Dashboards: Part 1

Level: Intermediate

Available Durations:

  • 90 minutes
  • 100 minutes
  • 120 minutes
This topic is best presented in 90 minutes or more.

Description

In Part 1 of Dashboards, Excel expert David Ringstrom, CPA, covers the basics of creating and using dashboards. Excel dashboards empower users to quickly assimilate large amounts of data into spreadsheets by way of pivot tables, charts, and other Excel features. David shows you how to streamline data analysis, expand or collapse rows and/or columns, create dashboards that look less like Excel spreadsheets, filter pivot table data based on date ranges, and much more.

David demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365) version of Excel. David draws your attention to any differences in the older versions of Excel (2019, 2016, 2013, and earlier) during the presentation as well as in his detailed handouts. David also provides an Excel workbook that includes most of the examples he uses during the webcast.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that provides new-feature updates as often as monthly. Conversely, the perpetual licensed versions of Excel have feature sets that don’t change. Perpetual licensed versions have year numbers, such as Excel 2019, Excel 2016, and so on.

Topics/Areas Typically Covered:

  • Getting an overview of what a dashboard is within the context of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
  • Linking data from text files to Excel spreadsheets by way of Microsoft Query.
  • Jump-starting pivot tables by way of the Recommended PivotTables feature in Excel 2013 and later.
  • Managing data security prompts that may appear when you link external data into Excel spreadsheets.
  • Using Excel’s PivotTable feature to condense large amounts of information into manageable chunks.
  • Preventing pivot tables from automatically resizing columns when you refresh or filter the data.
  • Avoiding the dreaded PivotTable Field Name Already Exists error prompt.
  • Duplicating Excel worksheets in two different ways.
  • Managing information overload by creating a Top 10 pivot table.
  • Adding interactivity to pivot tables by using the Slicer feature for filtering in Excel 2010 and later.
  • Assembling a dashboard from multiple pivot tables.
  • Displaying two or more pivot tables close together on a single worksheet without triggering a conflict.

Learning Objectives/Why You Should Attend:

  • Identify ways to use Excel dashboards to quickly assimilate large amounts of data.
  • Recall how to use Microsoft Query to create persistent connections to data you wish to present in a dashboard.
  • Apply the Quick Analysis feature for data visualization.

Target Industries:

  • Accounting and Finance
  • Business
  • Excel Users
  • Consulting
  • IT
  • Auditing
  • Human Resources
  • Marketing
  • Sales
  • Government
  • Tax

Target Job Title:

  • Accountants
  • CPAs
  • CFOs
  • Controllers
  • Income Tax Preparers
  • Enrolled Agents
  • Financial Consultants
  • IT Professionals
  • Auditors
  • Human Resource Personnel
  • Bookkeepers
  • Excel Users
  • Marketers
  • Government Personnel

About the Instructor:

David H. Ringstrom, CPA, is an author and nationally recognized instructor who teaches scores of webinars each year. His Excel courses are based on over 25 years of consulting and teaching experience. David’s mantra is “Either you work Excel, or it works you,” so he focuses on what he sees users don’t, but should, know about Microsoft Excel. His goal is to empower you to use Excel more effectively. To learn more about David, you can view his LinkedIn profile and follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@excelwriter).

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