WORKING WITH EXCEL

Managers and analysts routinely collect and examine key performance measures to better understand their operations and make good decisions. Being able to render the complexity of operations data into a coherent account of significant events requires an understanding of how to work well in the electronic environment with raw data. Although some statistical and financial techniques for analyzing data are sophisticated and require specialized expertise, there are methods that are understandable and applicable by anyone with basic algebra skills and the support of a spreadsheet package. While specialized software packages may be used in a particular business setting, Microsoft Excel is routinely available on computer desktops. Managers who have been in the field any length of time may not be sufficiently familiar with the capabilities of Excel to make optimal use of its functionalities. Prior to undertaking a program to pursue executive training, managers who are refreshed with basic algebra skills and the capabilities of Excel will be prepared to develop a richer understanding from their more advanced work.

Priscilla Chaffe-Stengel is a professor of Information Systems and Decision Sciences at California State University, Fresno. She received a PhD in design and evaluation of educational programs, an educational special-ist degree in program evaluation from Stanford University, and an MA in mathematics from California State University, Fresno.
Donald N. Stengel is a professor and chair of the Department of Information Systems and Decision Sciences at California State University, Fresno. Previously he served as the director of the MBA program at California State University, Fresno. He received a PhD in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University. Prior to joining the faculty at California State University, Fresno, Dr. Stengel worked for eight years as a management consultant developing planning models for agriculture and energy.