6 Maths courses in Wickford

Want to be more confident in understanding data? Want to help your children with their maths, or improve your maths to help in your work? Creative maths workshops in Medway are for everyone but especially for parents and for those who are moving into employment, or to different employment.

£ Enquire * Highfield Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics, level 2 * 45 - 50 hours

£ Enquire * Highfield Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics, level 1 * 45 - 50 hours

This course starts with the basics then moves seamlessly to an intermediate level. It includes a comprehensive yet balanced look at the four main components that make up Power BI Desktop: Report view, Data view, Model view, and the Power Query Editor. It also demonstrates how to use the online Power BI service. It looks at authoring tools that enables you to connect to and transform data from a variety of sources, allowing you to produce dynamic reports using a library of visualisations. Once you have those reports, the course looks at the seamless process of sharing those with your colleagues by publishing to the online Power BI service. The aim of this course is to provide a strong understanding of the Power BI analysis process, by working with real-world examples that will equip you with the necessary skills to start applying your knowledge straight away. 1 GETTING STARTED * The Power BI process * Launching Power BI Desktop * The four views of Power BI * Dashboard visuals 2 CONNECTING TO FILES * Connect to data sources * Connect to an Excel file * Connect to a CSV file * Connect to a database * Import vs. DirectQuery * Connect to a web source * Create a data table 3 TRANSFORMING DATA * The process of cleaning data * Column data types * Remove rows with filters * Add a custom column * Append data to a table * Fix error issues * Basic maths operations 4 BUILD A DATA MODEL * Table relationships * Manage table relationships 5 MERGE QUERIES * Table join kinds * Merging tables 6 CREATE REPORT VISUALISATIONS * Creating map visuals * Formatting maps * Creating chart visuals * Formatting chart * Tables, matrixes, and cards * Control formatting with themes * Filter reports with slicers * Reports for mobile devices * Custom online visuals * Export report data to Excel 7 THE POWER QUERY EDITOR * Fill data up and down * Split columns by delimiter * Add conditional columns * Merging columns 8 THE M FORMULA * Creating M functions * Create an IF function * Create a query group 9 PIVOT AND UNPIVOT TABLES * Pivot tables in the query editor * Pivot and append tables * Pivot but don't summarise * Unpivot tables * Append mismatched headers 10 DATA MODELLING REVISITED * Data model relationships * Mark a calendar as a date table 11 INTRODUCTION TO CALCULATED COLUMNS * New columns vs. measures * Creating a new column calculation * The SWITCH function 12 INTRODUCTION TO DAX MEASURES * Common measure categories * The SUM measure * Adding measures to visuals * COUNTROWS and DISINCTCOUNT functions * DAX rules 13 THE CALCULATE MEASURE * The syntax of CALCULATE * Things of note about CALCULATE 14 THE SUMX MEASURE * The SUMX measure * X iterator functions * Anatomy of SUMX 15 INTRODUCTION TO TIME INTELLIGENCE * Importance of a calendar table * A special lookup table * The TOTALYTD measure * Change year end in TOTALYTD 16 HIERARCHY, GROUPS AND FORMATTING * Create a hierarchy to drill data * Compare data in groups * Add conditional formatting 17 SHARE REPORTS ON THE WEB * Publish to the BI online service * Get quick insights * Upload reports from BI service * Exporting report data * What is Q&A? * Sharing your reports 18 APPLY YOUR LEARNING * Post training recap lesson

