Data-planation:
1. The data is exactly as we received it from the district. If a field is blank, that’s how the district gave it to us.
2. Many, many checks are listed multiple times. If, for example, a single check bought multiple items, or the money involved came from several accounts, the check will be listed for each item and/or account. As a result, checks are often duplicated in the dataset. You need to account for the duplicated checks when totaling dollars.
3. The data is best viewed in a database manager that will allow you to filter it in specific ways. Group the data by Check#, Date, Amount and Vendor to obtain a data set containing totals for single checks. From this, you can compile totals for vendors. Always refer back to the original list of checks when you want to see details - like what was purchased or which accounts paid the bill.