Data Literacy, Power Query, Understanding Data and Reports

This video is about using Excel in the real world. Here, I was faced with a situation where a new way of paying commissions was created, but a new report for me to use wasn’t also created. Instead, an existing report was tweaked and it seemed good enough until someone asked a question and requested more transparency. OOPS!

And this is where data literacy comes in.

To figure out the problem, it was necessary to use Excel in a supporting role to dig into questions like:
– What was this report really meant for?
– What are the definitions in the report?
– What are the triggers in the report?
– Do the calculations accurately reflect what’s intended and what’s in the compensation plan?
– What are weaknesses in the report?
– Where can I turn for transparency?

In situations like these, it’s not ok to blindly rely on a report. When there are questions, dig in.

This video also considers how I might have handled this problem if I had Power Query at the time. You’ll see:
– Left outer join
– Power Query’s Replace Values
– Remove columns
– Filter
– Reference Query

For an intro to Get & Transform (Power Query) try my Lynda/LinkedIn course:
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/oz-du-soleil?trk=insiders_28299411_learning
Website: https://ozdusoleil.com

My book: Guerrilla Data Analysis 2nd Edition

My old blog: http://datascopic.net/blog-2-2