Nested IF formula problem

**perrier** · 10-25-2010, 05:48 PM

Hi,

I am trying to create an IF formula that will make it so that the words "Ahead of Schedule, "On Schedule", or "Behind Schedule" will be displayed in a cell based on whether a number in another cell is positive, negative, or zero.

The cell that the positive or negative number is in has a formula that calculates the number by subtracting one cell from another.

The formula is =IF(AG2="","",AF2-AG2)

The nested IF formula I'm using is:

=IF(AK3<0,"Behind Schedule",IF(AK3>0,"Ahead of Schedule",IF(AK3="","","On Schedule")))

This nested IF formula seems to work as long as there is No other formula in column AG calculating the positive or negative number.

When the formula in column AG is there, the nested IF formula always gives me an "Ahead of Schedule", even when the cell is blank.

I want the cell that would display whether a project was ahead or behind schedule to be BLANK if there is no number for it to use but it's not working!!

If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

**Paul** · 10-25-2010, 05:53 PM

Hi Perrier, welcome to the forum. I'd suggest testing for the blank first, and then your other values. If this doesn't work, try posting a copy of your workbook so we can see what we're dealing with. Thanks.

=IF(AK3="","",IF(AK3<0,"Behind Schedule",IF(AK3>0,"Ahead of Schedule","On Schedule")))

Hope that helps!

**teylyn** · 10-25-2010, 05:54 PM

Hello,

the IF statement stops evaluation as soon as a TRUE is reached. Test the cell with the empty string and you will see that =AK3>0 evaluates to TRUE, even if it contains only a "" string.

Change the order of your IF statement to test for "" first, then for >0

=IF(AK3<0,"Behind Schedule",IF(AK3="","","On Schedule",IF(AK3>0,"Ahead of Schedule","On Schedule")))