Excel Proficiency: Dashboard Time-Saving Tactics

Dashboards let you take in large amounts of data quickly through charts and summary tables. This 60-minute Excel dashboard training introduces the techniques that save the most time when building them.

You'll see how Microsoft Query creates self-updating links to databases, spreadsheets, text files and other sources, and how PivotTables condense large data sets into manageable summaries. You'll learn how PivotTables differ from worksheet formulas and why the Refresh command matters.

The session also covers using slicers to filter data and control several PivotTables and charts at once, placing PivotTables side by side with the Linked Picture feature, building interactive PivotCharts and adding sparklines for compact in-cell trend charts. Each technique is demonstrated in Excel 2016, with differences in earlier versions pointed out.

• Use Excel dashboards to take in large amounts of data quickly
• Create self-updating links to external data with Microsoft Query
• Condense large data sets with PivotTables
• Build dynamic, interactive charts with PivotCharts
• Filter dashboards with slicers
• Display compact trends with sparklines

• Controlling multiple PivotTables and charts at once with slicers
• Using the Linked Picture feature to place PivotTables close together without conflicts
• Creating self-updating links to data sources with Microsoft Query
• Building dynamic, interactive graphs with PivotCharts
• Creating in-cell trend charts with sparklines
• Filtering data faster with slicers
• How PivotTables differ from worksheet formulas and why Refresh matters
• Condensing large data sets with PivotTables

Summarizing large amounts of data by hand is slow. Dashboards built with Excel's own tools let you present information clearly and update it quickly.

This session suits CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, CFOs, controllers, bankers, financial planners, business analysts, management and marketing consultants, HR staff and other Excel users.

• Marketing
• Banking
• Finance
• Management Consulting
• Human Resources
• CPAs and Accountants
• Marketing and Management Consultants
• Bankers
• CFOs
• Controllers
• Financial Planners and Consultants
• Business Professionals
• Business Analysts
• Bookkeepers
• Excel Users

David H. Ringstrom is a CPA and owner of Accounting Advisors, Inc., an Atlanta-based spreadsheet consulting firm that he started in 1991. David speaks at conferences and presents dozens of webinars annually on Excel and other topics. He has written numerous articles on spreadsheets, some of which have been published internationally. He has served as the technical editor for other 30 books on accounting software, and is the Tech Editor-at-Large for Accounting WEB and Going Concern. David offers Excel training and consulting services nationwide.