The Business Toolkit

The Business Toolkit includes

The Business Toolkit

| Micro-Degree

Excel Efficiency for Financial Modeling and Data Analysis

| Skills Certificate

14

Hours

14

Topics

68

Practical exercises

1

Exam

Make Excel work harder for you. This course will improve your efficiency with spreadsheets by teaching you essential keyboard shortcuts and financial modeling best practices. Get to grips with Excel’s built-in functions and how to manipulate data quickly and efficiently.

Menu and Shortcut Basics

21 video minutes

Video minutes 21

Excel Exercises 0

• Intro to Excel and Interface
• The Ribbon
• Shortcut Basics – Accelerator Keys
• Setting Up – Excel Options
• Cell Navigation, Editing, Selecting and Copying

Basic Formatting

27 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 27

Excel Exercises 1

• Font
• Cell Borders and Fill Colours
• Alignment
• Numbers – Percent, Currency, Date, Etc
• Styles
• Cell size
• Standard Formatting Often Used

Basic Formulas and Calculations

18 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 18

Excel Exercises 3

• Intro to Formulas
• Avoid Hardcodes in Formulas
• Intro to Functions and Syntax – SUM Function

Basic Functions

28 video minutes

4 excel exercises

Video minutes 28

Excel Exercises 4

• COUNT Function
• MIN Function
• MAX Function
• AVERAGE Function
• IF Function
• SUMPRODUCT Function

Naming Cells and Referencing

9 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 9

Excel Exercises 3

• Intro to Naming Cells
  Creating Names Using the Mouse
  Creating and Editing Names Using Name Manager

Advanced Formatting

23 video minutes

5 excel exercises

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 5

• Formatting styles
• Conditional formatting
• Data validation
• Number formatting
• Formatting codes
  
  • Date formatting and functions: =DATE, =DAY, = YEAR, =MONTH, =EDATE
  • Ensuring commas and decimal places line up
  • UPPER, =LOWER. And =PROPER functions
• Concatenation

Text and Date Functions

18 video minutes

6 excel exercises

Video minutes 18

Excel Exercises 6

• Text and date functions
• Text and date best practices
• Working with pdfs
• DATE, YEAR, MONTH, DAY and EDATE functions
• Date formatting

Excel Charts and Graphs

52 video minutes

14 excel exercises

Video minutes 52

Excel Exercises 14

• Column Charts
• Pie Charts
• Stock Price
• XY Scatter Chart
• Logos in Charts
• Waterfall Charts
• Floating Bar Charts
• Benchmarking Charts

Exploring a Model

15 video minutes

4 excel exercises

Video minutes 15

Excel Exercises 4

• F5 tips and tricks
• Camera tool
• Watch window
• Split windows
• Circularity issues

Scenarios

28 video minutes

7 excel exercises

Video minutes 28

Excel Exercises 7

• Allow assumptions and methodologies to be changed quickly in financial models using a number of different functions:
  
  • Choose, Offset, Index, adding the Match function
• Data validation and form controls
• Conditional formatting
• Using data tables

Data Extraction

30 video minutes

7 excel exercises

Video minutes 30

Excel Exercises 7

• Summary tables and lookups
  
  • Vlookup, Hlookup, Vlookup and Match, Index and Match, Offset and Match
• Working with multiple sheets
  
  • Indirect, Named ranges
• Transposing data
  
  • Transpose function, Offset, Row & Column, Offset & Match, Index & Match

Sensitivity Data Tables

37 video minutes

7 excel exercises

Video minutes 37

Excel Exercises 7

• Using data tables
• Data tables on different sheets to the assumptions
• Advanced and flexible tables

Goal Seek and Solver

6 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 6

Excel Exercises 3

• Uses of Goal Seek and Solver
• Goal Seek functionality
• Solver functionality

Database Analysis

69 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 69

Excel Exercises 3

• Sorting and filtering data
• Pivot tables
• D functions
• Sumif function

Excel VBA and Macros Introduction

50 video minutes

1 excel exercises

Video minutes 50

Excel Exercises 1

• Macro recording basics
• Macro security
• Running macros
• The VBA editor

Word Fundamentals for Professionals

| Skills Certificate

2

Hours

If you have ever manually created your own table of contents, struggled to put figures and charts in the right place or spent time updating the same document dozens of times to send out a mailer, then this course is for you.

