Working in Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint to create a journal, calculate time, and present a day in my life is
a great learning experience. Each application is best utilized for specific
tasks.
When
comparing the similarities between these three applications and databases, I
found that they all have the means to format text and change the size and font
style as needed. Word is more specific toward text and has functions to add
pictures, tables, graphs to create many different types of formatted documents
and save the format, unlike some text editors. Excel spreadsheets primarily
calculate, organize, and represent tables data with text or numbers. Vahid
(2017) explains how formulas can be typed into a cell to calculate the results
from multiple cells and even recalculate when numbers or information is changed
(section 5.2). PowerPoint is great for creating a slide show with text and
graphics and can add animation to enhance the effects. Database applications
like SQL or Access are like spreadsheets in Excel; however, each data line is
connected to an ID to keep the data from becoming disconnected. Databases are
for vast amounts of data that must be retrieved by multiple persons and are
structured to organize data to prevent mixed information issues.
Figure 1 PowerPoint slide from Documenting a Day
Figure 2 Excel Spread Sheet Pie Chart
The advantage of each application is that Word is great
for creating reports, journals, articles and allows many formats and styles to
speed the process. I have built quick large font with colors flyers in Word.
Word can add tables but is challenging to work with compared to Excel. Word
does not have any way to calculate or sort text as Excel does. Excel is excellent
for creating data tables, and graphs and charts can be imported to Word,
PowerPoint, or other applications. PowerPoint can be used to create more than
slide show presentations. Animation can even create interactive games, but
other applications are better suited to game animation. Databases keep data
safe from unwanted changes and are great for collaboration when multiple users
are working on the same data. Database software can be confusing if one does
not understand the basics methods. Excel can be used as a database and shared,
but users will be frustrated from typing over each other’s information within a
few days. Excel data can be imported into a database, and information can be
retrieved from a database and imported into a spreadsheet. Most of my
experience comes from exploring these applications to complete certain tasks.
For example, during Covid, I created a spreadsheet that tracked people that
wanted to receive the vaccine when it came available. However, the calls for
getting on the list were growing daily. I was asked to create a shared
spreadsheet to enter clients’ data as they called. We had four users entering
data on the same spreadsheet, and it became a nightmare as data was
overwritten. I researched and found that a database would be best for this
issue; however, I was told no one knew how to create it, and we would have to
use Excel. I temporarily solved the problem by creating seven input platforms
in Excel and using Virtual Basic Programming (VBA) to send data to sheets
within the shared spreadsheet. After inputting over 5,000 people’s information
in less than five days, we stopped adding people to the list. The Excel
application crashed several times, and I was called to recover it. I have since
learned more about databases to be prepared for a similar situation.
Figure 3 Developer options VBA programming in Excel Click on Figure or link to see a video on adding the Developer Tab in Excel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQ8OuW0FlY
I recommend Word for documenting information about a day.
A complete outline with times and pictures can be created to show what
happened. There are multiple methods and formats to record the data in tables,
and if needed, the data can be imported to a spreadsheet for simple
calculations.
Word is great for preparing text to be copied into
discussions and gives a document with all your discussions for future
reference. Excel is great for schedules and small inventory lists that need to
be sorted. Databases are best for storing large amounts of data, and then queries
can pick information from the databases for reports as required. PowerPoint is
great for creating how-to guides and small manuals with graphics.
Vahid (2017) has shown the basic implementations of
word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation software. Each
application can be used in many ways, and some are better for specific tasks
than others(sections 5.1 – 5.4). Learning the strengths and weaknesses of many applications
will help ensure the best outcome in the projects of the future.
References
Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/
