MAPS Advanced Excel

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

Learn the Excel tools that replace repetitive work rather than speed it up. Participants will summarize thousands of records with PivotTables, use Power Query to combine and clean a folder of inconsistent monthly files so that future updates take a single click, build an interactive dashboard that answers a question without further explanation, and use the statistical and what-if tools already built into Excel. The course closes with a practical, honest session on using AI assistants with spreadsheets — what they are genuinely good at, the specific ways they are confidently wrong, and how to work with them without exposing confidential data. 

Prerequisites

• Comfortable writing formulas, using lookups, and cleaning a column of text.
• Completion of MAPS Excel Functions & Formulas, or equivalent working experience. Before taking this course, participants should be able to:
  • Write and modify multi-step formulas
  • Use lookup functions to connect data across worksheets
  • Clean and standardize text and dates
  • Troubleshooting formula errors
  • Summarize data with conditional functions
• Microsoft 365 on Windows recommended. Excel for Mac supports most of the course; Power Query is more limited, and alternatives are provided.

Intended Audience

This course is for individuals who produce recurring reports, summaries, or analyses and want to reduce the manual effort involved — particularly anyone who currently rebuilds the same file by hand each month, or who is asked to present data to people who will make decisions based on it.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Summarize large datasets by any combination of categories using PivotTables, and explain why a PivotTable sometimes reports the wrong total
• Combine and clean multiple inconsistent source files with Power Query so that future updates require only a refresh
• Restructure data that was laid out for human reading into a shape analytical tools can use
• Design a single-screen dashboard around a named audience and a specific decision, and remove everything that does not serve it
• Apply Excel's built-in statistical and what-if tools, and state clearly what a correlation does and does not demonstrate
• Use AI assistants productively with spreadsheets while protecting confidential information and verifying every result
• Identify recurring manual tasks in your own work that can be automated, and know which tool to use for each

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?