📘 Study Note: Data Analysis Learning Path (Excel + SQL)

Part 1: Excel for Data Analysis

1.1 Introduction to Excel

 What is Excel & Why It’s Important in Data Analysis

 Excel Interface & Navigation

 Best Practices for Structuring Data

1.2 Core Excel Functions

 Basic Arithmetic & Logical Functions (SUM, IF, AND, OR)

 Text Functions (LEFT, RIGHT, CONCATENATE, TEXT)

 Date & Time Functions

1.3 Data Cleaning Techniques

 Removing Duplicates

 Text-to-Columns

 Find & Replace

 Data Validation

 Dealing with Missing Data

1.4 Data Analysis with Excel

 Sorting & Filtering

 Conditional Formatting

 Lookup Functions (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH)

 Named Ranges

1.5 Pivot Tables & Charts

 Creating Pivot Tables

 Slicers & Timelines

 Grouping and Aggregating Data

 Creating Visual Charts (Bar, Pie, Line, etc.)

1.6 Advanced Excel Features

 Power Query (Getting & Transforming Data)

 Power Pivot & Data Models

 Introduction to DAX

 What-If Analysis (Goal Seek, Scenario Manager)

1.7 Excel Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts

 Keyboard Shortcuts

 Dynamic Ranges

 Error Handling with Functions (IFERROR, ISNA)

Part 2: SQL for Data Analysis

2.1 Introduction to SQL

 What is SQL & Its Role in Data Analysis

 Database Concepts (Tables, Schemas, Relationships)

 SQL Syntax Overview

2.2 Basic SQL Queries

 SELECT, FROM, WHERE

 Filtering with Logical Operators

 Sorting with ORDER BY

2.3 Working with Multiple Tables

 JOIN Types (INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL)

 Aliasing & Subqueries

 Using UNION, INTERSECT, EXCEPT

2.4 Data Aggregation & Grouping

 GROUP BY & HAVING

 Aggregate Functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN)

 Window Functions Overview (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, PARTITION BY)

2.5 Data Cleaning in SQL

 Handling NULLs

 Data Type Conversion

 String Manipulation (TRIM, SUBSTR, REPLACE)

 Removing Duplicates with DISTINCT

2.6 Advanced SQL Techniques

 CTEs (Common Table Expressions)

 Temporary Tables

 Nested Queries

 Using CASE for Conditional Logic

2.7 SQL Optimization Basics

 Indexing

 Query Execution Plans

 Best Practices for Writing Efficient Queries

🟦 1.1 Introduction to Excel

🔹 What is Excel & Why It’s Important in Data Analysis

Excel is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft that allows users to store, organize, and
analyze data using rows and columns. It’s been the OG sidekick of analysts, accountants, and data
nerds for decades.

Why Excel matters in data analysis:

  Accessibility: Almost everyone has access to Excel. No need for server setups or
complicated installations.

 Ease of Use: Drag, drop, click. You can analyze and visualize without writing a single line
of code.

 Versatility: You can do everything from basic budgeting to complex data modeling.

 Integrations: Works well with other Microsoft tools and even connects with databases and
APIs via Power Query.

💡 Think of Excel as the Swiss Army knife of data tools—basic enough for daily use, powerful enough
for serious data crunching.

🔹 Excel Interface & Navigation

Before we start writing formulas like a mad scientist, let’s look around the lab:

Key Elements of the Interface:

 Ribbon: The top menu with tabs like Home, Insert, Formulas, Data, etc. Each tab contains
tools grouped by functionality.

 Worksheet Tabs: Each sheet at the bottom is like a new page in your workbook. You can
rename, color-code, and rearrange them.

 Columns and Rows: Columns are labeled A-Z, then AA, AB, etc.; rows are numbered. The
intersection is a cell (like B2).

 Formula Bar: Where you see or write the formula or value of the selected cell.

 Name Box: Shows the cell address or lets you name a range (e.g., SalesData).

 Quick Access Toolbar: Customizable mini toolbar for frequently used actions (save, undo,
redo, etc.).

Navigation Tips:

 Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Jump to the edge of data ranges.

 Ctrl + Space / Shift + Space: Select column/row.

 Use F2 to quickly edit a selected cell.

🔍 Learning to navigate like a pro saves HOURS in the long run.

🔹 Best Practices for Structuring Data

How you structure your data can make or break your analysis. Excel doesn’t judge—but future-you
will.

Do:

 Use clear headers in the first row.

 Keep one data type per column (e.g., don’t mix dates and text).

 Avoid blank rows and columns within your dataset.

 Maintain a tabular format: one record per row.

Don’t:

 Merge cells inside data tables (they’re evil during sorting/filtering).

 Use formatting alone (e.g., colors or bold text) to signify meaning. Use helper columns or
notes.

 Hardcode calculations directly into your dataset. Use formulas in separate columns.
Pro Tip: Use Excel Tables (Ctrl + T) to:

 Automatically apply formatting

 Make formulas dynamic

 Enable easier sorting/filtering

📐 Neat structure = cleaner analysis = fewer headaches.

Alright! Buckle up, we're diving into the fun zone of formulas—where Excel goes from "digital
notebook" to "data wizard." 🧙‍♂️

🟦 1.2 Core Excel Functions

Understanding functions is like learning spells in Hogwarts—each one does something magical to
your data. Here’s a breakdown of the key categories and what each function brings to your analysis
arsenal.

🔹 Basic Arithmetic & Logical Functions

These are your bread-and-butter for crunching numbers and making decisions.

➤ SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX

 Purpose: Simple math on data ranges.

 Examples:

o =SUM(A1:A10) – Adds all values from A1 to A10.

o =AVERAGE(B2:B6) – Calculates mean of values in B2 to B6.

➤ IF

 Purpose: Logical branching (think “if this, then that”).

 Example:
=IF(C2>100, "High", "Low") – Returns “High” if C2 > 100, else “Low”.

➤ AND, OR, NOT

 Purpose: Combine multiple logical checks.

 Examples:

o =AND(A1>10, B1<5) – True if both conditions met.

o =OR(A1="Yes", A1="Y") – True if either condition is met.

o =NOT(A1=0) – True if A1 is not 0.

🧠 These functions let you write “rules” for your data. Super useful in dashboards or cleaning tasks.

🔹 Text Functions

Text data isn’t always clean. These functions help you slice, dice, and fix it.

➤ LEFT, RIGHT, MID

 Purpose: Extract parts of a text string.

 Examples:
 o =LEFT(A1, 3) – Gets the first 3 characters from cell A1.

o =RIGHT(A1, 4) – Gets the last 4 characters.

o =MID(A1, 2, 3) – Starts from 2nd character and grabs next 3.

➤ CONCATENATE / TEXTJOIN

 Purpose: Combine multiple text values.

 Examples:

o =CONCATENATE(A1, " ", B1) → A1 & B1 with space.

o =TEXTJOIN(", ", TRUE, A1:A5) – Joins all non-empty cells with commas.

➤ TEXT

 Purpose: Format numbers or dates as text.

 Example:
=TEXT(A1, "MM/DD/YYYY") – Converts a date into a readable format.

🔹 Date & Time Functions

Time to master... time. (Yes, Excel does time travel.)

➤ TODAY(), NOW()

 Purpose: Get the current date/time.

 Examples:

o =TODAY() – Returns today’s date (updates daily).

o =NOW() – Includes current time too.

➤ DATEDIF, EDATE, EOMONTH

 Examples:

o =DATEDIF(A1, B1, "D") – Difference in days between dates.

o =EDATE(A1, 3) – Adds 3 months to a date.

o =EOMONTH(A1, 0) – Returns the last day of the month.

➤ YEAR, MONTH, DAY, WEEKDAY

 Purpose: Pull components from dates.

 Example:
=WEEKDAY(A1) – Tells you which day of the week it is (Sunday = 1).

⏳ These are key in trend analysis, billing cycles, timelines, etc.

🧩 Summary: When to Use What

Use This
Task
Function(s)

Sum or average
SUM, AVERAGE
values

Apply logic to data IF, AND, OR, NOT

Clean up text fields LEFT, RIGHT,

 Use This
Task
Function(s)

CONCATENATE

TODAY(), DATEDIF,
Work with dates
YEAR

Format numbers or
TEXT, TEXTJOIN
text

Let’s sweep through the data jungle and come out squeaky clean! 🧼
Welcome to Excel’s backstage crew—cleaning the data before it hits the spotlight.

