About This Course
The Automation & Productivity Tools Course is designed to help you streamline your daily work. You will learn how to manage data, tasks and communication using tools like Excel, Power Query, Power BI, Google Workspace, Slack, OneDrive / Google Drive and cloud‑based automation platforms such as Power Automate.
The focus is on practical, real‑world use cases: automating reports, tracking work, collaborating with teams, and connecting apps so that information flows automatically. By the end of the course, you’ll have a toolkit and workflows you can apply immediately in your job, business or studies to save hours every week.
Syllabus Overview
Module 1
Productivity Foundations & Excel for Work
- Productivity Mindset – prioritisation, batching, focus techniques
- Excel Essentials – formulas, tables, conditional formatting
- Data Cleaning in Excel – remove duplicates, text to columns, filters
- Basic Dashboards – charts, pivot tables & quick reports
- Shortcuts & Templates – saving time with keyboard & reusable files
- Lab: Build a weekly report template that auto‑updates from raw data
Module 2
Automation with Power Query, Power BI & No‑Code Tools
- Power Query Basics – importing, transforming & refreshing data
- Intro to Power BI – building simple interactive dashboards
- No‑Code Automation – overview of Power Automate & similar services
- Connecting Apps – triggers & actions (email, sheets, forms, drives)
- Lab: Automate report refresh & email / chat notifications
- Best Practices – naming, documentation & error handling
Module 3
Task Management, Collaboration & Personal Systems
- Task & Project Management – Kanban boards (Trello / Asana style)
- Knowledge Management – digital notes, SOPs & docs (Notion / OneNote style)
- Communication Workflows – Slack / Teams channels & integrations
- Google Workspace / Office 365 – Docs, Sheets, Drive organisation
- Designing Your Personal Productivity System – calendar + tasks + notes
- Lab: Build a simple workflow that connects tasks, documents & reminders
*Exact tools may vary as per institution and curriculum, but the concepts remain the same.
Projects
Hands‑on Workflows & Templates
- Automated weekly / monthly business report
- Task & project tracking board with notifications
- Personal or team knowledge base in a notes / workspace tool
- Multi‑step automation connecting forms, sheets & email / chat
- Personal productivity system combining calendar, tasks & notes
