As an Excel consultant, I’ve spent years perfecting my craft, helping clients optimize their workflows and crunch numbers with ease. But I’ve come to realize that there’s a better way to do things – one that involves leveraging the power of SQL.
I’ve heard it time and time again: ‘push your data manipulation upstream into SQL.’ But how do you actually do that? How do you incorporate SQL into your workflow, especially when working with clients who may not be familiar with it?
In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps to incorporate SQL into your work, from reaching out to the client’s IT department to best practices for shifting logic from Power Query into SQL views or stored procedures.
## Getting Started with SQL
The first step is to reach out to the client’s IT department for a SQL login. This may seem daunting, but trust me, it’s worth it. Once you have access, you’ll need to request access to the specific datasets or tables you need to work with.
## What You Need to Get Started
To work with SQL, you’ll need a few tools on your computer, including a SQL client like SQL Server Management Studio or dbForge Studio. You’ll also need to understand the basics of SQL, including how to write queries and manipulate data.
## How SQL Fits into Your Workflow
So, how does SQL fit into your workflow? Think of it like this: you’ll do your data manipulation in SQL, creating a table of end results that you can then pull into Excel via the Get Data ribbon, similar to Power Query.
## Best Practices for Shifting Logic
When shifting logic from Power Query into SQL views or stored procedures, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. First, focus on simplicity and readability. Your SQL code should be easy to understand and maintain. Second, think about performance. Optimize your queries for speed and efficiency.
## What to Do When Clients Won’t Give Direct SQL Access
But what do you do when clients won’t give direct SQL access? There are a few workarounds, including using Excel’s built-in data manipulation tools or working with the client to create a data extract process.
## Conclusion
Incorporating SQL into your workflow as an Excel consultant can be a game-changer. It allows you to work more efficiently, manipulate data more effectively, and provide better insights to your clients. So, take the leap and start learning SQL today.