Transcripts for the above video clip:

Workday

The Workday function in Excel is very useful because it tells you what the next workday will be, based on a certain date. The easiest way to explain this is with an example. On the worksheet you can see a list of dates  and we want to work out when the next workday will be based on those dates. Activate the function wizard – it must be in Date and Time and find the WORKDAY function. Click OK. The first thing you get asked is what is the Start_ date – we want to look at 1^st Jan 09 so enter cell A9. The next option is “Days” – this is the number of non-weekend and non-holiday days before or after the Start_date. So I am asking Excel from the 1^st Jan (I am going to put a 1 in) – tell me what the next workday is. What is also quite useful and is optional is you can specify when the public holidays are. You will see a list of public holidays on the worksheet in Column I. Highlight them to show Excel where they are – you must put in absolute references because you are going to copy it down. So in Holidays insert $I$9:$I$11. When I say OK it immediately tells me that the first working day after the 1^st Jan is the 2^nd Jan and also tells  me it is a Friday. I can now copy it down for the whole month of January. When you now look it you’ll see for the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Jan – the next working day is the 5^th which is a Monday.  If you look at the 15^th (a Thursday) Excel has identified this as a public holiday- so the next working day after the 14^th (a Wednesday) is the 16^th which is a Friday. So this function allows you to determine when the next workday will be.