Excel is the de facto spreadsheet tool organizations use worldwide for various purposes. Excel spreadsheets simplify data management and visualization by offering powerful functionalities for creating graphs and pivot tables and doing complex computations.

 

Unlike other, more complicated tools such as SQL, Excel can be used by professionals new to data analytics. By getting a Microsoft Excel certification, you will learn what you can do in Microsoft Excel and leverage this robust tool to organize and streamline your business operations. 

 

Here are a few awesome things you can accomplish with this powerful software:

 

Utilize It for Data Analysis

 

Creating tables and entering data is only the beginning of what can be done with Excel. You can analyze complex data using pivot tables, functions, and formulas to manipulate the information and create graphical visualizations. 

 

Excel’s features are useful in practically any field you can think of. For instance, salespeople who deal with various information (e.g., sales numbers, customer profiles, and market trends) can organize the data by product, region, or time period, allowing them to identify trends and patterns according to certain parameters. By analyzing past sales figures, sales teams can take corrective action on nonperforming or underperforming segments and develop more accurate sales forecasts and plans. 

 

Tap It for Financial Modeling 

 

A financial model is built to solve real-world financial problems and help users make data-backed financial decisions. Simply put, financial modeling is used to forecast the future performance of a business or an investment using mathematical formulas and analysis. One way to do this is by modeling potential financial outcomes based on various scenarios and examining financial statements.

 

Excel’s many features and functions come in handy for financial modeling. It has built-in financial formulas to calculate interest rates, present and future values, and net present values. Financial data and trends may also be shown using Excel charts and graphs. Discounted cash flow models and other sophisticated financial models for valuing businesses and calculating return on investment are also possible with Excel’s robust modeling features.

 

Use It for Project Management

 

Excel is a superhero regarding project management, providing an all-in-one platform for keeping tabs on everything from project deadlines to resources and personnel. You can use project management tools such as Gantt charts and timetables to monitor tasks, deadlines, and resources. They help you oversee your progress as you work toward project completion. You can also set up conditional formatting, which alerts you when certain milestones have been reached, so you can regularly update stakeholders.

 

Staying within budget is one of the biggest challenges in project management. You can use Excel to manage project costs and compare expenses to your budget. It can pinpoint areas where you are overspending so that you can adjust and get the project back on track.

 

Leverage It for Data Visualization

 

Excel offers dynamic dashboards and reports that provide robust data visualizations. Column charts, line charts, heat maps, treemaps, and scatter plots are just a few examples that can be formatted in many ways. Because of these capabilities, Excel has become a standard tool for corporations, researchers, and professionals who deal with large amounts of data.

 

Treemaps are a good way to display hierarchical information. For example, an IT expert might use a treemap to illustrate how various computer directories and files use storage space. They can help determine when disk space is being underutilized or where extra storage may be required, optimizing resources and improving overall performance.

 

Line charts help investment brokers visualize stock price fluctuations over several months or years. They can use this information to track stock performance or look for unusual stock price movements to make better financial decisions. Financial analysts who need to monitor long-term trends and patterns in stock prices can benefit significantly from line charts, which are excellent at depicting how data evolves.

 

Data trends over geographic areas can be easily identified with heat maps. A public health official can use a heat map to illustrate the distribution of a certain illness across the country. This allows health professionals to plan interventions by tracking epidemics, pinpointing at-risk groups, and disseminating information. In addition, visualization using Excel can benefit researchers seeking solutions to health issues.

 

Master Excel Today

 

Empower your team to make better decisions based on up-to-date, accurate data by boosting their Excel skills by signing up for a course with ONLC. Equipping your people with the right tools helps your company adapt to new market conditions and seize new business opportunities!

About The Author

Patty is a lead applications trainer for ONLC Training Centers and has worked for the company since 1988. She is technically proficient in all programs and all levels of Microsoft Office, Excel BI Tools, and is certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS). Patty has developed custom courseware, worked as a deskside support specialist and has been involved as a project manager for enterprise-wide Microsoft Office corporate migrations. She is also a trainer and consultant for Microsoft Project and Project Management Concepts. Prior to joining ONLC, Patty worked as a software support manager, developer and instructor.

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