Myth: Office 2007 support needs fade within just a couple weeks of deployment.
Reality: Providing support and training to information workers before, during and after deployment is crucial to early and sustained adoption. The new interface is designed to make people aware of features they never found in the old versions. Information workers will continue to discover these new features for months after deployment and they will need ongoing help using them. It is unreasonable to expect the help desk to have found and mastered the features that were so well hidden in previous versions of Office. Above average migration call volume can be expected to last as long as six months, as call volume is linear throughout the migration. The peaks in volume will crest most noticeably during the initial installations. During months 1-3, call volume for how to questions on Office 2007 can spike to a 50 percent increase, drop to an average of 30 percent during months 4-6 and then continue to decline. 

 Myth:  Migrating to Office 2007 is like every other software upgrade or switchover.
Reality: The application looks radically different and is a complete overhaul of the user interface. There are no menus and no toolbars. Many information workers won’t even be able to open files without training and assistance. In past upgrades, an information worker’s knowledge of how to get to the features in the previous version was 95 percent effective in the new version. For Office 2007, it is zero percent effective.    

 Myth: Information workers will benefit from Windows 7 without training and support
Reality: A learning curve is guaranteed when information workers, or even an internal help desk staff, are faced with tools, applications or operating systems that look differently. A lack of proper training and support will prolong the adoption period. Maximizing the productivity increase — and resultant ROI — from the new tools in Windows 7 requires training in the theory and support in the practice of using the new tool. Read more myths and realities of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 migration and eight service levels needed to prove migration ROI http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007mythsrealitiesroi.asp

admin How To, Office 2007, Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program, ROI, Uncategorized, Windows 7, Windows 7 & Office 2007 Migration migrations, Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program, Windows 7

If you are managing the IT infrastructure, senior-level projects or are the IT leader in charge of maintaining and analyzing the majority of IT’s data points, you’re likely using Microsoft Excel every day. Read more…

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IT blogs are ablaze lately about whether the iPhone has graduated from dawdling device to legitimate business tool. One camp says the iPhone is just too pretty and trendy to use for work; the other side says it’s much more conducive to productivity than any buggy smartphone. Even venerated researchers are weighing in. According to a Forrester report released in April, workers who use iPhones are “happier and more productive.”

Who knew a gadget could have such power? Read more…

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It’s the unofficial start to summer! It’s time to turn on your away message and get lost. But before you do, make sure you are covered. Here are some tips to keep your e-mail house in order while you enjoy the season: Read more…

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I don’t need to remind you that clean, polished correspondence is important. You’re a manager, after all. Here’s a rundown of some recent PC Helps e-tips that will ensure you churn out error-free copy, no matter the medium.

Manually Check Spelling in Office Apps
If you composed your document without turning on automatic spell checking, or if automatic spell checking is not an option, you can check spelling whenever you wish. The steps are nearly identical in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Visio and Project.

Press the F7 key on your keyboard for an even easier way to the start the Spell Checker.

1. Click on the Tools menu (Office 2007: Review tab), and select Spelling or Spelling and Grammar.
2. The Spelling dialog box opens with the first error highlighted.
3. If the word is correct, click either the Ignore Once or the Ignore All button.
4. If the word is incorrect, select the correct word from the Suggestions area and then click the Change button.
5. Repeat until all errors have been corrected.
6. A message box will pop-up telling you the spelling check is complete. Click OK.

Shortcut:
Office 2000, 2002, 2003 and Project 2007, Publisher 2007 and Visio 2007. Press the F7 key on your keyboard for an even easier way to the start the Spell Checker. The Spelling Dialog box will appear, continue with Step 3 if there are errors. (Russell Hatton & Mary Hazel McDermott)

Automatically Check Spelling

If you often forget to check your spelling manually, you may need to turn it to automatic. Here’s how:

Word 2000, 2002, 2003 Read more…

admin How To Contextual Spelling, grammar, spelling, tips and tricks

In previous posts, I examined why corporate workers hesitate to call their help desks when stuck with a software quandary. I referred to the so-called stupidity factor, or fear of looking stupid, as one of the top reasons.

