An advanced Excel course gives your team the macro, PivotTable, lookup and data-analysis skills to turn raw spreadsheets into fast, accurate business decisions. BOTI’s accredited, 2-day advanced Excel course is built for South African employers who want staff to stop wrestling with data and start automating it. Accredited through the MICT SETA — this is a legacy unit-standard qualification that is migrating to the new QCTO system, so accredited enrolment is available now; please confirm current accreditation when you book. Delivered in-house or online nationwide.

This is the third part of BOTI’s Microsoft Excel programme, picking up where intermediate training ends and taking learners into automation, auditing, advanced functions, multi-workbook management and data analysis. It is designed for working professionals whose roles depend on Excel every day.

Course Overview

This advanced Excel course equips users with comprehensive, high-level Excel skills, including modern connectivity and collaboration features. Learners move beyond everyday spreadsheet use to automate repetitive work, audit and validate data, analyse large datasets, work across multiple workbooks, and import and export data (including XML and web data).

By the end of the course, employees can build templates, write and edit macros, construct PivotTables and PivotCharts, apply specialised functions, and consolidate and compare large volumes of data with confidence — skills that directly reduce manual effort and reporting errors in the workplace.

Who Should Attend

• Employees who have completed intermediate Excel training (Excel Part 2) or have equivalent experience
• Professionals seeking advanced Excel proficiency for reporting, finance, operations and analysis roles
• Teams pursuing the MICT SETA accredited Unit Standards 258879 and 258876
• Staff who need practical, workplace-applicable Excel skills they can use immediately

Prerequisites

• Working knowledge of intermediate Excel content (Excel Part 2 material)
• Competency in communication, computer literacy and mathematical literacy at a minimum of NQF Level 2/3

Course Duration & Delivery

• Duration: 2 days
• Delivery: Venue-based (public) or on-site / in-house at your premises
• Locations: Major South African city centres — Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria — plus online and on-site nationwide

In-house delivery is ideal when you need to upskill a whole team at once, tailor examples to your own spreadsheets, and train without sending staff off-site.

Accreditation

• Accreditation body: MICT SETA
• Unit Standards: US258879 (NQF Level 3, 3 credits) and US258876 (NQF Level 4, 3 credits)
• Certification: Electronic Certificate of Competency issued on successful completion

Because the course is accredited through the relevant SETA, the credits can support your organisation’s skills-development planning and Workplace Skills Plan / Annual Training Report submissions. Please note these unit-standard qualifications are migrating from the SETA system to the new QCTO framework — accredited enrolment is available now, and we recommend confirming current accreditation status when you book. BOTI is an accredited training provider — Services SETA 12582, MICT SETA ACC/2016/07/0045, and a QCTO Quality Partner.

Course Outline / Modules

Module 1 – Enhancing Workbooks
Customise workbooks, create and use templates, and protect files.

Module 2 – Automating Worksheet Functionality
Update workbook properties, create and edit macros, apply conditional formatting, and add data validation criteria.

Module 3 – Analysing and Presenting Data
Create Sparklines, outline a data list, perform statistical analysis with the Analysis ToolPak, and use Power View for interactive data.

Module 4 – Import and Export Data
Export Excel data, import delimited text files, integrate Excel data with the web, create web queries, and import and export XML data.

Module 5 – Managing Large Workbooks
Consolidate, link, sort and filter data across spreadsheets.

Module 6 – Analysing Data with PivotTables, Slicers and PivotCharts
Create PivotTables, filter data with slicers, and analyse data using PivotCharts.

Module 7 – Analysing Data with Logical and Lookup Functions
Use text, logical, lookup, date, financial and other specialised functions.

Learning Outcomes

On completion, learners will be able to:

• Outline data in spreadsheets and modify how spreadsheet data is displayed
• Apply conditional formatting
• Create and use templates and work with comments
• Import and export text files
• Consolidate and link data
• Apply filters and use forms
• Create and use macros
• Combine and compare large datasets
• Use specialised functions (lookup, logical, text, date and financial)

Intermediate & Advanced Excel Skills Every Employee Needs

Not every role needs the same depth of Excel, but a surprising number of everyday business tasks are slowed down by gaps between basic and advanced skill. Below is a practical map of the intermediate and advanced Excel skills that have the biggest impact on workplace productivity — and where each is covered in BOTI’s Excel pathway.

