Data & Spreadsheet Skills for Office Roles

Spreadsheet and reporting skills for admin, finance support, and data-entry roles — from formulas to employer-ready summaries.
Level: beginner · Ideal for: Adults returning to work or changing careers
8-week in-person programme at Hanwell Community Centre, Westcott Crescent, London W7 1PD · 8 sessions · Europe/London timezone
What you will achieve
Navigate Excel or Google Sheets confidently for everyday office tasks.
Build formulas, clean messy exports, and produce pivot-style summaries.
Create charts and PDF reports managers can act on.
Handle data with GDPR-aware habits — anonymise before sharing.
Leave with an employer-ready report pack and interview talking points.

What we cover
Spreadsheet core
Navigation, formats, tables, sorting, and filtering
SUM, IF, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and absolute references
Pivot tables and charts

Real-world data
Cleaning exports: trim, dedupe, dates
Mail merge and reporting templates
Exporting PDF summaries for stakeholders

Employability
Role-specific mini-projects
GDPR and data-handling basics
Presenting numbers in interviews

Course structure
Week 1 — Spreadsheet confidence (Week 1 · 2 hours)
Get comfortable moving around large sheets.

Rows, columns, formats, and tables
Sorting, filtering, and freeze panes
Saving, versioning, and sharing sensibly

Deliverable: Personal budget or rota practice sheet.
Week 2 — Formulas that employers expect (Week 2 · 2 hours)
Calculate and lookup data reliably.

SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, and percentages
IF statements for simple rules
VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP and absolute references

Deliverable: Formula drill sheet with 10 solved examples.
Week 3 — Cleaning messy exports (Week 3 · 2 hours)
Turn real-world dumps into usable data.

TRIM, deduplication, and text-to-columns
Parsing dates and fixing number formats
Flagging errors before reporting

Deliverable: Cleaned sample export ready for analysis.
Week 4 — Pivots and charts (Week 4 · 2 hours)
Summarise data for managers quickly.

Pivot tables for counts and totals
Chart types that tell a clear story
Formatting for presentation and print

Deliverable: One-page management summary dashboard.
Week 5 — Reporting templates (Week 5 · 2 hours)
Produce repeatable weekly or monthly reports.

Mail merge and standard report layouts
Exporting PDF and print-ready views
Naming conventions and file storage

Deliverable: Monthly report template.
Week 6 — Data handling and GDPR (Week 6 · 2 hours)
Share data responsibly in office roles.

Personal vs anonymised data
Retention and “need to know” sharing
Common mistakes in spreadsheets (and fixes)

Deliverable: Data-handling checklist for your target role.
Week 7 — Role-specific mini-project (Week 7 · 2 hours)
Choose a path: sales, rota, inventory, or budget.

Scoping a realistic workplace scenario
Building the model with instructor feedback
Documenting assumptions and limitations

Deliverable: Completed mini-project workbook.
Week 8 — Capstone — employer-ready pack (Week 8 · 2 hours)
Present your work and practise interview answers.

Portfolio walkthrough of reports and charts
Explaining your process without jargon
Mapping roles: admin, finance support, data entry

Deliverable: Report pack + interview talking points.
Prerequisites
Basic computer literacy — helpful if you have used spreadsheets before, even briefly.
Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (either is fine).

Delivery
Eight weekly live sessions · 2 hours each · hands-on with sample and anonymised data.
You may use your own anonymised exports in the mini-project with instructor approval.
Funded and referral places may be available — contact NLCRC to enquire.

Full course details: https://nlcrc.co.uk/courses-back-to-work-data-office
Location: Hanwell Community Centre, Westcott Crescent, London W7 1PD
Bookings and enquiries: nlcrc.co.uk · 020 3393 0948