SUM 2 COUNTIFS functions #INCORRECT ARGUMENT error

Jade-L

I am trying to sum 2 countifs functions and I am unsure why I am getting an error. I was hoping someone could help me fix this error.

=SUM((COUNTIFS({Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 1}, "Examine & Validate", {Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 4}, "Execute on Timelines", {Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 3}, "1st Quarter")), (COUNTIFS({Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 1}, "Execute on Timelines", {Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 5}, "Examine & Validate",{Jade3_BCM Dashboard 2019 Range 3}, "1st Quarter")))

They work separately, but will not sum together in the same cell for some reason. I am referencing two columns with the primary and secondary objectives for the task. Sometimes a person will put Examine & Validate in the primary and Execute on Timelines in the secondary. Other times they will do the opposite, so I want to add both of these potential results together for the 1st Quarter.

Paul Newcome

There are a couple of ways to fix this. To continue using the SUM function posted above, you would need to remove some parenthesis. The easiest way to explain which ones would be that you do not need to wrap your COUNTIFS formulas in an extra set. It should just look like this:

 

=SUM(COUNTIFS(.....................), COUNTIFS(..................))

 

You could also remove the SUM function and just add the two working COUNTIFS together.

 

=COUNTIFS(.................) + COUNTIFS(...................)