how can i divide some data into five equal groups

Question

hello,

i have an excel sheet with 9 companies of 400 departments, each department has a value for expenses, i have to divide those departments into five groups in which each group has almost the same total expenses and containing departments from the 9 companies,  help me please.

Answer 1

you could sort the data by expense amout, then number 1 to 5 and repeat coming down the column.  then sort on this assignment number.   This seems like a reasonable start.

You might remove outliers before doing this and then determine how you will handle them.

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Regards,

Tom Ogilvy