Excel Intro
Excel is a spreadsheet software, used to organize and store data ,create data visualization dashboards and generate reports.
As a beginner in the data science and data analysis, it has been quite daunting to learn it's many features, sometimes, I was wondering if a time will come when ill be able to use all of them.
I have however enjoyed learning about cells, formulas and different functions that will enable me to analyze data. In the real world , excel is used for various purposes like;
Expense tracking in businesses
When running a business, the entrepreneur should be able to evaluate whether the capital directed towards different business functions is delivering the expected outcomes
The chart above investigates whether more work hours put into training improves their performance as reflected by the number of projects they are able to finish annually. This will inform whether to invest more in training or redirect the investment that is being used for training to other areas where it would bring in better returns on investment.
Tracking company goals
As companies grow, their internal goals that should be achieved by certain timelines need to be tracked. For example, we have witnessed multinational corporations work towards achieving a balance in employment amongst gender lines. For such a company which cannot track all the employees with a headcount, they can use tools such as excel to check the gender balance across all it's departments and infer whether their goals have been achieved.
I recently learnt of the COUNTIFS function and it would come in handy sorting the data from various departments of a multinational and check if the goals have been achieved.
Data based hiring
When hiring, firing or promoting employees, data can come in handy to ensure the most qualified person is hired or the most deserving one is promoted. Analyzing the data of who has completed most projects, brought most income or such parameters would inform the promotions in a corporation.
Final thoughts
Excel is a versatile tool which is relatively easy to use. It is invaluable in the data driven world which businesses operate in. I am looking forward to learning more about how it works and how much more i can do with it other than the quick SUM or MAX function to get simple data on a subject.
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