🟦 1.3 Data Cleaning Techniques

“Garbage in, garbage out” is the golden rule in data analysis. You can’t build solid insights on a
wonky foundation, and this section is all about turning chaos into clarity.

🔹 Removing Duplicates

Sometimes Excel gets a little too enthusiastic and gives you double (or triple) the data. Time to
declutter.

➤ How to:

 Select your data range.

 Go to Data tab → Click Remove Duplicates.

 Choose the columns that should be unique (e.g., ID, Email).

💡 Pro Tip:

Always keep a backup sheet before removing duplicates. Excel deletes them without mercy.

🔹 Text-to-Columns

Got values crammed into a single column like a data sardine can? Split them up.

➤ Use Case:

 A full name like “John Smith” or an address like “New York, NY” in one cell.

➤ How to:

 Select the column → Go to Data tab → Click Text to Columns.

 Choose Delimited (for commas, spaces, etc.) or Fixed Width (if spacing is consistent).

🔍 It’s like Excel surgery—precision splitting!

🔹 Find & Replace

Perfect for hunting down errors, unwanted characters, or standardizing values.

➤ Example Use Cases:

 Replace “N/A” with blank.

 Remove extra spaces or symbols.

  Standardize “USA” vs “U.S.A.” vs “United States”.

➤ How to:

 Use Ctrl + H or go to Home tab → Find & Select → Replace.

 You can even use wildcards like * and ? for advanced searches.

🔹 Data Validation

Keep junk out before it ever enters your clean data sanctuary.

➤ Purpose:

 Restrict inputs to valid entries only (e.g., numbers between 1–100, specific categories,
dates only).

➤ How to:

 Select the range → Data tab → Data Validation.

 Choose type (Whole Number, List, Date, etc.).

 Optional: Add Input Message and Error Alert.

💡 Example:

Create a dropdown list of allowed values with List validation:

=Data!A2:A10 or manually enter values separated by commas.

🔹 Dealing with Missing Data

Blank cells? Missing dates? Incomplete values? Excel has a toolkit for that too.

➤ Common Strategies:

 Highlight blanks with Conditional Formatting.

 Use formulas to fill gaps:

o =IF(ISBLANK(A1), "Unknown", A1)

o =IFERROR(A1/B1, 0) – Avoids #DIV/0!

 Fill down/up missing data manually or with Power Query.

➤ Bonus Tip:

Use Go To Special (F5 → Special → Blanks) to select and fill in gaps.

💬 Missing data isn’t scary—it’s just shy. You just need to know how to talk to it.

🧹 Summary: Excel’s Cleaning Arsenal

Problem Fix It With

Duplicate records Remove Duplicates

Data jammed in one

Text to Columns
column

Messy or inconsistent
Find & Replace
text
Problem Fix It With

Wrong or invalid
Data Validation
entries

IF/ISBLANK/IFERROR
Blank or missing data
formulas

Alright, now that our data is clean and presentable (it's basically ready for a LinkedIn profile pic 😎),
it’s time to analyze the heck out of it!

🟦 1.4 Data Analysis with Excel

This is where Excel shows off—transforming rows and columns into insights, patterns, and "a-ha!"
moments.

🔹 Sorting & Filtering

➤ Sorting

Used to arrange data in meaningful order—alphabetically, numerically, by date, or even custom

lists.

 How to:
Select your data → Go to Data tab → Use Sort A-Z, Z-A, or Custom Sort.

 You can sort on multiple levels (e.g., sort by Region, then by Sales within each Region).

➤ Filtering

Great for zooming in on the data you care about.

 How to:
Go to Data tab → Click Filter.

 Use dropdowns in header row to:

o Select specific items

o Filter by conditions (e.g., “greater than 100”)

o Use text filters or date filters

🧃 Think of filters as the juice extractor—you only keep the good stuff.

🔹 Conditional Formatting

Make important values pop without lifting a finger (okay, maybe one finger).

➤ Use Cases:

 Highlight top/bottom performers

 Show duplicates

 Visualize trends (data bars, color scales, icons)

➤ How to:

 Select range → Go to Home tab → Click Conditional Formatting

 Choose:

o Highlight Cell Rules (e.g., Greater Than, Text Contains)

 o Data Bars

o Color Scales

o Icon Sets

💡 Tip:

Use custom formulas in Conditional Formatting for next-level logic.

Example:
=AND(A1>100, B1="East") to highlight big sales in the East region.

🔹 Lookup Functions

Your data has relatives in other sheets? Time for Excel's version of matchmaking.

➤ VLOOKUP (Vertical Lookup)

 Classic. Looks up a value in the leftmost column and returns a value in the same row
from a specified column.

 =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])

➤ HLOOKUP (Horizontal Lookup)

 Same idea but looks across rows.

➤ INDEX-MATCH Combo

 Power move. More flexible than VLOOKUP.

 =INDEX(column_to_return, MATCH(lookup_value, column_to_search, 0))

 Works in any direction and doesn’t break if columns shift.

➤ XLOOKUP (Excel 365+)

 The newer, shinier sibling that replaces VLOOKUP & HLOOKUP.

 =XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array, [if_not_found], [match_mode],

[search_mode])

🎯 Lookups are how you "connect the dots" across messy tables.

🔹 Named Ranges

Giving a range a name makes formulas cleaner, readable, and less error-prone.

➤ How to:

 Select a range → Click in the Name Box (left of the formula bar) → Type a name like
SalesData

 Now you can use =SUM(SalesData) instead of =SUM(A2:A100)

💡 Uses:

 Cleaner formulas

 Reusable across sheets

 Easier debugging and documentation

🧠 Summary: The Data Analysis Toolkit

Task Tool or Function

Arrange or sift data Sort & Filter

Highlight important Conditional

values Formatting

Find related data across

Lookup functions
sheets

Create dynamic
Named Ranges
formulas

Nice! Let’s step into Excel’s command center—where raw data transforms into dashboards and
insights with zero drama.

🟦 1.5 Pivot Tables & Charts

Pivot Tables are like the Sherlock Holmes of Excel—smart, curious, and always uncovering patterns
you didn’t know existed. Pair them with charts? Now you’ve got storytelling power. 📈

🔹 Creating Pivot Tables

Pivot Tables let you summarize, analyze, explore, and present data in just a few clicks. No
formulas needed!

➤ How to:

1. Select your data range (preferably in a table).

2. Go to Insert tab → Click Pivot Table.

3. Choose where to place it (new sheet is usually cleaner).

4. Drag fields into:

o Rows – What you want to group by (e.g., Region, Product)

o Columns – Optional; creates a matrix

o Values – What you want to measure (e.g., Sales, Count)

o Filters – Add filtering power at the top

💡 Example:

 You have a sales table with Region, Product, and Revenue.

 Drag Region to Rows, Product to Columns, and Revenue to Values = Boom! Instant
breakdown.

📊 Pivot Tables = analysis with elegance.

🔹 Slicers & Timelines

Tired of dropdown filters? Let your data breathe with visual filters.

➤ Slicers

 Add clickable filters to your pivot tables.

 Go to Insert → Slicer → Select fields like Region or Category.

  Click a button → Pivot instantly updates.

➤ Timelines

 Ideal for date-based data.

 Insert → Timeline → Choose a Date field.

 Scroll through months, quarters, or years visually.

🧁 Slicers are like cupcakes—colorful, clickable, and everyone loves them.

🔹 Grouping and Aggregating Data

Need to group sales by month or ages into buckets? Excel’s got your back.

➤ Grouping:

 Right-click any Row Label (like a date) → Group

 Options:

o Dates → Group by Months, Quarters, Years

o Numbers → Create ranges (e.g., Age 0–10, 11–20)

➤ Aggregating:

 Default aggregation is SUM, but you can change it:

o Click a value → Value Field Settings

o Choose: SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, etc.

🧠 Grouping = smarter summaries with less effort.

🔹 Creating Visual Charts

Okay, tables are nice. But charts tell the story at a glance.

➤ Common Chart Types:

 Bar & Column Charts: Compare categories (e.g., Sales by Region)

 Line Charts: Show trends over time

 Pie Charts: Show parts of a whole (use sparingly—no one likes a pie chart army)

 Combo Charts: Mix line + bar for layered insight

➤ How to:

 Select your data or Pivot Table.

 Go to Insert tab → Choose a chart type.

