EXCEL SKILLS DESCRIPTION

In this section my goal is to provide a reasonable insight regarding what I can do using Excel in a data analyst role at a large organization. I do hope that for the potential hiring manager this section carries sufficient amount of information to form a general idea about my skills level in utilizing Excel tackling with complex data problems.  

EXCEL PROJECTS DELIVERED: 
BASF BIT aplication (Excel component).  
This tool was designed using input from SAP staged and stored in Access database files and text files and fed into the Excel Power Pivots and Power BI model built on DAX functions for sales team to track their performance. 

Wells Fargo - Wealth Management / Trust Services  System testing scheduling tool for the testing team to track weekly UAT and SIT testing activities. Reviewed, improved and streamlined an automated reporting tool interacting with SQL Server data sets and posting them to SharePoint in support of wide range of audience as an input for multiple reporting needs.  

MHFA (Minnesota Housing Finance Agency) Developed custom tool in Excel working with Access to gather incoming data sets from the field and feed housing financing database to track the program status. 

Prime Therapeutics Maintained and improved the existing tool tracking activities for quality control and management for the online prescription delivery.  It was interacting with the monthly quality reporting system via VBA based structure.  

UHG/Optum (Care Solutions) Developed a reporting dashboard for the senior leadership team. This tool was interacting with Access database files via ODBC and Excel query functions via pivots and VBA routines to update the dashboard.  

GMAC-RFC (currently dba Ally Financial) Developed pivot based reporting system which was producing 300 pages long performance reports tracking the activites in asset based investements in the mortgage investment area. 

NCR (National Car Rental)Created a tool in support of Access based system feeding the OROS ABC (activity based accounting) software to monitor and analyze the financial data and tying it directly to individual car rental activities using unit based metrics. 


Excel Skills Rating:    
My Opinion on Standardized Excel Skills Tests: Standardized tests are designed to measure one's ability to use the built-in Excel functions that are provided through the menu options on the ribbon.  On the other hand, there is not a single test that can even remotely measure one's ability to be fully productive in Excel by creating VBA procedures, user defined functions, complex and lengthy formulas and creative solutions. 

If you need the candidate to bring more comprehensive solutions to complex data issues in Excel try to gauge his or her capabilities by providing a real life problem as a project and ask to resolve this in areal life time frame whether it is couple hours, a day or a week instead of putting that person through a standardized, timed test module where test taking abilities are evaluated in reality instead of true skills and capabilities.  I was tested on my Excel skills numerous times on standardized Excel skills test.  On the average my scores hover around the neighborhood of 90% at mid to advance level tests.  

I’d place myself at 9 out of 10 for my Excel skill and that is very satisfactory for the most part.  I understand that by using this test they gauge candidates and narrow down their options as anyone can claim expertise in Excel and even if they sincerely think they know a lot about it without even realizing what they are not even aware of.   Most of the client needs fall into the category that can be handled without leveraging the true power of Excel. In this case it makes sense that they use standardized tests. On the other hand, it certainly does not measure the more advanced skills, abilities and creativity of the power user or developer in order to create highly complex spreadsheets nor it shows how the user tackles a certain problem for data manipulation as there are literally numerous ways to resolve a problem. 

For more complex tasks such as creating a pricing decision tool in already complex setting like a trade room, or complex rate sheet development or a scorecard development working with large backend databases typical Excel skills simply do not cut. There are two dimensions to Excel, one is that most people  are familiar with and that is Excel’s user interface and spreadsheet along with some functions and formulas utilizing the formula line, pivot tables and MS Query and for a lot of job descriptions this might constitute advance skills and this indeed would be classified as such for the average user. Even Advance Excel classes that they cover in technical colleges do not go any further than that. 

The other dimension of Excel is wide open and if one does a little bit internet research it is possible to see the possibilities and capabilities are literally endless there.  This dimension is in the space of Visual Basic for Applications programming and using Excel only as a platform by creating UDF modules and routines. There is simply no standardized Excel test to measure the kinds of capabilities that I am referring to here.  The best way to gauge would be to put the person on a task or send him or her a complex problem with sample data set and the requirements and see how he or she works towards a resolution.  

