How to Create Analytical Report Template in Excel?

Data analysis has become an integral aspect of any successful business. It enables you to identify trends, zero in on opportunities, and settle on a course of action.

This relies heavily on an analytical report that summarizes data in detail.

Let’s say you run a retail business and want to understand its performance in different locations.

You can use an analytical report template to write a report.

This report can include sales data, customer feedback, and testimonials. It can also contain information about market trends, customer demographics, and average purchase prices.

Upon analyzing this data, you can decide on product placement and marketing tactics.

Then what is an analytical report, and how can you create one? This article seeks to answer these questions by guiding you to create an analytical report in Excel.

Table of Content:

1. What is an Analytical Report?
2. Types of Analytical Reports
3. Different Purposes of Analytical Reports
4. Types of Analytical Report Templates
5. How to Create an Analytical Report?
6. Why are Analytical Reports Important?
7. Important Aspects of Analytical Reporting
8. Wrap Up

What is an Analytical Report?

An analytical report is a presentation that delves into a problem or situation, drawing conclusions and making recommendations based on data. This is closely related to what a data analyst does””examining data to help businesses make informed decisions. As such, an analytical report plays a crucial role in helping businesses evaluate the efficiency of their processes and pinpoint areas where they can boost productivity.

Accuracy and objectivity are the keys to a successful analytical report.

You should be able to put together disparate pieces of information to create a meaningful report. Thus, you should know much about the subject at hand.

Types of Analytical Reports

1. Market Analysis Report

A market analysis report evaluates potential opportunities and risks in the sector. It contains market size, share, competitors, price comparison, and demand data. Additionally, it can include customer preferences, trends, and other important factors.

2. Financial Analysis Report

A financial analysis report evaluates a company’s financial health. Profits, losses, assets, liabilities, cash flows, and other financial parameters can all be included. The report can also indicate potential financial risks and opportunities.

3. Operational Analysis Report

An operational analysis report assesses the efficiency of a business’s activities. It contains performance, process efficiency, personnel productivity, and customer happiness metrics. Also, the report might provide insights into areas that need improvement or optimization.

4. Trend Analysis Report

Discovering trends and patterns in data is the primary goal of a trend analysis report. It provides insights into metrics like sales, consumer habits, and market tendencies. Moreover, the report sheds light on potential future developments, allowing businesses to make informed choices.

Different Purposes of Analytical Reports

• Identifying Trends

You can use analytical reports to spot trends and patterns in data. For instance, you can learn about shifts in consumer habits and market trends from this report. This can facilitate informed decision-making and future planning.

• Decision Making

Analytical reports and data reporting templates are beneficial in decision-making. For instance, a financial analysis report can help understand the economic situation of a business, consequently aiding in making informed investment decisions.

• Problem-Solving

You can use analytical reports to find alternatives to problematic situations. For instance, a report on operational analysis might point out certain trouble spots. Then you can determine ways to enhance efficiency.

• Identifying Growth Opportunities

Analytical reports can help you find areas for expansion. You can find new clients and expand into new markets with the help of a market analysis report.

• Communicating to Stakeholders

You can use analytical reports to communicate with stakeholders. A trend analysis report can help you communicate insights into customer behavior and market trends.

Types of Analytical Report Templates

1. Sales and Revenue Report

A company’s sales and revenue report is a gold mine of information on the business’s financial health.

It contains:

• An overview of sales and revenue.
• Comparison to the same period in the previous year.
• An analysis of the data by region, product, and client.

This allows you to make pricing, marketing strategy, product offering, and resource allocation decisions. Therefore, you can boost your profitability and maximize your growth potential.

2. Website Traffic Report

With a website traffic report, you can evaluate its performance. It provides a bird’s-eye perspective of how many people visit your site and where they found it.

The report includes metrics such as page views, unique visitors, bounce rate, and average time spent on the website. It can help you identify patterns and trends in the website’s performance. Thus, you can make informed decisions about site optimization, content creation, and marketing campaigns.

How to Create an Analytical Report?

Excel is one of the most used visualization instruments. However, the spreadsheet application lacks ready-to-use analytical report-based charts, such as Sankey Charts and Pareto Charts.

We’re not advising you to do away with Excel in favor of other expensive tools.

This is because there’s an amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in Excel to access insightful and ready-to-use analytical report-based charts. The tool is called ChartExpo.

So, what is ChartExpo?

ChartExpo is an add-in you can easily install in your Excel.

With many ready-to-go and insightful charts, graphs, and maps, including Box and Whisker plot templates, ChartExpo turns your complex, raw data into easy-to-interpret and visually appealing analytical reports that tell data stories in real-time.

Features and benefits:

• ChartExpo is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, which makes it extremely light. You have a 100% guarantee that your Excel won’t be slowed down.
• You can export your charts and graphs in JPEG, PDF, SVG, and PNG formats.
• ChartExpo add-in is only $10 a month after the end of the trial period.

How to Install ChartExpo in Excel?