 Use the Chart Design tab to customize styles, titles, labels, etc.

➤ Pro Tips:

 Always label your axes and legends clearly.

 Avoid 3D charts unless you're pitching to a 1997 PowerPoint crowd.

 Use sparklines (tiny, in-cell charts) for quick visual cues in tables.

🧠 Summary: The Visual Power-Up

Tool Purpose

Summarize and explore large

Pivot Table
datasets

Slicers & Add interactivity and easy

Timelines filtering

Create logical buckets (dates,

Grouping
ranges)

Pivot Charts Visualize patterns and trends

Sparklines Mini visuals inside cells

Welcome to the Excel Deep Web—where things get powerful, nerdy, and weirdly fun. You’ve
mastered the basics, now let’s enter the Advanced Excel Dimension 🔮

🟦 1.6 Advanced Excel Features

This is the part where Excel goes from spreadsheet to supercomputer. We’re talking automation,
advanced data modeling, and features that practically run your reports while you nap.

🔹 Power Query (Get & Transform)

Power Query is like Excel’s data butler—it gets your data, cleans it up, and serves it piping hot
every time.

➤ What It Does:

 Import data from Excel files, CSVs, databases, web, and more

 Clean, reshape, and transform data (without writing formulas)

 Automate repetitive data-cleaning steps

➤ How to Use:

 Go to Data tab → Get Data

 Choose your source (Excel workbook, Web, SQL Server, etc.)

 Power Query Editor opens—this is where the magic happens.

🔄 Common Tasks:

 Remove columns

 Split text

 Unpivot columns

 Fill missing data

 Merge tables

 Filter rows

🧽 Once set up, you just click “Refresh” and all steps re-run. Excel on autopilot.

🔹 Power Pivot & Data Modeling

Imagine Excel on steroids—with relational tables, no VLOOKUPs, and insane performance.

➤ What is Power Pivot?

An add-in that lets you:

 Load massive data models

 Create relationships between tables (like SQL joins)

 Write advanced DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) formulas

➤ How to Use:

 Enable Power Pivot (File → Options → Add-ins → Manage COM Add-ins)

 Load data via Power Query or directly into the Power Pivot model

 Define relationships between tables (like connecting Sales to Customers)

💥 Benefits:

 No need for flattening data

 Lightning-fast calculations

 Combine data from multiple sources cleanly

🧠 You’re not just using Excel now—you’re building a mini database inside Excel.

🔹 Introduction to DAX (Data Analysis Expressions)

DAX is Power Pivot’s brain. It’s like Excel formulas... but deeper, smarter, and more expressive.

➤ Common DAX Functions:

 CALCULATE() – Modify filters and context

 SUMX() – Row-by-row calculations across tables

 RELATED() – Pull in fields from related tables

 ALL() – Ignore filters in a calculation

➤ Example:

excel

CopyEdit

Total Sales := SUM(Sales[Amount])

High Value Sales := CALCULATE([Total Sales], Sales[Amount] > 1000)

💡 Use Cases:

 Advanced KPIs (e.g., YoY growth, moving averages)

 Dynamic metrics with slicers

 Time intelligence (e.g., “last quarter vs this quarter”)

🔄 DAX doesn’t just add—it thinks.

🔹 Dynamic Arrays & New Functions (Excel 365+)

Excel 365 brought some juicy new features that make formulas explode with efficiency.

➤ New Functions:

 FILTER() – Filters a range by criteria.

  SORT(), UNIQUE() – Do what they say, and they do it well.

 SEQUENCE() – Generate number sequences.

 XLOOKUP() – The VLOOKUP-killer.

➤ Example:

excel

CopyEdit

=UNIQUE(FILTER(A2:A100, B2:B100="Yes"))

Gives you a unique list of names where column B = Yes.

🧪 These functions eliminate helper columns and make your formulas tight and powerful.

🧠 Summary: Excel’s Elite Arsenal

Feature What It’s Great For

Power Query Data import, cleanup, and automation

Relational data models, no need for

Power Pivot
VLOOKUP

DAX Custom KPIs, metrics, and calculations

Dynamic Arrays Cleaner, flexible, spillable formulas

XLOOKUP & Modern, readable replacements for old

Friends formulas

Up next? We make a big shift:

🎯 SQL time—where we leave spreadsheets behind and talk to databases directly. You ready to
unlock Part 2: SQL for Data Analysis?

Heck yes! 💻✨ Time to trade in our spreadsheet cells for some SQL spells. Welcome to…

🟥 Part 2: SQL for Data Analysis

SQL is the language of data. Not a language—the language. You use it to query, filter, join, and
summon insights from the vast lands of databases.

Let’s first set up your roadmap—the Table of Contents for SQL mastery:

📘 SQL Learning Path – Table of Contents

🔹 2.1 Introduction to SQL

 What is SQL and why analysts need it

 Common SQL dialects (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, SQLite)

 Basic syntax overview

🔹 2.2 SELECT Statements & Filtering

 SELECT, FROM, WHERE

 Logical operators (AND, OR, NOT)

 IN, BETWEEN, LIKE, IS NULL

🔹 2.3 Sorting & Limiting Results

 ORDER BY

 LIMIT and TOP clauses

🔹 2.4 Working with Aggregate Functions

 COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX

 GROUP BY and HAVING

🔹 2.5 Joins and Combining Data

 INNER JOIN

 LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN

 FULL OUTER JOIN

 SELF JOIN, CROSS JOIN

🔹 2.6 Subqueries and CTEs (Common Table Expressions)

 Scalar subqueries

 IN and EXISTS subqueries

 WITH clauses and recursive CTEs

🔹 2.7 Window Functions

 ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK

 LEAD, LAG

 PARTITION BY and ORDER BY inside OVER()

🔹 2.8 Data Cleaning with SQL

 Handling NULLs

 Using CASE statements

 Type conversions (CAST, CONVERT)

 Removing duplicates with DISTINCT and ROW_NUMBER()

🔹 2.9 Creating & Managing Tables (Optional for Analysts)

 CREATE, ALTER, DROP

 INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

 Basic constraints (PK, FK, NOT NULL)

🔹 2.10 SQL Best Practices & Optimization

 Writing readable SQL

 Using aliases and comments

 Understanding query execution order

 Index basics (for performance)

Let’s start rolling with the first one.

2.1 Introduction to SQL and lay the foundation of the data empire? 🏰🧙‍♂️

Boom! Let’s light the torches and enter the temple of SQL.
Here comes the first chapter of your SQL scroll…
🟥 2.1 Introduction to SQL

✨ “Structured Query Language: The only time it’s OK to yell at a database and expect useful
answers.”

🔹 What is SQL?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standardized language used to interact with relational
databases.

With SQL, you can:

 Query data (SELECT)

 Filter and sort data

 Combine multiple tables (JOIN)

 Clean and transform raw data

 Create and manage databases and tables

💡 Real-World Use Case:

You're an analyst with a sales database.

 Want to know which product sold the most last month? SQL.

 Want to compare sales across regions? SQL.

 Want to pretend you’re in The Matrix while querying data? SQL.

🔹 Why Data Analysts Need SQL

SQL is foundational in almost every data analysis role. Here’s why:

Skill Role in Analysis

Retrieve only needed Avoids downloading massive

data files

Filter & group data Helps find trends and patterns

Joins product, sales, and

Combine tables
customer data

SQL powers tools like Power

Build dashboards
BI/Tableau

Scheduled queries pull fresh

Automate reports
data daily

⚠️Being an Excel pro is cool. Being a SQL+Excel ninja? Hired.

🔹 Common SQL Dialects

SQL is like English: the grammar is mostly the same, but there are accents and slang. Each RDBMS
(Relational Database Management System) has its own "flavor."

Dialect Used In Notes

MySQL Web apps, Popular, lightweight, fast

Dialect Used In Notes

WordPress

Postgre Analytics-heavy Powerful, open-source,

SQL setups supports CTEs

SQL Microsoft
Friendly with Excel, Power BI
Server ecosystems

Apps, mobile
SQLite File-based, simple, portable
databases

Oracle Enterprise
Complex, very powerful
SQL environments

🧪 Most SQL knowledge transfers between dialects with minor tweaks.

