Which Excel course should you do?

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Tell us which of these tasks (see below) you perform.

Each situation contains a description and a picture explaining what we mean

When you are finished all 20 questions, you will see a report with your suggested courses.

Alternatively you can answer only a few and see which courses would benefit you.

Your answer options will be OFTEN, SOMETIMES, NEVER, NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE ASKING

The NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE ASKING is useful when you have never heard of the situation e.g. NPV's and to help us improve the questionnaire

Below the summary of questions. You can jump to them to see if it is what you are looking for, or go through them

individually to find the matching situation

Remove unwanted cells/ rows/ columns

You spend time cleaning up a spreadsheet by removing cells, rows or columns

You find yourself deleting the same information again and again

So in the spreadsheet below we need to remove all the headers and footers and only leave the red block

So how often do you remove unwanted cells, rows or columns?

Work with Dates

You do any work involving dates or time in excel.

You have to convert dates from mm/dd/yyyy to dd/mm/yyyy or vica versa

You need to work out the number of working days between 2 dates

You need to work out the day of the week

In the spreadsheets below we have various conversion from 'strange' dates in Excel to Excel acceptable dates

So how often do you work with dates in Excel

Summarise/ Report Data

Take lots of data and turn it quickly into summarised reports

Take transaction data and make monthly report

Report by division, geo location, product etc

In the spreadsheets below, we need to take thousands of rows data and create reports that summarise or extract useful information

So how often do you need to summarise lots of data or extract information out of large data sets?

Simple Graphing

Create simple charts and graphs to get your point across

Show a line chart of monthly transactions

Split expenses into categories

Below examples of some simple graphs that are created in Excel

So how often do you need to create simple graphs to visualise your data

Dashboards

Create dashboards involving tables of data, charts and things like heat maps to get your m

Allow for easy changes to the information being reported on in the dashboard

Allow the source data to be changed so that we can report weekly/ monthly/ quarterly etc

In the spreadsheet below, we create a dashboard based on a changeable data set with tables, graphs and heat maps.

So how often do you need to create working dashboards that provide management reports

Budgets and Forecasts

You need to create forward looking reports estimating what may happen in the near future based on a set of assumptions

Create budgets per division to be consolidated

Create longer term forecasts to assess future years

Compare actuals to budget and reforecast till the end of the year

Below a summary of a proposed budget with the actuals for comparative purposes

So how often do you need to create budgets or forecasts

Decision Models

Create spreadsheets that help make a decision e.g.

- should we lease or buy

- what price should we charge

- which supplier should we use

- should we proceed with the project

- how much should we pay for the business

- how much debt do we need/ can we handle

Below we have created a decision model to decide whether a property can handle the required debt.

So how often do you need to build spreadsheets to help you make a decision

Fill in Gaps

You receive reports that have gaps in them but in order to be useable, you need to have th

You find yourself copy and pasting data again and again to make the spreadsheet useful to use in other reports

So in the spreadsheet below, we need to fill in the spaces so that it shows the information from the cell above

So how often do you need to fill in gaps in data?

Remove Duplicates

You remove/ change data based on a criteria e.g. it is a duplicate, it contains unnecessary d

You want to extract the first/ last time you see the data

In the spreadsheet below we need to identify and remove the red block as it is a duplicate of the first line

So how often do you need to remove duplicates

Split/ join cells/ rows/ Columns

You need to split/ join cells in different columns/ rows

You want to extract say the first 3 characters, or

all the characters up to a special character like a comma or hash

Split full names into first name/ surname

Join cells together to make a sentence, unique reference, full names etc

In the spreadsheets below we need to split these columns into separate columns based on a set position or set character

So how often do you need to split cells into many columns

Transpose Data- Move data around into the order you want

Change the structure of a report so that the rows appear in columns, and columns appear in rows

Manipulate a report so that the data repeats itself

Change the look of a report to match the look of another report

In the spreadsheet below a simple transpose to move a row into a column

In the spreadsheets below we need to pivot a report so that the rows are in columns and the columns in rows

So how often do you have to move data around to get it into a specific row/ column format

Merge Data sources together

Join data together e.g. add client details to a sales report

Merge spreadsheets/ databases to create a big database

Consolidate databases to be able to run business intelligence queries

In the spreadsheet below, we need to get the outstanding expenses from one list and put it into a separate list based on the matching employee number.

So how often do you need to merge databases/ spreadsheets

Reconcile Lists

Compare lists/ databases in order to

- reconcile

- identify missing items

- analyse anomalies

- compare supplier information to our information

In the spreadsheet below, we need to compare 2 lists and identify the items that are missing, exist once or appear too many times based on the transaction ID

So how often do you need to reconcile lists

Debt Calculations

You do any calculations involving interest rates

Use functions like present value, future value, interest rate, number of periods, beginning or end period calculations.

Need to determine what the repayments will be on a loan based on a set IRR

Below detailed debt calculations with repayments terms and interest capital splits

So how often do you need to create debt calculations

NPV/ IRR/ Payback type calculations

You need to determine the returns on cash flows using NPV, IRR, payback periods etc

You need to compare 2 businesses/ projects and choose 1 based on a metric

Compare pricing options to see which one is more beneficial to you

Below a financial model with a section indicating the NPV and IRR of the proposed project.

So how often do you need to create NPV, IRR or payback based spreadsheets

Built Templates/ collect data from many users etc

You create templates that will be used by other people to capture/ calculate information

You need to aggregate all the information from many spreadsheets

You need to use dropdown boxes so that users can choose out of a pre defined list

The templates will be used to consolidate the information into a single report

Below a template to be distributed to users where they have free entry and drop down lists to capture date

So how often do you need to build spreadsheets to be used by other people.

Review others works

You receive spreadsheets from other people and need to check there accuracy, integrity etc

You often have to point out errors you find in a spreadsheet

You need to get your spreadsheets audited to get debt from a bank

You create a bankable feasibility spreadsheet

Below the results of a review of the formulas in a spreadsheet to identify an error.

So how often do you need to review spreadsheets built by others?

Track Data- GANTT charts, Project plans, tracking information

You track events in a spreadsheet based on a time line e.g. project timelines, tracking docu

You itemise data e.g. fixed assets registers, sales lead lists, production scheduling etc

You use Microsoft Project but need to combine it with Excel

Below a spreadsheet that tracks a project over time.

Below a spreadsheet that tracks the flow of documents between departments to work out turnaround times

So how often do you need to build spreadsheets to track items, events or timelines

Running What Ifs

You need to run any sensitivities, what ifs or scenarios

You are asked to re run a calculation based on different inputs

You need to provide a report based on the impact of a recent event

You are not sure which scenario is the most likely

Below the possible repayments at different levels of interest rates and repayment periods

So how often do you need to answer What If type questions

Identify Trends / Opportunities

You need to work with data to spot problems/ trends

You are doing forensic work

You are involved with Business Intelligence

Data mining is one of your tasks

You are trying to identify clients that have stopped buying, buying more etc

Below a chart that helps identify a day when unusual amounts of transaction were processed that needs to be investigated

So how often do you need to analyse data to find trends/ risks/ opportunities (data mining)

What is your skill score

If you have completed our free skills assessment, please enter your score here (number from 0 to 10.

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