Business Analyst Course in Kenya

Excel Interface Overview (Ribbon, Toolbar, Sheets)

Workbook vs. Worksheet

Navigation Shortcuts (Ctrl + Arrow Keys, etc.)

Basic Data Entry and Cell Formatting

Saving, Opening, and Managing Excel Files

Printing and Page Layout Settings

Basic Formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX)

Relative vs. Absolute Cell References ($A$1 vs. A1)

Text Functions (CONCATENATE, LEFT, RIGHT, MID, LEN, TRIM)

Logical Functions (IF, AND, OR)

Basic Date Functions (TODAY, NOW, DATE, DATEDIF)

Introduction to Charts (Bar, Line, Pie, Scatter, etc.)

Creating and Formatting Charts

Adding Data Labels, Legends, and Titles

Sparklines and Conditional Formatting

Best Practices for Data Visualization

Lookup Functions (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP)

INDEX and MATCH Functions

Advanced Text Functions (TEXT, FIND, SEARCH, SUBSTITUTE)

Data Cleaning Techniques (Remove Duplicates, Text to Columns)

Working with Named Ranges

Sorting Data (Single & Multi-level)

Filtering Data (Basic & Advanced Filters)

Subtotals and Grouping Data

Data Validation for Error Prevention

Using Excel Tables for Data Management

Array Formulas and Dynamic Arrays (FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE)

Financial Functions (NPV, IRR, PMT)

Statistical Functions (MEDIAN, MODE, STDEV)

Error Handling Functions (IFERROR, ISERROR)

Advanced Date and Time Functions (WORKDAY, NETWORKDAYS, EOMONTH)

Creating and Formatting PivotTables

Grouping and Summarizing Data

Calculated Fields and Items

Creating PivotCharts

Slicers and Timelines for Interactive Reports

Introduction to Macros and VBA

Recording and Running Macros

Basic VBA Concepts (Variables, Loops, If Statements)

Editing and Debugging Macro Code

Best Practices for Macro Security

What is SQL? Overview and Importance

Relational Database Concepts (Tables, Rows, Columns)

Common Database Management Systems (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server)

SQL Syntax Rules

Connecting to a Database (Using tools like MySQL Workbench or pgAdmin)

The SELECT Statement

Selecting Specific Columns

Using DISTINCT to Remove Duplicates

Simple WHERE Clauses for Filtering

Using ORDER BY for Sorting Data

Basic LIMIT clause (for databases like MySQL/PostgreSQL)

Using Comparison Operators (=, !=, >, <, >=, <=)

Logical Operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Filtering with BETWEEN, IN, and LIKE

Handling NULL values (IS NULL, IS NOT NULL)

Sorting Data with ORDER BY (Ascending & Descending)

Aggregate Functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX)

Grouping Data with GROUP BY

Filtering Groups with HAVING

Using GROUP BY with Multiple Columns

Understanding the Difference between WHERE and HAVING

Introduction to Joins and Data Relationships

INNER JOIN for Matching Data

LEFT JOIN for Including Non-matching Records

RIGHT JOIN and FULL OUTER JOIN (if supported by the database)

Using Aliases for Table Names

Joining Multiple Tables

Best Practices for Writing Joins

Overview of Power BI components (Desktop, Service, Mobile).

Copilot Introduction: How to use AI-powered features for data exploration.

Installing Power BI Desktop and setting up the environment.

Navigating the Power BI interface: ribbons, panes, and views.

Hands-on Lab: Importing sample datasets and exploring Copilot.

Connecting to various data sources (Excel, SQL, Web APIs).

Data profiling, data types, and handling missing values.

Advanced transformations: merging, appending, pivoting, unpivoting data.

Using Power Query Editor for complex data shaping.

Hands-on Lab: Transforming raw data into a clean dataset.

Designing star and snowflake schemas.

Creating and managing table relationships.

DAX basics: calculated columns, measures, and quick measures.

Using DAX for basic calculations like SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT.

Hands-on Lab: Building a data model for sales data analysis.

Advanced DAX functions: CALCULATE, FILTER, ALL, RELATED.

Time intelligence functions for date-based calculations (e.g., YTD, QTD).

Performance optimization techniques: DAX query tuning, minimizing model size.

Hands-on Lab: Creating advanced DAX measures for business insights.

Building advanced visuals: combination charts, gauges, maps, and custom visuals.

Creating dynamic reports with slicers, bookmarks, and drill-through.

Designing for user experience: layout, color schemes, and storytelling.

Best practices for dashboard design and performance.

Hands-on Lab: Creating an interactive sales performance dashboard.

Publishing reports and dashboards to Power BI Service.

Configuring dataset refresh schedules and managing gateways.

Setting up Row-Level Security (RLS) for data access control.

Hands-on Lab: Publishing and sharing reports with user access control.

Using Copilot to generate natural language insights and queries.

Automating data exploration and report generation.

Implementing Copilot for predictive analytics and recommendations.

Hands-on Lab: Using Copilot for advanced data exploration.

Utilizing AI visuals like Key Influencers, Decomposition Tree, and Smart Narrative.

Conducting clustering, anomaly detection, and forecasting.

Interactive Q&A with natural language queries.

Hands-on Lab: Applying AI visuals to real-world business data.

Overview of Microsoft Fabric: Synapse, Data Factory, Data Lake, and Power BI.

Using OneLake for centralized data storage.

Building Synapse Dataflows for real-time data ingestion.

Creating data pipelines for ETL processes and integrating with Power BI.

Hands-on Lab: Setting up a Fabric workspace, creating dataflows, and integrating with Power BI.

Overview of Tableau Prep for data cleaning and transformation.

Importing, filtering, and shaping data for analysis.

Data profiling and preparing datasets for analysis.

Connecting to various data sources (spreadsheets, databases, cloud).

Understanding live connections vs extracts.

Managing data joins, unions, and blends.

Building foundational visualizations like bar charts, line charts, and scatter plots.

Sorting, filtering, and grouping data.

Working with visual marks (size, color, labels) for enhanced data presentation.

Creating row-level and aggregate calculations.

Using string functions, logical functions, and conditional calculations.

Practical applications of calculations for deriving insights.

Incorporating reference lines, trend lines, and forecasts.

Using parameters to create dynamic visualizations.

Highlight actions, sets, and advanced tooltips for interactivity.

Understanding Fixed, Include, and Exclude LOD calculations.

Practical scenarios for using LOD expressions in reporting.

Combining LOD expressions with other calculations.

Creating dual-axis charts, waterfall charts, and bullet graphs.

Understanding when and how to use advanced charts for storytelling.

Hands-on practice with custom chart creation.

Building interactive dashboards from multiple sheets.

Using dashboard actions to filter and highlight data dynamically.

Creating stories to present data insights in a narrative format