IBM IBDA 2026-04-01 | Week 2 Live Session | Excel, Spreadsheets, Formulas & Pivot Tables

Week 2 live session for the IBM Data Analytics Bootcamp, IBDA 2026-04-01 cohort. In this back-recorded session, we focus on spreadsheet analytics and Excel basics for data analysis. Week 2 builds on the Week 1 foundation of thinking like a data analyst by moving into the first hands-on tool most analysts use in the real world: spreadsheets. This session was recorded later in the course as a reference for students, especially because spreadsheet skills connect directly to later work in Python, SQL, dashboards, and the final capstone project. Week 2 is where we begin turning raw, messy data into something usable. The focus is not memorizing every Excel formula or button. The focus is learning how to navigate a spreadsheet, clean data, ask questions, calculate metrics, summarize results, and identify patterns that can lead to better decisions. Topics covered include: • Where Week 2 fits in the overall data analytics workflow • Why spreadsheets are still everywhere in business analytics • Using Excel for the web as a free spreadsheet tool • Uploading and opening Excel workbooks and CSV files • Navigating the Excel ribbon, tabs, rows, columns, and cells • Using keyboard shortcuts to move around larger spreadsheets • Selecting, formatting, and freezing rows and columns • Understanding cells, ranges, relative references, absolute references, and mixed references • Writing basic spreadsheet formulas • Using SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT, and MEDIAN • Comparing averages and medians to understand skew and outliers • Understanding formula errors and how to troubleshoot them • Thinking about data quality, data privacy, and data ethics • Identifying duplicate rows, blank rows, typos, inconsistent text, and bad formatting • Cleaning text with tools like find and replace, trim, uppercase, lowercase, and proper case • Sorting and filtering data to find patterns quickly • Applying text filters and numeric filters • Creating calculated columns with IF statements • Using nested IF statements for conditional logic • Using VLOOKUP to retrieve values from another part of a spreadsheet • Understanding VLOOKUP as an early bridge toward database thinking and SQL • Creating summary statistics from sales data • Building pivot tables for grouped analysis • Using pivot tables to summarize sales by product line, region, customer type, and other categories • Connecting Excel skills to later Python, SQL, Pandas, and business intelligence workflows We also work through several hands-on examples, including: • Uploading startup funding spreadsheets into Excel for the web • Navigating and formatting spreadsheet data • Freezing panes to keep headers and identifiers visible • Building a personal monthly expenditure analysis • Calculating totals, averages, minimums, maximums, counts, and medians • Practicing relative, absolute, and mixed cell references • Cleaning messy spreadsheet data • Filtering customer demographic data • Sorting order data by ship date and order value • Creating new columns with conditional logic • Using VLOOKUP to retrieve startup funding amounts • Working with a sample sales dataset • Creating pivot tables to summarize sales and quantities The big idea: Spreadsheets are not just a place to store data. They are often where real data analysis begins. Excel and Google Sheets help analysts load data, clean it, explore it, calculate metrics, summarize patterns, and communicate findings without needing code. The same thinking used here will show up again later in Python, SQL, Pandas, dashboards, and business intelligence tools. Do not get too caught up memorizing every function name. The transferable skill is learning how to be curious with data: clean it, ask better questions, summarize it clearly, and turn raw information into useful insight. All notebooks, files, and live session materials for this bootcamp are available here: https://github.com/ABoothInTheWild/ib... #dataanalytics #excel #spreadsheets #pivottables #vlookup #dataquality #datacleaning #businessintelligence #analytics #bootcamp #ibm #education