Excel definition: a software program created by Microsoft that uses spreadsheets to organize numbers and data with formulas and functions. Excel analysis is ubiquitous around the world and used by businesses of all sizes to perform financial analysis.

The use of Excel is widespread in the industry. It is a very powerful data analysis tool and almost all big and small businesses use Excel in their day to day functioning.

The course is designed keeping in mind two kinds of learners - those who have very little functional knowledge of Excel and those who use Excel regularly but at a peripheral level and wish to enhance their skills. The course takes you from basic operations such as reading data into excel using various data formats, organizing and manipulating data, to some of the more advanced functionality of Excel.

As a data analyst, you are on a journey. Think about all the data that is being generated each day and that is available in an organization, from transactional data in a traditional database, telemetry data from services that you use, to signals that you get from different areas like social media.

For example, today's retail businesses collect and store massive amounts of data that track the items you browsed and purchased, the pages you've visited on their site, the aisles you purchase products from, your spending habits, and much more.

With data and information as the most strategic asset of a business, the underlying challenge that organizations have today is understanding and using their data to positively effect change within the business. Businesses continue to struggle to use their data in a meaningful and productive way, which impacts their ability to act.

The key to unlocking this data is being able to tell a story with it. In today's highly competitive and fast-paced business world, crafting reports that tell that story is what helps business leaders take action on the data. Business decision makers depend on an accurate story to drive better business decisions. The faster a business can make precise decisions, the more competitive they will be and the better advantage they will have. Without the story, it is difficult to understand what the data is trying to tell you.

However, having data alone is not enough. You need to be able to act on the data to effect change within the business. That action could involve reallocating resources within the business to accommodate a need, or it could be identifying a failing campaign and knowing when to change course. These situations are where telling a story with your data is important.