Claude + Excel for Analysts: Practical AI Workflows
Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Leverage Claude’s Excel add-in and Cowork to accelerate analysis
What you’ll learn and how you can apply it
- Use Claude’s Excel add-in to assist with modeling, formula creation, and data analysis in structured Excel workflows
- Design prompts and instructions that guide Claude to produce reliable analytical outputs for financial and business scenarios
- Validate and cross-check AI-generated Excel analysis to reduce hallucinations, modeling errors, and data misinterpretation
- Use Claude Cowork to safely automate multistep tasks with Excel files and related content
Course description
Excel users are increasingly able to work with AI systems that help interpret data, suggest model structures, and generate analytical outputs. Tools in the Claude ecosystem, such as Claude’s Excel add-in and Claude Cowork, allow analysts to interact with workbooks conversationally while building formulas, exploring scenarios, and refining models.
Microsoft Excel MVP George Mount leads this hands-on exploration of the practical ways analysts can incorporate Claude into real Excel workflows. Using examples such as discounted cash flow models, sensitivity analysis, and structured what-if scenarios, you’ll understand how to collaborate with Claude to develop models, generate formulas, and analyze datasets directly from Excel. In addition, you’ll learn the techniques that help you get dependable results from AI-assisted workflows: writing clear prompts, structuring workbooks so AI systems can interpret them correctly, and validating outputs to reduce analytical errors. And you’ll explore how Claude Cowork executes multistep tasks on files and datasets, such as organizing documents, extracting data, and generating reports.
This live event is for you because...
- You work with Excel for financial modeling, analytics, or reporting and want to understand how AI tools like Claude can assist with those workflows.
- You’re an analyst, finance professional, or data practitioner who’s interested in using generative AI to accelerate modeling tasks while maintaining accuracy and auditability.
- You’re curious about how emerging AI tools compare with Microsoft Copilot and want practical examples of how these systems interact with Excel.
Prerequisites
- Access to a Claude Pro plan or higher (to enable the Claude tools used in the course)
- The Claude Excel add-in installed on your machine (to enable Claude to interact directly with Excel workbooks)
- Claude Cowork installed (used for examples involving multistep tasks and working with files)
- Microsoft Excel installed and ready to use for exercises
- Intermediate Excel knowledge, including formulas, tables, and PivotTables
- Some familiarity with AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot (helpful but not required)
- No coding experience necessary
Recommended follow-up:
- Take Generative AI for Excel (live online course with Dawn Griffiths)
- Read Learning Generative AI Tools for Excel (book)
Schedule
The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.
Claude and the modern Excel workflow (30 minutes)
- Presentation: Overview of Claude and the emerging Claude ecosystem; Claude Excel add-in and how it interacts with spreadsheets; comparing Claude and Copilot for Excel-based analysis
- Group discussion: What parts of your Excel workflow involve the most manual analysis or repetitive work?
- Hands-on exercise: Use Claude and the Excel add-in to summarize and explore a regional sales dataset, identifying key trends such as top products or highest-performing regions
- Q&A
Using Claude to build and improve Excel models (55 minutes)
- Presentation: Writing prompts that generate formulas and model logic; working with Claude to structure financial models; prompt strategies for analytical tasks
- Group discussion: What information does an AI assistant need in order to understand an Excel model correctly?
- Hands-on exercise: Use Claude to help build a simple financial model, such as calculating NPV for a small investment scenario and generating the necessary Excel formulas
- Q&A
- Break
Guardrails and validation (60 minutes)
- Presentation: Preventing hallucinations in spreadsheet analysis; cross-checking AI-generated formulas and outputs; structuring Excel workbooks for reliable AI interaction
- Group discussion: How should analysts validate outputs produced by AI tools?
- Hands-on exercise: Review a Claude-generated analysis of a sales dataset and add validation checks in Excel to confirm totals, formulas, and assumptions
- Q&A
- Break
Working with Claude Cowork (35 minutes)
- Presentation: What Claude Cowork is and how it differs from chat interfaces; using Cowork to collaborate with Claude on analytical tasks; structuring projects and workflows with Claude
- Group discussion: Where could a tool like Cowork help manage larger analytical projects?
- Hands-on exercise: Outline a Claude Cowork workflow for preparing a month-end close packet
- Q&A
Your Instructor
George Mount
George Mount is the founder and CEO of Stringfest Analytics, a consulting firm specializing in analytics education and upskilling. He has worked with leading bootcamps, learning platforms and practice organizations to help individuals excel at analytics.
George regularly blogs and speaks on data analysis, data education and workforce development and is the author of Advancing into Analytics: From Excel to Python and R (O'Reilly Media, 2021) and _Modern Data Analytics in Excel: Using Power Query, Power Pivot and More for Enhanced Data Analytics _(O'Reilly Media, 2024). He is a recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for exceptional technical expertise and community advocacy in the field of Excel.
George holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hillsdale College and master’s degrees in finance and information systems from Case Western Reserve University. He resides in Cleveland, Ohio.