RESOURCES

Resources

The things you reach for mid-task: a term you half know, a chart you are not sure about, a formula you need today.

WHY RESOURCES

Why These Are Not Courses

A course is for learning something over time. These are for the moment you are stuck and need an answer now.

Questions come up mid-task

Somebody says EBITDA in a meeting, or you need to pick a chart before a deadline. You want an answer in a minute, not a course to work through.

Nobody remembers 657 definitions1

You are not meant to. Looking a term up again when it comes round is how it eventually sticks, so the glossary is built to be returned to rather than learned.

Most arguments are about definitions

When two reports disagree, the cause is usually that each counts something slightly different. One written definition settles it faster than checking the data.

Written for your role

Churn means one thing to a manager and another to an analyst. Every term carries an explanation for each of the seventeen roles, so the answer fits your job.

Sources: 1Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J. and Willingham, D. T. (2013), ‘Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques’, Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1), 4–58, which rates distributed practice, returning to material after a gap, among the two highest-utility techniques reviewed. 2Baldwin, T. T. and Ford, J. K. (1988), Personnel Psychology 41(1), 63–105, on the work environment and opportunities to apply learning as conditions for transfer.

GUIDES AND REFERENCES

Everything You Can Use Today

Things to look up while you work, rather than courses to work through. Two are finished; the rest say so on the page.

Data & Business Glossary

657 business and data terms, each with a clear definition, where it is used, why it matters, and an explanation written for your role. A hundred and twenty-five terms include a formula and worked example, and fifty-one include a diagram.

Open the glossary

Visualisation Guide

Forty-six visual types, from bar charts to Sankey diagrams, with what each is for and when to choose something else. Every visual links to its glossary term.

Open the Visualisation Guide

SQL Query Workbench

Real SQL in the browser: six exercises against a live dataset, with errors, hints and worked solutions. No install, nothing sent anywhere.

Open the workbench

Formula Grid

Real spreadsheet formulas in the browser: six exercises on a live sheet, with errors, hints and worked solutions.

Open the formula grid

Star Schema Builder

Join facts to dimensions and watch a wrong join break the totals.

Open it

Dashboard Critique

Find six faults in a deliberately poor dashboard, with the rule behind each.

Open it

DAX Sandbox

Write DAX measures and have them evaluated. A simulation, not Power BI.

Open it

Metric Detective

A figure moved. Slice it by the right dimension to find out why.

Open it

Templates & Cheat Sheets

Two PowerPoint downloads ready now: five printable cheat sheets, and a report mock-up template with the page furniture locked. More planned.

See what is planned

Build Your Confidence with Data

Start where it helps most today, and come back for the rest.