Master the techniques that business analysts at leading companies use to transform data into bottom-line results. For more than a decade, well-known consultant and business professor Wayne Winston has been teaching corporate clients and MBA students the most effective ways to use Microsoft Excel for data analysis, modeling, and decision making. Now this award-winning educator shares the best of his classroom experience in this practical, business-focused guide. Each chapter advances your data analysis and modeling expertise using real-world examples and learn-by-doing exercises. You also get all the book's problem-and-solution files on CD-for all the practice you need to solve complex problems and work smarter with Excel.Learn how to solve real business problems with Excel!•Create best, worst, and most-likely scenarios for sales•Calculate how long it would take to recoup a project's startup costs•Plan personal finances, such as computing loan terms or saving for retirement•Estimate a product's demand curve•Simulate stock performance over a year•Determine which product mix will yield the greatest profits•Interpret the effects of price and advertising on sales•Assign a dollar value to customer loyalty•Manage inventory and order quantities with precision•Create customer service queues with short wait times•Estimate the probabilities of equipment failure•Model business uncertainties•Get new perspectives on data with PivotTable dynamic views•Help predict quarterly revenue, outcomes of sporting events, presidential elections, and more!