Data manipulation is the process of altering data in other to make it more organized and enhance its readability.

There are several tools required for data manipulation, but they are specific to the type of data. However, we need to understand why we need to manipulate data to achieve a successful output. This article will help you understand data manipulation and provide you with the step-by-step necessary guide.

The following are reasons why we need to manipulate data;

• When data is organized consistently, it helps in decision making

• A well-structured data provides insight into how to go about budgeting from previous data collected.

• It helps to remove duplicates, prevents redundancy, and makes data easy to interpret.

• Data manipulation helps the analyst focus on the main picture which provides meaningful insight.

To carry out good decision-making, data has to be analyzed and this cannot be achieved without first, conducting a manipulation to ensure all necessary data are put in the proper account which in turn helps analysts to conduct proper analysis to understand customer behaviors or trend depending on the nature of the analysis being conducted.

Before manipulating data, you have to first import the data into the manipulation tool eg, importing an excel file into Power Bi. step two is to clean the data that has been imported before rearranging it. After that, you can then conduct a visualization based on the insight gathered and then share your findings.

Generally, data manipulation can be interesting but then, you have to understand your data and what is required of you at the end of the manipulation as this would provide you with an edge and a good idea of how to go about it.