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Microsoft Excel Is No Longer Just a Business Application

Copyright (c) 2008-2023

Back in the 1990’s, the only people who had a need to learn to use Microsoft Excel product, were those who used accounting spreadsheets in the course of their work. But, this is 2008 and the need for MS Excel is so much more than it was just a decade ago.

Honestly, the application itself has not changed much in the last decade, but the benefits of using a spreadsheet application have increased considerably.

College Students Worldwide

It has come to a point where college students cannot graduate, unless they have first learned to utilize all of the Microsoft Office tools, including Microsoft Excel. At its most basic level, Excel is not that difficult to understand. But deep down in its advanced features, it can become quite difficult to learn and understand.

It is a shame that most textbooks offered for Microsoft Office products are either short on detail or downright confusing. When it comes to technical computer software textbooks, there are so few good products out there. Even those textbooks offered at the collegiate level fail to deliver on the hope that many college students have for mastery of this most important software.

By the end of a college students first year, he or she will be required to turn in homework assignments that require the successful use of MS Excel. When one’s GPA is so very important, most college students simply cannot afford to let their grades slip in any single class, because they could not master the intricacies of another Microsoft product.

When the available study aids for Microsoft Excel are so inefficient at teaching students how to best utilize the advanced features of MS Excel, the student intent on keeping his or her GPA would do well to find an advanced teaching tool that has proven itself in the marketplace to be an effective teacher of this important class of business software.

Important to Business

The reason why colleges are putting so much emphasis on learning Microsoft Office and Excel is because these computer applications are essential tools in business management in the modern marketplace.

While MS Excel was designed as an accounting spreadsheet, the use of the spreadsheet has gone well beyond just a basic accounting tool.

MS Excel is integral to websites and business applications that require the use of a database system. In fact, many websites that businesses work with now on a regular basis permit reports and data to be moved between the central server and the desktop, utilizing Microsoft Excel as one of the supported formats.

It is also a very useful tool for creating business reports for both accounting and marketing.

Expanding Beyond The Basics

One of the most useful tools for business marketing, management and finance, within the Microsoft Excel software, is the Functions Tool.

The Functions Tool enables the people who compile reports within Microsoft Excel to do calculations on the available data. Functions run from simple date functions, to addition and subtraction calculations, to statistical comparison, to full-blown trigonometry formulas.

The beauty of functions inside of Microsoft Excel is that you can load your basic data into a spreadsheet and then rearrange your formula uses to generate new and varied results to be placed into a report.

Most people don’t think too much about business marketing when they think of Excel spreadsheets, but the merging of spreadsheets and the use of formulas can help marketers combine their data sources to provide reports to their potential customers, about what customers can expect to receive from a company.

Beyond School and Business

Mom and dad can actually use Microsoft Excel to help them with a variety of different needs.

For example, suppose mom and dad want to build an inventory of all of their belongings, complete with purchase dates and serial numbers. They can keep a spreadsheet that holds all of this information on their desktop, and as they add new items to their household inventory, mom and dad can print off an up-to-date copy of their household inventory for placement in the banks’ safety deposit box.

More so in these times of high gasoline prices, mom and dad might keep a spreadsheet showing how many miles they drove on each tank of gas, how much they paid for that tank of gas, and what the seasonal variables were, in order to better understand how they can squeeze more miles out their vehicles’ gas mileage.

Actually, these are just a couple of examples, but mom and dad can find many uses for Microsoft Excel, including keeping the family budget in check.

Getting The Most Mileage From Microsoft Office and Excel

As previously suggested, it can be challenging to head to your local bookstore to find books that will teach how to effectively use Microsoft Excel to do with it what you would like to do.

The Dummies Series are fine if you want to know how to turn the application on, but beyond the very easy basics, the Dummies’ series is generally a waste of money.

Most people who want to use any software application have desires to use some of the more advanced features. If you rely on the Dummies books and many of the other books that are available to teach you how to use the Excel software, those books simply won’t even mention the advanced features, let alone teach you how to properly use them.

While some books simply fall short in providing the detail that you need to understand how to most effectively use the software, other books make the mistake of trying to shove too much information into the book in a very unorganized and hard-to-follow format.

Hands-On Training Always Beats Book Training

K-Alliance is a company that specializes in creating hands-on tutorials that deliver their teaching power through a CD-rom format. Learning Microsoft Excel using the K-Alliance Excel Tutorial CD is made so much easier, because it shows you what to do and allows you to experience Microsoft Excel on your computer screen as you learn. Back in the 1990’s, the only people who had a need to learn to use Microsoft Excel product, were those who used accounting spreadsheets in the course of their work. But, this is 2008 and the need for MS Excel is so much more than it was just a decade ago.

