MAPS Excel Functions and Formulas

MAPS virtual courses are highly participatory and interactive.

Our instructors engage the participants by using many of the features of Zoom: breakout rooms, chat window, polling, class discussions, and share screen. The MAPS online experience will be similar to MAPS in-person; your learning requires your involvement. 

To receive the best experience, please join from your own device with a microphone.

Course Overview

Course Description

Move from calculating with Excel to making decisions with it. Participants will write logical formulas that sort records into categories, use lookups to connect information held on separate sheets, take apart text and dates that arrive glued together or inconsistently formatted, and answer questions about an entire dataset in a single formula. Exercises use a realistic dataset that is deliberately imperfect — with unmatched identifiers, missing values, and inconsistently formatted names — because diagnosing and repairing those problems is the actual work. Every session is taught inside a working Excel file, and you keep the workbooks and complete answer keys.

Prerequisites

• Comfortable navigating a worksheet, formatting cells, and writing simple formulas such as =SUM and =AVERAGE.
• Completion of MAPS Basic Excel, or equivalent working experience. Before taking this course, participants should be able to:
  • Navigate worksheets and select data efficiently
  • Format and organize spreadsheet data
  • Create basic tables and charts
  • Use and copy simple formulas and functions
  • Understand the difference between relative and absolute cell references
• Microsoft 365 recommended; alternatives are provided for earlier versions of Excel.

Intended Audience

This course is for individuals who use Excel regularly for straightforward tasks and want to handle the messier, more analytical work that real datasets demand — particularly those who inherit spreadsheets built by other people and need to understand, verify, or repair them.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Write logical formulas — including nested conditions — that classify records by rule, and test them at the boundaries where they are most likely to be wrong
• Use lookups to join information across sheets, and diagnose why a lookup fails when the value is visibly present
• Read and modify formulas written by other people, including older approaches you will encounter in inherited workbooks
• Separate, standardize, and recombine text and date values without retyping anything
• Demonstrate that a dataset is unreliable, and quantify how unreliable, before building analysis on top of it
• Summarize a dataset conditionally, and build results that update themselves when the underlying data changes
• Understand important limitations of Excel and best practices for ongoing data management and collaboration
• Recognize common spreadsheet errors before they reach a colleague or a decision-maker

Course Materials

A zoom link and course materials including pre-work will be emailed to you one week prior to the course.

*A computer or device with a working microphone is required
*A camera on your device or webcam is recommended

You do not need a Zoom account to attend MAPS through Zoom, but you will need to download the Zoom app (also known as Zoom Desktop Client). Download here: https://zoom.us/download

Instructor

Nego Jovanovich

Nego is an analytics leader with a strong background at the intersection of business, technology, and data strategy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Marketing from The Ohio State University in 2013 and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University in 2016. His career began at Cardinal Health in sales analytics, followed by a role as a Solution Architect at Avaap. In 2023, he joined JP Morgan Chase, where he currently serves as Executive Director of Analytics, driving data-driven insights and strategy at scale.

FAQ's

Requirements for a Virtual Course

• A device that has a working microphone is required. A camera is strongly recommended. The online courses use features that enhance your experience with the use of your device’s camera and microphone for interaction and participation.
• Pre-work
  Virtual MAPS courses include approximately 2 hours of pre-work. Pre-work materials and instructions will be emailed to participants at least one week prior to the course date.

Follow these steps to make a cancellation:

1. Refer to your registration confirmation email
2. Scroll down to "Cancellation Policy"
3. Follow link in email
4. Enter the confirmation number from the registration email
5. At the top of the page, click on “Cancel Registration” button
6. Click Finish

Follow these steps to make a substitution: 

1. Refer to your registration confirmation email
2. Scroll down to "Substitutions"
3. Follow link in email
4. Enter the confirmation number from the registration email
5. At the top of the page, click on the “Substitute Registrant” button
6. Enter the name and email of the new registrant
7. Click Next
8. Click Confirm

CEU and CPE Policy 
Attendance in this course can earn:

• 0.6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
• 7.2 Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEs)

Attendance is recorded at check-in at the start of the day, and full CEU or CPE credit is awarded based on an honor system, with the expectation that participants are present and actively engaged for the full MAPS course

Course Certificate
Your course certificate will be emailed to you following the course. It will reflect your Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEs) earned and your attendance of the course.

Waitlist
What happens if I am on a waitlist for a course? You will receive an email confirming you have been added to a waitlist. If a spot becomes available, you will be notified by email.

Photography
The Ohio State University may occasionally take pictures during educational events for use in program communication. If you do not want to be photographed during this course, please email the MAPS team at glenn-training@osu.edu.

MAPS Membership 
A MAPS member receives a discounted rate of $250 for each course with the initial purchase of at least 12 credits. Each credit equals one course for one individual.

To inquire about becoming a MAPS member, please fill out the MAPS Membership Form. A Glenn College Professional Development team member will reach out to you.

Questions or want to learn more?