Industry: Prepaid Financial Services
Company Overview:
Based out of Carlsbad, California, Numi Financial helps government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private businesses disburse and manage their capital. The company offers a variety of branded prepaid cards (also called stored value cards), which can improve security, make transactions more convenient, and save clients thousands of dollars in paper payment expenses. With over seven years of experience and expertise in this industry, Numi Financial helps clients:
- Establish and enhance their corporate identities with distinctive, customized cards
- Disburse funds using a portfolio of programs and prepaid card solutions
- Utilize sophisticated software and technological tools to gather important data on transactions and assist cardholders in accessing their funds
While Numi Financial caters to a wide range of clients, the firm specializes in disbursement and fund management for the criminal justice system and corrections industry. For example, the company provides numerous programs to help inmates and facilities safely administer funds. In the government sector, the corporation also offers work release and juror cards. In addition, Numi Financial offers payroll cards and rewards programs to improve employee efficiency and performance. The business can also assist with processing insurance claims and streamlining other forms of disbursement.
In short, Numi Financial is a leader in the prepaid financial services field that accommodates the distinctive disbursement needs across a multitude of industries. To do so, the company leverages advanced technology, practical prowess, and ingenuity. At Excel Consultant, we enjoy collaborating with and designing Microsoft-powered solutions for pioneering companies like Numi Financial.
The Challenge:
The Numi Financial team hired Excel Consultant to deliver an extensive, hands-on group workshop for a small group of its key Excel users. We provided this personalized training program at our Irvine, California training center, which is about an hour north of Numi Financial’s headquarters.
We offer five types of educational and informational workshops for our clients. Ideally, we recommend our one-on-one, face-to-face training format, as this allows participants to get the most out of their experiences, tackling their particular concerns and devising specific solutions to meet their needs. Second to the one-on-one setup is the type of instruction we provided for Numi Financial: an in-person workshop involving two to six students and two trainers. We also offer onsite training as a seminar for larger groups, one-on-one remote coaching, and remote group workshops as webinars.
For Numi Financial, we conducted two four-hour workshops in our Irvine, California office’s training room with six students (we can also provide these sessions onsite at our clients’ locations). We cap this type of service at six students to assure that each person gets the attention, guidance, and support he or she needs from our Microsoft masters. We know from experience that you simply can’t conduct an effective workshop with 30 people. Alternating between small group teaching and individualized instruction, our Senior Project Manager and Programmer, Paul, and our CEO, President, and Founder, Christopher, assisted Numi Financial’s staff in learning and applying a variety of Microsoft programming techniques.
In this group training format, we ensure that each student fully understands every topic. We do not move on to the next subject until all questions are answered. We want our clients to be satisfied with and confident in their skills, so we go at the group’s pace. Excel Consultant’s expert instructors have found that this approach allows students to dig in deep to the code, listen better, and feel more comfortable resolving any confusion they may have. Our highly experienced dual trainers devoted their full attention to Numi Financial’s employees to make sure they fully understood everything they discussed.
At Excel Consultant, we’ve created a distinctive workshop design to make sure our clients get the maximum benefit from these services. Basically, what we do is have the lead trainer (in this case, Paul) present a topic (for example, how to create a Pivot Table, a special, dynamic summarization technique in Excel) and walk the students through the steps of executing the programming method. To make this information as comprehensible as possible, we use the modern screen sharing application, “Go To Meeting,” which allows each participant to see the programs being used in real time. We also project the code onto a white board in front of the group so that our trainers can write over the information being displayed. In addition, we distribute and work in a live Excel model, in which our clients can attempt to recreate what is being taught right there on their personal computers. During this portion of the instruction, our two trainers provide in-depth one-on-one mentoring. This type of workshop scenario holds participants accountable for their Excel education. They can’t fake their way through the lesson—either they participate and learn, or they do not.
To further enhance the educational experience, we also offer the option to add a homework assignment, which is graded to award a certificate. In this circumstance, we assign a task, students complete it at work or at home, and then they send it to us. Our consultants carefully grade each assignment. Our homework could include creating a pivot table, creating certain types of charts, etc. Rather than simply having students answer questions, we emphasize participants’ ability to complete actual assignments and establish that they have newfound prowess with Microsoft applications.
