Utilizing and teaching data tools in Excel for exploratory analysis

In this article we offer Excel as an introductory tool to high end business intelligence (BI) and decision support system (DSS) applications. Because it is ubiquitous, Excel can be used by all managers and business students for exploratory data analysis. We provide three key points in this utilization of Microsoft® Excel 2003: (1) manipulating records using Excel as a database, (2) creating PivotTables® and PivotCharts® using Excel for analysis, and (3) importing data using Excel as an automation container. The basic skill set defined by the above three items allows users to begin to use Excel to its full potential in finding information in business data, and it offers a key tool for future research in improving the utilization of information across organizations.