Excel & Power BI Dashboard

I’d like a clean, interactive dashboard that lets me track sales performance at a glance. All sales data currently lives in Excel spreadsheets, so the first step is connecting those sheets and structuring them properly for analysis. From there, I want to surface three core metrics—total sales, sales by product category, and sales trends over time—using compelling visuals in either Excel or Power BI (or a mix of both if that streamlines the workflow).

Because I’m still early in my analytics journey, I value clear, reusable logic over complex trickery. Please shape the data model so I can refresh the numbers just by dropping a new file in the same folder, and label every measure or calculated column in plain language. Slicers, date filters, and hover-over tooltips that reveal extra details would be ideal, as they will help me explore patterns without writing new formulas each time.

Deliverables:
• One fully functional dashboard file (Excel, PBIX, or both) with all visuals and refresh settings in place
• A short, step-by-step guide explaining how you prepared the data, built the visuals, and how I can keep everything up to date

I’m aiming for clarity, speed, and ease of maintenance, so please keep the solution lightweight and well-documented.