Need Help Understanding Parts Of An Assignment (involves Microsoft Office).

[Chesso 0]

At the beginning of the term our staff is busy with enrolments. Students are given a discount if they pay the course fee in advance. The staff needs to
calculate and record the course fees paid by students. To make this task
easier for our staff you will need to design a template which can be re-used
each term. Include appropriate headings.
You should create and enter formulas to calculate the No. of Days paid in
Advance, the Discount and the Course Fee Paid.
Use a VLOOKUP function in your template to determine the discount rate
to be used for the calculation of the Discount. Your template should include
a separate discount table containing the following information about the
discount received: If students pay the course fee less than 7 days prior to the course
commencing then they receive no discount. If students pay the course fee 7 to 13 days prior to the course
commencing then they receive a discount of 5%. If students pay the course fee 14 to 20 days prior to the course
commencing then they receive a discount of 8%. If students pay the course fee 21 days or more prior to the course
commencing then they receive a discount of 10%.
Format the document appropriately. Save it as a template called
CourseFeesPaid in the Drafts folder.
Use the template you created to enter the following data for Term 3:

And then there is tabular data in the pdf (student name, course code, course name, date course commences, date paid and course fee).


This is one of the tasks for an assignment (for the course I am doing via correspondence, called "Information Technology Certificate III").

I have (I believe) managed everything else the assignment requires, but I am stuck on a few things about this particular task.

Like, am I supposed to use Word or Excel? (it is involving formulas and this VLOOKUP function they mention) and I wonder due to the norm of asking me to create a Word, then Excel then Access document (this task resides inbetween ones asking me to create a word document, and the n an access one).

How and where do I insert these formulas and make use of this VLOOKUP function, They don't even really give any details as to how they want it formated (and this external table and what not, how does it relate etc).

I really wish they would provide basic samples of what *they* expect, I have a learning materials CD for all of the current modules that have been sent to me, but none of them give me any information about some of this (like using formula's in word itself not excelt and this VLOOKUP function and how they want it done).

Any help is greatly appreciated, this would be my 3rd assignment done in one day if I can get this task done (I'm working hard) and still searching for answers lol.

[jimmy89 0]

This task would be completed in Excel. The VLOOKUP function finds values from another area of the sheet, or on another different sheet. You would use that for finding the percentage for discounts so if the number of days prior to course start is < 7 then 0% discount. So your 'discount table' would have the days in one column (days before course starts) and the percentages in another. So you type the amount of days left when the fees were payed under the students name, and the VLOOKUP function will find the percentage that needs to be discounted.

Have a look at some websites that explain the use of VLOOKUP and understand that before you start making this assignment. Some good sites are:
https://www.techonthenet.com/excel/formulas/vlookup.php
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ (example 2 is about marking up values, which is the opposite of what you are doing, but is easily swapped)

Good Luck
-jimmy

[Chesso 0]

Yeah I thought excel too, but it mentions "designing" a "document" like I have in the past using word (with graphics and stuff, like clipart), is that feasible in excel?

[jimmy89 0]

well you can use graphics (like clipart) in excel. But i dont think you can actually use functions like VLOOKUP in word. Thw only way taht I know of is making a excel document and importing it into word (as a object). From what you have posted, my initial thoughts were of excel for a project of this nature.

Where you quoted before

you will need to design a template which can be re-used each term

a template would be where they can re-enter students names each term. This template, to my understanding would be best made in excel. The mathematical functions that you can use in excel aren't available in word, which makes me think that you would use excel. Edited July 4, 2007 by Jimmy89 (see edit history)

[Chesso 0]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, it's just that they didn't state it and some things said in it make me think word, so I was confused about it lol.I usually ring them and ask but they changed to an annoying voice thing with buttons that takes forever to get through to a real person recently, and I got a call back for some clarification on something I finally got done, nearly a week after I emailed them..... lol.

[jimmy89 0]

Hopefully you will be able to sort it out with themGood Luck-jimmy

[Chesso 0]

Yeah I might have to try and get a hold of them tomorrow and see if I can get this task all cleared up, I'd hate to have to send it all off and find it out it's completely wrong lol.Thanks for the help jimmy!

[jimmy89 0]

If you do end up using excel, i have a excel document that I made while I was in Year 10 at school. It was a basic budget calculator and used the VLOOKUP function. I'll attach it so you can have a look at how it works. Have a look on the wages tab, where it calculates tax, there is a VLOOKUP function for how much tax to be payed - something similar to what you are doing!Good Luck-jimmy

[iGuest 3]

You can find further easy assistance with the vlookup function on the following address, which presents the subject using simple tutorial vidoes:http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ by Jack Gopher

[Jack gopher 0]

You can find here more info regarding the usage of Excel vlookup function:
vlookup