Course Details
A 2-day hands-on workshop, 6 hours per day (12 hours in total), delivered hybrid - onsite or online via Microsoft Teams. Every module has an exercise or real-world case study using sample datasets (sales, inventory and employee data) provided throughout. Excel for Microsoft 365 is strongly recommended because several topics use new functions not supported in Excel 2019 and 2021 (8-15 people per class, Advanced level).
Day 1: Advanced Formulas and the New Microsoft 365 Functions
Section 1: Microsoft Excel for Advanced Use
- Excel's capabilities and the scope suited to each kind of work, and the components advanced users should know
- Excel file types (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .csv), checking the Excel version and its impact on available functions
- Designing maintainable workbooks (data layer, calculation layer, report layer) plus a workshop exploring the sample file structure
Section 2: Essential Shortcut Keys
- Navigating and selecting large data ranges precisely without the mouse
- Shortcuts for formatting, working with formulas, copying and Paste Special
- Workshop: a timed exercise doing the same task with the mouse versus with shortcuts
Section 3: Working with Names in Excel
- What Names are and how they make formulas more readable, with naming rules and editing
- Referencing Names with cells, ranges and formulas, using Name Manager and creating Dynamic Names
- Workshop: convert cell-reference formulas in a sample report into Name references
Section 4: Conditional Functions
- Reviewing IF and the limits of deeply nested IFs, moving to IFS and SWITCH
- Choosing between IF, IFS and SWITCH and using AND, OR, NOT with complex conditions
- Workshop: compute employee appraisal grades and segment customers by purchase value with IFS and SWITCH
Section 5: Conditional Aggregation Formulas
- SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and AVERAGEIFS for summing, counting and averaging on multiple conditions
- Using wildcards, comparison operators and date-range conditions such as sales within a month or quarter
- Workshop: build a per-employee sales summary by month and product group with SUMIFS and COUNTIFS
Section 6: Lookup & Reference Formulas
- OFFSET for shifting references and INDIRECT for references from text
- XLOOKUP and its advantages, compared with VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP, plus approximate match and search mode
- Workshop: look up customer names, product prices and employee names from several reference tables
Section 7: New Microsoft 365 Formulas for Data Work
- The Dynamic Array and Spill Range concept with FILTER, SORT, SORTBY and UNIQUE
- TOCOL, TOROW, VSTACK, HSTACK, TAKE, DROP, and one-line summarization with GROUPBY and PIVOTBY
- Workshop: extract Top 10 and Bottom 10 from sales data by the conditions you want
Section 8: Text and Image Formulas and Building Your Own Functions
- TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, TEXTJOIN and TEXTSPLIT to cut, join and split text, and IMAGE to show pictures in cells
- LAMBDA to build your own functions, naming them via Name Manager, and reusing them across the organization
- Workshop: split first and last names, create a QR code with IMAGE and build a TOP3 formula with LAMBDA
Day 2: Data Management, Power Query, PivotTable and Security
Section 9: Handling Errors in Formulas
- Error types (#N/A, #REF!, #VALUE!, #DIV/0!, #NAME?) and the ISNA and IFERROR functions
- Cautions when IFERROR can hide the real problem, and Formula Auditing tools (Trace Precedents/Dependents)
- Workshop: inspect and fix a sample report with several errors and identify the root cause
Section 10: Conditional Formatting
- How it works and rule priority, using Data Bars, Color Scales and Icon Sets
- Writing rules with formulas and managing them with Manage Rules, resolving overlapping rules
- Workshop: a profit/loss Data Bar, icons for stock below the reorder level, and highlighting late shipments
Section 11: Preventing Errors with Data Validation
- Preventing invalid input, setting alert messages and custom validation with formulas
- Creating dropdown lists from lists and ranges, and checking with Circle Invalid Data
- Workshop: prevent duplicate entries, prevent invalid entries, and build a dynamic dropdown list (choose a brand and the model list changes)
Section 12: Working with Data in Excel and Using Tables
- An overview of data tools (Table, Power Query, PivotTable, PivotChart) and choosing the right one
- Creating a Table, calculating with structured references, removing duplicates and adding a Slicer
- Workshop: convert product and customer data into Tables for further analysis and summary
Section 13: Power Query for Data Preparation
- What Power Query is, the basic ETL concept, the Power Query Editor and Applied Steps
- Importing from multiple Excel files, CSV and folders, cleaning data, unpivoting, merging with Append/Merge and refreshing
- Workshop: import same-structure Excel files from a whole folder, merge them automatically and refresh in one click
Section 14: Analysis and Summary with PivotTable and PivotChart
- Preparing data and building a PivotTable, arranging fields, changing Summarize Values By and Show Values As (percentage, growth)
- Grouping by date, month, quarter and numeric ranges, creating Calculated Fields, and building PivotCharts with Slicers and Timelines
- Workshop: build an interactive sales report from Power Query-prepared data with Slicers and Timelines
Section 15: Presentation and Chart Customization
- Choosing the right chart type for your message and customizing axes, labels, legends and gridlines
- Formatting numbers with format codes (millions as M, thousands as K), building Combo Charts and Sparklines
- Workshop: polish a monthly sales chart for an executive presentation and add Sparklines to the summary table
Section 16: File Security
- Setting file passwords (Password to Open and Password to Modify) and protecting the worksheet and workbook
- Preventing formula visibility and cell edits (Lock and Hidden) and allowing edits only in certain ranges (Allow Edit Ranges)
- Workshop: build a data-entry form where users can only fill designated cells, cannot see formulas, and the structure is password-protected
Section 17: Capstone Workshop
- Brief: build a complete monthly sales summary report from several raw data files, preparing and merging data with Power Query so it refreshes automatically
- Build the calculation layer with the formulas learned (SUMIFS, XLOOKUP, FILTER, GROUPBY), summarize with a PivotTable and Slicer, customize the chart, and apply Conditional Formatting and Data Validation
- Protect the file and hide formulas before handoff, with guidance on advancing to advanced Power Query, advanced PivotTable, Macro/VBA and Power BI