Sheet

	Read and follow directions in the syllabus carefully.
	Check out the Hints for VLOOKUP, IF Avoid the errors that have been made by past students (don't make the same ones yourself). Remember to use the MS Excel Help menu and Tutorials
	Create formulae so Excel calculates all columns from G (Overtime Hours) to O (Net pay) When someone works a different number of hours then Overtime hours must automatically adjust (remember cardinal rule of spreadsheets - Never do the math yourself, that includes comparing.) If someone moves from NY or NJ, then the sheet should automatically do the proper state tax. If they get another kid (dependant), then it more health insurance should automatically be deducted. (hint: that's a named table)
	Remember the Total Row for  Overtime hours through Net Pay columns
	Be sure to follow the Cardinal Rules for Spreadsheets: Never do the math yourself.  Math is add, subtract, multiply, divide, compare and functions). ALWAYS instruct Excel on how to perform the calculation  (which cells, functions or math operators) to use. Never type a value more than once.  Always put changeable values, like interest rates, in cells where they can be seen and changed, and then point to them in the formula. ALWAYS point to a cell (usually the nearest) that contains the value.  This is critical when the value you intend to use has been calculated by Excel. Check your work that the numbers make sense!  Estimate what they should be.

Formatting

	States are ONLY 2 characters NJ, NJ, FL, DC, CA
	$ in the first row and last row (total row) ONLY
	Format so the sheet is attractive. Use clipart, shading, bold, italics, underline, varied fonts, sizes...
	Use Wrap to put Long Headings like "Overtime Hours" on 2 lines using Alt plus Enter at same time Overtime Hours
	Reduce column widths to Best Fit. (double click in-between the letters on  A B C on top)
	Since this is an exchange of money, use pennies for most cells
	All cells in a column should have the same number of decimals.

Formula

	Use IF formula when a cell could have different values/formula depending on the value of some other cell.  For payroll, if that employee were paid the same amount every week and the total for the year was over $20,000 then Federal Tax would be due on amount over $20,000.  If the yearly total were less than $20,000 then zero tax would be due.  This requires calculating the yearly income based upon if the weekly pay using an IF .  See example.
	Use VLOOKUP function when a cell's value/formula is a variety of different value depending on that some other cell contains. For payroll, Health Insurance is done using a lookup function.
	Overtime pay is paid at time and a half (1.5) - it is this for everyone, no IF needed since zero times anything is zero
	Regular pay is based on regular hours only, 40 or fewer, not total hours. This does NOT need an IF because regular hours are total hours except overtime, net them out. An IF makes the formula unnecessarily complex. Regular hours are total minus Overtime which works no matter if there are OT hours or not (zero).  You cannot just plug a 40 here since few than 40 hours could have been worked and you cannot do the compare yourself and put 40 in some cells and total hours worked in other (see first cardinal rule of spreadsheets)
	Federal tax requires annualizing the weekly pay and testing if it exceeds $20,000.  If so the formula is annualize it (again) net out $20,000 to get taxable income multiply taxable income by the tax rate to get yearly taxes and divide by the number of weeks in a year to get this weeks taxes test that your formula is correct by having someone who makes $400 a week who should pays $3.08 $400 times 52 is yearly income = $20,800 minus- 20,000 for $800 taxable income times 20% tax rate is $160 per year taxes divided by 52 weeks in a year is $3.07  someone who earns less $400 a weeks who should not pay any tax.
	State taxes are done with a table lookup.  The states must be in alphabetical order in the table
	sum, Σ, columns "Total Hours" all the way to "Net Pay" as the last row
	do NOT total items that are meaningless to sum, like deductions

Charts

	Label bar chart with along the X axis (payroll it's employees’ names). Make sure Legend has meaningful names (payroll it's Regular and Overtime Pay.)
	Show the label each pie slice and either the a value or percentage (payroll it's employee’s name and amount earned.) That way you can eliminate legend and be clearer and save room. Explode one slice. (Not all of them like someone dropped the pie!)
	Use a stacked bar graph rather than individual bars for each number.  Typically you would do this only when you had over a dozen bars, but this is a pretend payroll that could have 20 or 30 employees so a stacked bar graph would have half the number of bar (or columns)
	Make sure the charts fit below the numbers, but make them large enough to read the label s.

Printing

	This is a sheet with many columns.  If you really squeeze things, you can get it to fit in one page but 2 readable pages in landscape mode are fine.
	Make sure you have a page heading on the sheet with a title, your name and the date.  Try some interesting fonts.
	Print properly formatted with imbedded charts.
	Switch to formula view and make sure columns are wide enough to read entire formula.  Add Gridlines and Row and Column labels for formula sheet per print hints.  Print non-repetitive formula (Highlight JUST the cells to print, File menu, Print Area Set, Set Print Area)  Print again.