As you probably already know, Microsoft Excel can be used to store information of any kind within its cells (numbers, dates, text…etc).

It is a fact that information is only as accurate as the data it promotes, therefore it is best to keep the raw data almost 100% of the time. This provides you with means of checking the validity of the information provided.

Raw data is data at its purest and hasn’t been processed (ie – remains untouched!) From this raw data you can produce anything you wish, without it you are left wondering if someone has changed it (ie – by applying a filter or removing org units).