Synopsis

Today's challenging work environment requires workers to know the relationships behind operating performance, financial measures, and shareholder value. Increasingly, there is need to provide managers with the tools to improve the effectiveness of performance management in their organisations through the alignment of strategy, business metrics and management. Performance dashboards in this instance offer the means for managers to monitor and better manage business activities. 

This course will enhance and supplement the process of analysis and reporting using Microsoft Excel. It covers techniques on how to speed up and improve the information retrieval process using open database connectivity (ODBC), PivotTables, charts, and PivotCharts. Knowledge of these techniques are necessary to extract key information from existing financial and operational systems. This course covers advanced tools and techniques for financial reporting including using data queries to import and link data, using XML and XBRL schema to automate and enhance reporting, using advanced charting techniques, building business metrics and dashboards using third party tools. It also reviews the security issues associated with creating and communicating via Excel financial reports.

Course Outline

The Performance Dashboards & Analysis Perspectives

• Understanding the concepts of data warehouses, data mining, and business intelligence
• Relational databases and data modeling
• The business models and financial projections
• Building a performance management framework

The Application of Excel to Building Key Models & Dashboards

• Using ODBC to connect to and extract data from financial and operational systems
• Using PivotTables to quickly summarise and report data
• Understand features of charts and PivotCharts that are useful for information analysis and reporting
• Advanced analysis and report preparation techniques including using Business Analysis & Reporting ToolPak ,Data Analysis ToolPak, etc
• Visual enhancements to reports using advanced conditional formatting
• Flexible data table lookups for analysis
• Adding form controls to create interactive statements and reports
• Ratio analysis and benchmarking using Excel
• Using macros to automate repetitive formatting tasks
• Publishing of Excel reports
• Using XML and XBRL in Excel
• Techniques for protecting business reports and to share data without sharing formulas
• Advanced charting and graphing techniques such as Dashboard Reports

  
  Who Should Attend
  CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other senior executives responsible for improving their organisation's financial and operational performance.
  Business managers and executives responsible for building performance dashboards and monitoring business performance.