Creating a new worksheet can be performed either through using File menu or by clicking the appropriate toolbar
button. The software differentiates worksheets into two types,
time series and panel data. Time series data usually has one
observation per variable per period over a course of multiple, defined
periods. Panel data does not incorporate time dependency, and is
often referred to as cross-sectional data. Each can be created as
shown below.
Time Series
The Create New Time Series
dialog allows for the specification of the time series to create.
This dialog is displayed both when a new series is being created
and when time-dependent data is being imported. The Time Series Type combobox contains the various options for date types available, as discussed in the DateObject
help page. The required boxes appear when the appropriate time
series type is selected. All values to the series specification
boxes must be numeric (i.e. April would be '4').
The final check box, Create on New Worksheet,
is used to specify whether the new data set will be created on the
current worksheet, overwriting current work, or on a fresh worksheet.
When specifications are complete, the Create button can be clicked. If the user is importing data, another window will be opened to control the data import.
Panel Data
Creating a new panel data set is somewhat simpler than a new time
series data set because no ranges are necessary to set. A similar
dialog is shown when importing panel data into the software.
Clicking Create New will create a new panel data set on a separate worksheet from the current. Overwrite Current closes the current worksheet and creates a new worksheet in the existing main window.
Creating new panel data can be achieved quickly by clicking the appropriate toolbar button.