N90350 Excel for Business Applications

At the end of the course students will be able to use MS Excel to model and solve typical business problems.

At the end of the course students will be able to use MS Excel to model and solve typical business problems. They will be able to exploit advanced spreadsheet operations like

• summarizing, reporting, and analyzing business data
• building analytic models to increase profits, reduce costs, or manage operations more efficiently
• save time (i.e. being able to achieve good results in less time)

1. Introduction to MS Excel
2. Range & LookUp functions
3. Modellization and solution of typical financial problems
4. Goal seek and Sensitivity analysis
5. Scenario analysis
6. Optimization (Solver)
7. Introduction to VBA and macro programming

The course is fully based on practical lessons in computer laboratory to apply the methodoligies to actual problems.

The exam can be carried out either face-to-face (in presence) or remotely (distance). In both cases, as part of the teaching activities related to the course, a simulation of the exam will be organized to allow all candidates to better understand the operating procedures of the test and to reduce any operational/organizational problem as much as possible.

Full exam - face-to-face mode

The exam is held in the computerized classrooms (PC laboratories) and consists of some (usually between four and ten) practical exercises to be solved using the tools installed on the PCs made available to students. The organization is partially "open book": the use of the material distributed to support the lessons during the year is allowed.

Full exam - distance mode

The exam consists of a practical part that requires the use of

1. a PC for the test
2. an additional device (smartphone) for control and connection (via zoom)

The exam consists of some (indicatively between four and ten) practical exercises to be solved using the tools (Microsoft Excel) installed on the PC available to the candidate (who is responsible for the correct configuration of the exam tools). The exercises will be proposed one at a time through the ecorsi.liuc.it platform and will ask for the solution of simple problems. The candidate must load the solution of each exercise (composed of one file) within the time foreseen for that exercise. Files uploaded after the established time limit will not be accepted.

The professor can require an additional oral integration composed of one or more questions usually related to the solution proposed by the student.

Partial tests

During the course, some partial tests can be scheduled. Each test is organized like the full exam, with a reduced number of exercises (usually between one and three). Passing all the partial tests replaces the final exam. The overall evaluation is equal to a combination (usually a weighted average) of the results of the ongoing tests.