With these smaller workshops, we endeavor to conduct as much of the training as possible with the actual files our students use. As such, we ask our clients to send their data at least a week in an advance. This gives us the time to analyze the information, understand how clients currently work, and use their own files as a model to show them how to use Microsoft and highlight how they could improve their operations.
In the case of Numi Financial, we began with an Excel overview or refresher, then discussed formulas and functions, data filtering, charts, graphs, and pivot tables. We created and followed specific agendas to ensure that we covered the material the students most needed to learn. In addition to going over a wide range of Microsoft material, we had to keep in mind that these students ranged from beginner to intermediate and accommodate each person’s skill level. Our Numi Financial clients also worked in mixed versions of Excel, including 2007, 2010, and 2011, so we also had to be mindful of these differences.
Key Client Benefits:
Numi Financial students began with the basics of Excel. On their first day, they learned how to:
- Select cells, including using the control key to enter data, getting totals in the status bar, and working with special cells (those with formulas, constants, or other advanced information).
- Insert and delete columns and cells using right-click, ribbon, and keyboard shortcuts.
- Format Excel files using bold, italics, fonts, and multiple styles.
- Utilize the Format Painter tool to easily reproduce formatting elements across cells and columns.
- Customize their Excel functionality, including the ribbon and Quick Access Toolbars, as well as editing in cells, flash filling (which automates the process of entering repetitive information), and moving down.
- Validate data using a list from another spreadsheet.
- Copy and paste data within Excel, as well as use special paste options such as transpose (to switch cells), skip blanks (to avoid empty cells when pasting), and values multiply (to combine the information from two cells according to a formula).
- Filter information by next, number, and color, as well as use this function to search a spreadsheet (with add-ons).
- Manipulate the ins and outs of conditional formatting, including applying it to entire columns or cell ranges, using pre-set formats (with highlight and top/bottom rules), checking for duplicates, and using icons.
- Import data with the Text Import Wizard.
- Execute basic formulas, such as the use of the $ symbol to anchor values.
- Using a formula builder to author operations based on text (concatenate to link, mid, left/right), logical (with VLookup, Excel’s tool to find values), date & time (now, today), math (using sumif to add certain cells), evaluate procedures, and debug formulas.
- Create basic charts and pivot tables (dynamic information presentation tools) to organize, display, and analyze information in Excel spreadsheets.
During the second day of the workshop, we reviewed the use of $ to anchor values, find and replace to change $, text formatting, date & time designation, math (using sumifs), writing with VLookup to find key values, troubleshooting when invalid (#REF, #N/A) values are returned and should not be, and analyzing and fixing formulas. Then, we added more advanced skills, such as:
- Applying INDEX, MATCH, and IFERROR formulas.
- Understanding when and how to use named ranges.
- Using pivot tables to filter data, create formulas, freeze formatting so that it does not change when updating information, review or change a data set or source, create charts, and extract details using the GetPivotData tool.
- Manipulating tables. We taught students the benefits of these tools, when to use them, how to convert them, how to create formulas for them, and how to add columns to them.
- Transferring Excel information and functionality to PowerPoint and Word. We went over how to choose between a table or list, when charting is useful, and how to copy data while maintaining source formatting.
- Recording macros. This involves utilizing formulas to automate the application of multi-step Excel functions, making spreadsheet work faster and easier to complete.
With our innovative, in-depth workshop design, Numi Financial’s team was able to grasp all of the above concepts and put them into action. This will help them work more efficiently, confidently, and successfully in their day-to-day operations so they can better serve their clients and grow the company.
In addition to these educational benefits, we provided each student with:
- A certificate of completion
- A cool mouse pad
- Free training videos to further assist them
- Access to our Microsoft help forum
- Excel 2013 reference cards to refine their expertise
- An Excel and Access, LLC coffee cup to remember us by
Below is the agenda for day one:
Below is the agenda for day two:
If you think your team might benefit from one of our personalized, powerful workshops, contact Excel Consultant today. Our tech-savvy trainers would love to work closely with you and help you use Microsoft programs to your company’s advantage.
Call us now and get started today 877-392-3539