Why Excel? 

"Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that is used for storing, organizing, and manipulating data." That's great, but how would you use Excel to make your life easier?

Excel replaces the old columnar spreadsheet paper and an adding machine.  It allows you to capture data, numbers or text, electronically in a workbook. The workbook contains worksheets, the row-and-column matrix that you will work in. You can use the worksheet to perform basic number crunching, such as addition or subtraction, as well as more complex calculations, e.g. payroll deductions or a student's average on test results.

You can use Excel's built-in formulas, known as functions, or you can build your own formulas based on your business needs. And you can change the data in your worksheet and Excel will automatically recalculate for you, making it ideal for working out "What if" scenarios.

• Using the Excel 2007 user interface
• Creating new workbooks and working with existing workbooks
• Entering and editing data into a spreadsheet
• Creating formulas and using Excel's built-in formulas, i.e., functions
• Formatting worksheets
• Previewing and printing worksheets

Manage numerical data electronically using Excel, a spreadsheet application. Excel can perform calculations automatically, such as multiplying the price of an item by the quantity sold to figure the gross revenue. Each time you change the quantity sold, the gross revenue figure is updated. If you have never used a spreadsheet application, and wish to learn more about automatic calculations, start with Excel 2003 - Basics.

• Entering and editing data
• Creating formulas and using functions
• Formatting worksheets
• Previewing and printing worksheets
  

Need to present your data graphically in a chart or format it to provide more impact to your audience? And do you have data in multiple worksheets that you need to use in calculations?

One of the most important functions of Excel is its ability to help you analyze your data. Conditional Formatting, new in Excel 2007, applies rich visual formatting in the form of gradient colors, data bars, and icon sets to your data that meet certain rules so you can find exceptions and spot trends. 

And although charts were available in earlier versions of Excel, the new charting tools in 2007 make it even easier to create professional-looking charts that communicate your information effectively. Live preview, also new in 2007, allows you to explore new chart types so you can create the right chart for your data.

Finally, you will learn how to create workbooks with multiple worksheets and manage that data more effectively. For example, you can put an entire year's data in one workbook with multiple worksheets, each representing a month or a quarter. At the end of the year you can then create 3-D formulas that will consolidate the numbers on the multiple sheets saving you hours or days of work.

Key Training Points

• Creating  & formatting charts
• Using advanced charting features
• Using conditional & custom formats
• Using shapes & SmartArt
• Creating 3-D formulas
• Working with multiple worksheets
• Managing worksheets

Do you need to calculate data across multiple worksheets? For instance, you may have the balance sheet for each sales region on a separate sheet and need to create a balance sheet that totals all the sales regions. Excel 2003 - Advanced Features covers this and other functions, such as performing calculations based on criteria. For example, Excel allows you to total all sales that occurred during a specific time frame or all sales for a particular salesperson.

• Moving, copying, and linking data among multiple worksheets
• Using the IF and Lookup functions
• Naming ranges
• Creating and using templates

Do you want to learn more about how to use the functions in Excel to save time?

One of the most useful functions in Excel is the IF function. The IF function allows for decision making in a worksheet. Suppose that you give a bonus commission of 12% if a salesperson exceeds a threshold value, say, $100K. Rather than going through each sales figure yourself and manually checking to see if that number is greater than $100K, and if so, calculating the commissions in another column, you can use the IF function to do this for you.

The VLOOKUP function is a handy one to know when you want Excel to lookup a value in one place and insert it in another. For example, let's say you have a list of all of your customers on a sheet named "Accounts" and an invoice on another sheet named "Invoice". When you type in their account number on the Invoice, you want Excel to fill in the name of the customer and their address (and this information is included for all customers on the Accounts sheet). A VLOOKUP will do this for you.

In addition to learning how to work with Excel Functions you will learn how to use advanced formatting options and how to create templates. Templates contain standard text that can be used as a starting point to create new workbooks.

Key Training Points

• Using Range Names
• Using the If Function
• Using the Lookup Function
• Working with Comments
• Using Automatic Formatting and Styles
• Using Templates
• Using Worksheet Protection

Get your point across more effectively by presenting your data in chart format. Excel's chart wizard makes it easy to create and modify column graphs, pie charts, and more.

• Using the chart wizard
• Modifying chart colors and backgrounds
• Adding trend lines and data labels
• Adding and removing gridlines and legends

Do you use Excel to track and analyze data? Filters and pivot tables allow you to quickly view data in customized formats. For instance, design a table that shows how many of each product each sales representative has sold. Or show how many customers you have in each zip code. Excel 2003 - Databases & PivotTables will help you make the most of your data.

Topics include:

• Creating database spreadsheets
• Sorting and filtering data
• Creating and modifying PivotTables
  

Have you ever found yourself scanning row after row in an Excel worksheet to find just the data you're interested in?

If this sounds familiar, Excel has the answer --- the AutoFilter and Pivot Table commands.

Filtering shows you just the data you want while temporarily hiding the rest. By defining different filters, you can compare data in multiple ways, so you can glean vital information without wasting vital time.

Creating Pivot tables provides a simple way to summarize, analyze, consolidate, filter, prepare data for charting, and report on large quantities of raw data in a flexible, ad hoc manner. They are called pivot tables because you can change their layout by rearranging, or pivoting, the row and column headings quickly and easily.

Key Training Points

• Using Large Worksheets
• Managing Data
• Using Autofilter
• Working with Advanced Filter
• Working with Tables
• Working with Outlines
• Creating/Revising PivotTables