090225 Excel Training

Booz & Company This document is confidential and is intended solely for the use and information of the client to whom it is addressed. Do it Fast, Do it Right, and Make it Look Good The Art of Being Awesome at Excel New York, Jan 2009 Training Document

What real-world practitioners say about this training Booz & Company 28 March 2009 RPDU_849_TR10_004.ppt "Even after 6 years heavy consulting work I learned a lot new things.“ - Senior Associate, Abu Dhabi "I used to think I was an advanced excel user but still learnt a lot. Your idea of having the right attitude is spot-on.” - Associate, New York "I'm very new to Booz and recently had to learn how to do excel modeling for the first time. I find your Excel Add on to be very useful as it provides a quick summary of useful short cuts and introduces many best practices on modeling to 'Excel' beginners.” - Senior Consultant, Sydney "Und wenns nur das Handbuch „The Art of Being Awesome at Modelling" wäre, das wäre schon wirklich klasse! Vielleicht gibts ja eine Möglichkeit, dann könnte ich meine Aufregung vor dem ertsen Excel Modell schon etwas bekämpfen :-)“ - Senior Consultant, Munich

The Komar Excel Framework A Perspectives on Modeling Skill Categories Parting Shots Booz & Company DATE

The Komar Framework for mastering Excel Booz & Company DATE Positively Impact an Organization The 1 Objective in Business The 7 Core Excel Skills Your Attitude Cleaning Data Structure Pivot Tables Keyboard Shortcuts Functions Menu Shortcuts The 5 Levels of Competency Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) Expert (Stage 4-5) Basic (Stage 1-2) Advanced (Stage 3) The 3 Principles of Excel Modeling Do it Fast Do it Right Make it Look Good Be Effective Be Efficient The 2 Requirements for That Objective

Underlying the MegaExcel Add-In is a philosophy about consulting modeling, with three mutually reinforcing principles Booz & Company DATE Principle Explanation Do it Fast Constructing an analysis can take 10 minutes or 3 hours; I think shorter is better The keyboard is always quicker than the mouse Do it Right Excel isn’t going to make a mistake, but you will You can’t check every cell, but if you structure your model logically, you can check all your work Make it look good A clean, consistently formatted model is much easier for you (and others) to review The act of formatting your model will actually help you to become faster and more accurate

Consulting formulas aren’t quite as complex as other professions… Booz & Company DATE Electrical Engineering Maxwell’s Third Equation Aeronautical engineering Stokes Theorum Astrophysics Kepler’s Third Law Finance Option Premium Valuation Other Professions Consulting Units x Price = Revenue

… but their application can be quite complex Booz & Company DATE Units X Price = Revenue EXAMPLE Calculate the relative revenue share of your client’s brands versus competitors for the last 52 weeks in the top 23 markets in the US. A lot of data…. Do so for 16 product categories, each containing between 1-4 brands, multiple product extensions, varying sizes and through multiple distribution channels. Cut a lot of different ways. Collect the data from multiple different data sources that are incomplete, only provide partial coverage, and follow inconsistent naming conventions. With crummy data... The data arrives on a CD, with the data in 48 PDF files. … in a crummy format. You have 2 weeks to produce a complete model. With no time You will hand off the model to the client at the conclusion of the project. And it has to be understandable.

There is no “easy” button for Excel… Booz & Company DATE … but there is an “Easy” button for solving business problems; it’s you, and your boss pushes it

The Komar Excel Framework A Perspectives on Modeling Skill Categories Parting Shots Attitude Functions Keyboard Shortcuts Menu Shortcuts Cleaning Data Pivot Tables Structure Booz & Company DATE

Modeling in Excel is like digging ditches; you can dig a lot faster if you invest some time to learn the tools Booz & Company DATE Ditch Digging Methods We’ll all be digging ditches (in Excel) for the next 30 years of our careers; which would you rather use? Using Your Hands Using a Shovel Using a Backhoe Investment Time 0 hours Time Investment 1 Hour Time Investment 20 hours

