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arcplan facilitates the creation of standardized reports, which support (and thus make more efficient) the daily work of the employees of a business. In particular, this is the case if reports present the included data in a meaningful, concise and user-friendly manner. Large volumes of information are thus often structured and presented in the form of tables. In order to illustrate relations and/or hierarchies of data within the table and avoid redundancies, it is required to choose columns and line headings which, in addition, are supposed to be placed expediently.
Up to arcplan version 8.5, the merging of cells (a standard function in Excel) could not be conducted easily. Thus, table headings had to be displayed redundantly and summarizing was not possible.
From arcplan version 8.6, there is a simple possibility to merge cells vertically or horizontally. In order to do so, an instruction object is created which informs the table which cells are to be merged. The approach will now be demonstrated by an example.
Example
A table is used as data basis, which is supposed to provide values for the cost centers, cost types and costs of a business.
In arcplan Version 8.5 and lower, a table based on this data could have been designed as follows:
By means of the new function "Merging Cells" in arcplan 8.6, a possible presentation in a table looks as follows:
Now, the table is more meaningful and more understandable. Below, the required steps for merging the cells are explained.
Approach
Step 1: Creating Table for the Headlines
First of all, a new table is created in which the cells, which are to be merged later, are still separated.
Step 2: Creating a Matrix which Serves as Reference for the Headline Table to Merge the Cells
First, the vertical merging of the cells shall be demonstrated. For the vertical merging of the cells, the primary cell to be merged in the first step is represented by a 2 in the matrix. Cells below which shall be merged have to be characterized by a 1.
Step 3: Merging Headline Table with Matrix
Now, the table has to be informed that the matrix contains the parameters for the merging. This is achieved by (in design mode): right click on the headline table -> "Format Object..." -> Tab "Cells" -> referencing the matrix as instruction object.
Thus, the first column is merged into one cell.
The horizontal connection of the cells in the first line could be achieved by the indices added in the following graphic:
For horizontal merging, the primary cell is marked by a 4 and the cells which are to be added to it are marked by a 3. The complete matrix and the complete headline table are set forth below:
The final result in arcplan 8.6 might look as follows:
Conclusion
arcplan Version 8.6 offers the possibility to merge cells within a table, column or line object. A matrix has to be created to this end and referenced as instruction object in the formatting of the object which includes the cells to be merged.
Vertical Merging:
Primary cells are marked by a 2 in the matrix. The cells which are to be vertically merged with the primary cell are marked by a 1.
Horizontal Merging:
Primary cells are marked by a 4 in the matrix. The cells which are to be horizontally merged with the primary cell are marked by a 3.
