How to Use Excel for Data Analytics: Cleaning an 876-Row HR Dataset

Microsoft Excel remains one of the most widely used tools for data organization, exploration, and cleaning due to its accessible interface. A practical exercise involves working with a deliberately 'dirty' HR dataset containing 876 employee records across 21 columns. The dataset includes attributes such as Employee ID, First Name, and Last Name, each stored in separate columns representing individual variables. In Excel, rows correspond to individual records — in this case, one row per employee — while cells hold specific data values. Understanding this foundational structure is the first step toward performing meaningful data cleaning and analysis.