Business data induction 2023–03–06

Finding, using and exporting tabular data sources in Eikon

We looked at a new enquiry about using Eikon, where a student had got stuck downloading an Excel file. We considered what questions to ask to diagnose the problem remotely and establish which feature or app in Eikon was being used.

Since we did not know which app the student was using, we took a refresher and looked at the following apps which provide Excel downloads:

• Screening: repeating the Bloomberg workshop screening Germany automobile manufacturers with revenue over $500m.
• Company tree structure: including ultimate parent company and parent or subsidiary relationships.
• Financials: income statement and other accounts.
• Value chains: for suppliers and customers of a company, grouped by industry or geographic location.

Sometimes the Excel export feature lets you export values only and sometimes you can choose functions or values. ‘Functions’ means you have to have the Excel version of Eikon running and active; you cannot load the Web and Excel versions of Eikon at the same time with the same login, though you can have Desktop and Excel running together. Finally, in the web or desktop versions, you could never choose CSV format instead of Excel.

Planning our summer workshop programme

For the remainder of the session today, we looked at our plan to deliver a new series of workshops in June to support our accounting and finance dissertation students. In this work, we will also improve our FAQ provision, such as our posts on ESG sources and supply chain sources.

‘Homework’

Before our next session, and in work time, I asked the team to practise using the Value Chains function in Eikon, or the Supply Chain function in Bloomberg, and come back to me to share one interesting thing they learned about a company of their choice and its suppliers or customers.