You know SUM. You can format a sheet. Now your boss wants charts that aren’t ugly, formulas that survive a column insert, and a macro that handles the Monday report.
Who delivers this: I’ve delivered classroom, virtual, and onsite training across North America since 2004 — twenty-two years. MA Candidate, Learning and Technology, Royal Roads.
Excel 201 is the day staff stop being users and start being people the team asks. The course teaches the formula logic, linking discipline, chart craft, and starter automation that turn an everyday Excel user into someone the team relies on.
Who this is for
- Fit. Staff who completed 101 or are self-taught up to formulas, formatting, and basic ribbon navigation.
- Fit. Coordinators, finance assistants, sales-ops staff, and team leads who own a recurring report.
- Not fit. Anyone who writes SUMIFS without thinking and builds PivotTables in their sleep — take 301.
Prerequisites: 101-fluent. You can write a SUM, format a sheet, and copy a formula across rows without it breaking.
What you’ll be able to do after
- Build IF and IFS logic — single-condition and multi-condition decisions inside formulas.
- Link workbooks safely, repair broken links, and know which links to avoid.
- Build charts that communicate at a glance — including sparklines for tight reporting.
- Apply data validation, sheet protection, and templates to keep team workbooks clean.
- Record, edit, and run your first macros without writing code from scratch.
Curriculum, in five themed blocks
- Formula logic that survives. IF, IFS, nested decisions, named ranges, structured references. Why your formulas break when someone inserts a column — and how to fix that for good.
- Linked workbooks. Where links break, how to trace them, when to break them on purpose. Source-of-truth discipline for files that depend on other files.
- Charts that communicate. Picking the right chart, formatting without overdoing it, annotating with notes and text boxes, sparklines for compact reporting.
- Worksheet hygiene. Range names, data validation, worksheet security, outlining, workbook templates — the boring topics that prevent loud mistakes.
- Your first macro. Plan, record, run, edit, save responsibly. Adding a macro button to the Quick Access Toolbar so the team can use it without thinking about it.
Real examples we’ll work through
- A budget-vs-actual chart with sparklines that updates monthly.
- A regional summary linked from three branch workbooks with a repair plan when one path changes.
- A macro that formats a weekly export — same actions, one click.
Format, duration, and pricing
Most teams take 201 as a single full-day class — six hours, virtual or onsite. Mixed-skill groups take a quick pre-class skills check at no extra cost so the pacing works for everyone. Pricing is uniform across all five Excel levels.
| Format | Day rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Full-day class (6 hr) | from $2,250 | Up to 3 participants; $175 each additional (maximum 10) |
| Two-day onsite workshop | from $4,500 | Up to 3 participants; $175 each additional (maximum 10) |
CAD. Travel within 50 km of Fort Erie included; beyond 50 km, travel and accommodation are billed at cost. Final scope and quote confirmed on the discovery call.
Where this fits in the Microsoft Excel ladder
Shaped for: Everyday Excel users ready for the intermediate surface — advanced formulas, linked workbooks, charts, first macros.
Most learners come here from: Microsoft Excel Training 101.
From here, the most common next steps:
- Microsoft Excel Training 301 — if you do data analysis — tables, PivotTables, slicers, dynamic arrays.
- Microsoft Excel Training 302 — if you do financial modelling — what-if scenarios, Goal Seek, Solver, formula auditing.
The full training catalogue shows how the Microsoft Office courses sit alongside the WordPress training track.