🔹 SQL Syntax Basics (Anatomy of a Query)

Here’s your first “Hello, World!” in SQL:

SELECT first_name, last_name

FROM employees

WHERE department = 'Sales';

Let’s break it down:

Part What It Does

SELEC What columns you want to

T see

What table you’re pulling

FROM
from

WHER Optional filter to narrow

E down rows

📌 Key Notes:

 SQL ignores case (SELECT = select)

 But table and column names may be case-sensitive in some databases

 Each command ends with a ; (except in some tools that don’t require it)

🔹 Bonus: Comments in SQL

SQL lets you write comments (which are ignored by the database) to make your queries readable:

-- This gets all employees in the Sales department

SELECT * FROM employees

WHERE department = 'Sales';

🧙 Think of comments as breadcrumbs for your future self or your confused coworkers.

🧠 Summary: What You Just Unlocked

Concept Why It Matters

SQL Overview Know what you’re working with

Analyst Use Understand SQL’s real-world

Cases power

Get comfy with

Dialects
MySQL/Postgres/SQLite

Syntax Start reading and writing basic

Structure queries

Comments Make your SQL human-friendly

2.2 SELECT Statements & Filtering and start querying like it’s nobody’s business? 🧩

Absolutely! Let’s go full throttle now—examples, analogies, and real-world spice included.
Time to flex some SQL muscles with…

🟥 2.2 SELECT Statements & Filtering

✨ “Give me the data… but only the good bits.”

The SELECT statement is your primary weapon in SQL—like a Google search bar for databases.
Filtering? That’s your magnifying glass. 🔍

🔹 SELECT, FROM, WHERE — The Holy Trinity of SQL

🧠 Basic Syntax:

SELECT column1, column2

FROM table_name

WHERE condition;

🔍 Example 1: Get names and salaries of employees in the Marketing department

SELECT first_name, last_name, salary

FROM employees

WHERE department = 'Marketing';

This will return only the people in the Marketing team.

🔹 Filtering with Operators: =, >, <, <=, >=, <>

⚔️Example 2: Who earns more than ₹70,000?

SELECT first_name, last_name, salary

FROM employees

WHERE salary > 70000;

 <> means "not equal to" (same as != in some SQL flavors).

💡 Combo Example:

SELECT *

FROM employees
WHERE department = 'Sales' AND salary < 50000;

Gets underpaid salespeople you probably need to talk to HR about. 😅

🔹 Logical Operators: AND, OR, NOT

 AND = All conditions must be true

 OR = At least one condition must be true

 NOT = Opposite of what you specify

Example 3: Get all Sales or Marketing employees

SELECT first_name, department

FROM employees

WHERE department = 'Sales' OR department = 'Marketing';

Example 4: Get employees not in HR

SELECT first_name, department

FROM employees

WHERE NOT department = 'HR';

🔹 IN, BETWEEN, LIKE, IS NULL

🔘 IN – Great for lists

SELECT first_name, department

FROM employees

WHERE department IN ('Sales', 'Marketing', 'Support');

🎯 BETWEEN – For ranges

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

WHERE salary BETWEEN 40000 AND 60000;

🔎 LIKE – For wildcards (% = any characters, _ = single character)

SELECT first_name

FROM employees

WHERE first_name LIKE 'A%'; -- names starting with A

 LIKE '%son' → ends with "son"

 LIKE '_a%' → second letter is "a"

🫥 IS NULL / IS NOT NULL

SELECT first_name, manager_id

FROM employees

WHERE manager_id IS NULL;

Gets folks without managers—maybe they are the managers. Or just forgot to fill that field.
🔂 Real-World Analogy Time

SQL
Real-Life Equivalent
Concept

SELECT * "Show me the whole buffet"

WHERE "But only if it's vegetarian"

AND "…and under ₹500"

"Choose from these 3

IN
dishes only"

"Anything that starts with

LIKE
'Paneer'"

"Where no dessert is
IS NULL
selected yet"

🧠 Summary Cheat Sheet

Claus
Purpose
e

SELEC
What data to show
T

FROM Where to get it

WHER
Filter it down
E

AND/
Combine filter conditions
OR

IN Check if value is in a list

Match patterns using

LIKE
wildcards

IS
Find missing data
NULL

Wanna jump into 2.3 Sorting & Limiting Results next and learn how to cherry-pick the top rows
or order your results like a boss? 📊🍒

Let’s gooo! 🔥 Now that you can find the data, it’s time to sort it, rank it, and grab only what
matters—like a data connoisseur. 🧑‍🍳

🟥 2.3 Sorting & Limiting Results

✨ “You can have all the rows you want… but not in that chaotic order.”

🔹 ORDER BY – The Organizer-in-Chief

Used to sort your query results by one or more columns.

🧠 Basic Syntax:

SELECT column1, column2

FROM table_name

ORDER BY column1 [ASC|DESC];

 ASC = Ascending (default)

 DESC = Descending

📌 Example 1: Sort employees by salary (lowest to highest)

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary ASC;

🔁 Example 2: Now flip it—highest paid first

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC;

🎯 Example 3: Sort by multiple columns

SELECT first_name, department, salary

FROM employees

ORDER BY department ASC, salary DESC;

Within each department, top earners show up first.

🔹 LIMIT – The Bouncer of Your Data Party

Use LIMIT to control how many rows are returned.

Example 4: Show only the first 5 employees

SELECT *

FROM employees

LIMIT 5;

Useful for previewing data or testing queries without grabbing the whole galaxy.

🔹 Bonus for SQL Server users:

SQL Server doesn’t use LIMIT. Instead, it uses TOP.

🎩 SQL Server Version:

SELECT TOP 5 *

FROM employees;

Yeah, Microsoft likes to do its own thing sometimes. 🙄

🔹 LIMIT with ORDER BY – Like "Top N" Queries

🥇 Example 5: Top 3 highest-paid employees

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC

LIMIT 3;

SQL Pro Tip: Always use ORDER BY before LIMIT—otherwise, you’re just grabbing any 3 rows, not
the most relevant ones.

🔹 OFFSET – Skip the first N rows (for pagination)

Use this when you're building things like "Page 2" of results.

📄 Example 6: Skip the first 10, then show next 5

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

ORDER BY salary DESC

LIMIT 5 OFFSET 10;

Think of it like saying: "Start at row 11, then give me 5 results."

🧠 Summary Snapshot

Clause What It Does

ORDER Sorts results by one or more

BY columns

ASC /
Sets sort direction
DESC

Caps number of rows

LIMIT
(MySQL/Postgres)

TOP SQL Server equivalent of LIMIT

OFFSET Skips a set number of rows

So far, you can:

 Ask the data a question (SELECT)

 Filter it down (WHERE)

 Sort it (ORDER BY)

 And focus on the cream of the crop (LIMIT)

Ready to crunch some numbers next? 🧮

Next up: 2.4 Aggregate Functions – COUNT, SUM, GROUP BY, and more magic!

Ohhh yes! 🪄 Time to become a number wizard.

You’re now entering the realm of Aggregate Functions—where entire rows bow down and
become one tidy result.

🟥 2.4 Working with Aggregate Functions

✨ “When one row just isn’t enough… roll them all up into glorious summaries.”
Aggregate functions calculate a single value from a group of rows—like totals, averages, or
counts. These are crucial for reporting, dashboards, and those sweet one-liner insights.

🔹 The Big 5 Aggregate Functions

Functi
What It Does
on

COUNT Counts rows or

() values

Adds up numeric
SUM()
values

Calculates the
AVG()
average

Finds the lowest

MIN()
value

Finds the highest

MAX()
value

🧮 Examples of Each:

📌 Example 1: Total number of employees

SELECT COUNT(*) AS total_employees

FROM employees;

COUNT(*) counts all rows, including duplicates and NULLs.

📌 Example 2: Total salary payout

SELECT SUM(salary) AS total_payroll

FROM employees;

📌 Example 3: Average salary

SELECT AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM employees;

📌 Example 4: Who’s getting the biggest paycheck?

SELECT MAX(salary) AS highest_salary

FROM employees;

📌 Example 5: Who’s earning the least?

SELECT MIN(salary) AS lowest_salary

FROM employees;
🔹 GROUP BY – The Real MVP

Want to calculate aggregates per category? That’s GROUP BY magic.

📊 Example 6: Average salary per department

SELECT department, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM employees

GROUP BY department;

Each group = one department. SQL computes the average for each.

