Create Excel baseline for your data

When you work with data, it is very useful to create a baseline to which you compare your data set. For example, you can create the baseline from production data, and compare the results of a process you are implementing after the changes were introduced.

This is a huge benefit for controlled environments: SelectCompare will highlight the changes in the output, and you don't have to query the production system anymore!

Create Excel baseline from source data

It is very easy to create a baseline in SelectCompare. When you create a project, write a query that will return the data you will want to use as the baseline. Use the required logic to extract the data that you need.

Run the query, and then export the results to Excel. Just click the  icon at the bottom of the screen!

SelectCompare makes the export easier by suggesting the export file name that includes the date and time of the export.

The Excel spreadsheet contains the data returned by the query. This is your baseline.

When you have the baseline, you can configure the SelectCompare project to use it instead of the original data source.

Create data comparison project using Excel baseline

You have to define a connection to your baseline.

Note: If you don't know how to connect to an Excel spreadsheet, please visit the blog page "Compare Excel Spreadsheets". You will find there an instruction about how to install the driver and create a connection to an Excel spreadsheet.

If you already have an existing connection to an Excel spreadsheet, the easiest way is to clone it, and manually change the connection string to point it to the correct Excel workbook:

Don't forget to give the connection a meaningful name, test it and save it after you make the change!

When you have your connection ready, create your comparison project, and use your baseline as one side of the comparison. The following picture shows the sample project.

Note: Because the baseline contains aggregated data, the query against it can be very simple - as long as this is what you want! The columns returned by the query correspond to the original aggregated query used to generate the baseline, and so do the key columns.

What next?

Choose the right edition of SelectCompare. Over a hundred downloads prove that SelectCompare is a very useful data comparison tool that professionals like you use to make their work simpler and faster.