Data and Dashboards for Beginners
Go from a spreadsheet export to a dashboard: have AI check and summarize a sheet, turn a messy export into a clean Excel workbook, pull live data into Google Sheets, build your first Tableau chart and dashboard, and make a simple dashboard app.
Data and Dashboards for Beginners is a free, hands-on AI course for office staff, analysts and owners who send the same report every week from a spreadsheet export: 5 short modules (about 54 minutes in all) where you do each step yourself in a safe practice copy of ChatGPT, Claude, Coefficient, Tableau and other tools, which checks your work. No coding, no cost, and you can start without signing up.
Who it’s for: Office staff, analysts and owners who send the same report every week from a spreadsheet export. No coding and no paid BI software.
Why this course
Weekly reporting often means exporting data, cleaning it by hand, building a chart and emailing a screenshot, then doing it all again when someone asks for one product line. Each step can be done faster, and checked, with free tools.
The modules follow the data from start to finish: check and summarize it with AI, clean it into a workbook, keep it live in Google Sheets, then chart it in Tableau (on real Tableau Desktop Public Edition screens) and put it on a dashboard people can filter themselves.
What you’ll build
- Module 1: A sales review for Maple Hollow Garden Center, a made-up small business with six months of sales in one CSV file: 1,248 orders across 7 columns (order_id, date, category, product, channel, units, revenue).
- Module 3: You help Carla Mendez, who manages a four-person sales team at Keystone Advisory Group, a made-up company. She copies the pipeline into the Weekly Sales Report every Monday, and last week a deal reached the owner at the wrong stage.
- Module 4: A Tableau workbook with a "Revenue by region" bar chart (East $313, West $269 with the sample data), a Product filter the viewer controls and a dashboard holding both.
- Module 1 · ChatGPT · Beginner · ~10 min
Analyze a Spreadsheet
Every register, bank and online shop exports a spreadsheet, and almost nobody reads it. So decisions about stock, staff and budgets get made on a hunch, and the monthly report someone does build takes an afternoon of pivot tables.
- Module 2 · Claude · Intermediate · ~8 min
Use case: messy export to clean Excel workbook
Upload a messy sales export to Claude and get back a clean Excel workbook with a Data tab, a Summary tab built with formulas, and a chart, thanks to Claude's built-in Excel skill.
- Module 3 · Coefficient · Beginner · ~12 min
Coefficient: Pull Live Pipeline Data into Google Sheets and Auto-Refresh It Daily
Many sales managers copy the team pipeline into the weekly report by hand. It eats an hour or more every Monday, the numbers are out of date by Tuesday, and a deal at the wrong stage can reach the owner.
- Module 4 · Tableau · Beginner · ~15 min
Tableau Public: Your First Chart and Dashboard
Your VP wants weekly revenue by region in front of them by 9am Monday, and wants to filter to one product line without emailing you. You have a CSV export and no budget for software.
- Module 5 · Lovable · Intermediate · ~9 min
A simple dashboard from your data
Turn the booking requests in your Lovable Cloud database into a private dashboard with counts, a chart and a status table. Add a sign-in only you can use, test it in the preview, improve it by chatting, check the access rules and publish.
Prerequisites
- For the practice: a web browser. Each module runs in a copy of the real tool’s screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1.
- To do it for real: a ChatGPT account. Each module says which one it uses.
Time to complete
About 54 minutes of hands-on practice across 5 modules (125 steps in all). Modules take 8 to 15 minutes each, so you can do one in a sitting and come back for the next.
Take it with you
Tableau Public cheat sheet: the settings and words from this course on one printable page. Read it online · Download the PDF
Glossary
Dashboard CSV Pivot table Data transformation
Questions about this course
Is Data and Dashboards for Beginners free?
Yes. All 5 modules of Data and Dashboards for Beginners are free, and you can start module 1 without signing up.
How long does Data and Dashboards for Beginners take?
About 54 minutes of hands-on practice across 5 modules, beginner to intermediate. Each module takes 8 to 15 minutes, so you can do one at a time.
Which tools will I practice in?
ChatGPT, Claude, Coefficient, Tableau and Lovable. You practice in a copy of each tool's real screens that checks every step, so nothing touches your real accounts, and no coding is needed.
Who is Data and Dashboards for Beginners for?
Office staff, analysts and owners who send the same report every week from a spreadsheet export. No coding and no paid BI software.
Where do I start?
Start with module 1, Analyze a Spreadsheet. The modules are in order, so each one builds on the last.
Do I need paid BI software for this course?
No. Tableau Desktop Public Edition is free, but anything saved to Tableau Public is visible to anyone, so the course uses sample data. The other modules use free plans or free credits; each module says what it needs.
What do I need before I start Data and Dashboards for Beginners?
Only a web browser for the practice: it runs in a copy of each tool's screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1. To repeat a module in your own tools afterwards, the modules list a ChatGPT account.
What will I build in Data and Dashboards for Beginners?
A finished result in 3 of the 5 modules, for example: A sales review for Maple Hollow Garden Center, a made-up small business with six months of sales in one CSV file: 1,248 orders across 7 columns (order_id, date, category, product, channel, units, revenue); A Tableau workbook with a "Revenue by region" bar chart (East $313, West $269 with the sample data), a Product filter the viewer controls and a dashboard holding both.