There is a lot to learn in Power BI, this course takes a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of analysing data and includes a balanced look at the four main components that make up Power BI Desktop: Report view, Data view, Model view, and the Power Query Editor. It also demonstrates how to utilise the online Power BI service. It looks at authoring tools that enable you to connect to and transform data from a variety of sources, allowing you to produce detailed reports through a range of visualisations, in an interactive and dynamic way. It also includes a detailed look at formulas by writing both M functions in Power Query, and DAX functions in Desktop view. This knowledge will allow you to take your reports to the next level. The aim of this course is to provide a complete introduction to understanding the Power BI analysis process, by working hands-on with examples that will equip you with the necessary skills to start applying your learning straight away. 1 GETTING STARTED * The Power BI ecosystem * Opening Power BI Desktop * Power BI's four views * Introduction to Dashboards 2 IMPORTING FILES * Importing data sources * Importing an Excel file * Importing a CSV file * Importing a database * Connect to an SQL Server Database * Import vs. Direct Query * Importing from the web * Importing a folder of files * Managing file connections 3 SHAPE DATA IN THE QUERY EDITOR * The process of shaping data * Managing data types * Keeping and removing rows * Add a custom column * Appending tables together * Hiding queries in reports * Fixing error issues * Basic maths operations 4 THE DATA MODEL * Table relationships * Relationship properties 5 MERGE QUERIES * Table join kinds * Merging tables 6 INSERTING DASHBOARD VISUALS * Things to keep in mind * Inserting maps * Formatting Maps * Inserting charts * Formatting Charts * Inserting a tree map * Inserting a table, matrix, and card * Controlling number formats * About report themes * Highlighting key points * Filter reports with slicers * Sync slicers across dashboards * Custom web visuals 7 PUBLISH AND SHARE REPORTS * Publishing to Power BI service * Editing online reports * Pinning visuals to a dashboard * What is Q&A? * Sharing dashboards * Exporting reports to PowerPoint * Exporting reports as PDF files 8 THE POWER QUERY EDITOR * Fill data up and down * Split column by delimiter * Add a conditional column * More custom columns * Merging columns 9 THE M FUNCTIONS * Inserting text functions * Insert an IF function * Create a query group 10 PIVOTING TABLES * Pivot a table * Pivot and append tables * Pivot but don't aggregate * Unpivot tables * Append mismatched headers 11 DATA MODELLING EXPANDED * Understanding relationships * Mark a date table 12 DAX NEW COLUMNS * New columns and measures * New column calculations * Insert a SWITCH function 13 INTRODUCTION TO DAX MEASURES * Common measure functions * Insert a SUM function * Insert a COUNTROWS function * Insert a DISTINCTCOUNT function * Insert a DIVIDE function * DAX rules 14 THE CALCULATE MEASURE * The syntax of CALCULATE * Insert a CALCULATE function * Control field summarisation * Things of note 15 THE SUMX MEASURE * X iterator functions * Anatomy of SUMX * Insert a SUMX function * When to use X functions 16 TIME INTELLIGENCE MEASURES * Importance of a calendar table * Insert a TOTALYTD function * Change financial year end date * Comparing historical data * Insert a DATEADD function 17 HIERARCHIES AND GROUPS * Mine data using hierarchies * Compare data in groups

