Who is this program for?

<text variant="body1">This program is for you: <text variant="body1">● If you want to switch or start a career in the field of data analytics. ● If you are interested in the field of data analytics, just beginning to work with business intelligence and data analysis solutions and services, or new to Microsoft Power BI.

What background knowledge is necessary?

You don’t need any background knowledge to take this Professional Certificate. Whether you’re just starting out or a professional in a relevant field, this program can be the right fit for you.

How long does it take to complete the professional certificate

<text variant="body1">It typically takes 5 months to complete the 8 courses. But some learners may go through the content faster.

What is the main benefit of a Professional Certificate?

Whether you’re looking to start a new career or change your current one, Professional Certificates help you become job ready. Apply your new skills on hands-on projects that showcase your expertise to potential employers and earn a career credential to kickstart your new career.

What will I be able to do upon completing the Professional Certificate?

<text variant="body1">Once you have completed this Professional Certificate, you’ll have built a foundational knowledge of the key concepts and tools in Power BI and how they apply to a business environment including: <text variant="body1">• The ability to implement best practices when conducting Data Analysis. <text variant="body1">• The skills to use the visualization and report capabilities of Power BI to create compelling reports and dashboards. • The ability to provide valuable data insights that help to inform business decisions.

What does a Power BI analyst do?

Power BI Data Analysts design, develop, and deploy business analytics dashboards using Microsoft Power BI. Data analysts are essential in helping organizations gain valuable insights into the expanse of data that they have, and they work closely with others in the organization to help reveal valuable information.

Data Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst and Power BI Analyst: What’s the Difference?

Data analysts and business intelligence analysts both help drive data-driven decision-making in their organizations. Data analysts tend to work more closely with the data itself, while business intelligence analysts tend to be more involved in using the results of data analysis to address business needs and recommend solutions.The Power BI data analyst is a combination of both of these roles. They work closely with business stakeholders to identify business requirements and collaborate with enterprise data analysts and data engineers to identify and acquire data. They also transform the data, create data models, visualize data, and share assets by using Power BI. These are all highly sort after roles.

What jobs can I get with Power BI data analytics skills?

<text variant="body1">Prepare for a career as a data analyst using Power BI. The Power BI skills you learn in this program prepare you for an entry-level role as a data analyst. An entry-level role as a data analyst is a great starting point and can be the first step towards building a career as a business intelligence analyst, data scientist or data engineer.

Will I be able to complete this course online?

This course is completely online. You can access your lessons, readings, and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.

Do I need to take the courses in specific order?

<text variant="body1">We highly recommend taking the courses of each certificate program in the order they are presented. The content in the courses builds on information from earlier courses. The final course contains a practice exam that assesses your knowledge of the content covered in the previous courses. As such, it makes the most sense to take the courses in the order they are presented.

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

What will I get if I subscribe to this Certificate?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Preparing Data for Analysis with Microsoft Excel

Ends tomorrow! Save on skills that make you shine with 40% off 3 months of Coursera Plus. Save now

Preparing Data for Analysis with Microsoft Excel

This course is part of Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate

Instructor: Microsoft

533,588 already enrolled

Included with

Learn more

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

5,544 reviews

Beginner level

Recommended experience

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

96%

Most learners liked this course

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

5,544 reviews

Beginner level

Recommended experience

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

96%

Most learners liked this course

What you'll learn

NEW [optional] introduction to Generative AI

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

21 assignments¹

AI Graded see disclaimer

Taught in English

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Learn more about Coursera for Business

logos of Petrobras, TATA, Danone, Capgemini, P&G and L'Oreal

Build your Data Analysis expertise

This course is part of the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Professional Certificate

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Professional Certificate.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate from Microsoft

There are 4 modules in this course

This course forms part of the Microsoft Power BI Analyst Professional Certificate. This Professional Certificate consists of a series of courses that offers a good starting point for a career in data analysis using Microsoft Power BI.

No prior skills are needed to be successful in this course. In this course, you’ll learn how to make use of Excel in business scenarios for data analysis. You’ll also learn how to utilize formulas and functions for data analysis.  Specifically, this course will help you gain knowledge and skills for preparing data for analysis using Microsoft Excel and take you one step closer to becoming a Microsoft Power BI Analyst.  After completing this course, you’ll be able to:  • Create data in Microsoft Excel and prepare it for data analysis.  • Make use of common formulas and functions in a worksheet.  • Prepare Excel data for analysis in Power BI using functions.

Module details

This module introduces essential Excel elements and techniques beginning with the creation and formatting of worksheets. It explores the Excel features that are useful when viewing large data blocks and explains how to create accurate calculations.

What's included

12 videos19 readings7 assignments2 discussion prompts

12 videosTotal 72 minutes

Introduction to the program6 minutes
Course introduction: Preparing data for analysis with Microsoft Excel3 minutes
Day in the life4 minutes
Welcome to Generative AI for everyone6 minutes
Understanding the Capabilities of Generative AI for Business Functions9 minutes
Generative AI - Under the hood8 minutes
The potential pitfalls and shortcomings of GEN AI6 minutes
Introduction to Microsoft Excel7 minutes
Entering and formatting data6 minutes
Reading large data blocks7 minutes
Sorting and filtering data in Excel7 minutes
Module summary: Excel fundamentals4 minutes

