About this course
Most Excel models are built by accretion — a formula here, a sheet there, no plan. The result is a workbook nobody else can debug or extend. This course teaches the opposite approach: a deliberate, 9-step framework for defining, building, testing, and maintaining decision models in Excel that survive contact with real users.
Szilvia Juhasz starts with the structural thinking — defining the problem, analysing it, knowing your stakeholder, understanding your role — before any cells are filled. The middle of the course is a deep dive into the mechanics: cell-referencing modes, advanced lookups, conditional-aggregation formulas, named ranges, scenarios, and the modern Excel Table. The final module covers integrating Excel with Access databases and external SQL data sources.
What you’ll learn
- A 9-step framework for building decision models from definition through maintenance
- Cell-referencing patterns (relative, mixed, absolute, R1C1, notation styles)
- VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, OFFSET, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, COUNTIFS, and array formulas
- Named ranges (static and dynamic) and custom names without VBA
- Goal Seek and Scenario Manager for what-if analysis
- The modern Excel Table — formulas, slicers, charts, and Data Model integration
- Connecting Excel to Access databases and SQL data sources
Who this course is for
Analysts who build financial, operational, or planning models in Excel. Anyone who has inherited a sprawling workbook and wants to understand the engineering practices that prevent it.
About the instructor
Szilvia Juhasz is a financial-modelling consultant and trainer with a background in corporate finance and decision sciences. She has taught Excel modelling to analysts at financial institutions across North America.
What’s in this course
Download The Files
- Download the Files
Decision Modelling with Excel
- Why Art and Science with Excel
- Historical Perspectives: Art-Science
- Art & Science of Excel Modelling in 9 Steps
- Step 1: Defining the Problem
- Step 2: Analyzing the Problem
- Step 3: Knowing Your Stakeholder
- Step 4: Understanding Your Role
- Step 5: Planning Your Model
- Step 6: Building Your Model
- Step 7: Testing Your Model
- Step 8: Delivering Your Model
- Step 9: Maintaining Your Model
- The 9 Steps Recap
Thinking Like Excel
- Introduction to Thinking Like Excel
- Why Think Like Excel
- Cell Referencing is Everything
- Relative Cell Referencing DEMO
- Mixed Cell Referencing DEMO
- Absolute Cell Referencing DEMO
- Multiplication Matrix Example
- R1C1 Mode DEMO
- Notation Styles
- Cell Notation Styles Compared
- Excel and Chess
Advanced Excel Formula Mastery
- Introduction to Advanced Excel Formula Mastery
- Looking Things Up
- VLookup DEMO
- Match DEMO
- VLookup with Match DEMO
- VLookup with Error Trapping DEMO
- VLookup Approximate Match DEMO
- VLookup to the Left DEMO
- Index DEMO
- Offset
- Offset DEMO
- Conditional Calculations
- SumIfs DEMO
- Averageifs DEMO
- Array Formulas DEMO
- Countifs for Uniques DEMO
Anatomy of an Excel Model
- Anatomy of an Excel Model Introduction
- Create Names to Store Global Assumptions DEMO
- Named Ranges Static vs Dynamic DEMO
- Replace a Range Address with a Dynamic Range Name DEMO
- Create Names to Retrieve Intersections
- Create a Simple Custom Function Without VBA DEMO
- Variables vs Scenarios Goal Seek Demo
- Variables vs Scenarios - Scenario Manager DEMO
- Workshop Introduction Rolling Forecast Planner
- Workshop Rolling Forecast Planner DEMO
- Workshop Retail Order Processing Model LAB INTRO
Upgrading to the Modern Excel Table
- Introduction to Upgrading to the Modern Excel Table
- What is a Modern Excel Table
- 3 Ways to Create an Excel Table
- Excel Tables Essential Techniques DEMO
- Excel Tables Slicers and Graphs DEMO
- Dynamic Charts with Tables DEMO
- Excel Tables Advanced Formulas
- Excel Tables and Data Models
- Intro to Data Models DEMO
- Modern Excel Tables RECAP
Next Level Excel + Database Solutions
- Introduction to Next Level Excel Database Systems
- Excel vs Database Debate
- Demos Overview
- DEMO 1 - SQL
- DEMO 1 - Access Database Backend
- DEMO 1 - The Excel Front End
- DEMO 1 - Specify the Connection on the Excel Front End
- DEMO 2 - Introduction
- DEMO 2 - Process Automation