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If you work in shipping, freight or supply chain, you do not need to learn "all of Excel". You need a small set of skills, in the right order. Here is the order I would follow.
Step 1: Excel basics that you use every day
Start here, even if you think you know Excel. Focus on these four things:
- Lookups to match one list against another, for example invoices against packing lists. See XLOOKUP vs VLOOKUP.
- Data cleaning to fix messy files from carriers and suppliers. See how to clean carrier data.
- Pivot tables to summarize costs by lane, month or customer. See pivot tables for freight cost.
- Dropdowns and checks so your team enters clean data. See dropdowns for Incoterms and status.
Step 2: Power Query
Power Query is built into Excel. It lets you combine many files and clean them with a few clicks, and you can repeat the same steps next month by pressing Refresh. If you copy and paste monthly reports today, this is the biggest time saver. See combining monthly files.
Step 3: Power BI
Once your data is clean, Power BI turns it into dashboards you can share, such as on-time delivery by month. Learn it after Excel and Power Query, not before. See a first on-time delivery dashboard.
Step 4 (optional): Basic SQL
If your company keeps data in a database or ERP system, a little SQL helps you pull the data yourself. It is not needed to start.
How long does it take?
With one hour a day, most people feel comfortable with Step 1 in a few weeks, and with Steps 2 and 3 in a couple more months. Use your own work files for practice. You learn much faster with real data than with sample files.
How to pick a course
Free videos and Microsoft's own help pages are enough for many people. If you want a structured course, check these before you pay:
- Is it updated recently? Excel and Power BI change often.
- Does it give you practice files, or is it only slides?
- Can you preview lessons before buying?
- What is the refund policy?