Honestly, the application itself has not changed much in the last decade, but the benefits of using a spreadsheet application have increased considerably.

College Students Worldwide

It has come to a point where college students cannot graduate, unless they have first learned to utilize all of the Microsoft Office tools, including Microsoft Excel. At its most basic level, Excel is not that difficult to understand. But deep down in its advanced features, it can become quite difficult to learn and understand.

It is a shame that most textbooks offered for Microsoft Office products are either short on detail or downright confusing. When it comes to technical computer software textbooks, there are so few good products out there. Even those textbooks offered at the collegiate level fail to deliver on the hope that many college students have for mastery of this most important software.

By the end of a college students first year, he or she will be required to turn in homework assignments that require the successful use of MS Excel. When one’s GPA is so very important, most college students simply cannot afford to let their grades slip in any single class, because they could not master the intricacies of another Microsoft product.

When the available study aids for Microsoft Excel are so inefficient at teaching students how to best utilize the advanced features of MS Excel, the student intent on keeping his or her GPA would do well to find an advanced teaching tool that has proven itself in the marketplace to be an effective teacher of this important class of business software.

Important to Business

The reason why colleges are putting so much emphasis on learning Microsoft Office and Excel is because these computer applications are essential tools in business management in the modern marketplace.

While MS Excel was designed as an accounting spreadsheet, the use of the spreadsheet has gone well beyond just a basic accounting tool.

MS Excel is integral to websites and business applications that require the use of a database system. In fact, many websites that businesses work with now on a regular basis permit reports and data to be moved between the central server and the desktop, utilizing Microsoft Excel as one of the supported formats.

It is also a very useful tool for creating business reports for both accounting and marketing.

Expanding Beyond The Basics

One of the most useful tools for business marketing, management and finance, within the Microsoft Excel software, is the Functions Tool.

The Functions Tool enables the people who compile reports within Microsoft Excel to do calculations on the available data. Functions run from simple date functions, to addition and subtraction calculations, to statistical comparison, to full-blown trigonometry formulas.

The beauty of functions inside of Microsoft Excel is that you can load your basic data into a spreadsheet and then rearrange your formula uses to generate new and varied results to be placed into a report.

Most people don’t think too much about business marketing when they think of Excel spreadsheets, but the merging of spreadsheets and the use of formulas can help marketers combine their data sources to provide reports to their potential customers, about what customers can expect to receive from a company.

Beyond School and Business

Mom and dad can actually use Microsoft Excel to help them with a variety of different needs.

For example, suppose mom and dad want to build an inventory of all of their belongings, complete with purchase dates and serial numbers. They can keep a spreadsheet that holds all of this information on their desktop, and as they add new items to their household inventory, mom and dad can print off an up-to-date copy of their household inventory for placement in the banks’ safety deposit box.

More so in these times of high gasoline prices, mom and dad might keep a spreadsheet showing how many miles they drove on each tank of gas, how much they paid for that tank of gas, and what the seasonal variables were, in order to better understand how they can squeeze more miles out their vehicles’ gas mileage.

Actually, these are just a couple of examples, but mom and dad can find many uses for Microsoft Excel, including keeping the family budget in check.

Getting The Most Mileage From Microsoft Office and Excel

As previously suggested, it can be challenging to head to your local bookstore to find books that will teach how to effectively use Microsoft Excel to do with it what you would like to do.

The Dummies Series are fine if you want to know how to turn the application on, but beyond the very easy basics, the Dummies’ series is generally a waste of money.

Most people who want to use any software application have desires to use some of the more advanced features. If you rely on the Dummies books and many of the other books that are available to teach you how to use the Excel software, those books simply won’t even mention the advanced features, let alone teach you how to properly use them.

While some books simply fall short in providing the detail that you need to understand how to most effectively use the software, other books make the mistake of trying to shove too much information into the book in a very unorganized and hard-to-follow format.

Hands-On Training Always Beats Book Training

K-Alliance is a company that specializes in creating hands-on tutorials that deliver their teaching power through a CD-rom format. Learning Microsoft Excel using the K-Alliance Excel Tutorial CD is made so much easier, because it shows you what to do and allows you to experience Microsoft Excel on your computer screen as you learn.


About The Author: Shop Amazon - Top Gift Ideas
My name is Joe Cleland, and I work with K Alliance, LLC. You can visit our website to learn more about our Excel 2007 Training program at: http://www.cbtplanet.com/microsoft-desktop-training/microsoft-excel-2007.htm We can also be reached by phone toll-free at: 866-718-7246

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