Infero Training – Business and Technical Courses

Security…communications…information management…finances. We all know IT is an integral part of business these days. But the sad reality is that many of us just aren’t getting the best performance from our software.

But how do you review your systems to improve your own business performance – and make day-to-day work even easier, too? With a Microsoft Certified System Engineer or MCSE. More and more businesses are discovering the advantages of this mark of quality. So how could an MCSE-qualified professional help you?

The business benefits to your company are:

Reduced costs – bringing in a qualified professional will cut the costs of maintaining your workstations and personal computers. And you’ll be able to make your network more reliable with Microsoft Windows 2003 Active Directory – and have the professional support to back it up.

Improved performance – Microsoft’s Active Directory is powerful stuff for business. It could help you simplify your IT management, strengthen security, and boost how well your current systems and software work together. To make the most of this, your organisation needs a professional with the expertise to manage Active Directory and help you plan strategically for what you want your network to do in the years ahead. No one is better prepared to do this than a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) who is certified in Microsoft Windows 2003.

Up-to-date technology – MCSEs lead the way in helping businesses move effortlessly to the Windows 2003 operating system. They can also ensure you get all the potential benefits from Windows 2003 and Active Directory.

Easy progress – A smooth and successful is roll out of technology such as Windows 2003 Server is much more likely with the support of an MCSE-qualified professional. Technology experts IDC recently asked more than 500 Microsoft Certified Partners and Value-Added Provider Partners about the greatest benefit from a business perspective of having MCSEs. Eighty percent responded with shorter time to deploy Windows solutions, lower implementation risk, or an increased sales hit rate.

Great value – Hiring an MCSE makes better use of resources and improves performance. It all adds up to great value.

Stand out from the competition – keep ahead of a crowded marketplace with support from MCSE – and proven experience with Active Directory.

All kinds of businesses can develop with the help of MCSE professionals. They’ll ensure your IT works at its best for you – not against you! To benefit from the knowledge of an MCSE professional, book a course for your IT personnel.

You finally installed Office 2007 and guess what? You cannot find commands you are used to in the Menu!

It will certainly take a while to adjust to a new Menu. So what you can do to locate where your favourite Office 2003 commands are in the new Office 2007 interface?

Microsoft developed visual, interactive reference guides to help you quickly learn where things are. You can download and install them on your computer.

The only downside to it is that you have to download these guides for each of the Office 2007 Applications.

If you are not sure if it will help it, try an online demonstration from one of those listed at Microsoft Office Online.

If you are happy to proceed, use the following links to download command reference guides for each of the Office applications:

Word 2003 to Word 2007 interactive command reference guide

Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 interactive command reference guide

PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 interactive command reference guide

Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

Access 2003 to Access 2007 interactive command reference guide

To ensure optimal performance of your Access database, you can run the Compact and Repair utility within Access. This utility rearranges how the database is stored on a disk if the database is fragmented.

To set an option that automates this process every time the database is closed:

1. Open the Access database that you want Access to compact automatically.
2. Click the Office Button , and then click Access Options.
3. Click Current Database and, from Application Options, select the Compact on Close check box.

As someone wise once said, “Nothing endures but change.” As this comment by the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus  highlights, change is the only certainty in life. Another wise person has done extensive research into the ways we respond to this fact of life.

Everett Rogers’ studies cover the full spectrum of change. His Diffusion of Innovations Model can help all of us identify ways to respond powerfully to change. Rogers’ view is that “The degree that a person is open to change and innovation will seriously affect the rate of change.” He identified five categories of innovativeness. Which one are you?

Innovators – in at the start

According to Rogers’ research, Innovators are the first 2.5% of the population to adopt new ideas. They’re the intellectual risk takers who get connected with other innovators. These are the experimenters who can understand and apply complex technical concepts. They’re also able to withstand a high degree of uncertainty.

Early Adopters – an important influence

Making up the next 13.5% of the population, Early Adopters are usually more integrated into the local system than Innovators. These people are good at influencing friends and colleagues. They successfully put new ideas into practice. This is often the most influential group because others respect their opinions about new innovations.

The Early Majority – sharing ideas

The next 34% of the population is made up of the Early Majority. They’re usually just ahead of the average members of the group when it comes to adopting new ideas. They might not have as much influence as the Early Adopters, but they do help spread ideas and connections.

The Late Majority – a cautious approach

The next 34% features the Late Majority. These people are likely to adopt changes just after the average member of a system. Peer pressure is likely to get them to adopt new ideas, but they usually remain sceptical and cautious! They like to know what they’re getting into before they make a change.

Resisters – taking their time

Resisters are the final 16% of the population to adopt innovative changes. Their decisions are usually based on what has been done before. Resisters are generally suspicious of both innovations and change agents. They often need to be sure that a new idea won’t fail before they can adopt it.

