Excel Power Pivot Time Averages

Question

I am trying to calculate averages for time. I am using a set of data that allows me to use a pivot table to average a column formatted as "Custom h:mm:ss" or "0:13:44" within an Excel workbook.

When I import that same data into Power Pivot and attempt to do the average it tells me that the calculation cannot be completed because the data type is not supported. I noticed that the same data becomes formatted as "12/30/1899 12:13:44" in Power Pivot. Even when I change the format of the column in Power Pivot to "h:mm"ss" it will not let me do the calculation.

I am trying to figure out why the format is calculable in the Excel workbook and why it changes when I use Power Pivot. I want to be able to link to a database and create a pivot table to share. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It might be being imported over as a text string. You can probably avoid this by converting the cell format to "number" before it is imported over.