Learn how to turn everyday spreadsheet records into clear, useful business reports. This practical workshop focuses on organizing data, applying essential formulas, and using PivotTables and charts to answer common operational questions.

Participants will work with a sample business dataset to identify trends, summarise performance and present findings clearly. The emphasis is on building a repeatable reporting process that participants can adapt to finance, HR, sales, operations or program-monitoring tasks.

What you will learn

• Structure data using consistent headings and Excel tables.
• Identify duplicates, missing values and inconsistent entries.
• Sort, filter and validate spreadsheet data.
• Apply formulas such as IF, SUMIFS and COUNTIFS.
• Use lookup functions to connect related information.
• Build PivotTables to summarise data by category or period.
• Create charts and apply conditional formatting.
• Assemble a simple dashboard and check calculations before sharing.

Practical exercise: Clean a sample dataset and build a dashboard showing totals, category comparisons and performance over time.

Who should attend: Finance officers, HR staff, operations teams, sales personnel, program officers and professionals responsible for spreadsheet reporting.

Requirements: A laptop with a compatible version of Excel and basic familiarity with data entry and simple formulas. The required version will be specified before registration.

Takeaway: A completed reporting workbook and a reusable dashboard template.