 

ACCESS PROJECTS DELIVERED

US Bank - PPP (Payment Protection Plan) tracking application to measure banker cross sale performance to base bonus calculations for each campaign period and to support quarterly marketing campaigns. 

GMAC-RFC - Application to measure and track monthly mortgage servicer performance which was submitted to the senior leadership team. 

BASF - BIT (Business Intelligence Tool - Access component) application to process SAP data and to provide dynamic reporting solutions for sales team and executives. 

BASF - Pricing database application to communicate individualized letters to each customer for contract term updates. 

Ameriprise - Net cash flow tracking application 

OptumHealth Care Solutions: Executive BI application summarizing the financial, operational, claims and HR activities. 

Wells fargo/Trust Services - Data migration testing scheduler application. 

Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) - Access based reporting application for the business users to track program delivery status. 

Express Scripts - Tool to facilitate a detective analysis to identify certain types of transactions and tracing them to find patterns. 

National Car Rental (NCR) - Application to support ABC (activity based accounting) and quarterly marketing campaigns.  


Access Work Content: My typical work with Microsoft Access has been usually geared towards the BI reporting environment.  In this capacity I created Access tools helping leadership teams to track the key business indicators. These tools were used to track product, asset or sales performance, operational and financial status for mid level and executive managers via scorecards, benchmark reports and similar. 

DATABASE AND SQL
SKILLS SUMMARY  

Access SQL/Excel skills apply to most of the jobs listed on my resume
Highly experienced with Access SQL both constructing via GUI to construct a complex query or creating a script for data manipulation and action queries which cannot be created by GUI. 
 
Using embedded SQL in VBA modules in Access/Excel that were running based on user action or certain database actions also to maintain the data integrity. 
 
Created user forms with user functions triggering stored queries that are activated by certain user actions.
 Optum (UHG), Target Supply Chain, Wells Fargo Wholesale Banking and Wells Fargo Compliance/Financial CrimesUsed various database management tools to write SQL statements against large databases such as Teradata, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server or Hadoop (Big Data), Data Lakes and Azure. 
 
Worked with tools such as AQT (Advance Query Tool), Oracle Toad, DB Visualizer, DBeaver and Teradata SQL Assistant to write SQL scripts. 
 UHG ITUsed SSIS packages to store  SQL scripts and ran against Oracle tables at UHG IT to update tables stored in Oracle whihc provided data sets feeding tables running on client web sites.
 BASFControlled SQL statements in Excel macros embedded in VBA running against external data sources such as SAP master data.
 
Power Pivots as an add on in Excel connecting to any external data source via ODBC and running from within macro statements stored in VBA modules. 
 
Utilized DAX code which is the native code for Excel Power Pivots and Power Query.
 
Developed Excel and Access based business intelligence tool for the sales and financial managers.
Wells Fargo Trust ServicesGenerated weekly reports by modifying and running SQL scripts from SQL Server database, modified and maintained the code as needed.
Built Excel based UAT scheduling tool to manage general testing activities.
 
Modified excel based automated reporting process based on VBA functions and procedures.
Wells Fargo Compliance – Financial Crime Data ServicesTeradata database and SQL assistant to interact with very large data sets.
 
Wrote SQL test queries as part of UAT testing project for various migration projects.
 Mercer Outbound Data Configuration/SQL WorkRan PL/SQL statements on UI to update and modify backend Oracle tables.
 
Reviewed and prepared SQL blocks based on client file requirements.

To illustrate some of my personal Power BI files I added this page. Since sharing the actual work files would not be permissiable here I decided to provide a few personal samples.  The underlying data sets of these visuals are from my contracting job history details in Excel encompassing analysis period of the last 8.5 years. In their native environment these are all drillable graphics based on further manipulated data via DAX functions to the lowest detail. They were placed here as image files which can be enlarged.

SAMPLE MS
POWER BI VISUALS