Our Team Building Programmes are 'simply excellent' (quote from Unilever). They always deliver much greater energy' motivation and efficiently accelerates to a galvanised, integrated team for their Manager/Team Leader. They're great fun and very commercially orientated - the best of both key elements to a successful and long-lasting high performance team. A successful company is always made up of successful teams. Teams that can work autonomously with a clearly defined set of goals, roles, vision, responsibility and culture will always reach for and achieve far greater success than a team that works just as a group of individuals. Our team building solutions are individually built and geared towards teams at any level within an organisation, providing an independent and objective perspective to promote a common purpose such as the creation of a 'high performance team'. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUT WITH THE OLD Traditionally, team building events have been restricted to certain levels of management where they head off site for a bit of archery, quad biking and paintballing or something along those lines. Then over some coffee and cocktails, business plans and more efficient ways to work are casually discussed. Whilst being out having fun instead of being at work may improve an individual person's mood, the effect will only be short-term, and will not go far in creating permanent and cohesive teams who are able to overcome challenges together and drive the business forward when back in the workplace. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN WITH THE NEW Today's business thinking is more strategic and certainly has to look for returns on the investment. That is why Dickson Training Ltd's team building programmes are bespoke and built to your requirements through research, understanding your business and, most importantly, what results and achievements you are looking to get out of the programme. Once "what success looks like" has been established, we create tasks and activities that will test your leadership, problem solving, communication and team work skills. When the tasks have been completed, the learning - both practical and theory - is debriefed to the group as well as how it will translate back in your business. Not only are our events great fun, but they provide participants with learning points they can act upon to improve or enhance the working practices/environment. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM BUILDING THAT GETS RESULTS We have a highly innovative team who design team builds to suit all budgets and time or space restrictions. Large or small, we will develop the perfect event to meet your commercial objectives, keeping in line with your values and company culture. More recently we have combined team galvanising events with ways to engage the participants with and support their local communities. This solution has proved extremely popular with our clients and we are continuing to develop more and more programmes doing exactly this. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- " Phil did everything in a very professional and focused manner, without losing sight of the overall aims or having 'fun'. When I moved to Airbus UK and subsequently European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), I had no hesitation in recommending Phil and the team to deliver the required training and team events.  Without doubt Phil and his team are excellent providers of training, to suit even bespoke requirements, and I would not hesitate in recommending the team to any business in the future. " Glenn Brown, Systems & Expertise Manager, Airbus Personnel Service -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGMENTED SKILLS – AN ESSAY BY PHIL DICKSON All of you, who are reading this, and all the people you meet and work with will have – ‘Augmented Skills’. So – if you are an IT Engineer or a Pharmacist; perhaps you are, or know, a Departmental Leader and you work with a Logistics Project Manager; these roles will demand core skills, whether they be technical know-how or qualifications in the discipline. But to be that bit better; more reliable; more effective & productive and therefore more valuable and, frankly, marketable – capitalizing on ‘Augment Skills’ comes into play. The I T Engineer who was a Chess Champion at Uni, which would indicate that they possess some key ‘Augmented skills’ including how they plan 3 steps ahead and are always prepared for the unexpected. The Pharmacist, who is a keen sportsperson in their private life, will likely be tenacious, team-orientated and disciplined – again these are superb qualities to have in this – or any – role. Your colleagues, as well as yourself, will have ‘Augmented Skills’ that will be an asset if only they are explored and applied to their role and indeed, career. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN 'SUPER-POWER' If they love gardening, they are probably strategic, patient and inclined to research; if they cook or bake, they are usually well organized and comfortable with multi-tasking. A big reader will tend to be considered and possess good critical thinking faculties, and an amateur mechanic or keen DIY person will often be practical, resourceful and very determined. I have observed that many new Parents discover they have ‘Augmented Skills’ they didn’t know they had... such as getting order out of chaos and displaying industrial amounts of patience and good grace when they really do not feel like it. They very often become far more compassionate and empathetic. Most people have their very own ‘Superpower’. Invite your team members to offer their ‘Augmented Skills’ to your work-place – and just watch as it elevates the motivation levels and improves results. It’ll be very rewarding for all concerned – and for meeting the Team’s objectives, to encourage the person who is a talented artist to be a sounding board on some of the marketing imagery and layouts; for the team member who is great at Maths or resolving crosswords to be asked for their input to solving a problem that is causing logistical or operational headaches. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEVER EXPLOIT A TEAM MEMBER’S UNIQUE SPECIAL SKILLS AT THEIR EXPENSE I would like to stress, however, that it must never be an area where a team member gets exploited by harvesting their unique special skills to coerce them into taking on greater responsibilities and tasks without providing them with the commensurate salary and status. To do so would be immoral and, ultimately, counter-productive as it would lead to resentment and disenfranchisement. This is about encouraging people’s capability and inviting their input to boost confidence and enhance the team’s capability. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFTEN, WE NEED TO BE MORE THAN WHAT OUR JOB DESCRIPTION SAYS It is also important to highlight that whatever a person’s role or function is – they will definitely need to have additional capabilities to be effective. The best example of this is when we designed and delivered a range of ‘Advanced Customer Care skills’ training sessions for the Met Office a few years ago…we met so many remarkably super-bright Meteorologists, many of whom were having to make significant adjustments to answering questions from Customers that seemed to be illogical and often, obtuse. It wasn’t enough for these Meteorologists to be highly skilled at interpreting data and identifying patterns – they needed ‘Augmented skills’ to make that information accessible to members of the public (and Council workers and Air Traffic controllers and Shipping agents) and many other people, as to what that particular weather system was going to be like in their area and at what time. They have to know how to ‘de-jargonise’ the material and provide succinct, clear, and yet temperate, descriptions without ever appearing exasperated, impatient or judgmental in response to sometimes quite silly questions. For a highly trained scientist – that can be counter-intuitive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEING PHILOSOPHICAL... AND A WEE BIT PRETENTIOUS At the risk of being a little Philosophical (and probably a wee bit pretentious) – in my own role of Trainer – my core skills have to include – being a very good communicator, an active listener and have innovative and engaging ways to convert an idea, or a model, into practical application that my Delegates and Clients gain tangible benefits from. This is how it applies to me... I really enjoy composing short, light classical-style piano pieces. Now, to do this well, you need to be able to find a transition from one chord or melody to a different theme or key. It has to be worked out very carefully to have incremental transitions and pleasant-sounding developments as the piece unfolds. I think I have become better at this as I have honed my skills as a composer. But I have realized that these very same skills have ‘Augmented’ my ability to help a Manager, or a Team, move from a state of conflict; tension; disfunction; disenfranchisement; lack of confidence to a place that is more harmonious with far greater productivity. The very same process of careful listening, considering options, taking well-considered steps, having a creative, sometimes brave, move towards a resolution are at play in both Training and Piano Compositions! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCHEDULED COURSES Unfortunately this course is not one that is currently scheduled as an open course, and is only available on an in-house basis. Please contact us for more information.