Is there a best method of showing Year over Year chart
comparisons (data displayed by Month) when the monthly
data points are displayed in a single column? [....]
Data is displayed like this:
201011 Value
201010 Value
201009 Value
Etc....
There are so many omissions in your question, I don't know if anyone
can answer it unless they get lucky with wild-a.s.s guesses.
First, what do you mean by "comparison"? I would guess %difference.
Second, are there gaps in your dates? If not, then if your dates are
in A1:A1200 and your values are in B1:B1200, the year-over-year
%difference is =A1/A13-1 in C1, which you can copy down column C.
As for charting, note that your dates are in descending. I would
prefer to see a chart in ascending oder. So __before__ you create the
formulas in column C, I would sort columns A:B in __ascending__ order
of column A. In that case, you probably want to compute %difference
with =A13/A1-1 starting in C13, which you can copy down column C.
Third, does that address your question; or is your question about how
to use the chart the data in column C using the Chart Wizard (hint!)?
However, finally, if there are gaps in your dates, the "best" solution
depends on whether the dates displayed in column A are actually stored
as Excel dates and displayed with the format Custom yyyymm. If not,
how are those dates stored: as text or as numbers? And would you be
willing to change the date representation to Excel dates, using the
Custom format to retain their current appearance?
