V LOOK or SUMIF.. which is better to use

[marsee]

Hi I need help with my report. my boss told me to use VLOOK up in getting the value, but I think SUMIF is much better.. now im confused. fif you could help me to use VLOOK UP in getting the total value..


See attached file..

[DonkeyOte]

If you need to aggregate multiple records you should use SUMIF rather than VLOOKUP (or use a Pivot Table of course).

In terms of advantages of SUMIF over VLOOKUP ... all depends on the data type being returned - if it's numeric then generally speaking SUMIF can be useful given it will by default return 0 where no match(es) are found as opposed to VLOOKUP which would return an error.
(SUMIF will always aggregate should multiple records exist whereas VLOOKUP will only ever return a singular record - which is desirable is of course entirely dependent upon the requirements!)

[marsee]

What will be output if we will still use VLOOKUP on previously attached excel file.

If you need to aggregate multiple records you should use SUMIF rather than VLOOKUP (or use a Pivot Table of course).

In terms of advantages of SUMIF over VLOOKUP ... all depends on the data type being returned - if it's numeric then generally speaking SUMIF can be useful given it will by default return 0 where no match(es) are found as opposed to VLOOKUP which would return an error.
(SUMIF will always aggregate should multiple records exist whereas VLOOKUP will only ever return a singular record - which is desirable is of course entirely dependent upon the requirements!)