Suppose you have a big project plan with lots of tasks. You would only like to display incomplete tasks in a Gantt view. What should you do?

‘Filter’ is the answer to this question. Filter specifies which task or resource information should be displayed or highlighted in a view.

Select one of the following:

• Select Incomplete Tasks from the drop down menu in Filter on the Formatting Toolbar  

• Or, from the Menu, select Project\Filtered For: All Tasks\Incomplete Tasks

Only Incomplete Tasks will be displayed. If Incomplete Tasks are still displayed then follow these steps:

1. Navigate to View\More Views.
2. From the dialog box, select Gantt Chart and click Edit.
3. Uncheck the Highlight filter and click OK.

This will ensure that only Incomplete Tasks are displayed.

It can’t make a rabbit appear out of a hat or do crafty card tricks. But Microsoft Excel really can work wonders with your business inventory. Thanks to its (almost) magical powers, you’ll soon have all kinds of admin and management tasks covered. Yes, you know about Excel, you know it comes as standard with the Microsoft Office Suite and yes – you thought it was mostly for adding things up. But did you know that with Microsoft Excel training, you could be getting this supersmart software to boost the productivity and efficiency of your business?

Your magic wand

Work schedules, timesheets, stock levels, sales figures…have you ever wondered if there’s an easier way to keep tabs on them? On return from some targeted Microsoft Excel training you could be on your way to waving a magic wand over all of them! Excel lets you get truly inventive with your inventory. With MS Excel you can create and edit your very own spreadsheets for budget keeping, for inventory control and management, for creating customer contact lists, for staff attendance, and much more.

More power to you

Excel’s magic goes even further – putting you in charge of your inventory facts and figures. Its mathematical abilities can’t turn you into Carol Vorderman, but they will give you control over the most complex of calculations. Excel’s formulas are one of its most versatile features. Get the formula in place and it will allow you to keep control of everyday office figures right through to complex calculations for high-end business projections. The most magical thing, of course, is that once you’ve set up your formulas, Excel does all the work for you. The right kind of MS Excel training could put all this power at your fingertips.

Wizards on hand

Excel is packed full of clever little wizards to help you get all kinds of business tasks done. With just a short Microsoft Excel training course you could be on your way to managing many areas of your inventory – and your business – more efficiently. Excel allows you to create your very own database to suit your customer base, your stock and your schedules. One example is when a customer phones in and asks for a part number. You need to find out straight away if the product is available and in what quantity. With just a short MS Excel training course at intermediate level you‘d have the know how to use Hlookup and Vlookup functions and get the job done ASAP!

Excel makes your job easier to do and can even free up some of your time. Now that really is magic.

Bring some Excel magic to your business with an Infero training course at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels. As well as affordable IT and business training, we also offer helpful, no-obligation advice on your training options (and information about training grants of up to £1000)! Get in touch now.

Sometimes you may struggle with formatting and you do not understand why some text is deleted or a page break is entered in the wrong place. In order to help to rectify the problem you may want to display Formatting Marks. Select one of the following:

• On the Home tab, in the Paragraph section, click Show/Hide

• Or from keyboard press a combination of <Ctrl>, <Shift>, <8> keys simultaneously.

This will display tab characters, spaces, paragraph marks, hidden text etc. Clicking again on the Show/Hide icon or a combination of keys will hide the characters.

Projects – wouldn’t it be great to know how to turn them from a bit of a nightmare into a dream for your business? A project has the potential to boost a company in all kinds of ways. But with the extra demands on your staff and your workload, even a relatively small project can snowball into something slightly scary that falls behind schedule and goes over budget. Successful project management depends on a strong mix of tools, skills and attitude. Here we list the key ingredients to getting it right.

Get in Touch

Do you know what they know? Could you be missing out on valuable project management experience within your own business? For each new project ask around your company to find out who has relevant experience. You might be surprised. Find out who they are, then get ahead of the game by building on their experience with up-to-date training and support. You’ll then have your very own in-house project management experts!

Get Connected

Every project has the potential to affect your business – for better or for worse. So don’t keep it to yourself.  Make sure the rest of the company is invested in the process. That way you’ll be more likely to have people’s cooperation when you need it. It’s easy to stay caught up in the day-to-day running of a business without sharing the strategic leaps forward. Keep everyone informed and do it appropriately. Senior management may like to have regular updates or one-to-one meetings whilst front line staff may appreciate a brief weekly email.

