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excelisfun - E-DAB 01: What is Data Analysis & Business Intelligence?

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Author: excelisfun
Categories: Science Business Education
Tags: science, business, education
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 00:53 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Use Excel, specifically Office 365, with its data analysis power tools (formulas, pivot tables, Power Query, Power Pivot, and Power BI Desktop) to convert raw data into useful, actionable, refreshable information for decision makers, which the video calls data analysis and business intelligence. The video introduces this as a beginner class, explaining that Excel is the most used data analysis tool in the world and that no prior experience is needed.

Key Points

  • Data analysis is defined as converting data into useful information for decision makers; business intelligence is the same idea applied in a business context, with the added requirements that the information be actionable and refreshable.
  • The video's example uses sales rep and sales data: raw records alone do not answer "whose sales were biggest," so you create a unique list of sales reps and sum each one's sales to get the answer.
  • Office 365 is his recommendation over older versions (2016, 2019) because it is the only version that receives new features every month; he notes older versions will work for almost everything in the class.
  • The class covers a defined workflow: import data, clean and transform it, build a data model, build reports/visualizations/dashboards, then refresh and reassess the information as new data arrives.
  • Power BI Desktop is a free Microsoft download, installed during the last two videos of the course; this class is a prerequisite for the advanced MSPTDA course (Highline College BI348, Microsoft Power Tools for Data Analysis), which most students will likely move on to.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: Get Office 365 as soon as possible; older Excel versions work for almost everything but lack monthly feature updates. Download Power BI Desktop from Microsoft (free) during the final two videos of the class. Download the Excel and source data files provided with each video and follow along with the video, then complete the practice problems after each video. Study the PDF notes summarizing each video. Use the sales example method: list unique names first, then sum each group's values to answer the question.
  • The course lists specific tools to learn: Sort, Filter, Excel tables, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, AVERAGEIFS, dynamic arrays, pivot tables and slicers, charts/visualizations, Power Query, VLOOKUP, relationships, Power Pivot, DAX functions (SUMX, AVERAGEX, RELATED, COUNTROWS), and Power BI Desktop.
  • The class has 11 videos total, and the instructor, Mike Girvin, is a Highline College instructor and Microsoft Excel MVP since 2013, who has posted over 3,000 videos on the excelisfun channel.
  • Preliminary steps such as deciding what questions to ask, identifying needed reports, and locating data come before the import step; the class begins at importing data.

Bottom Line

Beginners with no data analysis background can use this 11-video Excel course to learn the core tools for turning raw data into refreshable reports and dashboards, ideally starting with Office 365 (though older versions work for most of the class) and then adding free Power BI Desktop.