INDEX + MATCH
The robust, two-way lookup.
Why planners need it
More flexible than VLOOKUP: look left, look up by row and column, and it doesn’t break when columns are inserted.
Syntax
=INDEX(return_range, MATCH(key, lookup_range, 0))
Worked example
Pull the AHT for a queue from a reference table:
=INDEX(AHT, MATCH("Sales", Queue, 0)) → 240. The 0 forces an exact match.
Two-way (queue × month): =INDEX(grid, MATCH(q,rows,0), MATCH(m,cols,0)).
Watch out: Always use 0 (exact) in MATCH unless the list is sorted. #N/A means no match — check for stray spaces or text-vs-number.