Min Value - Multiple line of Data

[Ben_Holmes]

Hi,

I am looking of a quick way of finding the minimum date (start date) amongst a large data set for each customer.

Each customer has access to a number of products. I have a list of data customer and product that details the start date which a customer started using a particular product. I want to produce a list of customers that details the earliest date, i.e. the date which they started using our services.

Date is as follows:

Customer name Product Code Start Date
A AA1 10/10/10
A BB1 12/12/10
B AA1 09/09/10
C AA1 10/10/11
etc.

I have 30,000 rows of data containing 6,000 customers accessing 35 different products.

Any help would be apprciated.

I have tried using a vlookup however this pulls the first date it comes across and not the earliest date. What I need is a vlookup minimum finder.

Kind Regards

Ben

 

[pplstuff]

You'll want to use =min(if()) confirmed as an array (ctrl+shift+enter). There are a few ways to do it, will you adding customers? Or, is the list static?

 

[Ben_Holmes]

Hi Thanks for the reply.

This list is static.

Kind Regards

Ben

 

[pplstuff]

In that case there are two simple options:
1) Assuming customer name is A1 and start date is c1
-In D2: =min(if(a1=$a$1:$a$10,$a$1:$a$10)) <--ctrl+shift+enter
-double click the bottom right corner to drop down formula. (I only went to a10, so you'll need to make it as long as needed)
2) Select column A, copy paste into new area. Go to data -> remove duplicates. Then use the same formula listed above (but change "a1=" to the new area)

 

[Ben_Holmes]

That is brilliant!

What does the <--ctrl+shift+enter

actually do?

Thanks

Ben

 

[pplstuff]

It reminds excel that you're work with an "array" function. Put simply, there are three levels to learning excel.
-working with formulas
-working with arrays
-and, working with VBA
Obviously, there are levels of complexity within each of the tranches. Learning array functions will be very powerful is you work in excel often. Google it, and you'll get plenty of results if you're interested.

 

[Ben_Holmes]

Thanks for the advice I'll take a look at that!