🚀 Data Analyst Roadmap — Part 4

📊 Excel — Level 3: Conditional Functions

Now that you understand basic Excel formulas, the next step is learning how to make Excel make decisions based on conditions.

This is a very important skill for Data Analysts because real-world questions are rarely just:

"What is the total?"

Instead, you'll get questions like:

"What are the total sales for the IT department?"

"How many employees earn more than ₹80,000?"

"What is the average sales for the North region?"

"Which employees achieved their target?"

To answer these questions, you need conditional functions.

1️⃣ IF()

IF() is one of the most important Excel functions.

It allows Excel to make a decision.

Syntax

=IF(condition, value_if_true, value_if_false)

Think of it as:

If something is true → do this; otherwise → do that.

Example

Suppose sales are in B2.

You want to classify employees:

Sales ≥ 50,000 → High

Sales < 50,000 → Low

=IF(B2>=50000,"High","Low")

If B2 is:

75,000

Result: High

If B2 is:

35,000

Result: Low

2️⃣ IF() in Real-World Data Analysis

Suppose you have:

Employee | Sales

John | 75,000

Sarah | 45,000

Mike | 90,000

David | 30,000

You can create a performance column:

=IF(B2>=50000,"Target Achieved","Target Not Achieved")

Result:

Employee | Sales | Status

John | 75,000 | Target Achieved

Sarah | 45,000 | Target Not Achieved

Mike | 90,000 | Target Achieved

David | 30,000 | Target Not Achieved

This is called data categorization.

3️⃣ Multiple Conditions with Nested IF()

Sometimes you need more than two categories.

For example:

≥ 80,000 → Excellent

≥ 60,000 → Good

≥ 40,000 → Average

< 40,000 → Poor

You can use:

=IF(B2>=80000,"Excellent",IF(B2>=60000,"Good",IF(B2>=40000,"Average","Poor")))

Excel checks the conditions from left to right.

Important: The order matters. You should generally check the highest threshold first.

4️⃣ IFS()

IFS() is a cleaner alternative when you have multiple conditions.

=IFS(
B2>=80000,"Excellent",
B2>=60000,"Good",
B2>=40000,"Average",
TRUE,"Poor"
)

The first condition that evaluates to TRUE determines the result.

IF vs IFS

Use:

IF() → simple decisions

IFS() → multiple conditions

5️⃣ AND()

AND() checks whether all conditions are true.

Example

You want to identify employees who:

Belong to IT AND earn more than ₹80,000

=AND(B2="IT",C2>80000)

Both conditions must be true.

6️⃣ Combining IF() + AND()

This is more useful in real analysis.

=IF(AND(B2="IT",C2>80000),"Eligible","Not Eligible")

Meaning:

If the employee is from IT AND salary is greater than ₹80,000, return "Eligible".

Otherwise: "Not Eligible"

7️⃣ OR()

OR() checks whether at least one condition is true.

Example:

You want to identify employees who belong to either:

IT OR Finance

=OR(B2="IT",B2="Finance")

If either condition is true, the result is TRUE.

8️⃣ Combining IF() + OR()

=IF(
OR(B2="IT",B2="Finance"),
"Technical Department",
"Other"
)