If you are presently employed in an administrative or management role in your company and you know that there has to be a better way of managing functions and information in your department, then Microsoft Excel could well be the solution that you are looking for.

Excel is an application that comes standard with the Microsoft Office Suite, and is a very widely-used programme that allows you to create and edit spreadsheets which can be used for budget keeping, for inventory control and management, for creating customer contact detail lists, for staff attendance, and much more.

The list of Excel uses is almost endless. Its mathematical abilities make even the most complex calculations manageable as Excel formulas are one of the programme's most useful features; from something as simple as adding two numbers together to more complex calculations needed for high-end business projections. Once you learn the basic format of creating a formula, Excel does all the calculations for you.

It is possible, by making use of the Excel wizards, to get a basic level of function out of the programme, but to gain the maximum usability it would be highly advantageous for you to attend Excel training courses, conducted by a certified trainer. You do not need to be a programming whiz or an IT expert to be able to create spreadsheets that are user-friendly, and which will be beneficial to you by ensuring that the use for which you intend them makes your job easier to do.

You can begin with an Introductory course and progress from there to the Intermediate course, and once you have mastered the tools taught on these courses you can go on to an Advanced course. You will learn invaluable information about the many and varied tasks of which Excel is capable.

Let us take, as an example, Excel for use as an inventory management tool. Effective inventory management is more than just counting the number of items on the company's shelves; correctly managing inventory can translate into excellent customer service as it enables a company to meet or exceed customers' expectations of product availability while maximising profits and minimising costs.

There are inventory management software options available to purchase, but by making use of Excel you can build your own inventory database based on the specific fields that you require. You can customise the database so that it is specific to your business and so that it can be accessed and used by more than one user, be it for updating stock levels or just for confirming stock availability.