Excel Data Explorer Preview Unlocks External Data

A preview of an Excel add-in code-named Data Explorer was released on Feb. 27, 2013, and updated with fixes and additional enhancements two weeks later. The tool enables users to connect to many different data sources, transform and filter the data, and interconnect it into an Excel 2013 workbook for further analysis. The data in the workbook remains linked and can be refreshed on demand. Data Explorer could enable knowledge workers to perform their own data analysis in Excel 2013, without requiring IT to build a database or interconnect multiple systems for them.

Importing and Transforming Data from Diverse Sources

Data Explorer can best be understood as a tool to extract, transform, and load (ETL) data into Excel, similar to the role SQL Server Integration Services plays for SQL Server. Data Explorer could enable Excel power users to perform on-the-fly integration of data from multiple sources into Excel for rapid analysis.

Data Explorer adds a new self-titled tab to the Excel 2013 Ribbon. From the Data Explorer Ribbon, the user can extract and transform data sets from multiple sources and refresh them on demand. The user can then manipulate the downloaded data in Excel or use the data to build a PowerPivot model, a data set embedded in an Excel file (workbook). PowerPivot models are intended to provide efficient analysis of large data sets at multiple levels of detail from within Excel. Power Pivot models can in turn be used to create Power View reports; Power View is a Web-based designer that enables less-technical users to design charts, animations, and other presentations for data analysis and discovery of trends or anomalies.