As an ERP implementer I’m always surprised by the number of people who aren’t comfortable in Excel. Sure everyone knows how to add up a few numbers, but when I start talking about vlookup and pivot tables, the comfort level drops dramatically. I would argue that no matter where you are in the ERP process – from running your business in Excel to package selection to post implementation – solid Excel knowledge is a required skill for almost everyone in your organization.
Some scenarios I’ve come across:
– An admin clerk tasked with entering service fault issues into Excel, but not able to pull trend reports off the data to see faults by category over time
– IT staff in a data conversion exercise having to call in consultants to pull apart data embedded in item codes (e.g. Item code redpantWXL)
– A controller without working knowledge of pivot tables unable to properly perform consolidations
All of these people were capable of learning the skills (and were pretty stoked when we taught them), they just hadn’t had the training. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and doesn’t need to cost a lot of money, but adding these skills to your staff’s toolkit can have immediate payback.
