Chamber Happenings

The Excel Certificate Program provides a practical, hands-on approach to learning how to use a powerful productivity tool that is generally already available to employees. Courses are designed to build competency with increasingly sophisticated features in a way that allows employees to apply them immediately and effectively in the workplace. The program will consist of 5 courses: Excel I: The Foundation, Excel II: Formulas and Features, Excel III: Functions and Formatting, Excel VI: Manipulate and Analyze Data, and Excel V: Problem Solving.

Does your job require you to work with Microsoft Excel? This class sets the foundation for Excel. Participants will learn important features, such as how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar, how to use Excel’s Backstage view, and how to access the Excel Options window to make changes to the spreadsheet. Participants will learn the Excel window, the seven shapes of the mouse and what each one does in Excel.

Learning Outcomes:

• Create a spreadsheet and do simple calculations.

• Learn how to use the 5 functions: Autosum, Average, Count, Maximum, and Minimum

• Understand how to modify a spreadsheet by inserting rows and columns.

• Demonstrate how to format the spreadsheet for appearance and put it on the page before printing.

• Practice creating headers, footers, and page breaks.

This course will introduce you to the rules of writing formulas in Excel and how to work with both relative and absolute formulas. You will also learn how to fix errors using the formula auditing feature as well as linking formulas in a spreadsheet in workbooks. With Excel, you’ll learn to work smarter, not harder!

Learning Outcomes:

• Work with Excel functions, countif, sumif, and averageif.

• Understand how to bring an Excel chart into PowerPoint.

• Practice using Sparklines.

• Demonstrate how to protect cells and workbooks.

• Understand linking worksheets and linking workbooks.

• Learn more tips and tricks.

According to a 2013 survey, 77% of Americans believe that society is becoming more rude and less civilized. Unfortunately, this trend can be seen in many workplaces as well. “Business etiquette” is typically a set of unspoken expectations in the workplace that most people either meet – or find out when they do not meet them. In this course, you will learn how not only to improve your own manners, but also to positively influence your co-workers.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand how to use basic courtesy and manners.

• Practice common business etiquette to build and maintain relationships.

• Interact in a respectful manner with coworkers and subordinates.

This course will introduce you to the Function Builder and teach you how to build our own! You’ll also design worksheets that meet Excel criteria for database functions such as sorting, filtering, and subtotals.

Learning Outcomes:

• Work with Excel functions and singleifs

• Understand how to work with lists.

• Practice using sorts, filters, and subtotals.

• Demonstrate how to text to columns.

• Work with formatting using conditional and special formats.

• Understand concatenate functions.

See just how much Excel can do! In this course, you will work on using pivot tables and charts, integrating Excel into PowerPoint and finally, working with Vlookups and Hlookups. You have many more possibilities with Excel than you think – taking this course will be a helpful eye-opener about a program that’s probably already on your computer!

Learning Outcomes:

• Work with pivot tables and pivot charts.

• Understand how to import a pivot table into PowerPoint.

• Practice using dashboards.

• Demonstrate how to text to columns.

• Work with defining names.

• Practice exercises using multiple if statements.

Once you have learned some of Excel’s many features, it’s time to apply them! Excel 5 is a comprehensive problem-solving approach that incorporates Excel into real world applications. The case study approach helps you understand the functionality of Excel in today’s workforce. In a work environment, time is a scarce resource – by attending this class, you will not only learn better ways to use Excel, but you will also learn additional features and apply them in practical outcomes.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand one variable input table.

• Learn how to protect cells, sheets, and workbooks.

• Demonstrate goal seeking.

• Understand the underlying functionality of Excel to become more productive.

• Learn how to work with macros.

Some statistics: Currently, the majority of the workforce is in their 20s and the proportion of working 65-69 year olds in the US has doubled since 1985. With such a wide range in ages throughout the workplace, it is more important than ever that you know how to communicate, not only with your own generation but with others as well. In this course, you will explore why generations communicate the way they do and how to best get your message across to different age groups.

Program Deliverables:

• Identify potential challenges when interacting with the different generations.

• Demonstrate techniques that foster respectful communication with diverse generations.

• Develop an action plan to connect to all generations in your workplace.

Renowned Project Management expert Cornelius Fichtner once said, “The ‘P’ is a much about ‘People’ management as it is about ‘Project’ management.” A project can be differentiated from ongoing business operations in that it is a “a temporary endeavor to create a unique product or service.” (Chatfield and Johnson, 2000) Within this short definition can be found the basic “project triangle:” time, cost, and performance. In this course, you will explore the “art” of project management – the continual balancing of these three areas throughout the process of planned and unplanned events to arrive at a successful completion.

Program Deliverables:

• Understand the basic principles of project management/project teams.

• Evaluate likely project risks and develop appropriate response strategies.

• Monitor the key project issues of schedule, budget, and performance deliverables and develop problem responses.