Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis from Coursera

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Syllabus

Welcome and critical information

Cleaning and manipulating text

By the end of this module, you will be an expert in Excel's Text functions. This module discusses ways you can extract information and manipulate data to fulfil specific business requirements. You will develop techniques for working confidently with these Excel functions and unlock the full power of Excel by manipulating and cleaning text data. This is really important because you cannot properly analyse data if it is invalid or in an unsuitable format. You will begin with the mechanics of creating a function, specifying multiple arguments, and then you will look at how to work with text in functions. You will also learn how to use multiple functions in a single formula — a technique known as nesting. The topics you will be learning this week: Functions for Combining Text; Functions for Splitting Text; Combining Text Functions; Cleaning Data & Changing Case; and Removing and replacing unwanted characters.

Working with numbers and dates

By the end of this module, you will be an expert in Excel's Date functions. This module discusses ways that you can extract information and manipulate data to fulfil specific business requirements. You will also be looking at functions for converting data types: such as text to numbers, dates to text, and then both numbers and text to dates. You will learn to solve the problem of data not being in the correct format, and you will learn how to perform arithmetic operations with dates like you would with numbers, as well as performing calculations with dates. You will also learn some really great functions specifically for solving day-to-day tricky date problems that are required in business such as the WORKDAY, EDATE and EOMONTH functions. The topics you will be learning this week: Converting Data Types; Understanding dates and basic date functions; Generating valid dates; Calculating days between two dates; and Calculating dates from a given date.

Defined Names for working more effectively with data

In this module, you will learn about different types of cell referencing: relative cell referencing, absolute cell referencing, and mixed cell referencing. You will then learn about a great Excel functionality, Named Ranges — which is another way of referencing a cell or a range of cells by giving them a sensible name. You will see that named ranges make our formulas much easier to understand and you will also see how it makes them much easier to create — using tools such as Define Name and Create from Selection. You will also learn about Excel's Name Box and the Name Manager. You will learn some exciting Excel functions that allow you to aggregate and summarise data — such as SUMIFS and COUNTIFS, and much more. The topics you will be learning this week: Cell referencing and naming; Creating named ranges; Managing named ranges; Calculations with named ranges; and Automating processes with named ranges.

Tables for automating data manipulation

In this module, you will learn that a table in Excel is more like a database of records and fields which contains a set of related information — such as a table of inventory data. You will learn how to create, format, and manage tables, and you will learn how to easily format, select, sort, and filter in a table. You will also learn about the Total Row where you can just pick from a set of automated summarisation functions. You will learn about structured referencing — where you can continue to work with the data in a table, but the formulas look slightly different because tables use a different way to reference cells. You will also learn how to automatically extend tables whenever new data is added. The topics you will be learning this week: Creating, naming and removing tables; Formatting and selecting in tables; Sorting and filtering tables; Performing calculations with structured references; and Automating processes with tables.

Logical and lookup functions

You will learn two great Excel skills in this week’s module — first, you will learn about conditional logic, and second, you will learn about automating lookups. The two of these tools together will push your data analytics to the next level! Excel has several logical functions and this module explores some of them, such as AND, OR, and IF. You will start by learning the concept of conditional logic, and how conditional logic works in Excel formulas. You will then learn to conduct logic tests and use conditional operations. For more complex logic tree scenarios, you will learn how to use nested IF functions to evaluate data. You will then learn about lookup functions — these are widely used in data analytics for connecting data sets as well as error checking. You will learn about one of the most widely used lookup functions in business — VLOOKUP, as well as other lookup functions such as INDEX and MATCH, as well as Excel newest lookup function — XLOOKUP. The topics you will be learning this week: Performing logical operations with IF; Applying advanced logical operations; Categorising data with VLOOKUP; Matching data with VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP; and Advanced data matching with INDEX and MATCH.

Final assessment

This is the final assessment of the course and it is worth 25% of your total grade. As this is the final assessment, it requires you to demonstrate the learning objectives from each of the weeks — and thus requires you to demonstrate all the learning objectives of the entire course.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Explores data analysis concepts, which are essential for extracting insights from data

Emphasizes data manipulation, critical for transforming and organizing data for analysis

Covers text manipulation techniques, allowing for efficient extraction and modification of text data

Builds a strong foundation in Excel's date functions, empowering learners to solve complex date-related problems

Introduces named ranges and tables, facilitating structured data management and formula readability

Teaches conditional logic and lookup functions, enabling advanced data analysis and decision-making

Reviews summary

Excel fundamentals for data analysis

learners say this is a largely positive course with well-structured content that offers plenty of practice. It is highly recommended for beginners and intermediate users who want to enhance their data analysis skills in Excel.

