RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS

   Reading all the posts regularly or as and when you find time is not the way to achieve mastery in Excel.

  The best way is to practice regularly. This you can do, only if you are able to work on a computer on a daily basis, at-least one hour per day. Either find ways to learn as you work, on the job. This would be the best way. Otherwise, if possible find some after office timings which you can use for your Excel practice.

  Other alternative is practice in a browsing centre. The per hour rate is quite reasonable. Identify a computer on which MS Excel is installed.

  MS Excel has many recent versions. MS Excel,2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016. The more recent version you can get, more advanced options you will be able to practice. As a beginner, MS Excel, 2007 or 2010 is good enough.

  Commit at least 300 hours of dedicated practice hours, to gain control and feel comfortable. 

   If you can have a friend or colleague who is willing to learn along with you, it will be a definite  advantage. Learning as a team, would be great fun and make learning easy and faster.

PRACTICE OF BASIC COMMANDS - 1

                                    CHANGE OF FONT, SIZE AND FONT OR CELL COLOUR

Let us work on some Excel tables to practice some basic commands. We shall make a beginning with an Excel table, Students.xls . Copy the link given below and paste it in a new web page.Take a look at the table.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7DSfACzHxhCME05b2kwU1ZJT1U

You may download this file and save it on your computer. When you open it, you will see a list of students with column names like roll no, name,gender, section, date of birth and place. Details about each student is entered, one row below the other. Each row is called a record.

We shall try out some commands using this file. If you want to keep a copy of this file,  then save it with a different name and work with the copy.

1. First we shall try to change the size of the letters on the work sheet. Select the cell containing data. To do this, first place the cursor at the top left corner. This is cell A1. Next press Ctrl+End. See image -1, below where the font tag is visible.

If you have any  doubt and require clarification mail to : itooexcel@gmail.com

You will see the window with 11 and a down arrow beside it. Click on the down arrow. You see a list of numbers. Clicking on any number will set the size of the letters in your table. The font size of the letters will change.

2. Again, look at the small window where you see the word "Calibri". Beside this there is a small downward arrow. Clicking on this you see different font names. Select one of them,by clicking on it, the font style in your table will change.

To go back to the previous letter size or style  press Ctrl+z.  This is called undo command. To get back what you did, press Ctrl+y. This is redo command.

3. To change the colour of the font, in the above image you will see the letter "A" with a small colour band below it. Clicking on this colour band will show a range of colours. Which ever colour you click on, that colour will be set for the characters in the table.

4. Similarly you can try to change the cell colour by clicking on the yellow band below the paint bucket and selecting any desired colour.

To save the changes press Ctrl+s. To gain confidence, repeat the above commands as many times as you want until you are comfortable with it. Just play around. That is the best way to learn.

If you have any doubt and need clarification mail to :  itooexcel@gmail.com

HOW TO ENTER DATA IN MS EXCEL ?

  In the earlier posting, the concept of entity was explained. An entity is a thing of importance about which we need to know some information.An employee, a department, sales order,  delivery items(by courier), supplies received(in a store) etc. Each entity is linked with a table(two dimensional chart) where you fill in the data. In MS  Excel you create the table on a spread sheet.
 
  Each entity may have a number of attributes, characteristics or qualities linked with it. An employee entity may have attributes like name, age, gender, date of birth, father's name, mother's name etc. 
 
   When you create a table for an entity, the column heads should be based on different attributes you can think of, based on the data you want to enter.
  
   Let us say you want to enter name and address of some employees. Having only two column names like NAME and ADDRESS will not serve the real purpose. If NAME="PRITHVI" and ADDRESS=" No 450, 10th cross, 6th Main, Indiranagar, Bangalore -560038" do not enter the complete address under the ADDRESS column. But Excel will allow you to enter the complete address in one cell under the ADDRESS column. Instead we need to split and create different columns for address like, HOUSE-NO, STREET, CROSS,AREA, CITY-TOWN and PIN-CODE.
 
  The right column names could be NAME, HOUSE-NO, STREET, CROSS,AREA, CITY-TOWN and PIN-CODE.

  The simple rule is: If it is a different attribute, give it a separate column name. In case you still feel at a later date, the data entered in two separate columns are actually required to be under a single column we can always merge it. But if you enter data which should ideally go under different column heads under a single column it will prove to be a real pain to put the data, separated under different columns.     

