Business Analysts rely on many tools to help them better manage, analyze, and visualize data. This article will explore the various uses of Excel for business analytics.
What Do Business Analysts Do?
Business Analysts serve as liaisons of sorts between an organization’s stakeholders and the various forms of technology used to achieve professional goals. Those working in this field seek to improve the efficiency of business operations, such as technical processes and how programs operate. In addition, Business Analysts are often tasked with performing data analysis and communicating their findings on patterns and trends so that the management team can find solutions to improve overall workplace efficiency. The recommendations and evaluations provided by Business Analysts play an integral role in the decision-making process that fuels both internal improvements, as well as those that better serve customers.
Using Microsoft Excel for Business Analytics
It is estimated that over half of businesses use Microsoft Excel. This means that around the globe, more than 2 billion people rely on spreadsheet applications and technologies like Excel to help them manage data. Because Excel is considered to be the industry-standard spreadsheet application, it plays a crucial role in the business analytics sector.
With the ever-growing volume of data being created, business analytics continues to be a popular profession. Although those working in this field rely on many tools, platforms, and applications to handle data, one constant that nearly every Business Analyst uses is Excel. It’s essential for Business Analysts to be adept at creating, formatting, and manipulating spreadsheets. Because Excel commonly serves as the connector between various analytic tools and packages, it’s crucial for those working in the business sector to have the spreadsheet skills to quickly and efficiently impart data findings to colleagues, stakeholders, and other audience members.
The following are some of the most important features of Excel that Business Analysts use:
- Working with IF formulas. One of the most basic and common skills a Business Analyst must have is the ability to quickly filter and organize data. IF formulas provide one way to do so. With the help of these functions, data can be filtered based on specified criteria. One example that illustrates how effective IF formulas are is when Business Analysts are tasked with organizing competitors by their annual revenue, physical location, or number of followers on social media.
- Using VLOOKUP. VLOOKUP is a function used to help Business Analysts find values within a table or locate data from a column. It eliminates the need to manually sort through huge datasets to find the needed data, which can take many hours.
- Extracting clarity from clutter. A core Excel skill for Business Analysts is placing data in the format in which it’s most understandable. This can involve placing the most pertinent information in the forefront, which often means extracting it from the other number-clutter on a worksheet or workbook. Graphs, charts, and other visual techniques can be helpful to highlight important data. Doing so can save audience members the time and hassle of having to search for the insights they need.
- Uncovering data patterns. Many types of data are regularly collected in the business world, such as website traffic, insurance claims, product sales, and supply spending, among others. Business Analysts analyze these various data types so that policymakers can make decisions based on their findings. One example of a Business Analyst uncovering useful data patterns is creating profit reports for each day of the week. If, for example, the business loses money on Saturdays, it may be wise for them to consider closing operations on that underperforming day.
- Documenting spreadsheet systems. Most Business Analysts work in a collaborative environment, in which their findings are shared with others within their department, as well as supervisors or stakeholders. For this reason, anything they create to help their analytic process should be available, and useful, to others. This is where the importance of detailed documentation comes in. This may include taking notes in a file, saving a PDF document of procedures, or recording the steps it took to perform Excel tasks.
- Using PivotTables. One of Excel’s most powerful features is the PivotTable. These handy tools offer Business Analysts a way to analyze and summarize data, perform calculations on it, and ultimately unearth trends that are then visualized as a data-driven story.
- Visualizing data. Business Analysts who focus on business intelligence often must provide decision-makers with visual representations of data so that trends and patterns that may go unnoticed are easy to spot. Excel provides an assortment of useful tools for creating visual representations of data, such as scatter charts, radar charts, and stock charts. Business Analysts must be aware of the various options for data visualization so that they can select the chart or graph type most suited for displaying the data.
- Understanding industry-relevant Excel features. Because Business Analysts handle many different types of assignments, they often must handle all sorts of data. It’s helpful, therefore, for them to know which spreadsheet functions are most suited for the task at hand. For example, those who work as Warehousing Analysts would need to ensure that the data with which they work is high-quality and doesn’t contain substandard taxonomies or duplications. Actuaries, on the other hand, would need to have a working knowledge of statistical distribution functions.
- Automating with VBA. Automating plays a huge role in efficiently using Excel for business analytics. It’s important, therefore, for Business Analysts to learn how to work with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to create macros that can perform repetitive actions in just seconds.
- Integrating Excel with other software. Seldom is Excel used alone by Business Analysts. They often must convert extracts from external systems into a format that works with the Excel template.
While it’s not essential for Business Analysts to have a mastery of each of the above-mentioned Excel skills and tools, learning more about core functions like macros, PivotTables, and VLOOKUP can save time and increase productivity.
Learn More About Excel by Enrolling in Hands-On Classes
A great way to learn more about Microsoft Excel is to enroll in one of Noble Desktop’s
Excel courses in NYC and live online. Courses are available for those who are new to Excel, as well as learners who regularly work with this spreadsheet application and wish to brush up on their skills. In addition, there are also in-person and live online Excel courses available through Noble Desktop or one of its affiliate schools. A variety of course options are offered that range in duration from three hours to two days and cost between $229 and $1,099.
Noble Desktop’s Excel Bootcamp provides a great option for those who want to master core Excel concepts, such as working with VLOOKUP and PivotTables, as well as What-If Analysis. Students who enroll in this rigorous, 21-hour course can elect to study in person in Manhattan or learn in the live online environment. This small class comes with the option of a free retake and covers a variety of Excel concepts applicable to the business world.
Those interested in studying Excel close to home can also browse over 280 in-person Microsoft Excel classes to find nearby study options. Courses are available that vary in duration from three hours to 24 weeks, and range in price from $110-$8,749.