If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. One of the most important roles of a manager is to ensure everyone knows the destination. The most effective managers set expectations and assess their employees’ performance against those expectations, and take a coaching approach to helping them get to the destination. That’s exactly what you’ll learn to do in this course! You will explore how to collaboratively develop expectations with those you lead. When you encounter expectations that are not being met, you’ll learn how to use "Coaching Algebra" to determine the underlying issues that are impeding performance, and how to respond as a manger-coach. We look forward to you joining us as we explore these essential coaching topics!

Welcome to Excel Power Tools for Data Analysis. In this four-week course, we introduce Power Query, Power Pivot and Power BI, three power tools for transforming, analysing and presenting data. Excel's ease and flexibility have long made it a tool of choice for doing data analysis, but it does have some inherent limitations: for one, truly "big" data simply does not fit in a spreadsheet and for another, the process of importing and cleaning data can be a repetitive, time-consuming and error-prone. Over the last few years, Microsoft have worked on transforming the end-to-end experience for analysts, and Excel has undergone a major upgrade with the inclusion of Power Query and Power Pivot. In this course, we will learn how to use Power Query to automate the process of importing and preparing data for analysis. We will see how Power Pivot revolutionises the actual analysis process by providing us with an analytical database inside the Excel workbook, capable of storing millions of rows, and a powerful modelling language called DAX which allows us to perform advanced analytics on our data. We will finish off by venturing out of Excel and introducing Power BI, which also uses the Power Query and Power BI architecture but allows us to create stunning interactive reports and dashboards. This is the third course in our Specialization on Data Analytics and Visualization. The previous courses: Excel Fundamentals for Data Analysis and Data Visualization in Excel, cover data preparation, cleaning, visualisation, and creating dashboards. To get the most out of this course we would recommend you do the previous courses or have experience with these topics. In this course we focus on Excel Power Tools, join us for this exciting journey. Please note that Power Query, Power Pivot and Power BI Desktop are only available on the Windows platform, so Mac users will require Bootcamp running Windows or a Virtual machine with a Window O/S. While Power Query is available as an add-in Excel 2010 and 2013, the tools have changed significantly, and this course has only been designed and tested for Excel 2016 and later. For an optimal experience, we recommend Office 365.

In this course, you will be introduced to some basic concepts of country-level Macroeconomics that are relevant for an integrated understanding of the macroeconomic environment in which your business (or future business) operates. In this course, the first three weeks will cover the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its components deeply, and the fourth week will cover inflation, monetary policy, balance of payments, and the concept of real exchange rate. At the end of this course, you will be able to: - Understand the concept of GDP and its importance for businesses established in a country; - Analyze de GDP by breaking down its key components; - Understand the importance of inflation, monetary policy, balance of payments, and real exchange rate for a country’s macroeconomic environment. - And above it all. Understand how to make connections between those concepts and try to make good use of them when establishing your business plan or your investment decisions.

By the end of this project, you will be able to create a resume and cover letter for your next job application. You will utilize the free online version of Microsoft Word to set up and generate your resume and cover letter. This project will help you gain a better understanding of what these two documents should include and how to format them to get your qualifications and skills noticed.

This course provides learners with a solid foundation in international supply, logistics, and foreign currency exchange. Foreign exchange is included in this course since it plays such an important role in planning and executing international operations. The first half of the course reviews critical roles that supply chain management, sourcing, logistics, and transportation play in contemporary global business. In the second half, the focus shifts to foreign currency exchange risks and methods for mitigating those risks, both financial and non-financial.

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of financial statements with an emphasis on the balance sheet. However, to understand accounting driven financial statements, it is important to recognize that accounting is less about counting and more about measuring. “What is it that is being measured?” Well, as the course unfolds, you will learn about the three measurement questions and how the balance sheet helps to answer the first two of these questions. By touring a real company and interviewing real business people, the course describes the basic content of financial statements in a simple yet relevant context. The goal of the course is to leave a lasting impression about what balance sheet consists of and what it reveals. The next course in the Fundamentals of Accounting Specialization completes the conversation by addressing the remaining measurement question. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: • Describe the purpose of a balance sheet. • Define the three components of a balance sheet. • Recognize and understand the meaning of several items typically presented on a balance sheet. • Explain the broader purpose of financial statements and the role of accounting in producing the financial statements. • Read and, to some extent, interpret real-world balance sheets. If you enjoy this business course and are interested in an MBA, consider applying to the iMBA, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price offered by the University of Illinois. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

Project Management is a fundamental theme to understand and work in any business environments. One of the main skills that Project Managers need to have deals with the ability to manage the project during its entire life-cycle and to plan the work needed to achieve the final result. During the course, the various phases of a typical project are presented. Then, various practical tools are presented aiming to help professionals in actually manage their projects through useful instruments. Among the others, the Scope Statement helps managers in identifying and clearly define what is and what is not part of the project, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) helps in identifying the activities, the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS) in managing the team, the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM) to match activities and people, while the Gantt Chart provides a time-based view on the project.

In this course, you will acquire a deep understanding of the importance and role of ethics within and beyond the organization as well as realize the benefits and challenges of a diverse culture and various – and changing – global perspectives. The professional business skills related to ethics, culture, and global perspectives gained through this course will help you to succeed working in any organization.

Effective writing is a powerful tool in the business environment. Learn how to articulate your thoughts in a clear and concise manner that will allow your ideas to be better understood by your readers. Improve your business writing skill by learning to select and use appropriate formats for your audience, use the correct medium and adjust your writing style accordingly, as well as identify your objective and communicate it clearly. You'll also learn to spot, correct and avoid the most common writing pitfalls, and gain valuable experience analyzing, writing and revising a wide spectrum of business documents. From a simple email to a complete report, learn how to put good business writing to work for you. Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Write effective business communications, including bad news, good news, persuasive writing, presentations, emails, memos, business reports and press releases 2. Learn how to edit and proofread business documents 3. Learn how to write for a global market

This is the first course in a series of four that will give you the skills needed to start your career in bookkeeping. If you have a passion for helping clients solve problems, this course is for you. In this course, you will be introduced to the role of a bookkeeper and learn what bookkeeping professionals do every day. You will dive into the accounting concepts and terms that will provide the foundation for the next three courses. You will learn how to work your way through the accounting cycle and be able to read and produce key financial statements. By the end of this course, you will be able to: -Define accounting and the concepts of accounting measurement -Explain the role of a bookkeeper and common bookkeeping tasks and responsibilities -Summarize the double entry accounting method -Explain the ethical and social responsibilities of bookkeepers in ensuring the integrity of financial information. No previous bookkeeping or accounting experience required.