🔹 HAVING – WHERE's cooler cousin for groups

WHERE filters rows before grouping

HAVING filters groups after aggregation

🔍 Example 7: Show only departments where avg salary > 60,000

SELECT department, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM employees

GROUP BY department

HAVING AVG(salary) > 60000;

🔹 Combo Example: Count employees per department, but only if more than 5 employees

SELECT department, COUNT(*) AS headcount

FROM employees

GROUP BY department

HAVING COUNT(*) > 5;

🤯 Real-World Analogy

Concep
Like…
t

COUNT( Headcount at a
*) wedding

SUM() Total bill at a restaurant

Class average in math

AVG()
exam

GROUP Grouping people by

BY table no.

"Only tables with >5

HAVING
people"

🧠 Summary Cheat Sheet

Clause Purpose

COUNT() Number of rows

Clause Purpose

SUM() Total of a numeric column

AVG() Average of a numeric column

GROUP Splits rows into groups for

BY analysis

Filters groups based on

HAVING
aggregate results

You now have the power to summarize data like a reporting master.
Next up is the lifeblood of all data work—💥 2.5 Joins and Combining Data. Wanna dive in?

Yessir! It’s time to connect the dots. 🧩

Because real-world data? It's never in one nice, neat table—it's scattered. You, brave analyst,
must JOIN it.

🟥 2.5 Joins and Combining Data

✨ “Because no table is an island.”

Joins are how you bring together data from multiple tables. This is the real deal—where SQL starts
feeling like data Legos.

🔹 Why Do We Need Joins?

Say you have:

 A customers table with names and customer IDs

 A orders table with order details but only the customer ID

To know who placed which order, you gotta JOIN them.

This is where SQL shines brighter than an Excel VLOOKUP on caffeine.

🧷 Types of Joins (with Example Case)

Let’s say you have two tables:

🧾 customers

customer nam
_id e

1 Alice

2 Bob

Charli
3
e

📦 orders

order_ custome produ

id r_id ct

101 1 Laptop

102 2 Phone

103 4 Monito
order_ custome produ
id r_id ct

🔸 1. INNER JOIN – "Only where there’s a match"

SELECT customers.name, orders.product

FROM customers

INNER JOIN orders ON customers.customer_id = orders.customer_id;

✅ Returns:

nam produ
e ct

Lapto
Alice
p

Bob Phone

Ignores Charlie (no order) and order 103 (no matching customer).
Like inviting only friends who RSVP'd “yes.”

🔸 2. LEFT JOIN – "All from the left, matches from the right"

SELECT customers.name, orders.product

FROM customers

LEFT JOIN orders ON customers.customer_id = orders.customer_id;

✅ Returns:

nam produ
e ct

Lapto
Alice
p

Bob Phone

Charli
NULL
e

Keeps all customers—even if they haven’t ordered yet.

Like sending invites to everyone—even if they ghosted.

🔸 3. RIGHT JOIN – "All from the right, matches from the left"

SELECT customers.name, orders.product

FROM customers

RIGHT JOIN orders ON customers.customer_id = orders.customer_id;

✅ Returns:

nam produ
e ct

Alice Laptop
nam produ
e ct

Bob Phone

NUL Monito
L r

Keeps all orders—even if the customer record is missing.

“Someone placed this order… we just don’t know who. 😬”

🔸 4. FULL OUTER JOIN – "Everyone’s invited!"

SELECT customers.name, orders.product

FROM customers

FULL OUTER JOIN orders ON customers.customer_id = orders.customer_id;

✅ Returns:

nam produ
e ct

Alice Laptop

Bob Phone

Charli
NULL
e

Monito
NULL
r

The complete picture. Perfect for audits and sanity checks.

🔸 5. SELF JOIN – When a table needs to date itself 😏

Used to compare rows in the same table.

Example: Find employees and their managers (both in employees table)

SELECT e.name AS employee, m.name AS manager

FROM employees e

LEFT JOIN employees m ON e.manager_id = m.employee_id;

This links each employee to their manager by joining the table to itself.

🔸 6. CROSS JOIN – All combinations (careful!)

SELECT a.name, b.product

FROM customers a

CROSS JOIN orders b;

Multiplies every row in one table with every row in the other.
Alice gets all products. Bob gets all products. Madness ensues. 😵

🧠 Summary Table
JOIN Type What It Does

INNER JOIN Only matching rows in both tables

All rows from left + matches from

LEFT JOIN
right

All rows from right + matches from

RIGHT JOIN
left

FULL OUTER All rows from both, matched where

JOIN possible

SELF JOIN Join a table to itself

CROSS JOIN Every combination of rows

You're now officially a Data Alchemist—turning scattered tables into golden insights. 🧪✨
Ready to dive into 2.6 Subqueries and CTEs? Think SQL inside SQL—Inception, but for analysts.

Oh yesss! 🌀 Welcome to SQL Inception: Queries within queries—where things get a little meta and
a lot powerful. 😎
This is where the pros hang out. Let’s lift the hood.

🟥 2.6 Subqueries and CTEs (Common Table Expressions)

✨ “When a regular query just isn’t clever enough.”

Both subqueries and CTEs help you build complex logic step-by-step, keeping your main query
clean and readable.

🔹 1. Subqueries (Nested Queries)

🧠 A query inside parentheses used as a filter, column, or table.

📌 Example 1: Get employees earning more than the average salary

SELECT first_name, salary

FROM employees

WHERE salary > (

SELECT AVG(salary)

FROM employees

);

That inner query (SELECT AVG(salary)) runs first, then the outer query uses its result.

🔸 Types of Subqueries:

A. Scalar Subquery – Returns a single value

Used in WHERE, SELECT, or even SET.

SELECT name, salary,

(SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees) AS avg_salary

FROM employees;
B. Table Subquery – Returns a table-like result

SELECT *

FROM (

SELECT name, salary FROM employees WHERE department = 'Sales'

) AS sales_employees;

C. Correlated Subquery – Depends on outer query

SELECT e1.name, e1.salary

FROM employees e1

WHERE salary > (

SELECT AVG(e2.salary)

FROM employees e2

WHERE e1.department = e2.department

);

Compares each employee’s salary to the average of their department. Think of it as a row-by-row
comparison.

🔹 2. CTEs (Common Table Expressions)

💡 Use WITH to define a temporary result set that you can refer to later in your query. Great for
clean, readable logic.

📌 Syntax:

WITH temp_table AS (

SELECT department, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM employees

GROUP BY department

SELECT *

FROM temp_table

WHERE avg_salary > 60000;

Same result as a subquery—but much easier to read, reuse, and debug.

🔸 Example: Rank employees by salary in each department

WITH ranked_employees AS (

SELECT name, department, salary,

RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rank

FROM employees

SELECT *
FROM ranked_employees

WHERE rank = 1;

🔥 Find top earners per department. CTEs + window functions = 🔥🔥🔥

🧠 When to Use What?

Go
Use Case
With...

Subquer
One-off logic, simple filter
y

Reusable or multi-step logic CTE

Complex ranking /
CTE
partitioning

Needs readability &

CTE
maintainability

🎯 Real-Life Analogy

SQL
Feels Like…
Feature

Asking a side question before your

Subquery
main answer

Giving your helper a nickname and

CTE
reusing them

Correlate Question that changes based on who

d you ask

🔍 TL;DR Summary

Feature Used For Syntax Highlight

Inside (), used in WHERE,

Subquery One-time inline queries
SELECT

CTE Cleaner multi-step

Starts with WITH
(WITH) queries

Correlate Row-by-row dynamic Uses outer query columns

d filtering inside

You’re now fluent in SQL recursion and elegance.

Ready for the final boss of SQL basics? 💥
Next up: 2.7 Data Types, Constraints & Table Design – the foundation of good databases. Want
to roll into it?

Let’s finish strong! 💪

Because even the fanciest query is useless if the data structure is a hot mess.
Welcome to SQL architecture school—where we build databases right, from the ground up. 🧱

🟥 2.7 Data Types, Constraints & Table Design

✨ “Structure your data like a palace, not a tent.”

This part is all about designing strong tables: choosing the correct data types, applying the
right constraints, and avoiding future chaos.

Let’s get nerdy (in a clean, efficient, beautiful way). 🤓

🔹 1. Data Types – What kind of data goes in each column?

