Administrative Arts » Microsoft Excel

Learn Office 2007 with Ribbon Hero

Jodith — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:00:45 +0000

One of the biggest problems with Office 2007 is that the interface of the programs is very different from previous versions of Office. Tasks you can usually do with your eyes closed have become absurdly hard in 2007 simply because we have to relearn the interface. Once you figure out the interface, you’ll find that Office 2007 is really a great set of programs, but you might pull your hair out learning it.

Well, the folks at Microsoft have finally come up with a way to help us learn the new interface. It’s called Office Ribbon Hero, and it’s a game to help you learn the 2007 interface and new functionality. It installs seamlessly with all of your Office programs, and you earn points just through doing your every day work. However, you can also complete the “challenges” within Ribbon Hero to go through tutorials teaching you the new interface.

Office Hero is still in beta, and it has a few bugs (some challenges don’t update properly), but I’ve really enjoyed playing and learning some really great functionality that I didn’t even know existed in Word 2007. I’ve played through most of the challenges in Word 2007, and I’m looking forward to playing in the other Office programs as well. If the game is popular, Microsoft is planning to release new content and challenges for it in the future, to help you lean to use more advanced functions in the Office Suite of programs.

If you want to learn the ins and outs of Office 2007, download and install Office Ribbon Hero. Remember, it’s important to keep your software skills top notch, especially in today’s challenging employment environment.

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Excel Is NOT a Database!

Jodith — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:00:05 +0000

We all know what Microsoft Excel is. It’s a spreadsheet software. It’s not a database. It’s never been a database. It never will be a database. Do I sound strident there? GOOD!

Seriously, it’s not a database, folks, so please quit using it as one. I can’t tell you how many places I’ve worked keep critical data in spreadsheets, jumping through all kinds of hoops and writing all kinds of code to get it to act like a database. The employee hours they spend maintaining these spreadsheets and getting information back out of them just astounds me. Why don’t they just convert it to a database and be done with it?

Why Businesses Don’t Use Databases

I’ve heard many excuses over the years as to why businesses use Excel over Access. Let’s debunk some of those reasons.

Access Is Too Hard To Learn

It really isn’t, you know. Most employees who interact with the database only need to know how to fill in a form or click on an already created report. The only people who need any in-depth knowledge of Access are the ones who create the database and those who maintain the back end of the database. And honestly, they need less in-depth knowledge than the person struggling with coding in Excel to try and get a spreadsheet to act like a database, and they don’t have to spend nearly as much time to manage the database.

We’ve Always Used Excel for This

So what? You may have always used a hammer to crack nuts, but it doesn’t make it the best tool for the job. If you’re working on the company financials, by all means, use a spreadsheet. If you’re detailing your budget, of course you’ll use a spreadsheet. But if you’re maintaining non-numerical data, use a database. Actually, even most financial data is kept on a database these days (that’s what accounting programs are, they’re databases). They simply export cumulative data to spreadsheets for special financial calculations such as projections and planning.

There’s Not Enough Data Here to Warrant a Database

How many times have I heard this? And a year or three later, they’re still using that spreadsheet, only it’s grown to 10,000 rows and takes 5 minutes to open. Unless you’re intending this spreadsheet to be a list of your 50 or so employees with phone numbers, you’re probably better off with a spreadsheet. Although, even the list of employees could possibly grow exponentially, so scratch that idea. Seriously though, if you think you’re just making a small list, go ahead and put it into a spreadsheet. But if over time that list is growing unmanageable, then create a database and import your data from the spreadsheet. It’s really simple to do and well worth the 5 minutes it’s going to take you.

Why You Should Use a Database

Here’s the nitty gritty of why you should use a database to store data and not a spreadsheet:

More than one person can update a database at a time. Only one person at a time can update a spreadsheet. Right there you have an efficiency incentive to use a database. And how many times has someone opened a spreadsheet in Read Only mode, saved changes to it to their harddrive, and then copied it back over the network copy, eliminating any changes the other person made *shudders*. I’ve seen that happen a number of times over the years.
A database stores information more efficiently. Relational databases, such as Microsoft Access, uses tables to segregate data. You’ll have one table for customer information, and another one for customer purchases. These would be tied together via the customer ID. So you don’t have to repeat all of your customer information for each purchase made. Therefore, your database is smaller than your spreadsheet. This is a crude example, but it gives you an idea how, overtime, your database is hugely more streamlined than your spreadsheet.
Queries, and the reports based on those queries, are easier to write and run. Because your data is relational, you can mix and match and re-sort your data in all kinds of different ways. You can do that with a spreadsheet, given enough time and code. But with a database like Access, a person with relatively little knowledge can produce complex queries and reports.
Data recovery is more efficient. If you have a large amount of data, finding the particular data point you want can be especially difficult in a spreadsheet. Those of you who work with large spreadsheets know this. You get a spreadsheet with thousands of lines, and paging through the spreadsheet can slow to a crawl, especially if you don’t have an ultra-fast computer.

Just Say No

The next time your boss wants to use a spreadsheet for a project better suited to a database, just say no. Explain why a database is better and get permission to use a database. Like I said, Excel is a good tool for certain things, but it just isn’t a database.Similar Posts:

Using Sort in Microsoft Excel

Jodith — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:48:32 +0000

You have a beautiful spreadsheet that you use to track customer purchases. Every time you get a purchase order, you enter it into the spreadsheet so you can track orders. But your boss wants to have the spreadsheet sorted by customer name. What do you do? You could laboriously go through and insert a row in the appropriate place each time you get an invoice….NOT! What you need to do is learn to use the Sort function in Excel. It’s really quite easy.

First, highlight the data to be sorted (remember to include your header rows).
Next, click on “Data” on the menu bar and then choose “Sort”. This will bring up the Sort dialogue box.
If you have a header row, then make sure that is marked:
Next use the drop down box under “Sort By” to choose the column by which to sort.
If you want to sort by more than one column, set those columns in the 2nd and 3rd drop down boxes.
When you have all your choices set, click on OK. Voila…you have sorted data.

And that is how to use the sort function in Excel. The great thing about this is you can resort as many times as you want. If one person wants a sort by name and another a sort by zip code, sort it once, do your print out, and then sort it again for then second print. And remember, you don’t have to save the sort. You can always close the spreadsheet without saving so it saves your original order. Later I’ll talk about using the Subtotal function on your sorted spreadsheet.

Anyone else have any tips to add for sorting in Excel?Similar Posts:

Software Tutorials from Microsoft

Jodith — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:52:02 +0000

Yes, there are other office products out there besides Microsoft Office. But if you work in the administrative field for any length of time, you’ll soon discover that Microsoft Office is the industry standard for office administration. And, when you reach the upper echelons of your administrative career, you will be expected to know the software inside and out.

If you don’t already have a strong handle on using Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook, then I have a tip for you! Microsoft has a website of training tutorials. Even if you’re fairly well versed in using most of the Microsoft Office products, you can probably find a tutorial here that will help you update your skills. And let’s face it, in today’s competitive market, it’s important to have your skills as up to date as possible. While they have tutorials for Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook, they also have tutorials for some of the less commonly known applications like Visio, Access, and Publisher.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been an administrative professional for decades, odds are you’ll find a tutorial there that will teach you something new.

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