DATA ANALYSIS IN FINANCE
ON LEVERAGING DATA
IN BUSINESS & CAREER
7 JULY - 16 AUGUST 2022
Duration:
6 WEEKS
TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS
5 PM PST / 8 PM EST
It's taken as a matter of fact that business decisions should be driven by data, but there's not a straight line between increased reporting and increased profit. In fact, 8 out of 10 companies say they have no idea how to turn their data into valuable insights.
What if you could bring together financial planning, real-time reporting, and simple but effective tools to lead better decision making from the role you're in? Learn how to move from data to profitable insights and take your career higher. Rachel Guthrie teaches essential data and presentation techniques for results-driven professionals in this powerful live course.
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
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YOU'RE OVERWHELMED WITH COMPLEX DATA & DOCUMENTATION
Organizing data and creating reports used to make you feel accomplished. Now, it just feels like a non-achievement. You want to be able to share insights that shape a path forward, but instead, you're stuck looking backward at stubbornly unrevealing data. In this class, you'll learn the same workflows that Microsoft champions to ensure their talent can focus on the work that counts the most.
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YOU STRUGGLE TO MEASURE PROJECT IMPACT
There are a lot of unknowns in any project, but one thing is for sure — you can't improve what you can't see. Without having real-time visibility over changing metrics, project ROI is a game of chance. In this course, Rachel teaches you how to avoid unpleasant budget surprises with data-based financial planning and real-time, dynamic data dashboards.
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YOU'RE TIRED OF BEING THE JUNIOR IN THE ROOM
There's only one thing that matters in the career jungle: getting your ideas heard. And that doesn't mean being the loudest person in the room. In this course, you'll build your own stakeholder-friendly budget models, investment analysis, data models, and dashboards. Rachel will teach you how to create clear stories and takeaways from complex data and get noticed by the people who matter most.
The most comprehensive analytics training available — technical skills not required.
This is the only course that moves you through project planning to dynamic reporting with one-on-one coaching from an expert.
Learn how to coax out the insights that other people miss.
Discover time-saving tricks for cutting out repetitive tasks and start turning static reports into clear paths forward.
Remove uncertainty from your bottom line. You'll learn how to create spot-on financial plans and budget models to measure and control real-time financial returns.
Transform complex data into easy-to-understand models and dashboards in Excel and Power BI. Get one-on-one guidance from a Microsoft business leader as you practice creating data resources that you can template for future projects.
Learn how to make your recommendations land, every time. Rachel will teach you her visualization and storytelling tricks for making data-based business decisions easy for owners and stakeholders, regardless of their level of data fluency.
Replace the weak spots in your resumé with sought-after skills. Rachel will teach you how to pitch your experience on your resumé and in-person, plus you'll hear from a special guest speaker on how to stand out.
Guthrie LinkedIn Profile
- Senior Program Manager, Dynamics Product Group at Microsoft
- Empowers lucrative investment decisions every day with strategic reporting and analytics
- Developed an enterprise custom budget model for an Oil and Gas client's mission-critical acquisition
- Designed and implemented key features for Microsoft's own internal executive reporting tool
- Boasts over a decade of financial leadership at enterprises in industries including technology, oil and gas, and EdTech
COURSE INTRODUCTION
Learn the main principles of financial data analysis and how to ready data for analysis in Excel.
- Main principles of financial data analysis
- Preparing data for analysis
- Importing data into Excel
- Demo: Cleaning data in Excel
- TRIM and SUBSTITUTE functions
- Avoiding duplicate table entries
Assignment #01: Import the provided data set into your workbook and clean / manipulate it using the TRIM and SUBSTITUTE functions. Remove any duplicates.
Resource: Rachel Guthrie's Personal Excel Cheat Sheet.
Dive into financial planning using Excel functions. Forecast a project’s final cost and completion times and calculate amounts, rates, and time to achieve financial goals.
- Overview of functions and formulas
- Types of functions used in Finance
- Demo: Using functions and formulas in Excel
- Calculating mean, median, variance
- Financial planning: Calculating cost, labor hours, and project schedule variances
- Forecasting final project cost and completion time
- Staying on track with your financial goals and requirements
Assignment #02: Using the functions learned in class, complete a financial plan from a sample data set, showing project status and projections of cost and completion times.
Take your financial analysis to the next level using advanced Excel tools like Goal Seek, Scenario Manager, Solver Tool, and Forecast Sheet.