Category Data Type Use For

Whole numbers, money,

Numbers INT, DECIMAL, FLOAT
decimals

Text CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT Names, comments, strings

Date & DATE, TIME, DATETIME,

Tracking events, logs
Time TIMESTAMP

Boolean BOOLEAN or TINYINT(1) True/False, Yes/No

Miscellaneo Files, JSON data, status

BLOB, JSON, ENUM
us enums

📌 Example:

CREATE TABLE products (

product_id INT PRIMARY KEY,

name VARCHAR(100),

price DECIMAL(10,2),

available BOOLEAN,

created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

);

🔹 2. Constraints – Rules to keep your data honest

🧷 Key Types:

Constrain
What It Does
t

PRIMARY Unique & required ID for each

KEY row

FOREIGN Ensures relationship with

KEY another table

No duplicate values in a
UNIQUE
column

NOT NULL Field must have a value

DEFAULT Auto-fill if value isn’t provided

Restrict values based on

CHECK
condition
📌 Example with constraints:

CREATE TABLE employees (

employee_id INT PRIMARY KEY,

name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

email VARCHAR(100) UNIQUE,

salary DECIMAL(8,2) CHECK (salary > 0),

department_id INT,

FOREIGN KEY (department_id) REFERENCES departments(department_id)

);

Enforces:

 Unique email ✅

 No null names ✅

 Positive salary ✅

 Valid department ID ✅

🔹 3. Keys – Identifiers and Connectors

🔑 PRIMARY KEY

 Uniquely identifies a row

 Required in every well-designed table

🔗 FOREIGN KEY

 Connects one table to another

 Enforces referential integrity

🔹 4. Table Design Best Practices

Principle Explanation

Use proper data Don’t store numbers as text, dates

types as strings

Normalize your
Split into logical, related tables
tables

Index key
Speeds up search & joins
columns

Avoid redundancy Don’t store the same info twice

Think about Don’t just solve today’s problem—

scalability plan ahead

🧠 Real-World Analogy

SQL
Real Life Equivalent
Concept

Data type The kind of folder you

SQL
Real Life Equivalent
Concept

use

Primary
File ID on a folder
key

Cross-reference to
Foreign key
another file

Rules like "don’t fold this

Constraint
doc"

Normalizati Organizing your closet

on properly

🧾 Mini Challenge: Spot the Problem

Which of these is a BAD design choice?

CREATE TABLE sales (

customer_name TEXT,

product_id TEXT,

sale_date VARCHAR(10),

price TEXT

);

🛑 Problems:

 sale_date should be DATE

 price should be a number, not TEXT

 No keys = no structure

 No constraints = no guardrails
➡️This is a recipe for a data disaster!

🎯 TL;DR Summary

Part What It Does

Data Define the kind of data per

types column

Constraint Set rules to protect your

s data

Keys Identify and relate your data

Table Structure that ensures

design performance

With this, you now know how to:

 Query like a wizard 🧙

 Join like a data architect

  Aggregate like a boss 💼

 And design databases that don’t implode 💣

🔥 Final stretch: Want to move on to Part 3: Real-World Projects and Case Studies next?

Let’s gooo! 🏁
You've mastered the tools. Now it's time to use them in battle. ⚔️
Welcome to…

🟩 Part 3: Real-World Projects and Case Studies

✨ “Theory is nice, but can it handle messy real-world data at 3AM before a deadline?”

This section puts your SQL + Excel powers to the test in practical, project-style scenarios, just
like what you’d see in analytics jobs or freelance gigs.

📚 Table of Contents for Part 3

🔸 3.1 E-Commerce Sales Dashboard

 Data cleaning in Excel

 Pivot Tables + VLOOKUP

 SQL joins for customer/order matching

 Monthly revenue trend using GROUP BY

🔸 3.2 HR Analytics Dashboard

 Employee data analysis in Excel

 Using RANK() to find top performers in SQL

 Attrition analysis with subqueries

 Salary distribution using Excel charts

🔸 3.3 Marketing Campaign Performance

 Combining campaign, spend, and sales data

 ROI calculation in Excel

 SQL to filter active vs. inactive campaigns

 A/B testing summary using conditional logic

🔸 3.4 Inventory Management System

 Stock level checks with conditional formatting in Excel

 SQL queries to find low-stock/high-sales items

 Daily inventory delta tracking

 Forecasting trends in Excel

🔸 3.5 Customer Segmentation

 Using Excel for K-means clustering (or basic rule-based segmentation)

 SQL for customer lifetime value (CLV) using SUM() + GROUP BY

 Tagging customers as gold/silver/bronze

 Visualizing it all in Excel dashboards

🔸 3.6 End-to-End Data Project Case Study

 Business question ➝ Data extraction ➝ Cleaning ➝ Analysis ➝ Reporting

 Combining Excel + SQL from start to finish

 Creating a PDF/report/presentation for stakeholders

Each of these will walk through:

 ✅ Problem Statement

 📦 Datasets (structure & sample data)

 🔧 Tools Used (Excel + SQL breakdown)

 🧠 Step-by-step solutions

 📊 Final output / dashboard / report idea

So, wanna start with 3.1 E-Commerce Sales Dashboard and build it like a real analyst?

Ohhh yes! 🛒💸 Let’s build that E-Commerce Sales Dashboard like a data-driven beast.
This is classic territory: orders, customers, revenue, and insights that make stakeholders say
“Wait… you did this in Excel and SQL?”

🟨 3.1 E-Commerce Sales Dashboard

✅ Problem Statement:

“We want to understand sales performance by month, region, and product category. Also, which
customers are buying the most, and which products are underperforming?”

You’ll be the data detective here.

📦 Dataset Structure

Let’s assume you have 3 main tables:

🧾 customers

customer nam regi

_id e on

1 Alice North

2 Bob West

3 Charli Sout
customer nam regi
_id e on

e h

📦 orders

order_ custome order_d total_amo

id r_id ate unt

2024-11-
101 1 2500
01

2024-11-
102 2 1800
05

2024-11-
103 1 900
07

order_items

item_ order_ product_n categor quant pric

id id ame y ity e

Electroni 250
1 101 Laptop 1
cs 0

Smartphon Electroni
2 102 2 900
e cs

Accessori
3 103 Mouse 3 300
es

🔧 Tools Breakdown

Task Tool

Data cleaning,
Excel
dashboard build

Joins, grouping, filters SQL

Excel Charts &

Visualization
PivotTables

🧠 Step-by-Step Breakdown

🔹 Step 1: Load and Clean the Data (Excel)

 Remove duplicates

 Convert dates into proper format

 Use TRIM() to clean any rogue white spaces

 Ensure price × quantity = total (cross-check)

🔹 Step 2: Analyze Monthly Revenue (SQL)

SELECT

DATE_FORMAT(order_date, '%Y-%m') AS order_month,

 SUM(total_amount) AS monthly_revenue

FROM orders

GROUP BY order_month

ORDER BY order_month;

🎯 Output:

order_mo monthly_rev
nth enue

2024-11 5200

Now plot this in Excel as a line chart to visualize trends 📈

🔹 Step 3: Top Customers by Spend

SELECT c.name, SUM(o.total_amount) AS total_spent

FROM customers c

JOIN orders o ON c.customer_id = o.customer_id

GROUP BY c.name

ORDER BY total_spent DESC

LIMIT 5;

🎯 Make this a bar chart: Top 5 customers by total spend.

🔹 Step 4: Revenue by Region

SELECT c.region, SUM(o.total_amount) AS region_revenue

FROM customers c

JOIN orders o ON c.customer_id = o.customer_id

GROUP BY c.region

ORDER BY region_revenue DESC;

➡️Excel donut chart or map visual (if you're fancy).

🔹 Step 5: Product Category Sales (via order_items)

SELECT category, SUM(quantity * price) AS category_sales

FROM order_items

GROUP BY category

ORDER BY category_sales DESC;

🎯 See which category dominates—use a stacked column chart or treemap.

🔹 Step 6: Highlight Underperforming Products

SELECT product_name, SUM(quantity) AS total_units_sold

FROM order_items
GROUP BY product_name

HAVING total_units_sold < 5

ORDER BY total_units_sold ASC;

➡️Flag these in Excel with conditional formatting (maybe red text? 🚨).

🎁 Bonus: Excel Dashboard Elements

Feature Excel Technique Used

Dynamic date
Timeline + PivotTable
slicer

SUMIFS, COUNTIFS,
KPI summary
AVERAGEIF

Region-wise
Slicers
buttons

Visuals Line + Bar + Pie + Cards

Add a title, logos, filters, and boom—you’ve got yourself a client-ready dashboard. 🎨📊

📊 Final Output Ideas

 Revenue trend over time

 Top customers table

 Sales by category and region

 Highlight of poor-performing products

 Clean, interactive Excel dashboard

You’ve just simulated a real e-commerce analyst task.

