How to become world class Business Analyst - Cases in Excel

In this lecture we will explain why it makes sense to take the course, what you will get out of it and what you should look forward to. We will also explain the logic we used to build the course

I will show you how the course is organized

Here we will explain who is business analyst, what are the available career pahts to them and what kind of skills are required to become one. We will also briefly talk about what you should gradeatue to have a bigger chances of becoming business analyst

Here I will show you what to do if a blurry image appears

Here I will show you how to find additional resources attached to the coruse like Excel files, presentations, links etc.

Here I will show you what you will learn in this section

Here I will show you the main rules for Excel files that I recommend using when you are doing your analysis in Excel. This will help you create things understood by others that you can reuse for other projects

In the next few lectures, we will repeat the Excel functions that will be useful later when we will be solving case studies. We will discuss the following sections:

• VLOOKUP

• HLOOKUP

• MATCH

• IF
  IFERROR

• Pivot Tables

If you are familiar with that you can skip these lectures and move on to management consulting tools and techniques

Enjoy the content and if you have any questions please let me know!

In this lecture, I will show you how to use one of the most useful functions - the VLOOKUP

In this lecture, I will show you how to use one of the most useful functions - the VLOOKUP. We will look at the additional value coming from the so-called approximate match

In this lecture we show you what you can use the VLOOKUP function for. It is one of the most widely used function that simplifies a lot of things

We start with basic VLOOKUP Usage just to show you the flavor and basic construction of VLOOKUP.

We start with basic VLOOKUP Usage just to show you the flavor and basic construction of VLOOKUP.

VLOOKUP can be used to assig categories. This helps you easily by creating rules divide data into segments, cohorts and analyze them, draw conclusions

HLOOKUP is a cousin of VLOOKUP. It is not that often used independently but has some serious application when combined with VLOOKUP

Another useful function is the so-called MATCH. We will see what it gives you.

In this lecture I will show you how to assign categories using VLOOKUP and MATCH. You have the categories described in the matrix and you want to use them

In this lecture I will show you how to assign categories using VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. MATCH can be used as alternative to the HLOOKUP

IF function can be very problematic. I will show you in this lecture why is not always the best choice

We start with showing you how to use IF function

In many cases IF can be replaced successfully with VLOOKUP. I will show you how to do it and what are the benefits

In some cases you need to use IFERROR. It can be used as a replacement for IF or independently

Sometimes make sense to use MIN and MAX instead of IF. I will show you how and when to do that

We start with basic usage of pivot tables

Power Pointe presentation is the second most important tools to be used by Business Analyst in his work. After all it is not only important to analyse data and draw conclusions but also to show them in a nice manner to decision makers. Here you will learn basic rules on how to build your Power Point deck in fast and easy manner. You will see also some examples of good and bad slides. There are many advanced tools for presentation (i.e.) Prezi. Still Power Point is the most often used and widely accepted

In this lecture, you will get to know our favorite method for the first rough estimation – the bottom-up method. We give you also 2 examples with Excel calculation on how to use it.

Top-down is the little brother of bottom-up approach – not used that often but still very useful for re-segmenting the market (niche an low-cost strategy) 

Imagine that you have to estimate the costs of the wedding to help Tomasz plan his wedding. Use for that the bottom-up approach. We will use this case study to see how bottom-up approach works in practice

In this lecture I will show you the solution to previously introduced case study

In this lecture I will show you the solution to previously introduced case study

In this lecture I will show you the solution to previously introduced case study

In this lecture I show the backward thinking /induction. This approach enables you to design the whole process, company on the bases of the expected outcome

Let’s try to put the backward reasoning to practice. In this case study we will use it to decide what effort has to be done to 10x the current business. A few information about the retailer

• He has currently 100 stores. Each store sales are equal to EUR 2 M

• He wants to 10x the business up to Year 5

• Estimate what LFL growth he must get and how many stores he must open

• Assuming EUR 1 M per store estimate the Capex

• Estimate how many people he has to recruit assuming 6 people per store

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures 

Backward logic can be used in many situations. Below some of them

• You have a clear goal in the future but not a clear path towards it

• You want to estimate the pace needed to reach the goal

• You want to check the implications for you or your department

• You want to see what are the limitations preventing you from reaching the goal

• You want to see whether the goal is not too ambitious

• You want to see whether the goal does not require too big resources

In many cases you can get high end result from compounding effect in time or by getting small improvements in many areas. In this lecture I will explain the concept

Issue tree is a simple yet powerful concept used in consulting for structuring discussion and picking the right topics to concentrate on. In this lecture I will show you the principles of using it as well as a practical example

In this lecture, I will summarize what kind of examples of issue trees we will present in the next few lectures

Here I will show example of an issue tree in Logistics

Here I will show example of an issue tree in Retail

Here I will show you ana example of Isse tree in FMCG

Opportunity tree is a tool that you can use to generate new ideas to improve your business by looking at main drivers of your business

We show here how to use the so called OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) Analysis that shows you how efficient you are in using your resources. It is very useful for checking whether you use well machines and equipment

If you want to understand well a business you have to be able to identify the cost drivers that shape the business model. In this lecture I will show you how to do that

In every company you have bottlenecks that limit your ability to go forward and deliver more goods and services. Here I will show you how to estimate what is the impact for the whole system and how you can remove improve them. I will use simple production example to show you the effect on the whole system. You will see how the bottleneck can shift from 1 shift to another. You will also learn how to prioritize where it make sense to invest to get the best results.