- Calculating break-even points and required volumes
- Creating optimal job and supply or supplier assignments
- Using Forecast Sheet as a budgeting tool
- Financial scenarios with multiple variables
- Demo: Using Excel for financial analysis: Goal Seek, Scenario Manager, and Solver Tool
Assignment #03: Build a budget model by following a set of instructions and requirements to practice tools used in class.
Discover the power of Excel functions for investment analysis.
- Calculating the financial value of a project or proposal
- Basic financial measures
- Net Benefit (NB)
- Present Value (PV)
- Net Present Value
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Demo: Investment analysis in Excel
Assignment #04: Apply the methodologies and functions learned in class to a provided data set to determine if a proposal meets the established criteria for investment.
Learn when and how to use pivot tables and how to create charts to visualize your data.
- Types of charts and their applications
- Pivot tables and charts: Why are they important?
- Demo: Creating and formatting charts in Excel
- Combination charts
- Adding trendlines on your charts
- Charts for real-world scenarios: Dual axis charts, actual vs targets charts, Pareto charts
Assignment #05: Using a provided dataset, follow instructions to produce a defined set of charts / graphs and determine which chart gives the most insight to the data.
Explore Power add-ins with Rachel. Walk through how to use them step-by-step in a real-world situation.
- Demo: Introduction to Power Query and Power Pivot
- Importing large datasets with Power Query
- Managing data models in Power Pivot
Assignment #06: Create a data model by importing a provided dataset to Power Query. Use Power Pivot to get insights from the data.
Learn how to use the intuitive data manipulation and rich visualizations of Power BI.
- Basic design principles
- Getting familiar with Power BI
- Types of visualizations in Power BI
- Security and administration
- Demo: Importing multiple data sources into Power BI
Assignment #07: Begin building a data model by loading tables to Power BI from a variety of provided sources, as demonstrated in class.
Learn how to build a data model with table relationships and defined measures in Power BI.
- Putting terms into context
- Shaping data and best practices
- Demo: Defining table relationships in Power BI
- Defining table relationships
- Creating measures and columns
Assignment #08: Using the Power BI tables you created in the previous assignment, define table relationships and optimize the dataset for reporting.
Learn advanced financial data analysis techniques using the DAX programming language.
- Getting more out of Power BI with DAX
- Introduction to DAX Syntax
- Main applications
- Solving real-world problems using DAX
- Demo: Applying DAX to real-world problems
Assignment #09: Build on the model you've already developed: follow instructions to create new measures and columns using DAX syntax learned in class.
Resource: Supercharge Power BI: Power BI Is Better When You Learn How to Write DAX by Matt Allington
Use Power BI to publish dashboards and reports in a business context.
- Dashboards vs reports in Power BI
- Embedding reports in apps and websites
- Automating KPI and OKR reporting
- Demo: Publishing financial reports to a Workplace in Power BI
Assignment #10: Publish a Power BI dashboard with supplementary reports using the data model from previous lessons.
Uplevel your storytelling and messaging skills to drive meaningful impact from your data analysis and reporting.
- Storytelling principles
- Pitching your findings to stakeholders
- Elevating your data presentation skills
- Accessibility considerations
Assignment #11: Learn how to “start with 'Why'” in your personal pitch: Watch Simon Sinek’s TED talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”, (20 min) and create a slide pitching “Why” a company would want to hire you. Record your elevator pitch for Rachel in a 45-second video.
Hear from a special guest speaker on how she climbed from accounting to a supervisory role at Microsoft, including her tips to enhance your resumé for the job you want.
- Resumé and LinkedIn profile tips
- How to highlight the outcomes of this course on your resumé
Assignment #12: Update your resumé to include the skills you’ve acquired in this course.
What our students say
"I really enjoy the real-world examples and objectives found in the assignments. I've been able to apply each lesson to my current role and find ways to implement what I've learned."
"Although the data is centered around finance, the fundamentals can be applied in many other business and real life applications, in particular Supply Chain Management."
"Course content is focused on real-world application of Excel used by finance professional for data analysis and presentation. I am a 20+ year finance professional using Excel daily and the course is teaching me new Excel functionality."
"There is a wide range of topics covered starting with Excel basics and going towards more advanced analytics in Power BI. I never knew how to create or use so many charts in Excel. It is amazing."
"Rachel takes great time to provide us with tons of information on the current topic for use in not only our homework, but also to use the skills in real world scenarios."
"All of the tips and tricks. I have been able to apply the material from every class to improving different processes or reports at work."
"I'm experienced in excel; and this course is teaching me something new every class"