Get the Right Tools for the Job

You wouldn’t paint a wall with a hairbrush. So why are you trying to achieve first class results for your project with tools unfit for the job? Every project is different, but each and every one can benefit from the smart, structured software that makes up Microsoft Project. This resource will actually do a lot of the ‘thinking’ for you. Let’s face it, managing a project is multi-tasking multiplied by 100! But MS project is designed to turn the process into a clear-cut sequence of tasks. Whether you want to track budgets, workflow or people, MS Project takes the pain out of project management. It can even help you spot a specific problem long before it starts becoming a barrier to project success! Taking a little time to get skilled in using the right software is very likely to save you time, money – and headaches – further down the line. So, sign up for an MS Project training.

Would you like to get prepared for better project management with a short, affordable Project Management training course? As well as IT and business training for individuals and companies, we also offer helpful, no-obligation advice on your training options (and information about training grants of up to £1000)! Contact us now.

Creating a chart in Microsoft Office Excel is a very simple process. Excel provides a variety of chart types that you can choose from. A chart can be embedded as a graphic object on a worksheet page, or it can appear on a dedicated chart sheet.

For most charts, such as Column and Bar charts, you can create the chart by plotting the data displayed as rows and columns. However, some chart types, such as Radar, Pie or Bubble charts, require specific data arrangement.

To create a chart:

1. Select the cells that contain the data you want to use for the chart.

 

2. On the Insert tab, in the Charts group, either:

• Click the chart type, and then click the chart subtype you want to use
• Or, to see all available chart types, click on the small arrow in the bottom right corner to display the Insert Chart dialog box. Then scroll through and select the one you want to use.

The chart will be placed on the worksheet as an embedded chart

Once the chart is created you can modify its structure by using Design, Layout and Format tabs within the Chart Tools toolbar.

In the “Putting the ‘Wow’ into PowerPoint Presentations – Part One – Readability” article we talked about how to make presentations readable. Here we learn how to make presentations more visually appealing.

PowerPoint – it’s one of the most commonly used presentation packages out there. That’s no surprise considering how easy it is to use. But you’d be surprised how many people aren’t making the most of this powerful software. Are you one of them?

Out of the 1 million PowerPoint presentations given every single day, many fail to make the most of images to create a great impression. A well-chosen image can grab our attention much more than lots of confusing words.

Here are some secrets for more attention grabbing PowerPoint presentations:

Picture this

You want your presentation to interest and inspire your audience. Using pictures or photos alongside your text will help people understand your message. And an unusual or amusing image could help keep your presentation in mind long after it’s over!

Aside from using images to make a point, don’t forget to use repeated background images to establish continuity between slides.

Get animated

Diagrams can be difficult to digest all at once. It’s often much more effective to present diagrams by revealing them one step at a time – rather than the whole thing in one go. For example, you could have a pyramid diagram revealing itself section by section from the bottom up.

There are lots of animation effects to choose from. They can help you control the flow of information, highlight key points and of course, keep your audience interested!

Double vision

So you’ve chosen the best images and pictures for your presentation, but how do you know they will win over your audience? It’s time to get someone you trust to take a look and see whether your images really do bring your talk to life.

Send your presentation over to a colleague or friend for review using Microsoft Outlook. Then your reviewer can view the presentation in the comfort of their own home or office and suggest changes to their copy of the presentation without having the chore of marking up hard copies. Once they’ve sent it back to you, you can add their comments using the PowerPoint reviewing tools.

Keep these simple rules in mind and you’ll soon be creating great looking presentations. A short PowerPoint training course could help you get even more out of PowerPoint and many other Microsoft packages.

The Ribbon is designed to help you quickly find the commands. Commands are organised in logical groups that are collected together under tabs according to a type of activity.

You cannot delete or replace the Ribbon with the toolbars and menus from the previous versions of Microsoft Office. However, to make more space available on your screen, you can minimise the Ribbon.

1. From the Quick Access Toolbar, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar .
2. From the drop down list, select Minimize the Ribbon.  

To use the Ribbon while it is minimised, click the tab you want to use, and then click the option or command you want to use. After your request has been performed, the Ribbon reverts to being minimised.

