Microsoft Excel Solutions

This package was put together after many years of experience using Microsoft Excel in the workplace and most recently in my graduate school studies at the University of Maryland University College. As of this writing, I am two classes away from obtaining a Master of Science degree in Financial Management. As I was going through my first year of the program it became apparent to me that I could have used a good resource for putting together Microsoft Excel documents, as just about every class I took required the use of formulas and functions to complete homework assignments and final exams. The main purpose for creating this resource is to help people take their Excel skills to a higher level. If you have looked at some of the career sites recently you may have noticed that many companies have Microsoft Office skills listed as a required or a highly desired skill that job applicants are expected to have. Additionally, I know from personal experience that having good Excel skills can provide a job applicant with a strong competitive advantage. What?s Different About This Package? Some may ask, ?Why should yet another Microsoft Excel training package be offered when there are so many other resources already available?? With Microsoft Excel Solutions, there are two different ways to learn. The eBook provides detailed instructions on how to perform various tasks and allows the reader to practice by creating their own worksheets from scratch. The Excel files provide an alternative way of learning because they are templates and not just practices files. When you open up one of the workbooks you can learn by studying the syntax and formulas that were used to create them. In addition, many of the worksheets have text boxes within them to help explain some of the more complex calculations and examples. It became clear to me after teaching my first Excel class that the participants didn?t want to learn everything I could possibly teach them about Excel; they wanted to know specifically how they could use it in their everyday lives. I took that message to heart and made a conscious effort to ?cut to the chase? and not overwhelm people with too much information. My vision was to create an Excel package that even a casual user would be able to read, use and understand, as well as a resource that a more experienced person or what we would call ?power user? of Excel would benefit from. Anyone who wants to gain in-depth knowledge of how to use Excel should have access to several different resources. I wanted to focus on the features in Excel that you are most likely to use on a regular basis, so it was intentionally written with some limitations. You will find that some of the chapters in the eBook were written in more detail than others with this objective in mind. I have found that an efficient way to get more detail on completing a specific task in Excel is to press F1 to launch the Help menu. If you want to learn a topic in-depth, such as Macros or PivotTables, there are workshops, training DVD?s and books available that you can read to help you to become an expert on that particular topic.