1. Open your Excel application.
2. Open the worksheet and click on the “Insert” menu.
3. You’ll see the “My Apps”.
4. In the office Add-ins window, click on “Store” and search for ChartExpo on my Apps Store.
5. Click on the “Add” button to install ChartExpo in your Excel.

ChartExpo charts are available both in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the following CTA’s to install the tool of your choice and create beautiful visualizations in a few clicks in your favorite tool.

Example

Assume you have the following data and wish to create an analytical report on cash flow.

Earnings Source	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Departments	Outflows	Amount
Providing services	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Managerial	Personnel training	10000
Providing services	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Managerial	Office rental	16000
Providing services	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Managerial	Wages	9400
Renting out premises	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Commercial	Wages	11300
Renting out premises	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Commercial	Travel allowance	10000
Renting out premises	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Commercial	Advertising	12000
Sales of products	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Production	Material Payment	25000
Sales of products	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Production	Loan Payment	8500
Sales of products	Revenue	Proceeds	Expenses	Production	Wages	19500
Loans		Proceeds	Expenses	Production	Wages	18000

• To get started with ChartExpo, install ChartExpo in Excel.
• Now Click on My Apps from the INSERT menu.

• Choose ChartExpo from My Apps, then click Insert.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded. Click on “Sankey Chart” from the list of charts.

• Click the “Create Chart From Selection” button after selecting the data from the sheet, as shown.

• The Sankey Chart will look as follows.

• If you want to have the title of the chart, click on Edit Chart, as shown in the above image.
• To change the title of the chart, click on the pencil icon that is available very next to Chart Header.
• It will open the properties dialog. Under the Text section, you can add a heading in Line 1 and enable the Show option. Give the appropriate title of your chart and click on the Apply button.

• Click the highlighted pencil icon to add a Prefix (e.g., $ sign) to the numeric values of the chart.
• Expand the “Symbols” properties to add the Prefix value.

• To change the node color, click on the pencil icon available with the node. Expand the Node properties and change color from the Node Color property. Click on the Apply button.
• For saving changes click on Save Changes. This will persist the changes.

• The final chart will look as below.

Insights

• Level 1 shows the different sources of money. Services contribute 25%, renting out premises contributes 24%, product sales comprise 38%, and loans contribute 13%.
• Level 2 reveals that the revenue is $121.7k, obtained from the above streams.
• Level 3 proceeds with a total of $139.7k.
• Level 4 illustrates that most expenses ($139.7k) were for the final payment. Commercial expenses purposes accounted for 24%, managerial expenses were 25%, and production expenses were the most at 51%.
• From examining Level 5, it is clear that most of the money (42%) goes to wages.

Why are Analytical Reports Important?

• Analytical reports provide vital insights into a business’s performance. You can identify areas for improvement by analyzing the data. This contributes to improved efficiency, cost savings, and better customer service.
• Analytical reports measure marketing efforts’ success. You can determine which campaigns perform effectively and which do not. Thus, you can make adjustments and enhance the efficacy of your marketing campaigns.
• Analytical reports reveal useful information on client habits. This information can help you determine what your customers want and how to give it to them. With this information, you can develop goods and services that meet the demands of your target market.
• You can spot market trends with the aid of analytical reports. Examining the data allows you to spot developing tendencies and adjust your strategies.
• You can identify and counter risks with analytical reports. Thus, you can shield your business from potential harm and avoid costly mistakes.

Important Aspects of Analytical Reporting

Accuracy in reporting findings from analyses is crucial. Weakened by inaccurate information, the report will serve little purpose. Therefore, it is important to maintain an accurate and up-to-date database.

You should also present the report in a way that is clear and understandable.

Analytical reports should also be comprehensive. Put in all the pertinent information and analysis, including trends, correlations, and comparisons.

FAQs:

How do you write an analytical report?

Writing an analytical report involves gathering data, analyzing it, and summarizing the findings. It includes visualizations such as charts and graphs. With ChartExpo, you can organize your report in insightful visualizations from which you can analyze your data.

What is a formal analytical report?

A formal analytical report comprehensively examines a specific subject or issue. It delves deep into a particular organization, process, or occurrence and provides a thorough evaluation. Statistics, graphs, charts, and other visual aids support the report’s findings.

What is an analytical report template?

An analytical report template outlines the format and structure of an analytical report. It includes an executive summary, objectives, data sources, analysis methods, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. It also includes a section for references and other resources.

What is an analytical report?

An analytical report provides an in-depth review or analysis of a topic. It contains everything from gathering information to analyzing it, drawing conclusions, and making suggestions. It aids in making decisions by comparing options and giving background on the topic of interest.

Wrap Up

Data analysis has an immense contribution to your success as a business owner. It helps you spot patterns, zero in on improvement avenues, and arrive at well-considered conclusions.

A critical part of this success is an analytical report. It provides a bird’s-eye view of the data so stakeholders can better grasp the issue at hand.

Now you have a comprehensive guide to creating an analytical report in Excel with ChartExpo. We’ve also discussed the importance of analytical reports and the different types of reports.

You now have the expertise to design your custom analytical report template. You can create a report from the template to guide smart decision-making and boost productivity.