Data is everywhere and it can tell a compelling story. This course explores both how to create a narrative from data and the data visualization software to illustrate it. You will learn the principles of data visualization and fundamentals of Tableau, from gathering and cleaning data sets, formatting data, chart types, detail calculations, and dashboarding. You will also learn how to design a visualization that tells a good story or how to find the story within your data. By the end of the class, you’ll walk away with a Tableau public portfolio that you can use to demonstrate your skills to potential employers. 

Financial Narratives guides you through the process of analyzing financial information and turns it into a compelling narrative. That narrative might use data to inform stakeholders or persuade potential clients. In the course, student teams will interpret and deconstruct current corporate reports (financial and operational) as an entry point to understanding several types of intentional reporting. Learning that the data is not always sufficient in getting your point across, this course challenges teams to then craft and present financial reporting for a given situation and audience. 

This course will cover several advanced Excel functionalities including working with advanced formulas, Pivot Tables, Power Query, and Power Pivot. The course will end with an overview of Power BI. These techniques and programs will assist you in preparing and analyzing real world data and help provide information to stakeholders within your organization. The course is offered primarily in a face-to-face format, although there may be some online sessions. Students will demonstrate knowledge over various projects and tests throughout the semester.