While challenging, learners value the assessments and quizzes in the course as they help them gauge their understanding of the material and identify areas for improvement.

"The assessments and practice challenges make you more experienced."

"This course helped me a lot to understand the excel fundamentals which I haven't so far."

"I took a similar Excel course on Coursera right before this. It left me wanting more, so I took this one and this was so much better."

"The assignments are really good."

"The course is very detail useful to learn and practice excel functions for managing data."

Learners find the course content to be valuable and informative, providing them with a strong foundation in Excel fundamentals and data analysis techniques.

"This course is good for anyone willing to learn the fundamentals of Excel including Cleaning and Preparing Data for Analysis, Sorting and Filtering, Automation Tables and more."

"I think it's a great starting point to for building a firm foundation for advanced excel."

"This is SImply the best course with amazing content to practice with."

"I have already completed my advanced excel course yet there are formulas and tools I was not aware about."

Learners appreciate the clear and concise explanations provided in the video lectures, which make complex concepts easy to understand.

"The material is up to date and everything is explained in details."

"Although I use Excel in my daily business, there were still some functions I was not aware of before I attended the course."

"The examples and explanations are detailed and you can follow them well."

"Videos and structure very good, but the course is let down but a few mistakes in the quizzes and assessments."

The course is praised for its well-structured and organized content, which makes it easy for learners to follow and engage with the material.

"This course is very useful! I wish to learn this earlier during my university days but nevertheless, it's better than never!"

"This course is the best choice if you are going to jump into the field like data analyst or business analyst."

"The course has kept all the materials aligned."

"The videos and instructions were clear and helpful."

Learners appreciate the practical and applicable nature of the course content, as it provides them with valuable skills that can be immediately applied to their work.

"The dataset examples to work on! Highly recommend taking this course if you'd like to POLISH up your Excel skills, but I bet it's beginner-friendly as well."

"I have put several of the lessons to work already."

"I'll highly recommend this Excel course, if you want to learn and understand how excel works, how you can benefit using Tables, formulas and so on."

"Amazing course, thank you so much Nicky, Prash and Macquarie!"

Learners value the course's engaging assignments, practice challenges, and assessments that help them sharpen their excel skills and solidify their understanding of each lesson.

"The materials were well-delivered & the assignments were helping me to sharpen my excel skills."

"The quizzes also great and help me to exercise more!"

"I like the amount of information loaded in each week, enough, not too little and not too much."

"This course has really giving me a better insight to the things i can do with Excel and even more."

Nicky Bull and Dr. Prashan Karunaratne are frequently praised for their clear explanations, engaging teaching style, and expertise in Excel.

"Exceptional. I mean, just WOWW!"

"Dr. Nicky and Dr. Prashan will teach you shortcuts to work more efficiently!"

"The course is quite useful to learn and practice excel functions for managing data."

"Both instructors explained the course material very well"

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis with these activities:

Excel Mentorship Program

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Share your Excel knowledge and skills by mentoring other students who are struggling with the concepts or need guidance on specific tasks.

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Identify platforms or forums where you can connect with students seeking help.
Offer your assistance and provide support to students who have questions or need clarification.
Share your own experiences, tips, and resources to help others overcome challenges and improve their Excel proficiency.

Statistics Review

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Enhance your understanding of basic statistical concepts to strengthen your ability to interpret and analyze data in Excel.

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Review the principles of descriptive and inferential statistics, including measures of central tendency and dispersion.
Practice calculating and interpreting statistical measures using Excel functions and tools.
Apply statistical concepts to real-world business scenarios to gain practical insights.

Refresh Excel Basics

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Reinforce your understanding of basic Excel concepts to enhance your ability to grasp the advanced techniques covered in this course.

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Review the basic functions of Excel, including navigating the interface, creating and formatting spreadsheets, and entering and editing data.
Practice using formulas and functions to perform simple calculations and data manipulation.

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Advanced Excel Functionality

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Supplement your course knowledge by exploring additional tutorials that cover advanced features and techniques in Excel.

