– by Noluthando Makhaza
In many firms, basic training is often overlooked due to the assumptions made by management that basic skills such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word can easily be utilised by anyone. This is due to the fact that these programmes are normally used on a daily basis, to prepare spreadsheets, business presentations and even format documents. Recently, UKZN Extended Learning hosted a one-day Microsoft Excel training session for a cohort of delegates from various organisations who required basic to intermediate skills. The Excel intermediate phase is aimed at equipping delegates with the necessary skills required to analyse and present data at a more functional level.
The session was facilitated by Ms Jayne Whittaker who has been involved in computer training since the inception of Microsoft Windows. She obtained her Master Instructor certificate with Microsoft and her IC3 certificate through Certiport, and has an NQF 5 and NQF 6 in Project Management which she uses to compliment her organisational skills. She is also currently studying for the new Microsoft Office package version 2016 Master Instructor and the Microsoft Educator program. During the session, Jayne focused on five, extremely detailed chapters, namely, Working with functions; Working with lists; Analysing data; Visualising data and charts and Using Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts.
As diverse as the delegates were, some from marketing and sales, others from human resources and others from information technology, they all gained the confidence required in order to create a powerful competitive advantage within their respective departments in their organisations. Delegates stated that, on their return to work, they will be able to extract actionable organisational intelligence from the raw data through analysing, interpreting and presenting data to colleagues and management. Additionally, delegates are now able to work with lists and functions, visualise data with charts and also use PivotTables and Charts.
This was one of the many soft skills programmes that UEL delivers. Should you wish to request a similar programme for your employees, please contact us:
T: +27 31 260 1234