Spreadsheets

[chilkootcee]

Hey all...

Just thought I'd through this out there...I notice there are a lot of different spreadsheets and if the data is spread out too much it's hard to gauge what is really happening.

I can see advantages for TWO main types of spreadsheets

Application year (i.e. 2015 Outland Spousal) and by Visa Office (i.e. Spouse Sponsorship Abu Dhabi Office)


The nice thing about keeping all the data by application year (and not month) is that one can see what's happening in the months before them....plus the spreadsheet mentioned above has some nice chart features in the various tabs. If you want to sort / view only your month, you can just make a copy of the spreadsheet and under Data / Filter...then you can sort, select whatever parameters you want to view, etc.

The advantage of also putting your data in a spreadsheet by Visa Office is that you can track trends for that specific office....and yes, each office seems to process things a bit differently.

SO...that having been said......I strongly encourage people to use the "year applied" spreadsheets and visa office spreadsheets...and perhaps not start monthly spreadsheets?

Just a suggestion

C.

 

[Mapleson]

+1

I joined these forums in March, so there was already a March/2015 split in spreadsheets. I talked to the 2015 owner and started making it more automatic, and the April people were either joining the March or 2015 spreadsheet. I went away for 2 weeks in May to visit my wife, and when I came back June had started another spreadsheet due to the reduced activity.

Ideally, we would have one central data source where people update, and then the individual spreadsheets for year/office could use a cross-sheet reference to pull the data. That way you could update one location and both sheets would be current.

I completely agree that fragmentation of the data makes it less useful, but it's such an ordeal to get it all in consistent shape, using the best features of each while not being too unwieldy. If anyone is interested in working on it, I'd be delighted to contribute to the effort.

P.S. If anyone has suggestions on the 2015 spreadsheet, you can message me or add it to the Comments sheet on the spreadsheet, and all will be considered.

 

[KelseyTVS]

I kind of like having the monthly one because every month it creates a little community of people who are all waiting at the same time, and it's easier to look at a spreadsheet of 40 people than a spreadsheet of hundreds. But I think yearly ones are a good idea too, and visa office ones. Those are obviously more accurate for a general trend and legitimate statistics, but I don't think we should ban monthly ones or anything.

I think the 2015 one is great and everyone should be encouraged to add their info there instead of just a monthly one. The Ottawa one is most helpful to me, but it has tons of old applications where the person has landed years ago and you have to scroll way to the bottom to see recent ones, so for that I'd suggest maybe deleting completed applications off of it after a certain amount of time.

 

[Mapleson]

We still have monthly threads and you can get the statistics on a monthly view.

For example, the 2015 spreadsheet June view:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FAYZyQgud1lzp7fM28i2O8ZrfbMAxdTc_t7_fiwI6ak/edit#gid=658388151&fvid=1008190781

or the 2015 spreadsheet Ottawa view:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FAYZyQgud1lzp7fM28i2O8ZrfbMAxdTc_t7_fiwI6ak/edit#gid=658388151&fvid=1151052627

If there is a community effort, all the old data can be compiled, so everyone can use it to the best extent possible. Otherwise, I've just been treading water against the impulse of every new group reinventing the wheel.

 

[KelseyTVS]

Oh, I didn't know you could change the view of the main spreadhseet, I'll definitely use that in the future!

I guess personally I don't see a problem with a small group of people creating their own spreadsheet as long as they add their info to the main sheet as well.

 

[Mapleson]

I agree completely, but the issue that I've always had is that not everyone does and some people are adamant in the fact that they only want to update the most useful spreadsheet for their own purposes.

 

[chilkootcee]

So now we just need to spread the word

 

[Mapleson]

I have now created named filter views for each VO with more than 1 application, so that they can use a direct link. If anyone has trouble getting the link for their VO, let me know and I will paste it here.

 

[chilkootcee]

Hey thanks Mapleson for the great work on the spreadsheet.....

 

[chilkootcee]

Hi Mapleson...hope things are well...just wanted to confirm...are the owner / caretaker of the 2015 Outland Spousal Applications spreadsheet? There are quite a few entries that are waiting to be moved up to the main table....if you need some help with this...you could show me how (I've used Google spreadsheets quite extensively but only for basis stuff)...

C.

 

[SchnookoLoly]

I find it interestig to see how different individuals manage the different spreadsheets.

I own and manage, with Andrew-Brit, the London spreadsheet, which goes back to 2010. Andrew and I have put a load of info onto the cover sheet with lots of stats around London, particularly more recently as London applications have been going to both Mississauga and Ottawa offices, so it's mixed things up a bit. We've used colours to make the month applications a bit easier to group together... and a ton of the spreadsheet functionality is automated (like all the stats on the cover sheet).

The nerd in me has a field day playing with spreadsheets and analyzing stats!

Link is in my signature for anyone curious!