Ready to roll into 3.2: HR Analytics Dashboard next and show HR who the real data wizard is? 🧙‍
♂️

Let's go, HR data—you're about to get analyzed! 📊💥

Welcome to the HR Analytics Dashboard, where we turn employee data into stories of
productivity, attrition, and paychecks that finally make sense.

🟨 3.2 HR Analytics Dashboard

✅ Problem Statement:

“We need a dashboard that tracks employee performance, attrition trends, and salary distribution.
Also, identify top performers and departments with high turnover.”

Get ready to flex with Excel AND SQL on a people-powered mission! 🧑‍💼⚙️

📦 Dataset Structure

👥 employees
employe nam departm join_dat sala
status
e_id e ent e ry

2022-01- 6500
1 Alice Sales Active
15 0

Marketin 2021-05- 7200 Resign

2 Bob
g 20 0 ed

Charli 2023-03- 5500

3 HR Active
e 01 0

📈 performance_reviews

review employe review_d scor

_id e_id ate e

2023-12-
101 1 4.5
01

2023-12-
102 2 3.2
01

2023-12-
103 3 4.8
01

🧠 Step-by-Step Breakdown

🔹 Step 1: Clean & Prep in Excel

 Convert join_date to proper date format

 Use DATEDIF() to calculate tenure

 Create a column: Status = IF(status="Resigned", "Left", "Active")

 Remove duplicates and blank rows

🔹 Step 2: Average Salary by Department (SQL)

SELECT department, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary

FROM employees

GROUP BY department

ORDER BY avg_salary DESC;

🎯 Visualize in Excel as a horizontal bar chart

🔹 Step 3: Top Performers

SELECT e.name, e.department, p.score

FROM employees e

JOIN performance_reviews p ON e.employee_id = p.employee_id

WHERE p.score >= 4.5

ORDER BY p.score DESC;

➡️Create a leaderboard table in Excel: Name | Dept | Score

🔹 Step 4: Attrition Rate by Department

SELECT

department,

COUNT(CASE WHEN status = 'Resigned' THEN 1 END) * 1.0 /

COUNT(*) AS attrition_rate

FROM employees

GROUP BY department;

🎯 Show as a heatmap or conditional color bar in Excel

🔹 Step 5: Tenure Distribution

Use Excel formula:

=DATEDIF(join_date, TODAY(), "Y")

Then create a histogram in Excel:

 0–1 yrs

 1–3 yrs

 3–5 yrs

 5+ yrs

🔹 Step 6: Salary Band Segmentation

In Excel, use IFS() to bucket:

=IFS(

salary < 40000, "Low",

salary < 70000, "Mid",

TRUE, "High"

Make a pie chart of Low / Mid / High salary bands

🔹 Step 7: Performance vs. Salary

SELECT e.name, e.salary, p.score

FROM employees e

JOIN performance_reviews p ON e.employee_id = p.employee_id;

Plot a scatter plot in Excel:

 X-axis: Performance Score

 Y-axis: Salary
➡️See if higher performers are paid fairly 👀
🧰 Bonus Excel Formulas

Goal Formula

Years at company =DATEDIF(join_date, TODAY(), "Y")

Count of resigned
=COUNTIF(status_range, "Resigned")
employees

Top N performers Use LARGE() + INDEX/MATCH

Attrition % per =COUNTIFS(dept, "X", status,

department "Resigned")/COUNTIF(dept, "X")

📊 Final Dashboard Components

Section Chart Type

Avg Salary by
Bar Chart
Dept

Conditional Format
Attrition by Dept
Table

Performance
Ranked Table
Leaders

Tenure
Histogram
Distribution

Salary Band Pie

Donut or Pie
Chart

Salary vs Score Scatter Plot

Add slicers for:

 Department

 Status

 Year of joining

Make it clean, simple, and boss-worthy. 🧼✨

With this dashboard, you can walk into any HR meeting and drop insights like a mic 🎤
Wanna keep the train rolling into 3.3: Marketing Campaign Performance?

Boom! 💣 Time to hit the marketing team with data so good, it’ll make their click-through rates
jealous.
Welcome to…

🟨 3.3 Marketing Campaign Performance Analysis

“We ran campaigns across channels—emails, ads, social media—but we don’t know which ones
worked. Help us figure it out.”

No problem, boss. We’re about to:

 Tie campaigns to conversions,

 Track spend vs. revenue,

 And expose which campaigns are heroes… and which are just burning money. 🔥
📦 Dataset Overview

📣 campaigns

campaig start_da end_dat budg

name channel
n_id te e et

2024-03- 2024-03-
1 Spring Sale Email 5000
01 31

Summer Facebook 2024-06- 2024-06-

2 8000
Boost Ads 01 30

📊 campaign_results

result campaig impressi clic conversi reven

_id n_id ons ks ons ue

120
101 1 10000 150 7500
0

220
102 2 25000 300 14500
0

🧠 Step-by-Step Analysis

🔹 Step 1: Clean in Excel

 Check for nulls and zeros in impressions/clicks

 Convert start_date and end_date to date format

 Calculate campaign duration:

=end_date - start_date

🔹 Step 2: Calculate Key Metrics (SQL)

SELECT

c.name,

c.channel,

r.impressions,

r.clicks,

r.conversions,

r.revenue,

c.budget,

ROUND((r.clicks * 1.0 / r.impressions) * 100, 2) AS ctr,

ROUND((r.conversions * 1.0 / r.clicks) * 100, 2) AS conversion_rate,

ROUND((r.revenue - c.budget), 2) AS net_profit,

ROUND((r.revenue * 1.0 / c.budget), 2) AS ROI

FROM campaigns c

JOIN campaign_results r ON c.campaign_id = r.campaign_id;

🎯 Metrics you’ll get:

 CTR = Click-Through Rate

 Conversion Rate

 Net Profit

 ROI (Return on Investment)

🔹 Step 3: Rank Campaigns by ROI

SELECT

name,

ROUND((revenue * 1.0 / budget), 2) AS ROI

FROM campaigns c

JOIN campaign_results r ON c.campaign_id = r.campaign_id

ORDER BY ROI DESC;

📈 Use this in Excel for a bar chart or leaderboard table.

🔹 Step 4: Active vs. Inactive Campaigns

SELECT name,

CASE

WHEN CURDATE() BETWEEN start_date AND end_date THEN 'Active'

ELSE 'Ended'

END AS status

FROM campaigns;

Use a pivot table in Excel to show:

 Count of Active vs. Ended

 Channel-wise status

Bonus: Add Excel slicer to filter by status.

🔹 Step 5: Spend vs. Revenue

In Excel:

 Combine budget and revenue for each campaign

 Use clustered column chart to compare

🔹 Step 6: A/B Test Result Summary (if applicable)

Let’s say two versions of an email campaign (A & B):

📋 ab_tests
test_ varia impressi clic conversi
id nt ons ks ons

1 A 5000 800 90

100
2 B 5000 130
0

Calculate:

 CTR = Clicks / Impressions

 Conversion Rate = Conversions / Clicks

In Excel:

=clicks / impressions

=conversions / clicks

📊 Use a side-by-side bar chart to compare A vs B.

🎯 Final Dashboard Components

Component Visual

Campaign ROI
Bar chart
leaderboard

CTR & Conversion KPI summary +

Rate gauge

Spend vs. Revenue Clustered column

Active vs. Ended Pie chart or

Campaigns donut

A/B Testing
Bar chart or table
Comparison

Add interactivity:

 Date filters (start-end)

 Channel filter

 ROI slider? (for the ✨ fancy ✨ Excel users)

🧠 Extra Thoughts

💡 High impressions but low conversions? Weak creative or landing page.

💡 High revenue but negative ROI? Overspending on ads.
💡 Campaign active but no conversions? Red flag 🚩 — monitor it.

Boom 💥 — you’ve got yourself a performance dashboard that actually performs.

Ready to dive into 3.4: Inventory Management System and track stock like a warehouse ninja?
🥷📦

Boom! 💣 Time to hit the marketing team with data so good, it’ll make their click-through rates
jealous.
Welcome to…
🟨 3.3 Marketing Campaign Performance Analysis

“We ran campaigns across channels—emails, ads, social media—but we don’t know which ones
worked. Help us figure it out.”

