Microsoft Excel Advanced

You are ready for Excel Advanced if you can build a PivotTable without looking it up, use absolute and relative cell references deliberately, write a lookup formula and fix it when it returns an error, and clean and filter a list of several thousand rows. If PivotTables are something you avoid, or formulas break when you copy them, Excel Intermediate is the better day. Describe your typical day in Excel and Vantage 365 will place you honestly, including when that means the cheaper course.

The Microsoft Excel Advanced course assumes confident everyday use of Excel: writing your own formulas, building a basic PivotTable, and sorting, cleaning and filtering a large list. There is no formal qualification requirement, and no coding experience is needed or involved. Delegates usually arrive either from Excel Intermediate or from several years of daily spreadsheet work.

An advanced Excel user builds spreadsheets that keep working without them. In practice that means using advanced logical and lookup functions such as XLOOKUP, working with dynamic ranges so reports pick up new data on their own, analysing large datasets with PivotTables, PivotCharts and calculated fields, testing outcomes with what-if tools, and designing workbooks that other people can check and use safely. The distinction is reliability and reuse rather than the number of functions someone can name.

An advanced Excel course covers advanced logical functions, nested formulas and complex conditions, lookup functions such as XLOOKUP, dynamic ranges, troubleshooting complex formulas, PivotTables in depth with grouping, filtering and calculated fields, PivotCharts, what-if analysis using Scenario Manager, Goal Seek and data tables, reusable spreadsheet models that reduce manual work, and professional reporting and dashboard design. The Vantage 365 Microsoft Excel Advanced course covers all of it in one day, across five modules with hands-on practice in each.

Excel Intermediate covers the everyday techniques that give time back: cell references that hold when copied, logical and text functions, cleaning and filtering data, first PivotTables and clear charts. Excel Advanced assumes all of that and adds advanced logical and lookup functions, dynamic ranges, PivotTables in depth with calculated fields, what-if and scenario analysis, reusable models, and reporting designed for other people to use. Anyone who can already do the Intermediate list without thinking is ready for Advanced.

Use XLOOKUP instead of VLOOKUP wherever your version of Excel offers it. XLOOKUP searches in any direction rather than only to the right, does not break when someone inserts a column, takes a built-in argument for what to do when nothing is found, and is far easier to read six months later. XLOOKUP is available in Microsoft 365 and Excel 2021, but not in Excel 2019 or earlier, so being able to read a VLOOKUP and replace it safely still matters.

What-if analysis is the set of Excel tools for testing how a result changes when its inputs change. Goal Seek works backwards from a target result to the input value that would produce it, such as the price needed to reach a margin. Scenario Manager stores several complete sets of inputs, for example best, expected and worst case, and switches between them without editing the sheet. Data tables show the effect of one or two inputs across a whole grid of values at once.

The Microsoft Excel Advanced course covers PivotTables in depth: creating and modifying them, grouping and filtering PivotTable data, calculated fields and values, PivotCharts for visual analysis, and the design decisions that keep a PivotTable readable and correct. A full module of the five is given to PivotTables. Modelling relationships across several separate tables sits beyond Excel's comfortable range and is better answered with Power BI.

With training, about a day, followed by a few months of applying it to real work. Without training most people plateau, because at this level you cannot search for a technique you have never heard of, and everything you have already built works well enough to leave alone. That is why the same handful of techniques surprise almost every delegate on this course, including people who have used Excel daily for fifteen years.

The Vantage 365 Microsoft Excel Advanced course costs £249 per person excluding VAT online, and from £299 per person excluding VAT in the classroom, priced by venue and published against every date. Both include the courseware, exercise files, a quick reference guide, a certificate of completion and three months of trainer support. Private onsite and one-to-one training is quoted separately.

Yes. The online course can be paid in three interest-free instalments of £99.60 using Klarna, offered at checkout. That is the full £298.80 including VAT split into three, with nothing extra to pay. Klarna's own terms apply and acceptance is subject to status. Vantage 365 can also raise an invoice against a purchase order if your employer is paying.

No. Microsoft Excel Advanced is a practical skills course taught on Vantage 365 courseware, and delegates receive a certificate of completion rather than a Microsoft certification. There is no exam and no revision. If a formal Microsoft credential matters to you, ask and we will talk you through the Microsoft Office Specialist route instead.

Microsoft Excel for Microsoft 365 on Windows, which is the version most organisations now run. Version matters more at advanced level than lower down the pathway, because XLOOKUP and the dynamic array functions are not available in Excel 2019 or earlier. If your organisation is on an older perpetual version, or your team works on Mac, say so when booking and the trainer will cover the equivalent techniques that work for you.

A computer with Microsoft Excel installed and a reliable internet connection. A second screen, or a separate device to watch the session on, is strongly recommended so that you can follow the trainer and work in your own workbook at the same time. Doing both on a single laptop screen makes for a frustrating day.

No. Everything is provided, including exercise files built to look like real reports and models rather than artificial data. If there is a particular problem you are hoping to solve, mention it when booking and it will be passed to the trainer. Working through your own workbooks in detail suits a private onsite or one-to-one course, where the whole day can be built around your files.

Choose advanced Excel when the analysis is yours, the data fits comfortably in a workbook, and you need flexibility. Choose Power BI when several people need the same numbers at once, when data has to refresh from source systems on a schedule, or when a workbook has grown slow and fragile. Many people need both, and taking Excel Advanced first makes the Power BI course easier. The right place to start with Power BI is DP-605, the one-day introduction, rather than the four-day PL-300 certification.

Yes to both. Onsite and private virtual deliveries use your own version of Excel and your own reports as the worked examples, and are usually better value from four people upwards. Vantage 365 also runs this course one to one, which suits a senior analyst who needs a day spent on a specific set of problems rather than a general syllabus. Call 0121 269 8660 for a quote.

Rebuild one part of your most time-consuming report within the first fortnight, because applying it quickly is what makes it stick. After that the next step depends on the direction of travel. If your work is becoming more about shared reporting and refreshing data, DP-605 is the one-day introduction to Power BI. If it is becoming more about removing manual steps between applications rather than inside one workbook, the Power Platform is the better route.