Many organisations don't have a shortage of data. They have a shortage of usable insight.
Excel remains one of the most important business tools for analysis, while Power BI can help organisations transform data into interactive dashboards and management insights.
The real skill isn't simply knowing formulas or creating charts. It is knowing how to move through the chain:
Data → Analysis → Insight → Decision → Action
The DIDA Formula
Use this as a simple data-analysis framework:
- D — Define the question
- I — Investigate the data
- D — Derive the insight
- A — Act on the insight
A Practical Example
A procurement manager doesn't really want a dashboard. They want to know: “Why did our procurement cost increase by 12%?”
A good analyst should be able to investigate supplier prices, purchase volumes, category spend, delivery costs, purchase frequency, contract changes and supplier concentration—then turn the findings into a management recommendation.
How Advanced Excel Helps
- XLOOKUP and INDEX/MATCH
- PivotTables and Power Query
- Data cleaning and conditional analysis
- Financial models and forecasting
- Scenario analysis and automated reporting
Power BI Can Take the Next Step
Instead of sending management a spreadsheet every month, teams can build dashboards showing revenue, costs, procurement spend, supplier performance, inventory, sales performance, HR metrics, training KPIs and operational performance.
The Important Question
Don't start with: “Which chart should I use?”
“What decision should this data help someone make?”
That changes the entire analysis.
A Simple Dashboard Test
Every dashboard should answer:
- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- Where is the problem?
- What should we do next?
If the dashboard cannot help answer these questions, it may be visually impressive but commercially weak.
Entrepôt Training Institute (ETI) offers practical Power BI, Advanced Excel and data analytics training designed around real workplace applications, with customised corporate programmes available for workforce upskilling and business requirements. ETI's current corporate portfolio includes Microsoft Excel, Power BI and other IT and data programmes.