Word- Introduction

23 video minutes

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 0

• Understanding the ribbon and the file tab
• Keyboard shortcuts and customizing the quick access toolbar
• Best practice when creating a new document
• Navigation, editing and selecting text
  – Keyboard
  – Mouse
•  Saving a document

Word - Formatting

27 video minutes

Video minutes 27

Excel Exercises 0

• Paragraph
  – Alignment
  – Indentation
  – Spacing
  – Adjusting a whole document
  – Bullets and numbering
  – Changing the order of a list with Alt + Shift
• The font menu
  – Changing fonts
  – Size, color and highlights
  – Superscript and subscript
  – Change case quickly
• Styles
  – Efficient use of styles
  – Creating a style
  – Using styles to reorder a document quickly
  – Using styles to create an automatic table of contents

Word - Inserting

27 video minutes

Video minutes 27

Excel Exercises 0

• Headers and footers
  – Page numbers
  – Text
  – Show file path for easy retrieval
  – Inserting logos
• Using comments when collaborating
• Complex mathematical equations
• Images from the web and other documents
  – Resizing
  – Cropping
  – Wrapping text around images

Word - Common Tasks

31 video minutes

Video minutes 31

Excel Exercises 0

• Find (CTRL + F) and replace (CTRL + H)
• Spell check
  – Autocorrect
• Track changes
• Password protection
• Saving in Adobe Acrobat

Mastering Microsoft PowerPoint

| Skills Certificate

2.5

Hours

10

Topics

PowerPoint is widely used in business to support discussions in both client and internal meetings. This course will help you create impactful presentations, covering essential and advanced features to enhance your presentation skills. Throughout this course, you will learn to navigate the PowerPoint interface, customize the quick access toolbar, and efficiently use the ribbon. By the end of the course, you will be able to create professional presentations that effectively communicate your ideas and engage your audience.

The Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar

8 video minutes

Video minutes 8

Excel Exercises 0

• The layout and functionality of the PowerPoint workspace.
• Efficiently use the tabs and commands within the Ribbon to create and format presentations.
• Add and manage frequently used commands for quicker access and improved workflow.
• Enhance PowerPoint efficiency by mastering essential keyboard shortcuts.

Slides and Slide Master

9 video minutes

Video minutes 9

Excel Exercises 0

• The importance of aspect ratio and slide size in presentations.
• Adding new slides to a presentation.
• Use section dividers to organize presentations into logical segments.
• Use Slide Master to create consistent slide layouts.
• Understand the use of gridlines and guidelines to align objects on slides accurately.

Collaborating and Printing

2 video minutes

Video minutes 2

Excel Exercises 0

• Insert, view, and manage comments within PowerPoint to facilitate collaboration.
• Save presentations with the appropriate file properties for high-quality printing.

Working with Text

7 video minutes

Video minutes 7

Excel Exercises 0

• Distinguish between text boxes and shapes with text, understanding their unique applications in a presentation.
• Master the various font formatting options in PowerPoint to emphasize key points and maintain readability.
• Learn how to adjust alignment, line spacing, and indentation to improve the flow of text.
• Adjusting the margins within shapes that contain text to ensure content is well-presented and legible.
• Inserting hyperlinks into slides for interactive presentations and easy navigation to external resources.
• Using the Find and Replace tool to quickly make widespread text changes within a presentation.
• Using the Equations tool to insert mathematical expressions and symbols into slides for technical presentations.

Working with Shapes

10 video minutes

Video minutes 10

Excel Exercises 0

• Basic concepts and types of objects in PowerPoint.
• Keyboard shortcuts to efficiently work with objects in PowerPoint.
• Various formatting options for shapes to improve visual impact.
• Align and rotate objects to create a cohesive slide layout.
• Manage object layers and visibility using the Selection Pane and how to order objects with the Send Backwards/Forwards.
• Grouping and ungrouping objects for easier manipulation and movement.
• Illustrate relationships with lines and connectors.
• How to merge shapes to create new, custom shapes.

