Chapter 12, Problem 42E

Explanation of Solution

Spreadsheet to track project’s activities:

Step 1: Design a spreadsheet as shown below.

The below spreadsheet contains columns like “Start date”, “End date”, “Status”, “Estimated amount”, “Actual amount”, “Slippage”, and “Gain or Loss”.

Screenshot of the spreadsheet

In the above spreadsheet,

• The activities are listed from “D6” to “D10”.
• The start dates are listed in the cells from “E6” to “E10”.
• The end dates are listed in the cells from “F6” to “F10”.
• The statuses of the activities are listed in the cells from “G6” to “G10”.
• The estimated amounts are listed in the cells from “H6” to “H10”.
• The actual amounts are listed in the cells from “H6” to “H10”.

Step 2: Computing slippage for each activity:

Screenshot of the spreadsheet

In the above spreadsheet,

• The slippage for each activity is calculated by subtracting actual amount from estimated amount.
• The cell “J6” contains the formula “H6-I6”.
• The cell “J7” contains the formula “H7-I7”.
• The cell “J8” contains the formula “H8-I8”.
• The cell “J9” contains the formula “H9-I9”.
• The cell “J10” contains the formula “H10-I10”.

After calculating, the spreadsheet looks like the below screenshot.

Screenshot of the spreadsheet

Step 3: Computing Gain or Loss for each activity

Loss or Gain is calculated by using “IF” condition.

Screenshot of the spreadsheet

In the above spreadsheet,

• The cell “K6” contains the formula “IF(J6>0, "Gain","Loss")”.
• The cell “K7” contains the formula “IF(J7>0, "Gain","Loss")”.
• The cell “K8” contains the formula “IF(J8>0, "Gain","Loss")”...