Your data lives in lists. This is the course where you stop scrolling and start summarizing.
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 301 is the data-analysis day for staff who have outgrown filtering and copy-pasting subtotals. It teaches the table discipline, lookup craft, filter logic, and PivotTable workflow that turn rows of operational data into answers.
Who this is for
- Fit. Analysts, team leads, ops coordinators, and finance staff working with lists of more than a few hundred rows.
- Fit. Anyone whose monthly report involves “I copied the values to a new tab so the formulas wouldn’t break.”
- Not fit. Staff still nervous about IF, named ranges, or copy-paste-with-formats. Take 201 first — the foundations make 301 land.
Prerequisites: 201-fluent or equivalent self-taught. IF, charts, named ranges, structured references all feel familiar.
What you’ll be able to do after
- Convert ranges into Excel Tables and use structured references that don’t break when rows are added.
- Look up related values with VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, and INDEX/MATCH — and know when to use which.
- Sort and filter at scale with AutoFilter, Advanced Filter, and custom sort orders.
- Build PivotTables, modify layouts, calculate fields, and use slicers for interactive analysis.
- Use database functions (DSUM, DCOUNT) for criteria-driven summaries.
- Apply dynamic-array formulas (UNIQUE, FILTER, SORT) where the version supports them.
Curriculum, in six themed blocks
- Tables — the foundation. Converting ranges to Tables, structured references, automatic expansion, and why Tables are non-negotiable for serious analysis.
- Lookups. VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH. When to use each. Why XLOOKUP is the default if your version supports it — and why you’ll still inherit VLOOKUP files for the next decade.
- Sorting and filtering at scale. AutoFilter for everyday work, Advanced Filter for criteria sets, custom sort orders for non-alphabetical lists (priority, severity, region).
- PivotTables. Building from source data, modifying layouts to answer different questions, calculated fields, refresh discipline.
- PivotCharts and slicers. Visualizing the pivot, building interactive filters that non-analysts can use in meetings.
- Dynamic arrays preview. UNIQUE, FILTER, SORT, SEQUENCE — the modern equivalents for several traditional list tasks.
Real examples we’ll work through
- A 50,000-row sales export turned into a quarterly summary by region in a PivotTable.
- A product-catalogue lookup that pulls price and stock from a master table.
- Customer-list deduplication using UNIQUE and a structured reference.
Format, duration, and pricing
301 runs as a full-day class. Many analyst teams pair it with 302 (modelling) for a two-day back-to-back block — that uses the two-day onsite rate below. 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: Excel users ready for the data-analysis surface — tables, PivotTables, slicers, dynamic arrays.
Most learners come here from: Microsoft Excel Training 201.
From here, the most common next steps:
- Microsoft Excel Training 401 — the senior track for analysts moving into reporting workflows with Power Query and dashboard design.
The full training catalogue shows how the Microsoft Office courses sit alongside the WordPress training track.