Every employee has an important part to play in a business. But there’s no doubt that a company’s success still very much depends on the people at the top. The number of people entering managerial roles has increased significantly, with managers taking on a growing range of responsibilities. But while managers think about keeping their team’s skills up to date, do they recognise how management training could benefit them? After all, managing people is a complex task, only slightly less demanding than herding cats. So here are three top tips for happier managers, more motivated staff and a healthier business.

Tip one: Engage your ears.

What makes your employees turn up to work every day? No, it’s not simply boredom or the need to pay the bills. Every one of us has individual motivations, interests and values. And these lie behind your employees’ choice to work at your company and not the place down the road.

Find out what interests your people and you’ll find fresh ways to boost their performance. You don’t need any special equipment. Just your ears. They can be very powerful tools when used properly, for example to find out what people actually think about their jobs. This is valuable information – so act on it. Identify ways to support your employees’ interests, for example sports-mad staff might jump at the chance of a company footie team with time out to train. What about listening out for changes to an employee’s family situation and recognising how a little more flexibility could make a huge difference to their busy day? Acknowledge what’s important to your staff and they’ll reward you with even more commitment.

Tip two: Lead the way – but don’t shoulder the weight.

Ever heard of the conductor who played all the instruments himself? Well that’s how crazy it is to be a manager and try to do everything yourself! You’re there to lead, whether that’s an orchestra, an assembly line or a department. You need to match your talent at what you do with a gift for delegation. This will help you manage your time better, improve your organisation’s performance and win the commitment of your staff.

Tip three: Put down the welcome mat

Ok, a ‘welcome’ mat on the floor outside your office isn’t actually necessary, but you’d be amazed at the impact of a friendly ’open door’ approach to your staff. When you’re busy conducting that orchestra, it’s all too easy to see visits from employees as a distraction. And that’s when communication breaks down. Regularly remind people that you’re happy to hear about any questions or concerns they might have. See these issues as a great opportunity to show your team how much you want your company to be a good place to work. Do that and your staff will help make your organisation even more successful.

Learn more great management secrets on our course What Good Managers Do: the First 100 days.

If you are fed up with moving junk mail to the Junk Folder do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Preferences tab click Junk E-mail.
3. Select the Permanently delete suspected junk e-mail instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder.

Your messages will be deleted immediately, which means you will not be able to restore them.

Up-to-date IT and technical skills are an essential for every business. So it’s strange that in more challenging times, these skills are suddenly seen as an optional extra – rather than a must-have. What’s optional about having staff who know how to get the best out of their resources? And why is it suddenly less important now that your team has the skills to keep your business moving forwards?

The truth is that in tough times, well targeted, high quality training can keep a business one step ahead of the competition. Of course, there is the reality of limited budgets and overall resource planning to contend with. There’s no doubt that we all need to make careful choices right now. But this should be more about the quality of training, not writing IT and technical training off the list for the foreseeable future. So what is the best approach for keeping your team well skilled in challenging times? Here’s what you need to ask yourself:

What training should come top of your list?

What are your business priorities for the next month, six months, year? What skills are going to help push your people and your organisation forward? Prioritising will help you create the ideal training shopping list for your business. It’s time to go through your company’s training schedule and work out which courses are the most beneficial for now, and further down the line. Which courses are going to help upskill your staff? Which areas of the business could benefit from training on core skills like team building and time management? After all, both these skills help build a stronger, more efficient organisation. Think about what will keep your business competitive and prioritise your training plan around these areas.

Do you really know all your training options?

This could be the perfect opportunity to review and update the way you organise your training. Reassess your training options and you could uncover all kinds of interesting and more flexible opportunities. It’s always worth making a call and seeing what’s on offer. Ask your training provider about pricing options and discounts for group or advance bookings. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised! It’s also worth chatting to your training provider about the full range of courses on offer.  Ok, you know they do Excel training, but are you aware of all the other technical and business training courses available? It pays to think flexibly.

Are you really thinking ahead?

Health Warning: significantly reducing your training spend could have serious implications for the long-term well being of your business. 

We all need to respond to economic changes in the short-term, but not to the long-term cost of our competitiveness. How will you progress when your team lacks up-to-date skills? How will your company cope with reduced productivity and decreased employee morale? Never stop planning for the long-term. Choose great quality training from the experts. After all, you are investing in the future of your business.

You can access flexible, budget-friendly IT and business training through Infero Training. We can also give you helpful, no-obligation advice on your training options and tell you how you can get a training grant of up to £1000! Contact us now.