Direct answer: the analytics process is Ask, Collect, Clean, Analyse, Visualise, Act. Skipping the first or third step causes most project failures.
1. Ask
Define the decision and metric. Example: “Which products should we promote next quarter?”
2. Collect
Identify sources: sales system export, price list, campaign log.
3. Clean
Fix types, remove duplicates, standardise names. Power Query makes it repeatable.
4. Analyse
Pivot by product and period, compare margin and volume, test explanations. See Excel analysis workflow.
5. Visualise
One chart per message. Build in Excel or Power BI.
6. Act
State a recommendation, the assumption behind it and how you will measure the result.
Common mistakes
- Jumping to charts before cleaning
- No stated assumptions
- Ending at insight without a recommendation
Conclusion
Use this as a checklist for every project. For a guided path, see the Data Analytics course or revisit what data analytics is.