Did you recognise yourself and the people you know? Are you a shaper or a follower of change?  Rogers’ research shows that for change to really take hold, at least 15 or 20% of a target population must accept it. Early Adopters are the most vital group for change because they’re the ones who have links to the innovators and to the more cautious groups. Want to make change happen in your business or personal life? Understanding the people around you and how they relate to innovation is a vital step towards making things happen. Are you going through change? Then join our Change Management for Managers course.

PDF is a fixed-layout electronic file format that preserves document formatting. It ensures that when the file is viewed online or printed, it retains exactly the format that was initially intended, and that data in the file cannot easily be changed.

Before the release of Office 2007 we had to either buy Adobe Acrobat for about £450 in order to convert Office files into PDF format, or install a third party software solution.

With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a file format called XPS. It is similar to PDF in that you can save a file to this format and share or print it at a later date. This XPS format is not the global standard, and not many people know what it is when they receive it.

The following Office applications can be used to convert files to PDF format:

• Access
• Excel
• InfoPath
• OneNote
• PowerPoint
• Publisher
• Visio
• Word

In order to convert files, you need to install 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS. 

Let’s use Microsoft Word application to convert a Word file into PDF format.

1. Open a Microsoft Word document you want to save in PDF format
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then navigate to Save As, and click PDF Or XPS.

 

 

3.  In Save as Type, make sure that PDF is selected.

 

 

If you want to open the file immediately after saving it, select the Open file after publishing check box. This check box is available only if you have a PDF reader installed on your computer.

 

4. Click Publish to create your PDF.

We all know success in business can depend on completing projects on time and on budget. But how can you power up your projects using just one IT resource?

As a seriously powerful piece of software, Microsoft Project can be a little daunting for the first time user. But don’t let that put you off. A short Microsoft Project course  will give you the knowledge you need to manage all kinds of projects much more effectively.

It can be tempting to get launched into a new project without taking a good look at all the individual jobs it involves. It can also be far too easy to set down unrealistic timescales. So, before you begin – pause, take a deep breath and start planning.

Let’s go back to basics and talk about defining your tasks. Every project, from developing a new publication to moving offices, breaks down into individual tasks assigned to individual people. Do this clearly and you’ll ensure Microsoft Project works well for the lifetime of your project. Avoid the issue and you’ll find it difficult to stay in control.

Your new best friend – Work Breakdown Structure

If you’re new to project management, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) might look like just a handy project outline. But it’s actually a great deal more than that.

Wikipedia defines the WBS as “a tree-like structure that permits summing of subordinate costs for tasks, materials, etc., into their successively higher level “parent” tasks, materials, etc. For each element of the work breakdown structure, a description of the task to be performed is generated.”

WBS actually helps you to break down your project into manageable chunks. So you can think in hours – not weeks.

A common mistake for new project planners is set tasks that are much too broad, like “Write content – 3 months”. A vague and oversized goal like that is not likely to get done on time. Plus, with no thought given to the individual steps behind the task, it’s very likely that several steps will be forgotten. This is where WBS makes all the difference.

Large, generalised tasks are difficult to track. When the write content task runs late, the manager will likely have no idea what the problem is, what can be done to speed things up, or when the real finish date is going to be.

The alternative? With WBS you can break down each task into small steps measured in hours – no more than 16 hours or two business days each. This will get you thinking about what’s really involved in that particular project. Then you’ll create a much more realistic estimate of how long the project will really take.

For project managers, WBS is a vital tool for making sure that the project plan contains all the tasks that need to be done and ONLY the tasks that need to be done. Think of your WBS as your map and chapter-by-chapter guidebook to getting your project done on target and on budget!

The skills to stay ahead

You’ll see by now that MS Project is an invaluable resource for business and one worth getting to know and understand over time.

A great start to learning how it can help you is by taking a short course. With the right techniques and knowledge, you’ll power up all your projects!

You can find out more about  Microsoft Project courses here.

You may have noticed when typing into a column that if you start to enter some text that begins with the same letters as text that has been previously entered in that column, Excel completes the remaining characters for you. This feature is called AutoComplete.

It will not always work, for example, for entries that contain only dates or numbers.

If the first few characters that you type in a cell match an existing entry in that column, Excel automatically enters the remaining characters for you. Excel automatically completes only those entries that contain text or a combination of text and numbers. Entries that contain only numbers, dates, or times are not automatically completed.

You have the following choices:

• Accept a proposed entry by pressing ENTER (in this case the completed entry will match the pattern of uppercase and lowercase letters of the existing entry)
• Replace the automatically entered characters by ignoring the proposed entry and continue typing.
• Delete the automatically entered characters by pressing BACKSPACE.

However, if you find this feature is not useful, you can turn it off:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Excel Options.
2. Click Advanced, and then, under Editing options, clear or select the Enable AutoComplete for cell values check box and turn automatic completion of cell values on or off.