SolveWithExcel

Difficulty

Early Intermediate

Estimated Time

15–25 minutes

The Problem

In real operational spreadsheets, Excel is often used not just to calculate totals—but to flag risks and exceptions.

Your task is to analyze order-level data and automatically flag high-risk orders based on business rules. This pattern is commonly used in finance, operations, and audit workflows.

Dataset

Create a worksheet named Orders with the following columns:

Order ID	Customer	Order Date	Quantity	Unit Price
1001	Northwind BV	2025-01-03	15	900
1002	Atlas NV	2025-01-05	2	20
1003	Delta Group	2025-01-06	12	45
1004	Orion SA	2025-01-08	1	900
1005	Bluewave Ltd	2025-01-10	20	20
1006	Atlas NV	2025-01-12	3	45
1007	Northwind BV	2025-01-15	8	900
1008	Delta Group	2025-01-18	10	45

Business Rules

An order is considered High Risk if any of the following conditions are true:

• Quantity ≥ 10
• Unit Price ≥ 500
• Total Order Value ≥ 10,000

Your Task

Part A — Add Calculated Columns

Add the following columns to the dataset:

1. Order Value
   • Order Value = Quantity × Unit Price
2. Risk Flag
   • Should return:
     • "High Risk" if any rule is met
     • "Normal" otherwise

Part B — Summary Check

Create a small summary section that shows:

• Total number of orders
• Number of high-risk orders

This summary must update automatically.

Requirements

• Use Excel formulas only
• No manual tagging
• No Pivot Tables required
• Logic must be readable and maintainable

Expected Results

From the dataset above:

• High-risk orders should include:
  • Order IDs: 1001, 1003, 1007, 1008
• Normal orders should include:
  • Order IDs: 1002, 1004, 1005, 1006

Hints (Optional)

• Use IF, OR, and logical comparisons
• Keep each condition clearly visible in the formula
• Avoid deeply nested logic when possible

Learning Objectives

By completing this challenge, you will learn how to:

• Apply conditional business rules in Excel
• Flag exceptions automatically
• Build audit- and control-friendly spreadsheets

Next Challenge

Excel Challenge #5: Conditional Formatting for Risk Monitoring

🔗 View reference solution on GitHub
(After you’ve tried the challenge)

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