   A piece of guidance you must follow while entering data into Excel is that follow a particular style through out the file. If you are entering the name, it is better you enter the name first and the initial after the name. Do not include salutations like Ms/Mr/Mrs/Sri/Smt along with the name under the NAME column. If you think this piece of information is important, create a seperate column and enter the data under that column. If  you are entering house no, if the typical data of different houses  is like 540, 45-A, 12/3, No 2345, # 302 etc, better follow an uniform style. Enter only the house number with out prefix like No, No. , Num, # etc. If you are entering the city name of say, Bangalore, do not keep changing between Bangalore and Bengaluru. To enter the PIN code, as a six digit number enter it as 560098, not as    560 098. Entering mobile numbers again, do not changing between entering the 10 digit number, adding a prefix 91 or +91.Follow an uniform style. If you need to enter data having City, State and Country details, create three separate column for them.

    One more line of guideline we must bear in mind is, if more than one person are entering data into the same file, all of them must follow the same style and format.Otherwise we are waiting for trouble.

  The reason we are giving so much importance to this concept is because this is the foundation to build your database file. If you do no take enough care at this stage it is going to be trouble some later. Always remember that data entered is meant for use and used repeatedly over long period. The data is going to accumulate  and the file size will grow with every passing month or year.

  Data should be in a readily  usable format like in MS Excel. The same data available in a text format or as hard copies will not be readily usable because of the lack of ease in retrieving such data, using it  and storing it for later use. If you do not follow the above guidelines, the data you have entered cannot be used to its full potential.

REAL LIFE USE OF DATA

  If you want to see people from one or more  areas only, you can filter it under the AREA column. If you want to see people from a particular CITY, STATE or COUNTRY you can filter it under the corresponding column.

  If you want to sort the data based on the NAME, AREA, CITY, STATE etc  you can do all  those activities with ease, provided the data was properly entered under different column heads.

  Similarly if you want to search for  a person named  "RAJIV P" and if you are searching with the search key word as "P RAJIV" or "MR P RAJIV" or "MR RAJIV P" you will face problems. This is where adopting an uniform style in entering data will really prove to be helpful.

   All the concepts explained above may not be clear at the first reading, you need to work on some database. If you are not clear about any concept, post a query in the comment window provided below  or email to itooexcel@gmail.com . We shall provide the clarification.

 
 
 
 

HOW DIFFICULT IS MS EXCEL TO LEARN ?

 It is really simple and easy to learn. No exaggeration ! All that you have to do is to make it a practice  to use MS Excel as often as you can. Keep looking for opportunities. Have a child like enthusiasm to learn it. If you committed a  mistake, just undo your mistake by pressing Ctrl+Z. If you want to get back what you did do un-do by pressing Ctrl+Y.  If you don't know ask your friend or colleague or just Google it !! You get your answer !! It is that simple.

   The trick is to try new features daily. Only precaution, do all these trials with your own data.

  As you probably know, all applications in (MicroSoft) MS Office like MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, MS Power Point  have a similar type of user interface. This means that the procedures, keys and short cut you use in one application will be broadly applicable in other applications also. So no great learning effort is required. Skill you acquired in one application is readily usable in other applications. If you are comfortable with working with MS Word, you already know some basic commands, keys and shorts which can be used with MS Excel.

  One more useful point you  must bear in  mind is that, in MS Excel, like in all MS applications, there are always more than one way to do any thing !
Example : To save a file there are three ways. To open a file there are three ways !

MS EXCEL- WHICH BUSINESSES USES IT AND FOR WHAT PURPOSES ?

  MS Excel is used by a wide variety of businesses for different applications, starting from maintaining some household  details to important business application.

 a) Simple applications may include maintaining the addresses of all your friends or customers, maintaining monthly income /expenses of your house hold or maintaining your contact details.

 b)Small businesses like stationery stores, drug stores, courier service  points, two/four wheeler repair shops,two/four wheeler spares outlets, ready made dress outlets, sales and marketing groups, schools and colleges...

 c) In large business houses /departments.

 While we have considered which businesses will use MS Excel, we now move on to find out for what purpose it will be used, there are broadly for the following purposes:

 a) To maintain daily transaction details.
 b) To get average, sum, count,maximum,minumum of some data, like marks 
      obtained, expenses incurred.
 c) To filter and sort data. Filter to see only a paricular set of data like, 
     "Students from Bangalore", "Students of age greater than 15 years",
  "Only  boys/girls" etc. Sorting - like arranging names in
  ascending/descending order, arranging students based on maximum marks
  obtained, arranging executive's  names based on the monthly petrol bill
  claimed by them or tour expenses, executives how have taken maximum 
  number of days in the previous year etc.
d) Performing calculations using in built formulae or your own formulae as
  per different professional areas like engineering, statistics, banking &
  finance, HR, Courier & Logistics etc.

e) Generate  consolidated reports and charts fo business applications.

