Maven Careers - Exploratory Dashboard
About this project
My second portfolio project, done through Excel. Whereas my first project was PivotTable-based, this project is formula-based. This project was done through Maven Analytic's Advanced Excel Dashboard Design course.
Using 2017-2020 US labor statistics provided by Maven Analytics, I played the role of an analyst working at Maven Careers, a non-profit organization that helps high school seniors find career paths. My task was to create a dashboard that seniors could use to explore wage and employment trends, and compare them across industries.
Visualizations:
- a bar chart to compare average annual wages across industries
- a 100% stacked bar chart to show composition of employees for the selected industry
- a line chart and column chart that share an x-axis to show trends in wages and the number of employees
- and a filled map with the option to explore wages and employees per 1,000 people
I made use of Excel formulas, features, and techniques such as:
- IF, AVERAGEIFS, SUMIFS, and INDEX
- Data types (specifically Geographic)
- Filters and Sorting
- Interactivity through Form Controls
- Dynamically highlighting series based on the view
- Worksheet/workbook protection
- Custom number formats
Project reflection: I realized just how powerful formula-based dashboards can be, although they require more set-up and behind-the-scenes work in order to allow for greater customization and interactivity.
Having already finished reading Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, I found myself viewing my work with a heavily critical eye. Charts went through multiple drafts and in place of the pie chart that the guided project in Advanced Excel Dashboard Design uses, I used a 100% stacked bar instead.
At one point, I actually got ahead of the course: in one lecture, we originally started with a combo chart using two y-axes to show employment and wage trends across 2017-2020. I found it difficult to read and understand so I went ahead and separated it into two charts that share an x-axis. Feeling happy with the result, I was surprised that in the next lecture, that was exactly what the course wanted me to do anyway!
Created by: Mars Huynh | Data Analyst