Before doing this lecture I strongly encourage you first to take the OEE lecture – we use the OEE concept here so if you are not familiar with it please start with OEE lecture as a warm-up.

I will show you what you will master in this section

In this lecture you will get insight into the business model of different e-commerce companies. E-commerce businesses group is very diversified so we will try to show the similarities and the differences between concepts.. You will learn here the definition of this business model, see some examples of companies using this business models. You will also understand what really matters in this sort of business, what KPIs you should look at and what values you can expect.

In this Lecture I will go through a business model of e-commerce and show you how you can model the behavior of the customer, acquisition methods and margins in Excel. Attached to this lecture you will find the file that I show in the video so download it and go through it. You can use it to model the e-commerce business you are analyzing

Excel gives you great opportunities to calculate whether your idea makes sense or not. For this you will use the knowledge you have gathered in the previous lectures on your concept, location and your customers. Excel is obviously less emotion than you and the model you will create here can be used as a cornerstone of your business plans. It shows also to banks and potential investors what is your cash flow. We start with a simple model so you can understand it and learn how to use it. 

In this lecture we make more advanced model. We introduce the traffic parameter and show how it is converted first into people that are engaged (stop and enter your restaurant) and later into customers (they buy something from you). Here we will be operating on 2 customer groups: first one eats at the restaurant; second one comes for take-aways. For both customer groups we calculate separate conversion rates and Average ticket (ATV). We still here show you a business model for a 1 restaurant

Finally we show you how to model in Excel a restaurant chain.

Before I show you the model in Excel I want to present you in this lecture the overall logic

I show you in the lecture the model of the consulting firm in Excel. After modifying it you can use it for your purposes (we attach the Excel files to the lecture). This model will let you check whether your business idea makes sense.

I show you in the lecture the model of the consulting firm in Excel. After modifying it you can use it for your purposes (we attach the Excel files to the lecture). This model will let you check whether your business idea makes sense.

As a business analyst or a consultant, you will have to from time to time create financial models. They are a bit different than business models. In business models, you go into details of operations and you focus on getting the links on the KPIs. Those models are usually done for internal purposes, to manage in the right direction the business. Financial models on the other hand are more for external users. You concentrate on creating a picture of the business in a standardized, understood by everybody way. You also want to create financial statements: profit & loss statement, balance sheet statement, cash flow statement.

If you want to learn more when it comes to modeling, I suggest checking the following resources

• Offline Business Models

• Online Business Models

• Essential Finance & Accounting

• Financial Modeling for Management Consultants

• Financial Modeling for Startups

• Financial Analysis

I will attach resources to this lecture

I will show you what you will master in this section

In this lecture we show how you can measure and analyze what is the maximal reach of your B2B bussiness having in mind transportation costs and markups. We will provide you with fast way to identify potential customers and measure your targeted price on a specific foreign market

Here I will show you how to see which marketing activities you should bet on

In this lecture you will learn to calculate sales and margin density for a Retailer using pivot and sumifs function. I will also show you what conclusion you should draw from it.

Most producers / brand owners operate using many sales channels: wholesalers, own shops, e-commerce, marketplace etc. It makes sense to check how profitability looks across channels and what can e done to improve overall situation. I will show you how it cane be done with a simple Excel analysis and a pivot table. I will go also try to demonstrate what kind of conclusions can you draw and what should be your next steps, on the basis of the results you are getting form the analyses

We will now try to check in practice how to find saturation point for a retailer. In this lecture I will introduce the case that we will work with for the next few lectures. You will be asked to find the saturation for grocery store operating in Poland

In this lecture we solve previously introduced case.

In this lecture we solve previously introduced case.

Now using data in the sheet "Concepts" on the number of store per City per concept try to estimate how many stores by concepts (Standard & Luxury Concept) we will have in each and every city. Try also to estimat the space by city by concept. For that use the sheet "Space" where we have already created the suggested structure for the data. Please use attached file Saturation point analysis v4 - Partial Solution.xlsx

So, pause the lecture, solve this part on your own and once you are down please move to the next lecture

In this lecture we solve previously introduced case.

In this lecture we solve previously introduced case.

In this lecture we solve previously introduced case.

In this lecture, I will show you how to create a waterfall chart

In Retail you have space that you divide among different product groups. For every group you should calculate the total margin using sales density, % Gross Margin and space allocated to specific group. You have to analyze their performance and decide how to split the space. In this lecture I will show you the general concept

Here I show an example of a product range analysis

Let’s have a look at milk producer that wants to expand its product range. In this case you will be asked to analyze and find the best candidates for brand expansions.  

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

Let’s have a cosmetics producer and see where is the potential for development. We will analyze the sales by regions and try to find how much more we can sell in each and every region. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures.

Let’s have a look at the sales force efficiency in Poland of a cosmetics producers. We will analyze the efficiency of sales force and look for ways to improve the margin 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures. 

If you want to learn more when it comes to sales & marketing, I suggest checking the following resources

• Sales & Marketing Analysis

• Market Research

• Strategy for Management Consultants

• Sales Forecasting for Management Consulting

• Funnel Analysis

• Pricing for Management Consultants