Data Analysis and Visualization with Microsoft Excel
Course Description Overview
Technology and the data that it both collects and makes accessible is now interwoven with businesses and lives. The era of "big data" has exploded due to the rise of cloud computing, which provides an abundance of computational power and storage, enabling organizations of all sorts to capture and store data. Leveraging that data effectively can provide timely insights and competitive advantage.
Analyzing data to find issues, insights, and opportunities is now a critical part of many job roles. Beyond the analysis, data analysts in all job roles must be able to effectively present and communicate their findings in visually compelling ways.
Microsoft® Excel® is designed for this purpose. Excel can connect to a wide range of data sources, perform robust data analysis, and create diverse and robust data-driven visualizations to show insights and trends, as well as create reports. These capabilities enable people who use Excel for data analysis to turn data into thoughtful action.
In this course, you will analyze and visualize data using Excel and associated tools. You will:
- Perform data analysis fundamentals.
- Visualize data with Excel.
- Analyze data with formulas and functions.
- Analyze data with PivotTables.
- Present visual insights with dashboards in Excel.
- Create geospatial visualizations with Excel.
- Perform statistical analysis.
- Get and transform data.
- Model and analyze data with Power Pivot.
- Present insights with reports.
To ensure success, you should have baseline skill using Excel worksheets, particularly in creating workbooks with formulas and functions. You can obtain this level of knowledge and skill by taking the following or any equivalent United States Career Campus course:
- Microsoft® Excel® for Office 365™ (Desktop or Online): Part 1
Additional workplace experience with Excel is highly recommended.
- Microsoft® Windows® 10 Professional or Enterprise
- Any current version of Office.
NOTE: This course was developed and keychecked using the Microsoft 365® version of Office. There may be some keying discrepancies with the activity steps if you use a different version.
NOTE: To keep a Microsoft 365 application activated, a user must remain signed into a Microsoft account from within the application. If you log out of an Office application, all Office applications will be deactivated, and the application's feature set will be severely limited—preventing users from creating and saving files, for example. Therefore, if you are setting up classroom computers for students to use, you must have a valid Microsoft account for each computer.
- If necessary, software for viewing the course slides. (Instructor machine only.)
For this course, you will need one computer for each student and one for the instructor. Each computer will need the following minimum hardware configurations:
- 1 gigahertz (GHz) 64-bit (x64) processor.
- 4 gigabytes (GB) of Random Access Memory (RAM).
- 32 GB available storage space.
- Monitor capable of a screen resolution of at least 1,024 × 768 pixels, at least a 256-color display, and a video adapter with at least 4 MB of memory.
- Keyboard and mouse or a compatible pointing device.
- Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s) adapter or faster and cabling to connect to the classroom network.
- IP addresses that do not conflict with other portions of your network.
- Internet access (contact your local network administrator).
- (Instructor computer only) A display system to project the instructor's computer screen.
Lesson 1: Data Analysis Fundamentals
Topic A: Introduction to Data Science
Topic B: Create and Modify Tables
Topic C: Sort and Filter Data
Lesson 2: Visualizing Data with Excel
Topic A: Visualize Data with Charts
Topic B: Modify and Format Charts
Topic C: Apply Best Practices in Chart Design
Lesson 3: Analyzing Data with Formulas and Functions
Topic A: Analyze Data with Formulas and Named Ranges
Topic B: Analyze Data with Functions
Topic C: Implement Data Validation, Forms, and Controls
Topic D: Create Conditional Visualizations with Lookup Functions
Lesson 4: Analyzing Data with PivotTables
Topic A: Create a PivotTable
Topic B: Analyze PivotTable Data
Lesson 5: Presenting Visual Insights with Dashboards in Excel
Topic A: Visualize Data with PivotCharts
Topic B: Filter Data Using Slicers and Timelines
Topic C: Create a Dashboard in Excel
Lesson 6: Creating Geospatial Visualizations with Excel
Topic A: Create Map Charts in Excel
Topic B: Customize Map Charts in Excel
Lesson 7: Performing Statistical Analysis
Topic A: Visualize Trendlines and Sparklines with Excel
Topic B: Analyze Data with the Analysis ToolPak
Lesson 8: Getting and Transforming Data
Topic A: Connect to Data with Queries
Topic B: Clean and Combine Data
Topic C: Shape and Transform Data
Lesson 9: Modeling and Analyzing Data with Power Pivot
Topic A: Install Power Pivot in Excel
Topic B: Create Data Models with Power Pivot
Topic C: Create Power Pivots
Topic D: Perform Advanced Data Analysis and Visualization
Lesson 10: Presenting Insights with Reports
Topic A: Plan a Report
Topic B: Create a Report