In an e-mail response, a reader pointed out an even greater obstacle, something he called the infuriation factor. Read more…

admin Computer Literacy, How To, ROI, Worker Productivity best-of-breed, CIO, Help Desk, IT leaders, Outsourcing, ROI, software support, Worker Productivity

In a previous post (see Real-Life Help Desk Tales, Part 1), I touched upon why people don’t call the help desk when they need software assistance (fear of looking stupid, unpleasant past experience, assumed time investment). In this post, I will take a closer look at the stupidity factor. Read more…

admin Computer Literacy, How To, ROI, Worker Productivity CIO, Computer Literacy, Help Desk, IT leaders, mariachi band, software support, Worker Productivity

If you haven’t had a computer hard drive kick on you, or never have had a document go sour, you aren’t blessed. Your time will come.

Common sense, now that’s another story. There’s no app for that.

When I was in college 15 years ago, I learned about document corruption the hard way. You’ve heard a similar story, or even have had your own: I had a 25-page final paper due, and, as usual, I was pushing the deadline, frantically working to get it finished in time for class. A sage once told me to save every three minutes, so that’s what I did.

When I inserted my floppy (!) in the school PC for printing, the computer could not open the file. The floppy was corrupted. Thing is, I didn’t save a copy on my home hard drive; I simply worked on the diskette. This was my only copy.

I eventually recovered about 65 percent of my document — after hours of repairing the diskette sector by sector.

Thankfully, today’s technology offers dozens of methods to ensure our work isn’t lost — Google Docs, Dropbox, plain-jane e-mail attachments, vast backup drives, etc. Even if work is corrupted, recovery options abound. (Common sense, now that’s another story. There’s no app for that.) Read more…

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As children, we were taught to share and were even graded on it in some preschools or kindergarten classes. As adults, many of us will work on projects with a team, or at least solicit an opinion on work we do.

Although having many minds working on a project usually yields a much better product, one person is often left with the onerous task of pulling it all together.

Although having many minds working on a project usually yields a much better product, one person is often left with the onerous task of pulling it all together. Whether you are a contributor or an organizer, these tips will help you understand how software can help you collaborate.

Using Track Changes for Collaboration (Word 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007)

By David McQueary

Collaborating on a document can often become confusing and frustrating if it is not clear which changes have been made and by whom. Even worse, when you overwrite text in a document without indicating you have made a change, the original text is not recoverable.

Using Word’s Track Changes feature can eliminate these frustrations.

When Track Changes is enabled, Word assigns a different color to each of the individual editors of a document to show which editor made which changes. When text is deleted, it is not completely removed from the document; instead, a strikethrough effect is applied to show that the text was deleted. Editors can also use the Comments feature to type questions, answers, or general messages to other people working with the document.

Word 2007:

1. Click the Review tab.

2. Click the Track Changes button in the tracking section and choose Track Changes.

Word 2002 and 2003:

1. Click the Tools menu and choose Track Changes.

Word 2000:

1. Click the Tools menu, select Track Changes, and choose Highlight Changes.

2. Check “Track changes while editing.”

3. Verify “Highlight changes on screen” and “Highlight changes in printed document” are checked; if not, check them.

4. Click OK.

You can also enable the feature in all versions by using the key combination Ctrl+Shift+E. Read more…

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E-mail has revolutionized communication. It enables us to connect with people as far away as Tokyo and Sydney in a split second, and helps us be more productive. But it also has enormous potential to offend, anger, bombard, confuse and overwhelm its recipients. After all, it doesn’t have the benefit of body language, tone of voice, and other distinctly human elements that are necessary for message context.

Your best defense against a message recall failure is to reread your message before you send it.

Although we should all know proper e-etiquette by now, a gentle reminder is needed now and again. (See this article, which illustrates how much damage a hastily sent e-mail can cause.) Below are a few timeless tips for keeping your communication professional and not at all offensive to your colleagues. (Tips are for Outlook versions 2000-2007, except where noted otherwise.)

Reply to All with Care

By MaryHazel McDermott

Reply to All is an option available in Outlook and many other e-mail programs that should be used sparingly. When you use Reply to All, you may be sending your message to scads of people who do not even need the information. Read more…

admin Etiquette, How To all caps, CIO, Etiquette, message recall, Outlook, reply to all