  By the broad set of applications listed above, you should understand that MS Excel can be practically used for any data related application.It is just versatile and practically available on all computers. If not MS Excel similar applications developed by others are also available for use.

BASIC TERMS USED IN DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Entity :  Any person or thing which has some characteristics or attributes is called an entity, A person would have different attributes like, name, age,gender, weight, date of birth, place of birth, father's name etc.
 A thing may be a  TV which may have attributes like, make , model no, serial no, year of manufacture,price, date of sale, warranty period etc.

 Table : A table is a chart having multiple columns and rows. Each column shall have a column name. Each row shall hold data related to a particular member which shall be called a record. The picture below shows a typical table. Each table will have data related to a particular  entity.

    

SRL NO	NAME	AGE	GENDER	DATE OF BIRTH
1	KIRAN	23	MALE	11/05/1994
2	POOJA	22	FEMALE	23/07/1995
3	JAIN	19	MALE	05/08/1998
4	BHANU	25	FEMALE	12/07/1992
5	RUPESH	24	MALE	18/11/1993

 Data type : Data can be in the following types. Some frequently used data types are listed below:

 i)   Characters: Example - a,b,c X ,Y Z etc
 ii)  Strings: Example - Name, Age, Weight etc
 iii) Numbers : Integers Example - 1,4, 56 etc. Real numbers Example - 1.23,
      45.789  etc Exponential numbers 2.34X10^ 3
 iv) Date: Example - 23/05/2017,  Jan 23' 1978 etc


 Database: A Database will have multiple tables. If you consider a Company where people work, we can think of the following tables:

 i) Employee table : Data held- name, age,gender, weight, date of birth, place of birth, employee ID no,father's name etc, date of joining.
 ii) Department table: Department name, department number, employee ID no, designation etc
 iii) Attendance table : date, employee name, employee ID no,present/absent/leave.
 iv) Education and training: SSLC marks, class , year of passing, PUC marks, class, year of passing, diploma/degree marks, class, year of passing, addition training under gone, duration, dates etc.

IMPORTANCE OF DATA

Different activities of people, during their daily life either leisure or work, generate huge volume of data.

 In a typical day we use the smart phone for various purposes, we travel, we buy different products or services, we travel, we do money transactions with the banks, make online payments, work,do business, visit different websites for work, information or entertainment. All these activities generate data.

 Like electricity, computers, telecom and internet, data  has also become an essential part of  our life. It touches us, every moment of our life.

 In a computerized world data plays a vital role. If you as an individual become a skilled expert in handling, processing and analyzing data, you have an important skill set which can easily create multiple job opportunities for your career growth and prosperity.

The volume of  data generated in the world today is increasing day by day. More and more businesses utilize the data generated to grow their business and operate more profitably.

BASICS & DEFINITIONS OF DATA

BASICS

Let us start with some basic background knowledge. We shall touch upon such areas which are essential to build a strong foundation which will help you,  who is keen to begin his career based on the working knowledge in MS Excel.


DEFINITIONS OF DATA

 These definition of Data are from the web:


 1. Data is facts about something which can be used in calculating, reasoning or planning. - Merriam Webster Dictionary.

 2. Information stored in  a computer in the form of text, images, audio or video clips.

 3. Data is any set of characters that has been gathered for some purpose, usually analysis for business purposes. It can be characters - text and numbers, pictures, sound, video etc.

SUCCESSFUL APPROACH & ATTITUDE

   While we are proposing an assured path to help you get your first job, be sure that we are not promising any magical solutions. No miracle should be expected to happen. No quick fix solutions.
   The basic understanding we expect from you is that sincere and intelligent work helps any body to progress in life and build a successful career. Take time to decide on a career path. Once you decide, do not give up when you face hurdles, just keep pushing. You must be willing to learn sincerely and methodically.  We suggest  the following learning process which will prove to be an easy and fast way to your success.

1. Learn the basics. Understand it. If possible try to explain the same to your friends. This will result in your faster learning of the subject.
2. If you do not understand any topic, ask for clarification and do not stop until you gain a satisfactory understanding of the topic.
3. What ever you learn, practice it repeatedly. Practice it at every opportunity. More you practice, greater will be your understanding.
4. Form a small learning group of 2 or 3. You should be able to meet each other on  a daily basis. By mutually teaching and learning, the progress shall be faster.
5. Make learning a habit. Learn to learn continuously. If you stop learning, your progress will be limited in life.
6. Be enthusiastic in life. Be positive in your approach, expect the best in life and work for it.
7. Please understand that nothing comes free in life. The earlier  you understand this idea, the better it is for you.