Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/excel-power-tools

Introduction

### Course Review: Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis **Course Overview** The "Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis" course on Coursera provides a comprehensive exploration of three powerful technologies: Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power BI. Designed to enhance your data analysis capabilities, this four-week course equips learners with the requisite skills to transform, analyze, and visualize data effectively. Whether you're a beginner looking to deepen your knowledge or a seasoned analyst aiming to refine your skill set, this course offers valuable insights and practical applications. **Course Structure and Content** 1. **Welcome and Critical Information** The course kicks off with an overview that helps participants set their goals and understand the structure of the learning material. This module lays the groundwork for what to expect, encouraging a community spirit by prompting learners to share their objectives. 2. **Get and Transform (Power Query)** The first substantive section introduces Power Query, a tool designed for importing and transforming data. You will learn how to pull data from multiple sources and combine various datasets efficiently. This module emphasizes the significance of initial data preparation, as it lays the foundation for accurate analysis. 3. **Transforming Data in the Query Editor** Once the data is in the system, this module teaches you how to manipulate it using the Query Editor. You'll explore common tasks such as pivoting data between wide and long formats, grouping, and splitting columns. The power of Power Query shines here, as it offers capabilities that extend beyond traditional Excel functionalities. 4. **Power Pivot and the Data Model** The heart of advanced data analysis lies within Power Pivot. This module delves into handling extensive datasets that surpass Excel's typical limits and leveraging the Data Model for relational data analysis. You’ll learn about defining relationships between tables and employing powerful cube functions. This knowledge is vital for creating PivotTables that provide deeper insights into your data. 5. **Visualising Data with Power BI** The final module introduces Power BI, expanding your data analysis tools beyond Excel. Here, you can transform the skills learned in previous modules into creating dynamic and interactive reports. You'll have the opportunity to explore Microsoft’s Business Intelligence suite, and by the end of this section, you’ll be adept at sharing your insights with a wider audience. **Learning Experience** The course is structured to provide a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical application. Each module is rich in content and includes video lectures, readings, and hands-on exercises that ensure you can apply what you’ve learned. Coursera's platform encourages interaction through discussion forums, so you can connect with peers, ask questions, and collaborate on projects. **Who Should Take This Course?** This course is ideal for data analysts, business professionals, or anyone interested in bolstering their data-driven decision-making skills. If you frequently work with data in Excel and need advanced tools to manage large datasets, automate data processes, and create visual reports, this course is highly recommended. **Conclusion** "Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis" is an invaluable resource for any professional looking to enhance their data analysis skills. By integrating Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power BI into your workflow, you’ll streamline your data handling processes and gain powerful visualization capabilities. The course is well-structured, offers practical applications, and encourages community engagement, making it a worthwhile investment in your professional development. I would highly recommend this course to anyone looking to take their data analysis capabilities to the next level!

Syllabus

Welcome and critical information

Welcome to Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis. In this course, you will learn about importing and transforming data with Power Query, working with huge datasets in Power Pivot, and creating interactive reports with Power BI. This introductory material will help orient you into the course. We encourage you to think about your goals for the course and share them with your fellow learners.

Often the first steps when analysing data are to import the data and combine different datasets together. In Excel, you can use Get and Transform, previously known as Power Query, to help with this. In this module, you will learn how to import data from various sources and the different ways to combine datasets depending on your requirements.

Once your data is imported and combined, you then move on to transforming it. A common operation is to pivot data between wide and long formats. You can group data and split a column into multiple columns. Power Query has a few extra options that a normal PivotTable doesn't have.

An Excel workbook can handle up to 1 million rows, which sounds like a lot but sometimes you have more data than that. The Data Model in Excel is only limited by the amount of memory your computer has. You can also define database-like relationships between tables. Then you can visualise your data using Power Pivot and cube functions, and create PivotTables.

We are moving out of Excel with this module. Power BI is Microsoft's Business Intelligence tool. You can put into practice the skills that you have learned in Power Query, M, and DAX, to create dynamic and interactive reports and dashboards in Power BI. Once you have the report looking how you want, share it with others.