Excel Modeling 101 - 10 Dos and Don'ts

The course is presented in four parts.

First, brief introduction to what is Excel modeling and how to make an Excel model great:

- Accuracy

- Simplicity

- Robustness

Second part brings a not-so-great Excel model as a business case, and introduces a financial report that is supposed to calculated the DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) measure. By examination, this course demonstrates to the audience 10 DONTS in Excel modeling, including:

- Do NOT copy/paste data multiple files and stack them up

- Do NOT leave comparable data in different columns

- Do NOT process data “one at a time”

Third, we demonstrate how to correct the problems and bring up the list of the 10 DOS, including:

- Connect or link to source data rather than copy and paste.

- Keep comparable data in the same column

- Keep related data processing in “one” table!

Last, the course culminates in summarizing the 10 Dos and Don’ts into 4 categories:

- Data source

- Data transformation

- Formulas

- Validation