Professional Training Programme

From Excel to Power BI — data skills that work in any sector

A practitioner-led programme for professionals who work with data in regulated environments. No prior coding experience required. Focused on the tools and decisions that actually matter in financial services, healthcare, the public sector, and corporate organisations.

Reserve your place View the programme
4
Saturday sessions over 4 weeks
3hrs
Per session
Live
Virtual cohort via Zoom
CPD
Certificate on completion

Your sector does not matter. Your ambition does.

This programme is open to anyone who works with data and wants to do more with it. Whether you are in financial services, healthcare, the public sector, education, retail, or anywhere else, the skills taught here are universal. Your background is not a barrier. If you handle data as part of your job, this programme is for you.

Business analysts and project managers

You are expected to interpret data and present findings to stakeholders across any sector. This programme gives you the tools to do it with confidence.

Public sector and NHS professionals

Whether you work in a council, a trust, or a government body, data reporting is part of the job. Learn to produce reporting that is clear, consistent, and built to last.

Career changers moving into data

If you are moving into a data analyst or reporting role from any background and need to build your skills from a solid foundation, this is where to start.

Team leads and managers

You receive data from your team but are not always confident interrogating it. This programme helps you ask sharper questions and make better informed decisions.

Finance, HR, and operations professionals

You work with numbers and reporting every week. This programme helps you move beyond spreadsheets and present your data in a way that drives real decisions.

Anyone looking to upskill in their own time

You do not need your employer's sign-off or a formal reason to join. If you want to add practical skills that are in demand to your professional toolkit, the programme is open to you.

Four Saturdays. Practical from day one.

Each session runs for three hours via Zoom. Every session includes a worked example drawn from a real-world regulated environment such as financial services, insurance, or corporate risk. Exercises are provided between sessions to consolidate what you have covered.

Saturday
1
3 hours

Excel mastery and data preparation

Understanding data types, structures, and common pitfalls. Advanced Excel functions including XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, pivot tables, and data validation. Practical data cleaning using Excel and Power Query, covering duplicates, inconsistencies, and missing values. You will leave with a clean dataset that is ready for audit and a reusable Power Query workflow.

ExcelPower QueryData cleaningPivot tables
Saturday
2
3 hours

Power BI fundamentals and dashboard design

Setting up Power BI Desktop and connecting to data sources. Understanding the report, model, and data workflow. Building your first dashboard with interactive filters and slicers. Choosing the right visual for the right question. Designing dashboards for non-technical audiences by applying hierarchy, colour, and layout so the story is immediately clear.

Power BIData modellingDAX basicsDashboard design
Saturday
3
3 hours

Data in regulated environments

Working with data under GDPR and FCA requirements. Understanding data lineage, audit trails, and version control for reporting. What data governance means in practice rather than just in policy, and how to build reporting that survives an audit. Includes a hands-on exercise using a dataset from a regulated industry scenario.

GDPRFCAData governanceAudit readiness
Saturday
4
3 hours

Capstone — build and present your dashboard

Using a dataset provided by APT Consultants, you build a complete Power BI report addressing a business problem from a regulated industry scenario. You present your findings to the cohort and receive structured feedback from the instructor. CPD certificate issued to all participants who complete the capstone.

Live projectPresentationPeer feedbackCPD certificate

What you leave with

Concrete deliverables, not just knowledge. By the end of the programme you will have built each of these from scratch.

01

A cleaned, structured dataset

A working Excel workbook with Power Query steps documented and ready to reuse.

02

A multi-page Power BI report

Connected to a real data model with DAX measures and interactive filters.

03

An executive dashboard

Designed for a non-technical senior stakeholder audience with a clear narrative flow.

04

A CPD certificate

Issued by APT Consultants UK upon successful completion of the capstone project.

There are cheaper options out there. Here is why this one is different.

Free tutorials exist. Udemy courses exist. If all you need is to learn where the buttons are in Power BI, those will do the job. This programme is for people who need more than that.

Taught in the context of real work

Generic courses teach you how to use a tool. This programme teaches you how to use it in the environments where it actually gets used, in organisations where data has to be accurate, auditable, and fit to present to a senior leader or regulator. Every exercise is modelled on that reality. You are not learning on toy datasets designed to make things easy.

Small cohort, direct access

You cannot ask a YouTube video a question. In a large training room, your question often gets deferred or skipped. Sessions here are intentionally small so you get proper answers, in the moment, from someone who has actually worked through the same problems. That direct access to a practitioner is what makes the difference between understanding something in theory and being able to apply it under pressure.

You leave with something built

At the end of Session 4, you have a completed Power BI dashboard that solves a real business problem. Not a certificate that says you watched some videos. Something you built, presented, and received feedback on. That is the kind of evidence you can reference in a job application, show a line manager, or use as a template the following week at work. The capstone is the point of the programme.

Designed around your actual week

Four Saturday mornings over four weeks. You do not need to take time off work, book a hotel, or rearrange your life. The programme is structured so that working professionals can complete it without disruption, with exercises between sessions that take one to two hours and fit around a normal working week. You keep your job and build the skills at the same time.

Taught by practitioners, not trainers

This programme is delivered by experienced consultants who have spent their careers working inside the organisations you work in or aspire to work in. Every instructor has real, hands-on experience of data, reporting, and analysis in some of the UK's most demanding environments.

Our practitioners bring a combination of academic rigour and first-hand industry experience from FTSE 100 companies and top-tier organisations across financial services, insurance, and regulated industries. Between them, they hold postgraduate qualifications in data analysis and information technology alongside professional certifications earned through years of delivery in some of the UK's most demanding environments. They teach from that lived experience, not from a textbook. You will be learning techniques they use in their own work, applied to the kinds of datasets and business problems you encounter in yours.

PRINCE2 Practitioner BCS Business Analysis GDPR Practitioner MSc Data Analysis & Information Technology Financial Services Insurance Sector Regulated Environments

Programme pricing

Both options include the full four-session programme and your CPD certificate on completion.

Corporate / team delivery
POA
Bespoke delivery for your organisation
  • Tailored to your organisation's own data
  • Delivered in-house or virtually
  • 5 to 20 delegates per cohort
  • Flexible scheduling to suit your team
  • Post-training support available
Enquire for teams

Frequently asked questions

Do I need any technical background to join?
No. The programme starts with Excel fundamentals and builds from there. If you can open a spreadsheet and enter data, you have everything you need to begin. Participants with some Excel experience will find the early parts of Session 1 move quickly, but there is enough depth to keep them engaged throughout.
What software do I need?
Microsoft Excel (2016 or later, or Microsoft 365) and Power BI Desktop, which is free to download from Microsoft. You do not need a Power BI Pro licence to participate. Full setup guidance is provided ahead of the first session so you arrive ready to work.
How much time should I set aside each week?
Each Saturday session runs for three hours, 9am to 12pm. Between sessions, we recommend setting aside one to two hours to complete the exercises provided. The exercises are optional but participants who complete them consistently tend to get significantly more from the capstone session.
Is this relevant to my specific sector?
The datasets and worked examples throughout the programme are drawn from financial services, insurance, and corporate risk environments. If your sector is different, the skills transfer directly. The analytical and visualisation techniques are universal, and the regulated environment context adds a layer of rigour that benefits participants from any background.

Ready to build skills that translate directly to your job?

The September 2026 cohort is now open. Places are limited to keep sessions practical and interactive.

Reserve your place today

Get in touch

Fill in your details and we will be in touch within one working day to confirm your place or answer any questions.

APT Consultants UK is a trading name of Alphatime Consult Limited, registered in England & Wales. We will only use your details to respond to your enquiry.