Working with Images, Icons and Video

12 video minutes

Video minutes 12

Excel Exercises 0

• Inserting images into PowerPoint slides and the importance of image licensing.
• Keyboard shortcuts to efficiently work with images in PowerPoint.
• Enhance images using artistic effects, color adjustments, and styles.
• Cropping and compressing images to reduce file size without compromising quality.
• The differences between common image file types like JPEG, PNG, and SVG.
• Take screenshots and insert them into PowerPoint slides.
• Use PowerPoint’s Icons tool to enhance slide visuals.
• Inserting videos into PowerPoint slides and how to edit the settings.

Working with Animations and Transitions

8 video minutes

Video minutes 8

Excel Exercises 0

• The role of animations in enhancing presentations and the different types available.
• Sequencing animations to create a cohesive and dynamic presentation flow.
• Additional animation tools and how to use advanced options to customize animations.
• The purpose and variety of transitions available and how to apply them effectively.

Working with Lists and SmartArt

6 video minutes

Video minutes 6

Excel Exercises 0

• Reorder items in a list to enhance the flow of information.
• Create SmartArt graphics from scratch and convert lists into SmartArt graphics.
• Modify the design aspects of SmartArt and the various SmartArt options available.
• Formatting tools available for SmartArt and how to align the formatting with presentation themes and styles.
• Incorporate images with SmartArt to convey complex information visually.

Working with Tables

9 video minutes

Video minutes 9

Excel Exercises 0

• Reorder items in a list to enhance the flow of information.
• Create SmartArt graphics from scratch and convert lists into SmartArt graphics.
• Modify the design aspects of SmartArt and the various SmartArt options available.
• Formatting tools available for SmartArt and how to align the formatting with presentation themes and styles.
• Incorporate images with SmartArt to convey complex information visually.

Working with Charts

20 video minutes

Video minutes 20

Excel Exercises 0

• The 2 methods of inserting a Chart into your presentation and the rationale for each of them
• Importing charts from Excel to PowerPoint as static images
• Importing Excel charts into PowerPoint with automatic updates when the source data changes
• Paste options available when importing Excel charts into PowerPoint
• Steps to create a basic chart directly within PowerPoint
• Tips and best practices for formatting charts to make them more effective and visually appealing
• How to create and use chart templates to maintain consistency

Outlook Fundamentals for Professionals

| Skills Certificate

1.5

Hours

This course will take you right from the initial setup of your email account, including the basics of sending and receiving emails and setting up folders, through to more advanced features such as mail merge.

Outlook - Introduction

80 video minutes

Video minutes 80

Excel Exercises 0

• Setting up and linking multiple email accounts
• Reviewing the types of data files which can be sent
• Composing a basic email with attachments
• Shortcuts to improve efficiency
• Setting up an ‘Out of Office’ notification and calendar events
• Creating and managing tasks

Communicating and Presenting Fundamentals

| Completion Certificate

22

Minutes

Are you ready to unlock your presentation potential? Our instructor-led online course will help you shortcut your way to success by mastering the art of communication.

Communicating and Presenting Fundamentals

22 video minutes

Video minutes 22

Excel Exercises 0

• What ‘effective communication’ means
• The effective communication cycle
• Using more powerful questions
• Understanding needs at a deeper level
• Becoming a more active listener
• The importance of summarising
• Planning, designing and delivering impactful, persuasive presentations

Fundamentals of Effective Business Writing

| Completion Certificate

15

Minutes

Understand how to develop your writing skills to communicate effectively with any audience and deliver high impact statements.

Developing Your Business Writing Effectiveness

8 video minutes

Video minutes 8

Excel Exercises 0

• Why business writing is important to performance and career success
• Considering your goal and principles for making your business writing stand out
• The 5 steps to business writing success
• The structure for persuasive business writing
• Using a thorough review process
• How to grab your audience’s attention when writing emails
• Using different influencing strategies
• Breaking up content and avoiding jargon
• Avoiding dilution language

Managing Your Brand and Career

| Completion Certificate

15

Minutes

Understand how to build your brand with a focused application on managing your career path.

