FROM DATA TO DECISIONS WITH SPREADSHEETS SKILLS
July, 24, 2026 | 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
8F Social Hall, PGH Central Block Building
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Author: Carl Jharvey L. Joaquin VIII
Human Resource Development Office
The use of spreadsheets and excel is a fundamental skill in the workplace. It denotes the daily deliverables, collated data and information needed for the daily functioning of employees of UP Manila. These skills may be relevant especially in offices for property procurement, quantity auditing, and conditional formatting for necessary supplies and properties needed for all other offices of the institution.
Hence, the Human Resources Development Office (HRDO) facilitated a Spreadsheet Training titled “Data to Decisions with Spreadsheet Skills," at 8F Social Hall, Central Building UP-PGH, July 24, 2026 at 9:00 to 4:00 pm - joined by the offices of Supply and Property Management Office (SPMO), and Property Management Office (PMO). Invited as the resource speaker, Asst. Prof. Ruahden F. Dang-awan, M.S, an Assistant Professor 1 from the Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences, shared his expertise throughout the session from spreadsheet navigation, tables, conditional formatting, data validation and merge mail throughout the session.
The training began with an introductory message from Ms. Julia Cabalda of HRDO, who emphasized the importance of mastering basic spreadsheet skills and declared relevant house rules throughout the session. Ms. Cabalda also collected an expectation check from all participants from various groups, as well as their expected ranking at the end of the session based on each hands-on activity. The session's resource speaker will then be introduced formally.
Mr. Ruahden began the session by discussing the basics of the Excel interface, including navigation shortcuts for identifying cells and table content, as well as hands-on exercises and examples. Freezing panes were also discussed in terms of how they should be used on spreadsheets and excel, particularly in situations where certain rows or columns should be highlighted and frozen for faster checking. A discussion of basic formulas for sum, average, maximum, and minimum was also held, as well as how they should be efficiently employed and used in the context of property auditing and checking using sample data sheets.
After the discussion, Mr. Ruahden then discussed the proper use of pivot tables for more efficient identification of collated aggregate data from raw table data, as well as the use of VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP to extract matching names from other columns or data instead of manually cross-checking and identifying them from sheets. The following discussion piqued the participants' interest, and they were challenged to try several hands-on activities with predictable results and outcomes.
Further in the training, Module III of the session was then discussed entailing an efficient way of reproducing data without typing any formulas. This technique removes the restriction of what can be typed into a cell from a dropdown lists, number ranges, and dates so that forms can be filled consistently. Other pertinent topics also revolved around the omission of duplicates in data using formulas to save time on accomplishing such files in the work setting.
In the final portion of the session, Mr. Ruahden goes into great detail about how to use Google Sheets' Mail Merge Extension to automatically send a customized email with customized content or a document without having to manually copy and paste all of the content from Google Sheets. Lastly, Mr. Ruahden talked about "macro" and how it could be used for one-click automatic repetitive formatting.
We, the Learning and Development Section of the UP Manila HRDO, strive to deliver training programs and caravans that are both conducive and beneficial to our fellow UP Manila constituents. Look out for more exciting updates on events that we’ve got for you here at our website!
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