Spreadsheets for Business

Description

This course provides an in-depth study of spreadsheets utilizing a problem-solving approach. Spreadsheet-based solutions are explored for common business tasks and problems. The course presents a thorough coverage of spreadsheet functions and tools along with a deep understanding of their purpose in a business environment. This course is ideal for students with professional interests related to business and economics and also for students wishing to obtain a deeper understanding of spreadsheets in general.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• explain fundamental concepts related to problem solving and decision making and the role spreadsheets can play in these processes;
• utilize basic functions and formulas, with relative and absolute references to cells and cell ranges, to carry out common tasks related to various functional units of a business such as finance, marketing, sales, and operations management;
• apply statistical analysis functions and spreadsheet tools to a wide variety of business problems;
• present spreadsheet results effectively using visualization tools such as charts and graphs to illustrate a wide variety of data relationships;
• utilize Boolean logical functions along with conditional statements in formulas and nested formulas to embed business relevant decision making into a spreadsheet;
• access data from lookup tables, lists, named ranges, multidimensional tables, multiple worksheets for computation, analysis, and reference;
• evaluate the financial impact of loans and investments as related to interest, cash flow, amortization, and profitability;
• retrieve, prepare and organize raw data from various sources including Web databases, and XML files, for effective analysis;
• utilize data tables and spreadsheet scenarios for what-if analysis to investigate business relevant issues;
• develop Solver models to enhance business decision making.