How to Use Microsoft Excel as a Data Analyst?
When it comes to the software that data analysts and data science experts must use to quantify their data, there is no spewing controversy going on there; everyone can just be on the same note here to use Microsoft Excel. It is friendly and convenient to use, serves the user better than most of the data accounting software out there, and works well with any values and data sets that you have to bring into your use over time. Almost every type of analysis can be done with the help of this amazing software, and it is present to be used both as an installed software extension and for online use as well.
What Is Excel?
At its core Excel is a spreadsheet software; it is convenient to use as illustrated above and comprehensible in every matter. A key part that distinguishes excel from others in the same competition is that it can be used for the Hoc analysis. Many data analysts use Excel in their day to day data accounting and processing activities and are happy with the level of comfort and ease of use it brings to the table.
How Data Analysts Use Excel?
Excel is as convenient to be used by a user as convenient it is to use a calculator app on your smartphone; even if you don't know much about a particular data set, putting it into the excel app can bring a lot of sense and clarity to what it is. Self-study is the best thing that you can practice with excel because there are values and tools there that you might not be able to use from the get-go; it takes time, patience, and practice to do so.
But when it comes to simply use excel, if you can add values into columns and rows and hit enter to mark your impression of the value entered, then you can start using Excel right away; that is the common beauty of it.
Data Visualization with Excel
There are different types of charts that are available in excel for you to pound over. Visualization of the data in the form of charts makes it easier for the illustrator and the audience to grab the essence of the presentation. Multiple types of charts are available in excel, which you can use, such as bar charts or line charts in which your data is represented with symbols. The bar chart will be represented as bars, and in the line chart, it will be represented as the horizontal or vertical lines.
Data Analysis with Excel
The data analysis simply means that you have a combination of different data sets that can be either raw or processed. You have to work on it with different models for analyzing purposes. Microsoft Excel can help you with it. Different insights can be extracted from this data, suggestions or predictions made and the favorable core element separated from the data.
You can allot the raw data into different sections, rearrange it according to the requirements you have, color code it, and make it fall into ascending or descending patterns, and many other things. But in order to grab the very idea of how to do that, you have to learn Microsoft excel as there is no other way around it.
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Types of Data That can Be Facilitated by the Excel
Normally people will associate the use of financial data when it comes to using Excel, but as it happens, almost any type of dataset can be accounted for and worked on when it comes to Excel. You might have some industrial data, political data, or human resource data to be assorted and put into tabs, and Excel can make it happen for you. The only thing that might push you to use some other data program is the size of the datasets.
Excel is best for small to medium-sized datasets, and if a dataset becomes too large, it can't be very well facilitated by Excel. But if your project is not that long or you don't mind breaking the datasets into smaller sections, there is no need to seek something other than Excel. To make sense of the data and to check their validity, many data analysts use Excel as it helps them verify that every node is perfect and the way they intended before throwing it off into heavier applications like SQL and Python.
Alternatives to Excel
When it comes to using alternatives to Excel, Google sheets emerge as the sole competitor. It is a free web-based application that anyone with a Google account can use. It works great when it comes to assorting and dealing with different datasets, but as it happens, the security related aspects are underlying here and to a fair extent lacking as well. It becomes hard to protect your data using Google sheets from other aspects or sections of the company, and hence the quality and security of the data could be compromised while in transit.
That is why finical data, corporate data, and any other data set that needs to be protected and edited later on should not be sent/managed with the Google sheets as Microsoft Excel is a well-protected entity. Other than that, Excel has a little too many advanced editing options up its sleeves when it comes to datasets and its editing. If you ask some professional data analysts, then they will promptly explain to you that they feel more comfortable storing, sending/receiving, and accessing data using Microsoft Excel than any other competitor on the market.
On the bright side, you can get your hands on various free add-ons, such as Analysis ToolPak, which will definitely make work easier on your end. This tool works like a charm for data analysts as it helps them to perform statistical testing of their data.
If you want, you can join a Data Analytics Boot camp to learn more about using Microsoft Excel with data analysis; you will be able to learn every dainty detail and then apply it to your daily life usage of Excel.
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