Consultants are in the business of taking messy, unorganized data and turning it into information, and hopefully, some insights. Here is a simple example of excel clean up, and the steps to copy, paste, filter, sort, and cleanse data. For most consultants, the data cleansing would 7-10 minutes (takes some trial and error) and the graphics would be another 10 minutes, if (s)he knew what graph they wanted to make.
Challenge
- Go to this website which re-sells giftcards. (404 Error, they have since gone out of business)
- Sort so you can see the 460+ vendors ranked highest to lowest discount.
Solution
Here are the outputs. Sorting of the 465 retailers from highest discount to lowest.
Unsurprisingly, the retailers with the lowest discounts are the generalist retailers and gas stations. After all, who does not need something from BP or Walmart?
Steps #1 – 12
We have lots of consultants on this websites, and other left-brained people so this maybe basic for some. Also, there are likely easier, smarter ways to do this, but this is for education, so don’t be snobby. Some people might learn from this.
Filtering, sorting, copy, pasting. Analyst basics. Here we go. . .
http://www.cardcash.com/merchants/
Practice makes perfect
Nothing is worse than a slow consultant, so practice. Hope this was helpful. Note that the website is always updating their inventory of discounted cards, so your results might be different (if you don’t do it on 10/2/2014).
If you want a copy of the starting excel (step #1) and the final clean one (step 12), leave me a message below, and I will send you the excel.
Being an undergraduate, I find this extremely useful. I am sorry for a late request, but would be lucky to get the Excel versions by e-mail.
Surely, will send to your email. Yes, I learned basic excel and data analysis too slowly in life. Keep learning.
Hi, looking to practice excel and found this extremely helpful. May I have the starting and final sheets, please? Found your blog looking at information for MBA programs. It’s fascinating and helpful. Thank you for your time!
Hi, found your site while looking at info for MBA programs. Your page is immensely helpful! Looking to practice excel, may I have the starting/final sheets please? Thank you kindly for your time.
Renee, thanks for the compliment. Will send you the practice file. Has 2 main tabs. 1) copy/paste of the messy data 2) finished analysis. Let me know what you think,
Can i also have please one copy of whole analysis (the beginning and final part). Thank you for your brilliant and great work.
Sending over. Thanks for reading.
Whoa, brilliant expose of how to use the wonders of Excel. Any chance of a copy by email? Many thanks.
Hey Good Samaritan! 🙂 can you send me a copy of the excel? Thanks!
Sending over. Thanks for reading.
Hey Consultantsmind, I just got the file in the email. Thanks!!! You are the best. FYI: Femi and Ketebu are same person… so don’t send to both. Ketebu is my WordPress handle – though I have not been writing. *covers face in shame* 🙂
Yes will send over.
Found your website while researching Six Sigma methodology. You’re amazing! Love your sense of humor. Will you adopt me? Although I could probably be your grandmother. I’m 60 years old and was just laid off last fall and am looking into getting Six Sigma certified since a lot of the jobs I’m looking at are asking or prefer certification. Never stop learning, right? Will come back here often and I’ll definitely sign up to receive new posts. Thanks for all your help.
Thank you for reading and the great note. Made my night. Always learning. Yes, great free content out there and look forward to hearing your point of view on any of my posts. All feedback welcome.
Hey Consultantsmind, Please share the initial and the final excel output.
Hello, yes will send over. Thank you,
Great Post, I stumbled upon your website preparing for Case Interviews. I have interviews with 2 out of MBB in September and your articles have been really helpful in my preparation. Thanks for help everyone.
I was able to complete the analysis, however could you please give a summary of creating the graph posted above?
Hello, I just sent the file to your email. Best of luck with the MBB interviews.
Hi Samaritan! i find your site extremely helpful. That would be grateful if you can share Excel file. After reading your posts, i’m gonna knuckle down and catch up on Excel.
Thanks
Surely, will send when I get back to my laptop. Take care. Thanks for reading. What topics do you find most helpful?
Consulting tools, skills and tips are the most valuable to me since i ve had my fair share of case interview practice and still have no idea on how consulting works in reality.
Gotcha. Quora.com is a great resource for “life as a consultant” experiences as well. Thanks for reading and best of luck.
Hi I find it very useful since I’m going to start an internship as a consultant. Please share the initial and final Excel. Thank you very much!
Great to hear. On vacation in Phoenix. Will see if I can forward from phone. Congrats on internship. Do great work.
hi. I am very very late to the party. I too would love a copy of the excel. Thanks much
Hello, happy to send over. Thank you for reading – any particular posts you like, don’t like, want to see more of?
Hi I find the post extremely useful. Could you plz share the same?? thanks much
Surely, sent.
Hi, thank’s for the excellent post.
Could you please also send me a copy of the excel file. Thanks 🙂
Just sent. Thanks for reading.
Wow, such helpful stuff. Could I get the excel file? Thanks for taking the time to put this up!
Thanks for reading, sending over.
Hello! I find your post interesting. Could you send the excel sheet to me, please?
Thank you !
Sending over.
Hi, do you mind sending the excel to me? Thank you.
Sending over.
Hi there, I really enjoy your posts and I find them extremely helpful. I have been studying and preparing myself for the upcoming full time with your material:) Could you please share the excel? Thanks a lot!
Hi
I find your post extremely helpful, I’ve enjoyed reading it. I have been learning Excel for a while, I will like to get the Excel sheets.
Thanks
Surely, sending over.
Extremely positive post.
Will be most happy to receive the excel sheet….
Hello, will send over shortly.
Hi ! Thank you very much for this the useful content you post! I am really interested in getting the Excel sheets, would it be possible to share them? Thank you!
Great post. Can you send me the Excel file? Thanks for sharing!
Sending over.