In the words of a famous philosopher, “do, or do not. There is no try.” Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) “ Meh, I’m not really a numbers person” Advanced (Stage 3) “ I really want to get good so I can get promoted” Expert (Stage 4-5) “ I need to teach other people what I know”

Functions are the verbs of Excel, but thankfully have only one conjugation (e.g. NOT “I am”, “you are,” “she is”) Booz & Company DATE 12 Functions 17 Functions 21 Functions Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Writing a Formula Basic Arithmetic (add, subtract, divide, multiple, etc) Basic Formulas (sum, average, max, min, etc) Advanced (Stage 3) Manipulating Text (right, left, mid, len, find, etc) Advanced Functions (If, vlookup, index, match, etc) Expert (Stage 4-5) Arrays ({sum(if())}, and, or, not, etc) Data->Table

The keyboard is much, much faster than the mouse; do you want to be fast, or slow? Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Basic Movement (using the arrow keys, shift, and ctrl) Copy and Pasting Basic Formatting (numbers, currency, percentage, etc) Advanced (Stage 3) Advanced Formatting (Format window, fill and font colors, etc) Undo and Redo Expert (Stage 4-5) File Operations (New workbook, save, etc) Super Advanced Formatting (autosize columns, zoom, etc) Formula Auditing (show formulas, show function arguments, etc)

Menu and keyboard shortcuts are synergistic - knowing both is a massive accelerator Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Finding the Alt key File Operations (save as, send file as attachment, etc.) Inserting Cells (insert row, insert column, etc.) Advanced (Stage 3) Paste Special (paste as values, paste as formulas, etc) Basic Data Manipulation (conditional format, auto filter, etc) Expert (Stage 4-5) Navigating a Dialog Window Editing a pivot table

In the real world, data is never clean or complete; you are the “easy” button that cleans it up Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Accept that it’s a mess Know what your end goal is Save versions as you go, so you can see how you built it Advanced (Stage 3) Copy into word (unformatted text), then copy/paste into excel Data -> Text to Columns Text Manipulation Functions Expert (Stage 4-5) = TRIM(CLEAN(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(TRIM(A1),LEN(TRIM(A1))-OR(RIGHT(TRIM(A1))={"?","!","."})),CHAR(160)," "))) Fedex it to India and have them key it in by hand

A Pivot Table is the most powerful single function in Excel Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Understand What a Pivot Table is Get the Data in the Right Format Create a Pivot Table Advanced (Stage 3) Understand How to Use a Pivot Table Basic Slicing and Dicing Expert (Stage 4-5) Advanced Slicing and Dicing Run a Pivot Table on an Access Database

The hardest, most intangible, yet most important skill is to be able to structure a model well Booz & Company DATE Level Comments Basic (Stage 1-2) Build in Blocks, and pick a direction (either right or down) [Flip Chart example] Identify Your End Goal Draft the model out on paper or in Excel…… Or Just Get Going Advanced (Stage 3) Format Row Headers Consistently Format Row Headers Consistently Format Data Correctly Expert (Stage 4-5) Overcome Complexity through Structure (“Look at the structure, not the numbers”) Find the Mistakes you Made Walk a Teammate through your Logic (aka CYA)

Some of the Excel defaults are wrong; changing them will make you faster, and better Booz & Company DATE

Do’s Assume that you are making mistakes; go back to find them Color tabs in Excel Do a Summary/Intro page Holding the Shift key when using the mouse to move columns is cool Don’ts Link to other workbooks Other Tips Booz & Company DATE

The OODA Loop Booz & Company DATE … another topic for another day Feed Forward Decision (Hypothesis) Feed Forward Feedback Unfolding Interaction With Environment Unfolding Interaction With Environment Feed Forward Observations Unfolding Circumstances Outside Information Implicit Guidance & Control Action (Test) Implicit Guidance & Control Observe Orient Decide Act Cultural Traditions Genetic Heritage New Information Previous Experience Analyses & Synthesis

090225 Excel Training

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090225 Excel Training