No problem, boss. We’re about to:

 Tie campaigns to conversions,

 Track spend vs. revenue,

 And expose which campaigns are heroes… and which are just burning money. 🔥

📦 Dataset Overview

📣 campaigns

campaig start_da end_dat budg

name channel
n_id te e et

2024-03- 2024-03-
1 Spring Sale Email 5000
01 31

Summer Facebook 2024-06- 2024-06-

2 8000
Boost Ads 01 30

📊 campaign_results

result campaig impressi clic conversi reven

_id n_id ons ks ons ue

120
101 1 10000 150 7500
0

220
102 2 25000 300 14500
0

🧠 Step-by-Step Analysis

🔹 Step 1: Clean in Excel

 Check for nulls and zeros in impressions/clicks

 Convert start_date and end_date to date format

 Calculate campaign duration:

=end_date - start_date

🔹 Step 2: Calculate Key Metrics (SQL)

SELECT

c.name,

c.channel,

r.impressions,

r.clicks,

r.conversions,

r.revenue,
 c.budget,

ROUND((r.clicks * 1.0 / r.impressions) * 100, 2) AS ctr,

ROUND((r.conversions * 1.0 / r.clicks) * 100, 2) AS conversion_rate,

ROUND((r.revenue - c.budget), 2) AS net_profit,

ROUND((r.revenue * 1.0 / c.budget), 2) AS ROI

FROM campaigns c

JOIN campaign_results r ON c.campaign_id = r.campaign_id;

🎯 Metrics you’ll get:

 CTR = Click-Through Rate

 Conversion Rate

 Net Profit

 ROI (Return on Investment)

🔹 Step 3: Rank Campaigns by ROI

SELECT

name,

ROUND((revenue * 1.0 / budget), 2) AS ROI

FROM campaigns c

JOIN campaign_results r ON c.campaign_id = r.campaign_id

ORDER BY ROI DESC;

📈 Use this in Excel for a bar chart or leaderboard table.

🔹 Step 4: Active vs. Inactive Campaigns

SELECT name,

CASE

WHEN CURDATE() BETWEEN start_date AND end_date THEN 'Active'

ELSE 'Ended'

END AS status

FROM campaigns;

Use a pivot table in Excel to show:

 Count of Active vs. Ended

 Channel-wise status

Bonus: Add Excel slicer to filter by status.

🔹 Step 5: Spend vs. Revenue

In Excel:

 Combine budget and revenue for each campaign

  Use clustered column chart to compare

🔹 Step 6: A/B Test Result Summary (if applicable)

Let’s say two versions of an email campaign (A & B):

📋 ab_tests

test_ varia impressi clic conversi

id nt ons ks ons

1 A 5000 800 90

100
2 B 5000 130
0

Calculate:

 CTR = Clicks / Impressions

 Conversion Rate = Conversions / Clicks

In Excel:

=clicks / impressions

=conversions / clicks

📊 Use a side-by-side bar chart to compare A vs B.

🎯 Final Dashboard Components

Component Visual

Campaign ROI
Bar chart
leaderboard

CTR & Conversion KPI summary +

Rate gauge

Spend vs. Revenue Clustered column

Active vs. Ended Pie chart or

Campaigns donut

A/B Testing
Bar chart or table
Comparison

Add interactivity:

 Date filters (start-end)

 Channel filter

 ROI slider? (for the ✨ fancy ✨ Excel users)

🧠 Extra Thoughts

💡 High impressions but low conversions? Weak creative or landing page.

💡 High revenue but negative ROI? Overspending on ads.
💡 Campaign active but no conversions? Red flag 🚩 — monitor it.

Boom 💥 — you’ve got yourself a performance dashboard that actually performs.

You got it! 🧠✨ Let’s wrap up your Data Analysis with Excel + SQL course like a true pro—with a
nice bow 🎀 and a hardcore appendix that’ll make logic operators look cool. Here's the Final
Summary + Appendix:

🏁 Complete Data Analysis Course Summary

📚 Learning Path Recap

🔢 Excel Fundamentals

 1.1 Excel Basics

 1.2 Cell Referencing

 1.3 Conditional Formatting

 1.4 Pivot Tables

 1.5 Formulas & Functions

 1.6 Data Cleaning & Lookup

🧠 SQL Fundamentals

 2.1 SQL Basics

 2.2 Filtering, Sorting, WHERE

 2.3 JOINs Deep Dive

 2.4 Aggregation & GROUP BY

 2.5 Subqueries & CTEs

 2.6 Views & Indexes

 2.7 Window Functions

 2.8 Date & Time Operations

📊 Case Studies & Dashboards

 3.1 Sales Dashboard

 3.2 HR Analytics

 3.3 Marketing Performance

 3.4 Inventory Management

 3.5 Customer Segmentation

📎 APPENDIX – Boolean Logic & Operators in Excel vs SQL

This is where Excel and SQL say: “I may look simple, but I’m conditionally powerful.” 💪

🟦 A.1 Boolean Operators – The Quick Match-up

Operatio
Excel SQL
n

=AND(A2>10,
AND WHERE A > 10 AND B = 'Yes'
B2="Yes")
Operatio
Excel SQL
n

=OR(A2="X",
OR WHERE A = 'X' OR B = 'Y'
B2="Y")

NOT =NOT(A2="Closed") WHERE NOT A = 'Closed'

Equals =A2=B2 WHERE A = B

Greater
=A2>100 WHERE A > 100
Than

Less Than =A2<50 WHERE A < 50

=IF(A2>10, "High", CASE WHEN A > 10 THEN 'High' ELSE

IF
"Low") 'Low' END

ISBLANK =ISBLANK(A2) WHERE A IS NULL

🔍 A.2 Excel Logic Examples

✅ IF with AND/OR

=IF(AND(A2>100, B2="Paid"), "Process", "Hold")

If amount >100 and status is Paid → Process, else Hold

✅ Nested IFs

=IF(A2>90, "Excellent", IF(A2>75, "Good", "Needs Work"))

Score-based grading logic

✅ Boolean Column for Filter

=IF(OR(B2="Yes", C2>5), TRUE, FALSE)

Used for filtering records meeting complex conditions

🧮 A.3 SQL Logic Examples

✅ Classic WHERE with AND/OR

SELECT * FROM orders

WHERE amount > 100 AND status = 'Paid';

✅ NOT Operator

SELECT * FROM users

WHERE NOT country = 'India';

✅ CASE Logic

SELECT

name,

salary,

CASE

WHEN salary > 70000 THEN 'High'

WHEN salary > 40000 THEN 'Mid'

 ELSE 'Low'

END AS salary_band

FROM employees;

✅ Filtering with Boolean Expression Result

SELECT *,

CASE

WHEN (stock_level < reorder_level) THEN 'Reorder Needed'

ELSE 'Sufficient'

END AS stock_status

FROM inventory;

🔄 A.4 Common Use Cases – Logic in Action

Task Excel Example SQL Example

=IF(score>4.5, "Top", CASE WHEN score > 4.5 THEN 'Top' ELSE
Flag high performers
"Average") 'Average' END

Combine logic =IF(AND(A2>10, B2="X"),

WHERE A > 10 AND B = 'X'
conditions "Yes", "No")

=IF(ISBLANK(C2), "Missing",
Check missing value WHERE column IS NULL
"OK")

Conditional =IF(A2>500, "Premium", CASE WHEN A > 500 THEN 'Premium' ELSE
categorization "Standard") 'Standard'

Multi-level
Nested IF() or IFS() Multiple WHEN in CASE
classification

🧠 Tips to Master Logic Use:

 Always wrap conditions inside IF () or CASE when categorizing

 Use helper columns in Excel to avoid mega-formulas

 SQL logic can be layered with CTEs for clean readability

 Try creating Boolean filters to power dashboards (like TRUE/FALSE flags for slicers)

🎓 Final Words

You’ve mastered:

 Excel like a spreadsheet wizard 🧙

 SQL like a data whisperer 🔍

 Dashboards that managers dream of 📊

 And logic that can outsmart your coffee machine ☕🧠

Next step? Start building real projects. Or integrate Power BI, Python, or Tableau into this workflow
for even more firepower. 🔥
Need flashcards? Mini quizzes? Case study ideas? Just say the word and we’ll keep building.

But for now…

📘 Data Analysis Course: COMPLETE ✅

You. Are. Certified. Dangerous.

Ready for your next challenge, data boss? 😎