do this manually but it would be time consuming with the risk of manual errors. Alternatively, the VLOOKUP tool can be used. The first thing to do is add a new column to the table. It s possibly simplest to add this to the end you can always move it later if need be: Table 1 Table 3 Table 2 Wrap platform user guide 02

3 The table you are retrieving data from needs to be in a particular order. It should be in ascending order based on the references you are looking up; secondly, the column that you are looking up should be to the left of the data you want to extract. So in this example where we are looking up data using WP numbers and looking to retrieve the product value, the columns should be swapped around and then the WP number column needs to be in ascending order: Table 4 Now for the VLOOKUP You need to add a formula to the table where you want the new data to be added. Go into the first cell where the data is required and enter a formula as follows: = adding an equal sign tells Excel you are adding a formula rather than a value VLOOKUP this tells Excel the type of formula you want to use. It s not case sensitive ( opening a bracket tells Excel you are about to add the first instruction CELL REFERENCE type in here the reference of the Cell you want to look up. You can either type the cell reference in manually (eg C2 or H17) OR you can click on the relevant cell, after entering the cell reference, add a comma this tells Excel your first instruction is complete LOOKUP RANGE type in the reference of the Cell you want to look up. You can either type the cell reference in manually (eg G24:H30) but it s MUCH easier to go to the table where you plan to retrieve data from and highlight the range of data you want to look up. Starting at the top of the first column you want to go all the way down to the bottom of the last column, after entering the lookup range add another comma to tell Excel your second instruction is complete NUMBER now enter the number of the column you want to retrieve the data from. If you have highlighted a range of five columns, and you want to pull the value shown in the fifth column, type in 5. ) closing a bracket tells Excel your instructions are complete Then hit enter and the formula should retrieve the relevant piece of information from the second table and add it to the first. Wrap platform user guide 03

4 In our example, we ve been using the WP number as the lookup reference as it s a unique reference and it appears in both of the tables. So I ve told Excel to use B3 as the first Cell Reference to lookup, I ve highlighted the table I want Excel to look into (just highlighting from the start of the WP number column down to the end of the Product Value column), and I ve said Excel I want the data from the second column highlighted). So when I hit enter, I am hoping that Excel will retrieve the value 1,000,000 from the second table as that is the product value relating to WP You can copy the formula down the column by using Copy & Paste or by double clicking the bottom right corner of the cell you ve entered the formula into. Wrap platform user guide 04

5 Hints and tips If the table that you re retrieving data from is not in order, then the formula will not work correctly remember to sort it into ascending order by highlighting the data and selecting Data / Sort. The two sets of data do not need to be in the same spreadsheet in fact it s simpler if they re not. The column that you are looking up should be to the left of the data that you want to retrieve or the formula will fail. If you re looking up a value that occurs more than once in the table you re retrieving data from then the formula will retrieve the relevant value from the first example it finds. When you have done your VLOOKUP and are happy with the results, you may wish to lock down the retrieved data you can do this by copy the retrieved data and use the paste special / values option: If the reference you want to look up isn t in the same format in the two tables eg in one the format is WP and in the other, the format is WP then to make VLOOKUP work, you ll need to either add -002 to the first table or remove -002 (or whatever the suffix is) from the second table. The formula =LEFT(CELLREFERENCE,NUMBER OF CHARACTERS) can be used to retrieve just the left-most characters from a field; the format =RIGHT(CELLREFERENCE,NUMBER OF CHARACTERS) does the opposite. If you want to add a string of data to the end of a value, the CONCATENATE function will do this for you. If the reference you are searching for doesn t exist in the table you are looking up then Excel will retrieve the next available value (which will generally not be what you want). VLOOKUP is one useful function but it has limitations HLOOKUP is a similar tool but it retrieves data horizontally across rows rather than vertically down columns. The INDEX and MATCH options maybe more useful if your data is more complex. Paste special / values option Wrap platform user guide 05

6 If you need any additional support or information, please contact the Platform Customer Centre on: Calls may be monitored and/or recorded to protect both you and us and help with our training. Call charges will vary. Or refer to the Microsoft Excel guide: Standard Life Savings Limited, registered in Scotland (SC180203) is provider of the Wrap Platform, Wrap Personal Portfolio and Wrap ISA. The registered office of Standard Life Savings Limited is at Standard Life House, 30 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2DH and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Calls may be monitored and/or recorded to protect both you and us and help with our training. Call charges will vary. GEN Standard Life (images reproduced under licence)