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Identify areas where you want to enhance your Excel skills.
Search for online tutorials or resources that provide step-by-step guidance on specific topics.
Follow the tutorials, practice the techniques, and apply them to your own projects.

Data Manipulation Exercises

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Strengthen your data manipulation skills by working through a series of exercises that cover various techniques, such as data cleaning, sorting, and filtering.

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Import and clean a dataset, removing duplicate entries, formatting inconsistencies, and handling missing values.
Sort and filter data based on multiple criteria to extract specific information.
Use advanced formulas and functions to transform data into a format suitable for analysis.

Logical and Lookup Function Exercises

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Solidify your understanding of logical and lookup functions through targeted exercises that cover common scenarios and challenges.

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Review the principles of logical and lookup functions.
Practice using IF, AND, OR, and VLOOKUP functions to solve data analysis problems.
Work on exercises that involve combining multiple logical and lookup functions for more complex scenarios.

Collaborative Data Analysis

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Work in a group to analyze a real-world dataset, applying the techniques learned in the course to solve a specific problem.

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Form a team and select a dataset that is relevant to the course material.
Clean and prepare the data for analysis.
Apply data analysis techniques, such as descriptive statistics, visualization, and hypothesis testing, to extract meaningful insights from the data.
Present your findings and recommendations to the class.

Data Visualization Dashboard

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Apply the visualization techniques learned in the course to create an interactive dashboard that effectively communicates insights from a real-world dataset.

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Select a dataset and define the key metrics and insights you want to convey.
Design the layout and structure of your dashboard, considering user experience and visual appeal.
Use appropriate charts, graphs, and tables to visualize the data and highlight trends and patterns.
Add interactive elements, such as filters and drill-down options, to enhance user engagement.

Excel Data Analysis Challenge

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Challenge yourself in a data analysis competition to showcase your advanced Excel skills and gain recognition for your abilities.

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Identify a relevant competition or challenge platform.
Register and download the provided dataset.
Analyze the data, draw insights, and prepare a presentation or written report.
Submit your entry and await the results.

Career center

Learners who complete Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Financial Analyst

Financial Analysts use data to make recommendations about investments and financial decisions. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Financial Analyst

Data Analyst

Data Analysts are responsible for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing data to help businesses make informed decisions. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Analyst

Market Researcher

Market Researchers collect and analyze data to help businesses understand their customers and make informed decisions about marketing strategies. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Market Researcher

Business Analyst

Business Analysts use data to analyze business processes and make recommendations for improvement. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Business Analyst

Statistician

Statisticians collect, analyze, and interpret data to help businesses make informed decisions. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Statistician

Data Scientist

Data Scientists use data to build models and make predictions about the future. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Scientist

Management Consultant

Management Consultants use data to help businesses improve their performance. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Management Consultant

Operations Research Analyst

Operations Research Analysts use data to analyze business processes and make recommendations for improvement. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Operations Research Analyst

Financial Advisor

Financial Advisors use data to help clients make informed financial decisions. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Financial Advisor

Actuary

Actuaries use data to assess risk and make recommendations about insurance policies. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course can help you develop the skills you need to succeed in this role, such as how to use Excel to clean and prepare data for analysis, automate data analysis with the help of Named Ranges and Tables, and use logical and lookup functions to transform, link and categorize data. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which is essential for success in this field.

See salaries and explore the career path for Actuary

Data Engineer

Data Engineers use data to build and maintain data pipelines. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course may be useful for those interested in becoming Data Engineers. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which can be helpful for understanding how to build and maintain data pipelines.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Engineer

Software Engineer

Software Engineers use data to design and develop software applications. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course may be useful for those interested in developing data-driven applications. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which can be helpful for understanding how to use data to design and develop software applications.

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Database Administrator

Database Administrators use data to manage and maintain databases. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course may be useful for those interested in becoming Database Administrators. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which can be helpful for understanding how to manage and maintain databases.

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Computer Programmer

Computer Programmers use data to write code that creates software applications. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course may be useful for those interested in becoming Computer Programmers. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which can be helpful for understanding how to write code that creates software applications.

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Information Security Analyst

Information Security Analysts use data to protect computer systems and networks from cyber threats. The Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis course may be useful for those interested in becoming Information Security Analysts. This course will help you build a strong foundation in the fundamentals of data analysis, which can be helpful for understanding how to protect computer systems and networks from cyber threats.

See salaries and explore the career path for Information Security Analyst