Excel Dashboard Practice Exam

The Excel Dashboard exam evaluates candidates' proficiency in designing, developing, and deploying interactive dashboards in Microsoft Excel. Excel dashboards are powerful tools for summarizing and visualizing key performance indicators (KPIs), trends, and insights from large datasets. The exam covers various aspects of dashboard creation, including data preparation, visualization techniques, interactivity features, and dashboard deployment strategies.

Skills Required

• Data Analysis and Preparation: Ability to clean, transform, and organize data in Excel worksheets for dashboard creation, including data extraction, manipulation, and aggregation.
• Dashboard Design Principles: Understanding of dashboard design principles, including layout, hierarchy, visual hierarchy, and information density, for creating effective and user-friendly dashboards.
• Visualization Techniques: Proficiency in using Excel's visualization tools and techniques, such as charts, graphs, pivot tables, and slicers, to represent data insights visually in dashboards.
• Interactivity and Navigation: Skills in adding interactive features, such as buttons, hyperlinks, drop-down lists, and drill-downs, to enhance user engagement and navigation in Excel dashboards.
• Dashboard Deployment and Sharing: Knowledge of dashboard deployment options and best practices for sharing dashboards securely with stakeholders, including email, cloud storage, and SharePoint integration.

Who should take the exam?

• Data Analysts: Data analysts who create interactive dashboards in Excel to visualize and communicate data insights to stakeholders in their organizations.
• Business Intelligence Professionals: Business intelligence professionals who leverage Excel for dashboard development, reporting, and data visualization in business analytics projects.
• Business Professionals: Business professionals, including managers, executives, and decision-makers, who use Excel dashboards for monitoring KPIs, tracking performance, and making data-driven decisions.
• Project Managers: Project managers who create project dashboards in Excel to track project progress, milestones, risks, and resource utilization.
• Anyone Interested in Dashboard Design: Individuals interested in learning how to design and build interactive dashboards in Excel for personal or professional use.

Course Outline

The Excel Dashboard exam covers the following topics :-

Module 1: Introduction to Excel Dashboards

• Overview of Excel dashboards and their role in summarizing and visualizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and data insights.
• Understanding the components and structure of effective dashboards, including data visualization elements, layout, and interactivity features.

Module 2: Data Preparation for Dashboards

• Data cleaning, transformation, and organization techniques for preparing data sources for dashboard creation in Excel.
• Data extraction, filtering, sorting, and aggregation methods to extract relevant insights and metrics for dashboard visualization.
• Structuring data tables and ranges for optimal performance and compatibility with Excel's dashboard features.

Module 3: Dashboard Design Principles

• Dashboard design principles, including layout design, visual hierarchy, color selection, typography, and spacing, for creating visually appealing and user-friendly dashboards.
• Planning and organizing dashboard content based on user requirements, objectives, and audience preferences.
• Applying best practices for maintaining consistency, clarity, and coherence in dashboard design and layout.

Module 4: Visualization Techniques in Excel

• Creating and customizing various chart types, including column charts, line charts, pie charts, and scatter plots, to visualize data insights effectively.
• Using Excel pivot tables and pivot charts to summarize and analyze multidimensional data in dashboards.
• Incorporating advanced visualization techniques, such as sparklines, data bars, and conditional formatting, to highlight trends and patterns in dashboard visuals.

Module 5: Interactivity and Navigation Features

• Adding interactive features to Excel dashboards, including buttons, hyperlinks, drop-down lists, and slicers, to enhance user engagement and navigation.
• Creating dynamic dashboards that respond to user input and selection using Excel's interactive controls and formulas.
• Implementing drill-downs, expandable sections, and linked dashboards to provide users with deeper insights and detailed analysis options.

Module 6: Dashboard Deployment and Sharing

• Deploying Excel dashboards for sharing with stakeholders using email, cloud storage, SharePoint, or other collaboration platforms.
• Securing and protecting Excel dashboards by applying password protection, encryption, and access controls to safeguard sensitive information.
• Providing documentation, training, and support resources to users for effectively utilizing and navigating Excel dashboards.