Intermediate Excel skills that raise day-to-day productivity

These are the skills that move an employee from “I can type into cells” to “I can build a working spreadsheet”:

• Core formulas and cell referencing — relative vs absolute references ($), nesting functions, and avoiding broken formulas when rows move
• Lookup functions — VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and increasingly XLOOKUP / INDEX-MATCH to pull data between tables
• Logical functions — IF, nested IF, AND, OR, IFERROR for clean, decision-driven sheets
• Data cleaning and validation — Text-to-Columns, TRIM, data validation drop-down lists, and removing duplicates
• Sorting, filtering and conditional formatting — surfacing the rows that matter and flagging exceptions automatically
• Charts and presentation — building clear graphs and charts that communicate, not confuse

If your team is not yet solid on these, start with intermediate training before advanced. See BOTI’s Accredited Microsoft Office Excel Intermediate course, or the MS Excel for Beginners – Accredited and Microsoft Office Excel Essentials – Accredited courses for staff starting from scratch.

Advanced Excel skills that drive better decisions

Advanced skills are where Excel stops being a typing tool and becomes an analysis and automation engine — exactly the territory covered in this course:

• PivotTables, slicers and PivotCharts — summarise thousands of rows into management-ready insight in minutes (Module 6)
• Macros and automation — record and edit macros to remove repetitive manual work and standardise reports (Module 2)
• Advanced and specialised functions — financial, date, text and complex lookup functions for modelling and reconciliation (Module 7)
• Data validation and auditing — building error-resistant spreadsheets that others can trust (Module 2)
• Managing large workbooks — consolidating, linking and comparing data across multiple files and worksheets (Module 5)
• Importing, exporting and connecting data — pulling in delimited text, web queries and XML so Excel talks to other systems (Module 4)
• Statistical analysis and visualisation — the Analysis ToolPak, Sparklines and Power View for richer reporting (Module 3)

For teams that want every level in one programme, the Accredited Beginners to Advanced Microsoft Excel course covers the full journey.

Specialist skills to add once the fundamentals are in place

When the advanced foundation is solid, targeted specialist training delivers outsized returns for analyst, finance and reporting roles:

• PivotTable mastery for reporting-heavy teams — the Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables Course
• VBA programming for full automation — Writing Excel Macros with VBA
• Business intelligence and dashboards beyond Excel — the Microsoft Power BI Basics Training Course for interactive, shareable reporting

A simple way to plan team training: audit which of the skills above each role uses weekly, then assign intermediate, advanced or specialist courses accordingly. If you would like help mapping skills to roles, BOTI can advise as part of a quote.

How This Advanced Excel Course Builds on Intermediate Training

This is the third component of a structured Excel programme. The natural pathway is:

1. Beginner / Essentials — interface, basic formulas, formatting
2. Intermediate (Excel Part 2) — lookups, logical functions, charts, data tools
3. Advanced (this course) — automation, macros, PivotTables, large-workbook management, data import/export and specialised functions

Because the levels build on one another, employees retain more and apply it faster. If you are unsure which level your staff are at, BOTI can run a quick skills check before booking so each person starts at the right point.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the prerequisites for the advanced Excel course?
Learners should have working knowledge of intermediate Excel (Excel Part 2 material) and competency in communication, computer literacy and mathematical literacy at a minimum of NQF Level 2/3. Staff who are not yet at intermediate level should complete the intermediate Excel course first.

How long is the advanced Excel course and how is it delivered?
It runs over 2 days. You can attend a venue-based public course in major South African centres (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria) or book on-site / in-house training at your premises, which is usually the most cost-effective option for teams.

Is the advanced Excel course accredited?
Yes. It is accredited through the MICT SETA and covers Unit Standards US258879 (NQF Level 3, 3 credits) and US258876 (NQF Level 4, 3 credits), and successful learners receive an electronic Certificate of Competency. These unit-standard qualifications are migrating to the new QCTO system, so accredited enrolment is available now — please confirm current accreditation when you book. The credits can support your Workplace Skills Plan and skills-development reporting.

What will my employees be able to do after the course?
They will be able to create and edit macros, build PivotTables, slicers and PivotCharts, use advanced lookup and specialised functions, apply data validation, manage and consolidate large workbooks, and import and export data — practical skills that cut manual work and reporting errors.

Book Your Team’s Advanced Excel Training

Give your team the advanced Excel skills that turn slow, error-prone spreadsheets into fast, reliable reporting. BOTI delivers this accredited course in-house, on-site or online across South Africa, tailored to your organisation’s data and goals.

Request a quote or a 15-minute callback and we’ll recommend the right level and delivery format for your staff. Call 011-882-8853 to speak to a training consultant today.

Related Excel & data courses: Excel Essentials (Accredited) · Intermediate Excel (Accredited) · Beginners to Advanced Excel (Accredited) · Excel Pivot Tables · Excel Macros with VBA · Power BI Basics