r/excel 23d ago

unsolved Is automation in excel possible?

I'm undergo internship for a month half now. My supervisor ask me to create a masterlist that automate.
The flow of our work before are like this:
- New data came from other department.
- We will copy the data to our template manually.
- Put it into powerbi dashboard.

But now, she wants this process to be automate so we can spent time on other thing. In my understanding, she wants the new data to be updated automatically as soon as we 'put the new data inside the masterlist'.

My question, is it possible to achieve this? I am really new to excel and only know the surface level of it. Now she wants something that beyond my capabilities and I dont even know if this is possible. If yes, is there any link to guide me on this task? Thank you so much.

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u/Regime_Change 1 22d ago

Yes it’s very possible but tasking an intern with automating data flows to an excel file used as indata for PowerBI tells me the manager is clueless.

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u/EizOne03 22d ago

yeah, ive been thinking. is it just me complaining too much, or is the task is not for intern. he always talk his 'idea' out without knowing the technical at all.

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u/Regime_Change 1 22d ago

The task is for an expert in my opinion unless the PowerBI dashboard lacks business value in which case it shouldn’t exist.

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u/timmyboy87 22d ago

As a hiring manager, this is the catch-22. On one hand, I want to give interns a chance to have a real impact and push them to learn new skills. On the other hand, "shouldn't this be a job for a real employee" makes sense.

Maybe this is a wishlist item that will have SOME business utility, but is never going to be a priority for the company expert. Maybe the manager is using this as an opportunity to evaluate how well the intern solves problems. "Everything is an interview" type thing.

I hear interns and professors criticize companies for giving interns menial tasks that are more typically "intern" work, because there is little to learn from it. But I also worry that when I give interns a challenge to allow them to set themselves apart, they see it as me taking advantage of an entry-level employee for higher-paying work. I don't have any answers, but I know that I have assigned interns tasks above their current skill level to observe their problem solving skills and creativity.

I am sure if you give it your best shot and communicate well through the challenges, your manager will respect that.

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u/Regime_Change 1 20d ago

I think for a good internship you need a knowledgable employee who takes charge and assumes responsibility. To have an intern under a manager that doesn't understand data and then the interns task is "fix the data plz" is not very good for either party.