Overview
Course Methodology
This course uses MS Excel as a powerful tool to design and prepare dynamic business reports, dashboards, and scorecards. Groups and individuals will be required to complete exercises, case studies, and projects daily.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Use Excel to create interactive dashboards using PivotTables, Slicers, and dynamic PowerPoint integration
- Apply advanced data validation techniques, including dependent drop-downs and error handling
- Design impactful visualizations like dynamic labels, sparklines, and KPI charts
- Build smart reports using form controls such as combo boxes, spinners, and checkboxes
- Automate data import and transformation using Power Query across multiple sources
Target Audience
Business professionals, accountants, finance analysts, senior and junior accountants, business analysts, accounting and finance professionals, research professionals, marketing and sales professionals, administrative staff, supervisors, and general staff from any function who need to learn and apply state-of-the-art techniques to their daily business reporting, reconciliations, and analysis.
Target Competencies
- Reporting, analyzing, and reconciling
- Data modeling
- Integration with external data sources
- Report structuring techniques
- Charting and visualization techniques
Note
This is a hands-on training course that utilizes laptops, which Meirc will provide for the duration of the course. For courses outside the UAE, participants are required to bring their own laptops with a fully working version of Microsoft Excel 2021 or higher.
Course Outline
- Core Reporting and Dashboarding Skills
- Mastering pivot tables and pivot charts: Rules, use cases, and common pitfalls
- Slicer techniques for clean interactivity
- Building dynamic dashboards that drive insight
- Integrating smart, interactive elements (drop-downs, buttons, and linked visuals)
- Seamless dashboard transfer to PowerPoint: Dynamic linkage and storytelling tips
- Advanced Data Structuring for Impactful Analysis
- Advanced data validation: Custom logic, list rules, and user-proofing techniques
- Designing smart conditional formatting for quick data interpretation
- Mastering XLOOKUP and its strategic advantages over legacy functions
- Building dependent drop-down lists for guided data entry
- Error handling: IFERROR, ISERROR, and smart mitigation strategies
- Data Visualization and Charting Techniques
- Dynamic data labels: Automated updates and context-driven commentary
- Formula-driven visualizations for flexible storytelling
- Leveraging modern fonts and formatting for executive aesthetics
- Sparklines: In-cell trends and micro-visualization
- Thermometer charts: Goal vs. actual performance visualization
- Performance bands and conditional chart ranges
- Report Modeling with Interactive Controls
- Structuring reports with purpose: From raw data to decision-ready output
- Combo boxes, list boxes, and spinners: Creating user-controlled models
- Option buttons and checkboxes for customizable reporting interfaces
- Scenario modeling and “What-If” analysis using form controls
- Power Query for Seamless Data Integration
- Importing from multiple sources (TXT, CSV, Excel, PDF) with minimal cleanup
- Appending and merging queries for consolidated analysis
- Customizing query properties for refresh, load, and connection control
- Preparing data structures for pivot-ready analysis
- Introduction to data transformation and shaping best practices
Schedule & Fees
HAVE A QUESTION?
Hanaa will help you find what you are looking for.
© 2025 Meirc Training & Consulting. All rights reserved.