19 readingsTotal 235 minutes

Course syllabus: Preparing data for analysis with Microsoft Excel10 minutes
How to be successful in this course10 minutes
Skills measured in the Microsoft Exam PL30010 minutes
How to open an image in a new tab10 minutes
How to locate your downloaded files10 minutes
Additional resources: Key concepts5 minutes
Generative AI Terminology10 minutes
Generative AI in Business10 minutes
Regional variations in Excel10 minutes
Working with rows and columns10 minutes
Working with worksheets10 minutes
Exercise: Adding data to a worksheet30 minutes
Exemplar: Adding data to a worksheet10 minutes
Additional resources: Creating workbook content5 minutes
Exercise: Sorting data30 minutes
Exemplar: Sorting data10 minutes
Exercise: Filtering data30 minutes
Exemplar: Filtering data10 minutes
Additional resources: Working with blocks of data in Excel5 minutes

7 assignmentsTotal 105 minutes

General Knowledge Quiz15 minutes
Self-review: Adding data to a worksheet10 minutes
Knowledge check: Creating workbook content15 minutes
Self-review: Sorting data10 minutes
Self-review: Filtering data10 minutes
Knowledge check: Working with blocks of data in Excel15 minutes
Module quiz: Excel fundamentals30 minutes

2 discussion promptsTotal 20 minutes

Discussion prompt: Meet and greet10 minutes
What features were new to you and which were most useful10 minutes

This module introduces formulas and functions in Excel. It explores how these are important to data analysis and how these are used in business scenarios.

What's included

6 videos9 readings5 assignments1 discussion prompt

6 videosTotal 38 minutes

What is a formula?6 minutes
Controlling calculations6 minutes
Controlling calculations in action6 minutes
What is a function formula and how to write it7 minutes
Using the INSERT function6 minutes
Module summary: Formulas and functions7 minutes

9 readingsTotal 120 minutes

Order of precedence in calculations10 minutes
Useful percentage calculations10 minutes
Exercise: Calculating profit and margin30 minutes
Exemplar: Calculating profit and margin10 minutes
Additional resources: Formulas in Excel5 minutes
The AutoSum shortcut10 minutes
Exercise: Preparing a monthly sales report30 minutes
Exemplar: Preparing a monthly sales report10 minutes
Additional resources: Getting started with functions5 minutes

5 assignmentsTotal 80 minutes

Self-Review: Calculating profit and margin10 minutes
Knowledge check: Formulas in Excel15 minutes
Self-Review: Preparing a monthly sales report10 minutes
Knowledge check: Getting started with functions15 minutes
Module quiz: Formulas and functions30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

What features were new to you and which were most useful?10 minutes

The module introduces common functions that help prepare Excel data for analysis in tools such as Power BI.

What's included

6 videos13 readings7 assignments1 discussion prompt

6 videosTotal 40 minutes

How inconsistent data can affect data analysis6 minutes
Why understanding date calculations is important6 minutes
Dynamic date and time entries6 minutes
Using the IF function8 minutes
Using nested IF and IFS function8 minutes
Module summary: Preparing Data for Analysis Using Functions7 minutes

13 readingsTotal 175 minutes

Functions which can be used to standardize text data10 minutes
Exercise: Standardizing text-based data30 minutes
Exemplar: Standardising text-based data10 minutes
Additional resources: Using functions to clean or standardize text5 minutes
Other useful date calculations10 minutes
Exercise: Calculating the number of working days remaining in the year30 minutes
Exemplar: Calculating the number of working days remaining in the year10 minutes
Additional resources: Date and time functions5 minutes
AND and OR functions10 minutes
IF functions10 minutes
Exercise: Adding a data column using the IFS function30 minutes
Exemplar: Adding a data column using the IFS function10 minutes
Additional resources: Logical functions5 minutes

7 assignmentsTotal 105 minutes

Self-review: Standardizing text-based data10 minutes
Knowledge check: Using functions to clean or standardize text15 minutes
Self-review: Calculating the number of working days remaining in the year10 minutes
Knowledge check: Date and time functions15 minutes
Self-Review: Adding a data column using the IFS function10 minutes
Knowledge check: Logical functions15 minutes
Module quiz: Formulas and functions30 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

What features were new to you and which were most useful10 minutes

In this module, you will be assessed on the key skills covered in the Course.

What's included

2 videos4 readings2 assignments1 discussion prompt

2 videosTotal 10 minutes

Course recap: Preparing data for analysis with Microsoft Excel7 minutes
Congratulations4 minutes

4 readingsTotal 60 minutes

About the final project and assessment: Preparing data for analysis with Microsoft Excel10 minutes
Final course project: Creating an executive data summary30 minutes
Exemplar: Creating an executive data summary10 minutes
Next steps10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 105 minutes

Self-review: Creating an executive data summary15 minutes
Course quiz: Preparing data for analysis with MS Excel90 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Reflect on learning10 minutes

Earn a career certificate

Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.

Instructor

Instructor ratings

(1,552 ratings)

Microsoft

302 Courses2,541,960 learners

Offered by

Microsoft

Learner reviews

5 stars
79.24%
4 stars
16.21%
3 stars
2.50%
2 stars
0.68%
1 star
1.35%

Showing 3 of 5544

Reviewed on Feb 8, 2026

Muy práctico y fácil de digerir, no te quedes con lo que ya sabes, ten la mente abierta para que aprendas nuevas formas de hacer las cosas de una forma rápida y práctica, optimizando tiempo.

Reviewed on Nov 2, 2024

THE BEST for any kind of LEARNING

Reviewed on Aug 28, 2024

if you have experience with basic function with Excel you may find this for beginners, but this is good foundation for people who don't have a solid ground with Excel Function

View more reviews