Here, s/he adds the DATA Tab tools to all previously learned and being used. S/he must become a data specialist and therefore must delve deeper in the use of Excel tools in general. How will this be possible if s/he know nothing of the basic and intermediate levels of Microsoft Excel usage? On a scale of one to ten, the intermediate level falls on or between four and five.Īn Expert is one who knows so much, over time and through practice that s/he can act as a teacher, an implementation-lead and hand-on knowledge worker. This level may include introductory use of such tools as PivotTable, charting and recording macros for repetitive tasks. Such depth of understanding will come handy when implementing such things as absolute and relative referencing and when the user starts entering formulas without the formula wizard. The intermediate level of Excel skills should be where the user learns how Excel functions “think” or how they “behave” when you use them in a cell and copy/paste/drag or move them across sheets. In other words, functions are the building blocks of formulas in Excel. An Excel formula is a user defined cell entry that has at least one Excel function (could be two or more functions) to derive a result. A function is a named program that process inputs and returns a result (output) within a spreadsheet cell. It is worthy of note here that an Excel FUNCTION and an Excel FORMULA are not the same thing. This prepares users for auditing more complex use of functions in formulas such as those found in complex/compound formulas – formulas that have two or more functions. Formula Auditing is also a group in the FORMULA Tab that should be learned and used in the Intermediate level of Excel usage. The intermediate Level is a level where more on TEXT Functions, DATE Functions, LOOKUP functions and MATH functions should be learned and used. The function wizard enables basic users to understand, through use and overtime, two things: (1) The arguments/inputs that some difficult- to- comprehend functions require e.g Lookup functions and (2) The order at which arguments/inputs are entered. S/he learns and knows how to use the function wizard to enter function arguments/inputs. The intermediate Microsoft Excel user, driven by what can be done with Excel functions learned in the basic level, delves into the tools in the FORMULA tab and the function library therein. The intermediate level is the basic level plus more. This level should score at most three on an Excel Skill- Scale of one to ten. Armed with these, the basic user can do a lot in number computation, data presentation beyond static data presentation and printing. Additionally, an understanding of the spreadsheet inter-face and the ability to do subtractions, multiplications and division are inclusive in the calculation skills that a basic uses should have for use. Basic users should know how to apply these functions in formulas within spreadsheets. On functions, I accept as default, the list of functions you get when you click on the drop-down button of the auto-sum icon – SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT NUMBERS, MAX and MIN. The only permissible exceptions (just my opinion) are using formulas in conditional formats and the ARRANGE group in the Page layout tab. On a standard note, I propose that the basic skill level for Microsoft Excel should be an in-depth knowledge of three ribbons Tabs and their tools – The HOME Tab, The PAGE LAYOUT Tab and the VIEW Tab. With these tools, a user can present static data on a spreadsheet and afterwards claims that s/he uses Microsoft Excel appreciably well. The Clipboard, Font, Alignment and Number groups in the HOME tab are similar to those found in Microsoft Word. Especially for persons who may have used such application as Microsoft Word. What should define the basic level of skill in Microsoft Excel? When you first open Microsoft Excel, there are those tasks that you can do just by simply responding to the user friendly interface of the application. So is the expert level user who must have been through all it takes to be a basic user and an intermediate user. Put other ways, the intermediate level users must have acquired all the skills a basic level user should have and use. It is important to point out here that in my opinion, these levels are in a continuum and therefore, anyone claiming any of these levels implies progressive skill acquisition through the continuum. I propose four levels – the basic Level, the intermediate Level, the expert Level and the Advanced Level. In this post, I attempt to define levels of skill and the content of these levels of skill in Microsoft Excel. Yet, work organizations keep seeking ways to determine the level of skill of job candidates in the application of Microsoft Excel. The definition of skill level in Microsoft Excel is still agreed by many to be relative- I inclusive.
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