Excel Help

[udpolo15]

I have a database in excel that has a list of companies and then some additional info regarding each entry. Some companies are listed more that once and I want to summarize which I can do by way of pivot table. However, some of the companies have been entered differently. For example, I may have Udpolo & Company, Udpolo and Company and Udpolo Co. The problem is that I have 100K + records and cannot do this manually. Any ideas?

One thought I had is to sort in alphabetical order and then for each cell, develop a match score for all the cells below. If a match score is above a certain level, it gets replaced. I really have no idea if this is even possible or if there is an easier way.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[SSmith]

I would go ahead with the pivot table as is. Then do a manual scrub of the company names. As you find close duplicates like you mention. Do a "Find and Replace" to work the list down.

 

[MA_PE]

get an intern to clean up the database for you.

 

[FusionWhite]

get an intern to clean up the database for you.

^^^This is the answer. Those fresh faced college kids should be able to grind that out.

 

[udpolo15]

I would tend to agree, but I don't think my company would appreciate me using interns to research a new business idea.

I actually found some code that might work. I am going to put this portion off for a while and focus on the easier stuff