📄 TRAINING EXERCISE FILE

Monthly Activity Report — Charts & Pivot Tables Guide

0:07 — Welcome

Welcome to the Monthly Activity Report training video for the Department of Texas Marine Corps League. In this video, we’ll walk step by step through how to use your Monthly Activity Report workbook by viewing charts and pivot tables.

Before beginning, make sure you’ve watched:

• Activity Report Training – Accessing the Shared File

• Activity Report Training – Entering Data

• Activity Report Training – Viewing Reports

These videos explain how to access your file, enter data, and view monthly reports.

0:38 — Getting Started with Charts

This example uses a full year of data — May 2024 through April 2025 for the Rio Grande Valley Detachment.

Every Activity Report includes a worksheet titled CHARTS. This worksheet provides visual reporting tools you can use to analyze your detachment’s activity.

When you first open the CHARTS worksheet at the beginning of the year, it will be blank. Once you have entered data in the MAIN Activity‑list worksheet, you can update the visuals:

To refresh all charts:

1. Click anywhere inside the blank chart area

2. At the top, click DATA

3. Select REFRESH ALL

1:21 — Chart 1: SUM of Score

Tone: curious The first chart displays the SUM of Score by Subcategory. This gives you a quick visual of where your detachment’s efforts are focused.

If the chart looks incomplete, you may need to adjust filters.

Fixing Missing Months

Above the chart, where it says “multiple items”, click the filter icon.

Scroll down and check for:

• 12 April → should be selected

• click-select → should NOT be selected

Apply the changes.

1:56 — Fixing Missing Subcategories

Next, click the Subcategory dropdown.

At the bottom of the popup, you may notice only some subcategories are selected.

To show all subcategories:

1. Click Select All

2. Ensure click-select is NOT checked

3. Scroll down and uncheck blank

4. Click Apply

The chart will update with complete data.

2:26 — Fixing Incomplete Data Ranges

Sometimes charts don’t update fully because the data range is too short.

Example: In the table on the left, the purple and blue columns may stop at row 26.

To extend the data range:

1. Hover over the small dot at the bottom-right of the blue column

2. Left‑click and hold

3. Drag downward until all missing rows are included

The chart will refresh automatically.

2:51 — Updating Other Charts

Each chart on the CHARTS worksheet presents different data. The next chart is SUM of Donation Amount.

If refreshing doesn’t work:

To rebuild a chart:

1. Select the blank or broken chart

2. Press Delete

3. Click inside the data table on the left

4. Go to INSERT

5. Choose the chart type you want (e.g., Pie Chart)

6. Move the chart wherever you want on the page

3:23 — Additional Charts

Tone: curious + lighthearted Other charts include:

• SUM of Total Volunteer Hours

• SUM of Total Volunteer Value

These charts are yours to customize. Feel free to experiment with different chart types or data fields.

If you want to learn more about charting, YouTube has many excellent tutorials.

3:46 — Understanding Pivot Tables

Pivot Tables power the charts on this worksheet. They are the small tables located next to each chart.

You can copy and paste any Pivot Table to another area of the sheet — recommended below the charts.

3:48 — Final Pivot Table

The last Pivot Table on the CHARTS worksheet shows:

• SUM of Score

• By Subcategory

• By Month

• With Grand Totals

Refreshing this table gives you a clear view of your scoring trends throughout the year.

4:21 — Wrap‑Up

You now know how to:

• Set up the workbook

• Enter activity data

• View monthly reports

• Print or save reports as PDFs

• Review and present data using charts and pivot tables

With practice, this becomes quick and easy.

If you need help, contact the Department Senior Vice at: seniorvice@txmcl.org