This is a fictional teaching example, not a real client case or an automatically repaired Excel file. It illustrates the review steps for a small spreadsheet repair.
| Products!A: SKU | B: Unit price (£) | C: Stock units |
|---|---|---|
| SKU-A | 12.50 | 70 |
| SKU-B | 7.20 | 45 |
All identifiers and numbers are invented for this example.
Order row 2 has SKU-A. The broken formula is =VLOOKUP(A2,Products!A2:C3,3,FALSE). It returns 70 (stock units) rather than the expected unit price 12.50, because column 3 was selected.
It can also drift if copied downward because the source range is relative.
Corrected example: =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,Products!$A$2:$C$3,2,FALSE),"REVIEW").
| Order SKU | Expected price | Check |
|---|---|---|
| SKU-A | £12.50 | Match, column 2 |
| SKU-B | £7.20 | Match, column 2 |
| SKU-X | REVIEW | Unknown SKU, no invented value |
IFERROR is appropriate here only after confirming that missing or invalid matches should be labelled REVIEW; other errors still need investigation. The exact formula must be checked against the customer's real workbook and Excel locale.
Confirm the intended return column with the owner, verify representative known keys, flag unknown and duplicate keys, preserve original workbook, and document each changed formula. External links, macros and financial-critical calculations need separate assessment.
Spreadsheet Repair starts from £45 for an agreed bounded scope. First send only a fictional or redacted example, symptom, expected result and deadline. No payment is requested through this page.
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