Stage 1: Excel fundamentals (Beginner)
Duration: 2–3 days (hands-on practice included)
Topics:
Introduction to Excel interface (Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, Worksheets, Workbook
structure)
Data entry and navigation (cells, rows, columns, ranges, shortcuts)
Formatting basics (fonts, borders, fill color, alignment, number formats, conditional
formatting basics)
Basic formulas and functions: SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT
Copy, paste, and fill techniques (AutoFill, Flash Fill)
Sorting and filtering data
Printing and page setup
Practical exercises:
Create a personal budget sheet
Build a simple sales report with formatted headers
Use conditional formatting to highlight values above a threshold
Stage 2: Formula mastery (Intermediate)
Duration: 3–5 days
Topics:
Relative vs absolute references ($A$1 vs A1)
Named ranges for cleaner formulas
Text functions: LEFT, RIGHT, MID, TRIM, LEN, CONCATENATE / TEXTJOIN
Date and time functions: TODAY, NOW, DAY, MONTH, YEAR, DATEDIF
Logical functions: IF, IFS, AND, OR, NOT
Lookup functions: VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX + MATCH
Error handling: IFERROR, ISNA
Basic data validation (dropdown lists, input restrictions)
Practical exercises:
Build an employee leave tracker using date functions
Create a student grading sheet with IF conditions
Create a product lookup tool using XLOOKUP
Stage 3: Data analysis and visualization (Intermediate–
Advanced)
Duration: 5–7 days
Topics:
Advanced sorting and multi-level filtering
Conditional formatting with formulas
PivotTables and PivotCharts:
o Creating, grouping, filtering
o Summarizing with counts, averages, and percentages
o Calculated fields and items
Charts and visualizations:
o Column, bar, line, pie, scatter, combo charts
o Custom chart formatting
o Sparklines
Data consolidation across worksheets
Tables and structured references
Basic Power Query introduction (import, clean, transform data)
Practical exercises:
Analyze monthly sales data with PivotTables
Build a dashboard with charts and slicers
Import and clean a CSV dataset using Power Query
Stage 4: Advanced Excel techniques
Duration: 1–2 weeks
Topics:
Advanced lookup and referencing (OFFSET, INDIRECT)
Nested formulas and array functions
Dynamic Arrays (Excel 365): FILTER, SORT, SEQUENCE, UNIQUE
Advanced data validation with formulas
Scenario analysis: Goal Seek, Data Tables, Scenario Manager
What-If analysis and sensitivity modeling
Advanced conditional formatting rules
Macros and VBA basics:
o Recording simple macros
o Understanding VBA editor
o Automating repetitive tasks
Power Query advanced transformations (merge, append, custom columns)
Power Pivot basics: data modeling, measures, DAX intro
Practical exercises:
Build a financial model with sensitivity analysis
Automate repetitive formatting tasks using a macro
Create a Power Query pipeline to merge sales data from multiple regions
Stage 5: Business applications and mastery
Duration: 2–3 weeks (project-based)
Topics:
Building interactive dashboards (with slicers, timelines, PivotCharts)
Financial modeling (cash flow, P&L, forecasting)
HR analytics (headcount, attrition, performance)
Sales reporting and CRM analytics
Project management in Excel (Gantt charts, resource planning)
Using Excel with other tools (Power BI, Access, SQL, Python integration)
Best practices for spreadsheet design (modularity, documentation, error checking)
Security and sharing (password protection, permissions, co-authoring)
Capstone projects:
Create a fully interactive business dashboard with charts and slicers
Develop a 5-year financial projection model
Automate an HR reporting system with Power Query and PivotTables
Training methods
Workshops: Instructor-led demonstrations with live practice
Assignments: Realistic problem sets after each stage
Case studies: Business scenarios (e.g., sales forecasting, HR attrition analysis)
Assessments: Short quizzes and a final project presentation
Resources: Templates, cheat sheets for formulas, practice datasets
