Using Data for Decision Makers
Build confidence working with data by exploring how to discover and analyse insights to support better decisions.
Course overview
Using Data for Decision Makers equips professionals to make better, more confident decisions by combining human judgement with practical data skills. The course addresses a common challenge in organisations: having access to data but lacking the confidence, capability, or context to use it well.
Delivered as a hands-on, practical training programme, the course uses guided exercises, and applied learning in Excel to build understanding step by step. Participants explore how data can inform decisions, how to prepare and analyse it correctly, and how to navigate legal, ethical, and cultural considerations.
Tailored to suit a range of organisational contexts, the course is ideal for managers, analysts, advisors, and other professionals who come into contact with data in their workplace and want to be better equipped to use it effectively. Participants leave with practical tools, stronger data literacy, and the ability to ask better questions, interpret insights, and apply them confidently within their own organisations.
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What you'll learn
- Identify situations where data can improve decision-making, streamline operations, or assess effectiveness.
- Determine which types of data are most appropriate for specific questions or challenges.
- Recognise legal, ethical, and cultural risks when using data and avoid actions that could harm trust or reputation.
- Apply basic analytical techniques in Excel to interrogate and manipulate data effectively.
- Explore different analytical approaches and understand which are best suited to various data types and problems.
- Develop the skills to assess the trustworthiness and limitations of conclusions drawn from data.
- Strengthen the ability to use data confidently in strategic, tactical, and operational contexts.
- Apply practical tips and techniques to embed data-informed decision making in everyday organisational practice.
Course modules
How can data and analytics enhance human decision making in organisations?
Learn how to integrate subject matter expertise with data-informed insights.
Why should organisational, legal, ethical, and cultural considerations shape what can and should be done with data and analytics?
Make sure you know how to avoid situations that could put you or your organisation at legal risk or in danger of suffering damage to your reputations.
What types of data are there and how does data need to be prepared for analysis?
Most data analysts spend more time preparing their data than analysing it. Find out why this step is so important and what needs to be considered.
How do we answer ‘how many’, ‘what proportion’, and ‘what’s normal’ type questions about a single variable using Excel?
These very basic questions are extremely common in nearly every organisation. Learn to answer them yourself rather than having to rely on others.
How do we answer questions about differences in ‘how many’, ‘what proportion’, and ‘what’s normal’ using Excel?
Often understanding how one group of stakeholders differs from another is critical for making good decisions. You’ll learn how to test for such differences yourself rather than relying on others or on stereotypes or assumptions.
How can we make predictions with Excel?
Use Excel to make predictions. This is very useful for many purposes within organisations and also provides a foundation for understanding more sophisticated forms of prediction, such as those made by many AI tools.
How do we make all of this work in our own organisations?
You’ll finish the course with some tips and tricks you can take back to your own organisation to help ensure you are making the most of the data available to you.
Further Information
Format
This course is delivered as a two-day in-person workshop at our Wellington venue. It includes a mix of facilitator-led sessions, small-group exercises, and whole-group discussion. Group size is limited to 16 participants to ensure meaningful interaction and personal feedback. Morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea are provided to support networking and collaboration.
Participants will have the opportunity to work on examples. All participants are required to bring their laptops to the sessions.
What You'll Receive
You will receive a digital certificate of attendance and a Wellington Uni-Professional digital badge. These include the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours completed, making them suitable for recognition by professional organisations and employers.
Here's what others are saying
“Useful for a very high-level overview on how to use data. If you request data a lot, take this course – it will make you appreciate all the work that goes into preparing data.”
“This course was exactly what it had said it would be. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to get out of it but I know I got even more than what I thought I could. Mary Ellen was excellent, if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge on the power of data and how to communicate data, do this course!”
Upcoming Courses & Delivery Options
30 Mar 2026 | Wellington
Duration: 2 days
$NZD 1,495
excl. GST
23 Sep 2026 | Wellington
Duration: 2 days
$NZD 1,495
excl. GST
Can’t make these dates or want a private course?
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