Building Your Brand and Career

10 video minutes

Video minutes 10

Excel Exercises 0

• Understanding how to unlock your true reputation and career
• A review of the 3 critical career success factors
• Performance
• Image
• Exposure
• Understanding what you want your brand to be
• How to apply a ‘best version of you’ performance mindset
• Unlocking high impact behaviours
• Understand the steps to network strategically
• Build long-term mutually beneficial relationships
• Principles of reciprocity and rapport

Python Fundamentals

| Skills Certificate

5

hours

5

Topics

11

Practical exercises

1

Exam

Python Fundamentals provides you with the foundational skills you will need to be able to apply Python in the world of finance. Build on your excel skills to develop core competency efficiently and prepare for the real deal, applied machine learning in the world of finance.

Introduction to Python

36 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 36

Excel Exercises 2

• Downloading Anaconda
• Introducing Jupyter Notebook
• Mathematical Operators
• Text Outputs
• Dynamic Outputs

Python Objects

54 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 54

Excel Exercises 2

• Accessing List Objects
• Changing List Objects
• More List Functions
• Tuples
• Sets
• Using Sets to Remove
• Duplicates
• Set Operations
• Dictionaries
• Accessing Dictionary
  Items

Custom Functions

35 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 35

Excel Exercises 2

• Creating Custom Functions
• Solution
• Adding Arguments
• For Loops
• Filing a List For
  Loop
• Conditional Logic

NumPy

39 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 39

Excel Exercises 2

• Importing Libraries
• NumPy
• NumPy Arrays
• Multidimensional Arrays
• Reshape and Transpose
• Selecting Objects
• Array Calculations
• Array Functions
• The Random Module
• Setting a Random Seed
• Random Sampling with
• Generating Sequences

Pandas

31 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 31

Excel Exercises 3

• Pandas
• Importing Data
• Import From
• Get to Know Your Dataframe
• Summary Statistics
• Series
• Series Functions
• Feature Engineering
• Boolean Masks
• Indicator Variables
• Segmenting with

Machine Learning Fundamentals

| Skills Certificate

4.5

hours

6

Topics

10

Practical exercises

1

Exam

In Machine Learning Fundamentals, you will build machine learning algorithms from the ground up. Follow along with real-world case studies, as you walk through the process line-by-line. Once you have completed the course you will have a practical understanding of how machine learning is used in the finance industry, and you will be able to create new algorithms of your own from scratch.

 

Data Cleaning & Exploration

32 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 32

Excel Exercises 3

• The ML Process
• Matplotlib and Seaborn
• A Few Quick Notes
• 5 countplot()
• Replace & Sparse Classes
• Spotting Outlier
• NaN Object
  Dropping Null Values
• Box Plots
• Saving Your Dataframe

​Regression Algorithms

23 video minutes

Video minutes 23

Excel Exercises 0

• What are Regression Algorithms
• Real Relationships and Overfitting
• Regularizations
  Decision Tree Ensemble Methods

​Liquidity Regressor

55 video minutes

3 excel exercises

Video minutes 55

Excel Exercises 3

• Metadata
• Splitting Your Data
• Train_test_split()
• Unpacking Lists
• Progress Checkpoint
• Model Pipelines
• Progress Checkpoint
• Hyperparameter
• Tuning
• Aggregating Hyperparameter Grids
• Progress Checkpoints
• Cross Validation
• Creating Untrained Models
• Training and Tuning Models
• Model Evaluation
• Progress Checkpoint
• Visualizing Model Predictions
• Using Your Model

​Classification Algorithms

6 video minutes

Video minutes 6

Excel Exercises 0

• Binary Classification
• Logistic Regression
• Decision Tree Classifiers

​Investor Classifier in Python Part 1

29 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 29

Excel Exercises 2

• Solution
• Metadata
• One Error
• Countplot of
• Investors
• Exploring Relationships
• Reviewing Your
• Results
• Feature Engineering
• Reviewing Tier Change
• Controlling for Demotions
• Analyzing Goldman Sachs
• Implot()

​Investor Classifier in Python Part 2

24 video minutes

2 excel exercises

Video minutes 24

Excel Exercises 2

• Import Packages and Data
• Dummy Variables
• Remove Redundant Target
• Splitting Data
• Model Pipeline
• Validating Pipelines
• Hyperparameters
• Validating Hyperparameter Grids
• Cross Validation
• Fitting Untrainer Models
• AUROC
• Confusion Matrix
• Perfect AUROC
• Calculating AUROC