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 GoodThe Art of Being Awesome at Excel

New York, Jan 2009 Training Document

Prepared for client name090225 Excel Training.pptBooz & Company28 March 2009

2RPDU_849_TR10_004.ppt

What real-world practitioners say about this training

"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

Prepared for client name090225 Excel Training.pptBooz & CompanyDATE

3

The Komar Excel

Framework

A Perspectives on Modeling

Skill Categories

Parting Shots


4

The Komar Framework for mastering Excel

The 7 Core Excel Skills Your Attitude

CleaningData

Structure Pivot TablesKeyboardShortcuts

FunctionsMenu

Shortcuts

The 5 Levels ofCompetency

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

BeEffective

BeEfficient

The 2 Requirementsfor That Objective

Positively Impact an Organization

The 1 Objectivein Business


5

Underlying the MegaExcel Add-In is a philosophy about consulting modeling, with three mutually reinforcing principlesPrinciple 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


6

The Komar Excel

Framework

A Perspectives on

Modeling

Skill Categories

Parting Shots


7

Consulting formulas aren’t quite as complex as other professions…

Electrical EngineeringMaxwell’s Third Equation

Aeronautical engineeringStokes Theorum

AstrophysicsKepler’s Third Law

Finance Option Premium Valuation

Other Professions

Consulting Units x Price = Revenue


8

… but their application can be quite complex

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.


9

There is no “easy” button for Excel…

… but there is an “Easy” button for solving business problems; it’s you, and your boss pushes it


10

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


11

Using Your Hands Using a Shovel Using a Backhoe

Investment Time0 hours

Time Investment1 Hour

Time Investment20 hours

Modeling in Excel is like digging ditches; you can dig a lot faster if you invest some time to learn the tools

Ditch Digging Methods

We’ll all be digging ditches (in Excel) for the next 30 years of our careers; which would you rather use?


12

In the words of a famous philosopher, “do, or do not. There is no try.”

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”


13

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


14

Functions are the verbs of Excel, but thankfully have only one conjugation (e.g. NOT “I am”, “you are,” “she is”)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

12 Functions

17 Functions

21 Functions


15

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


16

The keyboard is much, much faster than the mouse; do you want to be fast, or slow?

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)


17

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


18

Menu and keyboard shortcuts are synergistic - knowing both is a massive accelerator

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


19

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


20

In the real world, data is never clean or complete; you are the “easy” button that cleans it up

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


21

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


22

A Pivot Table is the most powerful single function in Excel

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


23

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots

Attitude

Functions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Menu Shortcuts

Cleaning Data

Pivot Tables

Structure


24

The hardest, most intangible, yet most important skill is to be able to structure a model well

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)


25

The Komar Excel

Framework


Skill Categories

Parting Shots


26

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

What it is How to do it Why it makes you faster

Turn off In-Cell Editing

Tools->Options->EditUncheck "Edit directly in cell"

In-Cell Editing On: You look at the cell to write & edit, but you look at the formula bar to copy & view. Formula font size shrinks with the zoom.

In-Cell Editing Off: You look at the formula bar to write, edit, copy, and view. Formula font size is always big, regardless of the zoom.

Turn off Automatic Error Checking

Tools->Options->Error CheckingUncheck "Enable background error checking"

The green triangles add clutter to sheet, making your model harder to read. They also imply a false sense of accuracy; it's far more likely to flag false positives and miss real errors. I've never met anyone that has said that this has helped them find an error in their model.

Change Recently Used File CountTools->Options->GeneralChange Recently used file list to "9"

Lengthens the list of recently opened files in the File Menu.

Change your comment name to "Booz & Company"

Tools->Options->GeneralChange User Name to "Booz & Company"

When you insert a comment in a file, the name will be "Booz & Company"

Turn on Full MenusTools->Customize->OptionsCheck "Always Show Full Menus"

Makes the menu pulldowns always show all the options.


27

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


28

FeedForward

Decision(Hypothesis)

FeedForward

Feedback

UnfoldingInteraction

WithEnvironmentUnfolding

InteractionWith

Environment

FeedForward

Observations

UnfoldingCircumstances

OutsideInformation

ImplicitGuidance& Control

Action(Test)

ImplicitGuidance& Control

Observe Orient Decide Act

CulturalTraditions

GeneticHeritage

NewInformation Previous

Experience

Analyses &Synthesis

The OODA Loop

… another topic for another day

Technology

090225 Excel Training