AI FOR REAL WORK — SPREADSHEET PRACTICE & CHECK GUIDE

One optional exercise after watching: turn the team planning day notes into a working tracker. This is invented practice material. Your layout and AI wording can differ; the figures and behavior below are the checks.

BUILD AND REFINE
Give ChatGPT the starting prompt and notes. Download the .xlsx file, then open Google Sheets and choose File > Import > Upload to select it. Google Sheets requires a Google account, but no Microsoft account or Excel purchase is needed. Use the refinement prompt only for features your tracker needs.

If a file download is unavailable, ask for two tables to paste into Google Sheets and the exact cell formulas and formatting steps. The CSV downloads contain source data only, not a finished calculating tracker. Free AI usage limits may apply; this page and its downloads need no sign-in.

CHECK THE ORIGINAL DATA
Six costs, three categories, budgets totaling $1,600. No invented expenses, changed amounts, or extra tax.

Category              Budget    Spending   Remaining
Room & equipment      $800      $730       $70
Food & drink          $600      $630       -$30
Printed materials     $200      $130       $70
Overall               $1,600    $1,490     $110

Food & drink is OVER BUDGET by $30 even though $110 remains overall. Its warning should be readable without relying only on color. Negative remaining means over that category's limit; it is not spare money.

TEST ONE CHANGE IN THE SAME TRACKER
Choose either A or B. These are alternative checks of this one exercise, not extra assignments. Do not overwrite a formula to force the expected answer.

A. Change the Lunches cost from $520 to $450.
   Food & drink: $560 spent, $40 remaining, Within budget; its red warning clears.
   Overall: $1,420 spent, $180 remaining.
   The other two categories stay unchanged. Restore Lunches to $520 afterward.

B. Start from the original six costs and add a new row at the bottom:
   Afternoon snacks — Food & drink — $45.
   Food & drink: $675 spent, -$75 remaining, OVER BUDGET.
   Overall: $1,535 spent, $65 remaining.
   The other two categories stay unchanged. Remove only that test row afterward.

If you try both checks, restore the original values between them. They are independent tests, not a combined scenario. These hypothetical edits do not change a real bill or approve extra spending.

STATUS RULE
A category is over budget only when spending is greater than its budget. Exactly on budget means $0 remaining and Within budget.

READY TO USE
You can explain which category needs attention, change an input without rewriting totals, and show that the warning updates. If a result is wrong, describe the failed check to AI and ask it to fix that behavior. Recheck against the notes yourself.

Keep learning: https://www.youtube.com/@LearnAIForRealWork
Confusing source report? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZT1zeIgn_8
Practice page: https://ai-for-real-work-practice.pages.dev/spreadsheets/