The Technology of Clustering Process in Microsoft Excel
Marina L. Gruzdeva1, Natalia Ye. Tukenova2, Zhanna. V. Smirnova3, Sergey Е. Revunov4, Nikolay А. Barkhatov5

1Marina L. Gruzdeva, Department of Service Technologies and Technological Education, Faculty of Management and Social and Technical Services, Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
2Natalia Ye. Tukenova, Department of information Technologies, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Zhetysu State Universite Named after I. Zhansugurov, Taldykorgan, Republic of Kazakhstan.
3Zhanna. V. Smirnov, Department of Service Technologies and Technological Education, Faculty of Management and Social and Technical Services, Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
4Sergey Е. Revunov, Department of vocational Education and Management of Educational Systems, Faculty of Management and Social and Technical Services, Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
5Nikolay А. Barkhatov, Department of Service Technologies and Technological Education, Faculty of Management and Social and Technical Services, Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

Manuscript received on 02 June 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 10 June 2019 | Manuscript published on 30 June 2019 | PP: 3321-3329 | Volume-8 Issue-8, June 2019 | Retrieval Number: H6896068819/19©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: Relevance: The paper describes the technology of running cluster analysis with the use of a program module developed by the authors and used as an add-in for the clustering process program in the Microsoft Excel software environment. Currently, the amount of information required for making management and other decisions is growing, and the need for processing large amounts of data becomes relevant. One of the methods of this processing is data clustering the cluster analysis implies. In a general way, cluster analysis is designed for uniting several objects into classes (clusters) in such a way that maximally similar objects get into one class and the objects of different classes maximally differ from each other. Methods: When carrying out the researches, the methods of cluster analysis, system analysis were used. The use of these research methods allowed solving the main scientific and practical problems of the project, obtaining new, theoretically based results. The ground in favor of the chosen research methods is recognized world practice of their usage to solve research and technology problems and the many years’ experience of the authors in the use of these methods. Results: Statistical programs, which feature the function of running a cluster analysis, such as Statistica, SPSS, STADIA, etc., belong to knowledge-intensive software and their price is often unaffordable to many enterprises. Running cluster analysis in Microsoft Excel is possible, but this process is very knowledge-intensive and requires a lot of time for its execution. Running a cluster analysis with the use of a developed program doesn’t require special knowledge on the mechanism of running cluster analysis from the user and takes a few seconds to complete it. The results compared to other programs are the same. In comparison to the Microsoft Excel program where cluster analysis was run without add-in, the results were also the same, but the time for completing the analysis was significantly decreased. Discussion: The paper’s authors describe the technology of automation of clustering process in the Microsoft Excel software environment, which makes it possible to run cluster analysis of large amounts of statistical data promptly and with minimal time expenses. Conclusion: The paper’s authors consider that the automation of clustering process in the Microsoft Excel software environment allows decreasing time significantly. The process of cluster analysis in the MS Excel program without the use of add-on is very labor-intensive and requires a lot of time to complete it. Also, in case of very large number of items, the time for running cluster analysis significantly increases and when the number of items is estimated in hundreds and thousands, the time of effective cluster analysis running can be estimated in days, which is very ineffective. The use of add-in doesn’t require special knowledge on the mechanism of running cluster analysis from the user and takes a few seconds to complete it.
Keyword: Automation of information statistical processing, cluster analysis.
Scope of the Article: Security Technology and Information Assurance.