Welcome to Excel Competency Series: Level 2 – Intermediate, your comprehensive guide to building on the essential Excel skills you developed in Level 1. This self-study course has been designed specifically for online learners who want to develop intermediate spreadsheet skills for the South African workplace.

How to Use This Study Guide

This study guide is structured to take you through approximately ten hours of self-paced learning. The material is divided into ten modules, each building on the previous one and on your Level 1 knowledge.

• Read each module thoroughly and take notes on key concepts
• Complete the activities and self-assessment questions at the end of each module
• Practice each skill in Excel as you learn it — hands-on practice is essential
• Work through the knowledge check assessments after completing all modules
• Use the reference section for further reading and research

Study Tip  This course assumes you have completed Level 1 – Foundations or have equivalent knowledge. If you encounter concepts you do not understand, refer back to the Level 1 material before continuing. Practice is essential — work through each example in Excel as you read.

Who Should Complete This Course

This foundational course is designed for anyone who wants to advance their Excel skills, including:

• Administrative staff seeking to improve efficiency and productivity
• Finance and accounting professionals working with larger datasets
• HR professionals managing employee data and reports
• Sales and marketing staff analysing customer and sales data
• Operations managers tracking performance metrics
• Anyone preparing for advanced Excel training or certification

Prerequisite  You should have completed Excel Foundations Level 1 or be comfortable with: workbook management, data entry, basic formulas (SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT), cell formatting, worksheet management, basic charts, printing, and file management.

Course Overview and Learning Outcomes

Course Description

Excel Intermediate: Level 2 provides comprehensive training in intermediate Microsoft Excel features. The course covers logical functions (IF, AND, OR), lookup functions (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH), Excel Tables, data validation, conditional formatting, sorting and filtering, PivotTables, text functions, date and time functions, and named ranges with formula auditing.

This course aligns with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 3-4 standards for spreadsheet applications, as recognised under the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998. Completion of this course contributes to workplace competency development and may qualify for SETA skills development claims.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Construct logical formulas using IF, AND, OR, and nested IF functions
• Retrieve data from tables using VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, and MATCH functions
• Create and manage structured Excel Tables with automatic formatting and calculations
• Implement data validation to control and guide data entry
• Apply conditional formatting to highlight important data trends and exceptions
• Sort, filter, and create custom views to analyse large datasets
• Create and modify PivotTables to summarise and analyse data interactively
• Manipulate text using functions such as LEFT, RIGHT, MID, CONCAT, and TEXT
• Perform date and time calculations using DATE, TODAY, NOW, DATEDIF, and NETWORKDAYS
• Use named ranges to simplify formulas and audit formulas for errors

Course Structure

The course consists of ten modules:

• Module 1: Logical Functions — IF, AND, OR, Nested IF
• Module 2: Lookup Functions — VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH
• Module 3: Working with Excel Tables
• Module 4: Data Validation
• Module 5: Conditional Formatting
• Module 6: Sorting, Filtering, and Custom Views
• Module 7: Introduction to PivotTables
• Module 8: Text Functions
• Module 9: Date and Time Functions
• Module 10: Named Ranges and Formula Auditing

Assessment

Your understanding will be assessed through module quizzes, a comprehensive final examination, and a practical assessment. You need 60% on the final exam and satisfactory completion of the practical assessment to pass.

This course provides skills that contribute to workplace competency under the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 and may qualify for SETA skills development claims.