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0 pointsClosi5y ago0 comments

PowerQuery isn’t a replacement for excel though - it’s a data preprocessing tool for analysts.

It’s not going to replace functionality of core spreadsheet-based excel for accountants, for instance, who typically won’t have a use for PowerQuery as their data is structured differently.

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perl4ever5y ago

I am not an accountant per se, but I work for an accounting organization. Could you give an example of what you mean by "structured differently"?

ClosiOP5y ago

PowerQuery assumes tabular data where each column is the data type and each row is a data element / entity. It is structured similar to a database.

In a spreadsheet the data is much less structured which is where a lot of the power comes from - for instance PowerQuery doesn’t really support things like subtotals easily, or doing scratch-calculations, or building quick financial models. It is closer to a paper-ledger with calculations scribbled into the margins than a big-data database.

PowerQuery is more about ingesting lots of data and cleaning it, while finance is often about working stuff out and playing with numbers to see what happens - and playing with numbers is easier in a less-structured-loosely-typed environments.

perl4ever5y ago

>PowerQuery doesn’t really support things like subtotals easily,

Subtotals? I was used to using GROUPING SETS with Oracle SQL, and found I could roll my own in Power Query. It's a good example of exactly why I like it.

Also, Power Query doesn't prevent you from using the regular table total feature or a pivot table based off of the Power Query output.

That is, even if Power Query doesn't provide all the subtotaling features you'd like in the way you'd like, it doesn't restrict you from anything, does it?

> or doing scratch-calculations, or building quick financial models

I do use it to do all sorts of ad hoc calculations - for instance, it can ingest PDF files or HTML with tables.

It sounds as if you're saying it's too complicated for really trivial calculations?

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perl4ever5y ago

I am not an accountant per se, but I work for an accounting organization. Could you give an example of what you mean by "structured differently"?

ClosiOP5y ago

PowerQuery assumes tabular data where each column is the data type and each row is a data element / entity. It is structured similar to a database.

perl4ever5y ago

>PowerQuery doesn’t really support things like subtotals easily,

Subtotals? I was used to using GROUPING SETS with Oracle SQL, and found I could roll my own in Power Query. It's a good example of exactly why I like it.

Also, Power Query doesn't prevent you from using the regular table total feature or a pivot table based off of the Power Query output.

That is, even if Power Query doesn't provide all the subtotaling features you'd like in the way you'd like, it doesn't restrict you from anything, does it?

> or doing scratch-calculations, or building quick financial models

I do use it to do all sorts of ad hoc calculations - for instance, it can ingest PDF files or HTML with tables.

It sounds as if you're saying it's too complicated for really trivial calculations?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse