When half your knowledge workers are using one version and the rest another, that’s a whole lot of lost functionality — and wasted time.

The recession and Office 2007’s immense learning curve are partly to blame, but, ultimately, it’s you, the IT leader, who must take responsibility for diminished return on investment. There’s still time to finish your migration; here are six reasons why you should:

1. ROI: You purchased X number of licenses and only have migrated half. You do the math: You purchased the upgrade for a reason — to take advantage of new and easier to find productivity features.

2. The dreaded Office 2007 learning curve: As evident in the hundreds of expletive-laced Tweets about Office 2007, the new user interface is a downright shock to many knowledge workers. Where’s the file menu? How do you save a document? What is this Ribbon? If you finish your migration, you will not have to face these questions again when you decide to upgrade to the next version (which also has a Ribbon interface).

3. New features: As stated in Reason No. 1, you purchased the upgrade for a reason — to increase worker productivity from the new and improved features (for example, Excel 2007 includes new formulas such as IFERROR, and more columns and rows).

4. The Ribbon is here to stay: Despite the existence of third-party add-ins that make 2007 look and act like 2003, installing them is counterproductive. The beta version of Office 2010 includes the Ribbon interface, and I suspect future versions will too. Embrace it.

5. Document compatibility: When you save 2007 documents in earlier formats, they lose some functionality. When half your knowledge workers are using one version and the rest another, that’s a whole lot of lost functionality — and wasted time.

6. User frustration: See Reasons 2-5.

Time to finish what you started.♦

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Have you ever had to plan a meeting for participants across multiple time zones? Outlook can help you out in many cases by allowing you to see more than one time zone or automatically adjusting for different time zones. In this post, we offer tips for time zones and many other issues related to scheduling meetings in Outlook.

Part One: Planning, Changing, Canceling

And, if it’s 4:30 pm in Phoenix, it’s 10:30 am in Sydney — but what day?

Planning a Meeting in Outlook

(Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007)

By Matt Mahoney

The core feature of Outlook is the calendar. This invaluable tool helps you keep track of your appointments and enables you to schedule meetings with colleagues. Here’s how to invite attendees to a meeting.

Outlook 2007:

1. Click the File menu, choose New, and then choose Meeting Request.

2. On the Meeting tab of the Ribbon, click the “Scheduling” button (depending on your mail server configuration, this button may also be called “Scheduling Assistant”), located in the Show group. Then click the “Add Others” button at the bottom (this button may also be called “Add Attendees”).

3. In the “Select Attendees and Resources” window, enter the name of the person or resource you want to add to the meeting, or click a name from the list.

4. Near the bottom of the dialog box, click the Required, Optional, or Resources button to place each name or resource in the appropriate field. Click OK.

5. In the Scheduling tab, you can view free/busy information for the meeting invitees that have made it available.

6. Set the meeting’s start time and end time by using the drop-down arrows near the bottom of the dialog box or by dragging the green and red dividers to signify the start and end times of the meeting.

7. Click the Appointment button in the Show section of the Meeting tab.

8. Review the meeting invitation; type any additional information you might need in the body of the message, then click Send.

Outlook 2002 and 2003:

1. Click the File menu, choose New, and then choose Meeting Request.

2. Click the Scheduling tab, click the “Add Others” button at the bottom, and then click “Add from Address book.”

3. In the “Type Name or Select from List” window, enter the name of the person or resource you want to add to the meeting, or click a name from the list.

4. Near the bottom of the dialog box, click the Required, Optional, or Resources button to place each name or resource in the appropriate field. Click OK.

5. In the Scheduling tab, you can view the free/busy information for the meeting invitees that have made it available.

6. Set the meeting’s start time and end time by using the drop-down arrows near the bottom of the dialog box or by dragging the green and red dividers to signify the start and end times of the meeting.

7. Switch back to the Appointment tab.

8. Review the meeting invitation; type any additional information you might need in the body of the message, then click Send.

Add Attendees to Existing Meeting

(Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007)

By MaryHazel McDermott

When you schedule meetings in Outlook, you need to be aware of a few things. If you need to add attendees to a meeting, you can only do so if you are the organizer or the organizer’s delegate. Anyone can forward a meeting; but if the meeting is changed in any way, those who were forwarded the meeting will not receive the updates. It is better to ask the organizer to add the person to the list of meeting attendees.

Add attendees using the To field:

1. Open the meeting.

2. Click in the To field or click the To button and select additional attendees.

3. Click the Send Update button.

4. Choose to either “Send updates to added or deleted attendees,” or “Send updates to all attendees,” and then click OK.

5. Close the meeting.

Add Attendees using the Scheduling tab:

Outlook 2007:

1. Open the Meeting.

2. Click the Scheduling Assistant button.

3. Type names in the All Attendees column or click the Invite Others button, add people in the appropriate group, and click OK.

4. Choose to either “Send updates to added or deleted attendees” or “Send updates to all attendees,” and then click OK.

5. Close the meeting.

Outlook 2002, 2003:

1. Open the Meeting.

2. Click the Scheduling tab.

3. Type names in the All Attendees column or click the Invite Others button, add people in the appropriate group, and click OK.

4. Choose to either “Send updates to added or deleted attendees” or “Send updates to all attendees,” and then click OK.

5. Close the meeting.

How to Cancel a Meeting

(Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007)

By Matt Mahoney

Canceling a meeting is quite simple in Outlook. Just follow the steps for your version of Outlook below. Please note that only the meeting organizer can cancel a meeting. Attendees can only accept or decline meetings.

Outlook 2007:

1. Open the meeting you want to cancel.

2. Click the Cancel Meeting button, located in the Actions section.

3. Click Send Cancellation to send the cancellation notice. It is very important to send the cancellation notice so that all attendees’ calendars are updated and the meeting is removed.

Outlook 2002, 2003:

1. Open the meeting you want to cancel.

2. On the Actions menu, click Cancel Meeting.

3. Click Send Cancellation and Delete Meeting. It is very important to send the cancellation notice so that all attendees’ calendars are updated and the meeting is removed.

How to show an additional time zone in Outlook

(Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007)

By MaryHazel McDermott

Nowadays, we often work with people in other areas of the country or the world. And then there are the peripatetics, who change time zones on a regular basis. Knowing what time it is when you are setting up a meeting, or even just calling someone, exudes professionalism. Use Outlook’s time zone feature to your advantage.

1. Click the Tools menu, choose Options, and click the Preferences tab.

2. Click the Calendar Options button.

3. Click the Time Zone button.

4. In the Label field, enter a name for the current Windows time zone.

5. Check Show an additional time zone.

6. In the Label field, enter a name for the additional time zone.

7. Choose a time zone from the drop-down list.

8. Click OK three times.

It is a good idea to label the time zones if you need to display more than one. It is better to not change the current Windows time zone unless you travel and need to schedule meetings in the local zone. Also, Outlook is only capable of displaying one other time zone.

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PowerPoint style “routinely disrupts, dominates and trivializes content.”

This is good news for the obvious reasons – because he believes in transparency and accountability – but also because he is such an information purist. Perhaps some of his presentation principles will rub off on corporate workers.

A little background: Tufte’s article, titled “PowerPoint is Evil” and published in Wired in 2003, should be required reading for the c-suite, if not business majors. In it, he laments the fact that PowerPoint doesn’t serve as a supplement to presentations, as it promises; rather, it has replaced them.

Tufte continues by saying that the PowerPoint style “routinely disrupts, dominates and trivializes content.” He even compares it to Stalin.

He offers a colorful metaphor:

“Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn’t. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall.”

Tufte’s piece is funny, and you could say it’s a bit impassioned, but think of the presentations you have sat through, or the ones you’ve forced upon your colleagues.  Many workers would benefit from a little PowerPoint training, at the very least.

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California officially adopted the use of social media. But it’s hardly a Farmville free-for-all.

On Feb. 26, the state officially adopted the use of social media. But it’s hardly a Farmville free-for-all.

The state issued a policy that sets clear rules for its use, including a limitation to only authorized users who have been trained regarding their roles, responsibilities and security risks. (View a PDF of the policy here.)

The document states: “State agencies are encouraged to use social media technologies to engage their customers and employees. Many state entities, including the Governor, have used these communication channels with great success but as with most technologies, there is a measure of risk that must be addressed and mitigated.”

In addition to the policy, the state issued a five-page “Social Media Standard,” which includes a few interesting clauses (read the full document in PDF form here):

No. 8: “Users shall not utilize tools or techniques to spoof, masquerade, or assume any identity or credentials except for legitimate law enforcement purposes, or for other legitimate State purposes as defined in agency policy.”

No. 9: “Users shall avoid mixing their professional information with their personal information.”

And, No. 10: “Users shall not use their work password on social media web sites.”

Participating agencies must comply with the policy by July 1.

Related reading: “What We’re Reading: If  Harvard Says So Edition” | “Social Media: The Elephant in the Office”

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Monday marked the launch of EnterpriseEfficiency.com, a social community of sorts for CIOs and IT leaders where they can discuss and swap ideas on how to make IT departments more efficient.

For a site that just launched, it’s remarkably robust, and has an impressive lineup of contributors, including veteran tech pub journalists, authors and supergeeks.

Of note is editor-in-chief Fredric Paul’s blog post about the challenges of supporting multiple mobile platforms in the enterprise. (Read the post here, “How Many Smartphone Platforms Do We Really Need?”)

And speaking of efficiency and CIOs,  PC Helps is a sponsor of Windows Intelligence, the largest one-day Microsoft conference in California. The conference is being held on March 29, 2010, in person and online. Brian Bradley, PC Helps’ VP of business development, will be speaking about Office 2010. Visit the Windows Intelligence web site for more information and to register. (Be sure to use Microsoft promo code PCHELPS for a discounted rate.)

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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.

For Word 2002, 2003, and 2007:

Tracked changes can be displayed two different ways. Deletions are either in line with the text or in balloons in the right margin of the document. Balloons are turned on by default for Word 2002 and 2003, and off by default for Word 2007. To change the behavior of balloons:

Word 2002:

1. Make sure the Reviewing toolbar is on. To do this, click the View menu, select Toolbars, and make sure there is a checkmark next to Reviewing. If not, click it to display the Reviewing toolbar.

2. Click the Show drop-down list and select Options.

3. Uncheck Use Balloons in Print and Web Layout.

4. Click OK.

Word 2003:

1. Make sure the Reviewing toolbar is on. To do this, click the View menu, select Toolbars, and make sure there is a checkmark next to Reviewing. If not, click it to display the Reviewing toolbar.

2. Click the Show drop-down list, select Balloons, then choose Never. You can also choose Always or Only for Comments/Formats.

Word 2007

1. Click the Reviewing tab, select the Balloons drop-down arrow, and choose Show Revisions in Balloons, Show All Revisions Inline, or Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons.

Accepting/Rejecting Tracked Changes in a Document (Word 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007)

By David McQueary

One of the most confusing aspects of Word’s Track Changes feature is how to remove the changes from a document. If you have ever wanted to send a “clean” version of a document to someone else, you may have tried the “Display for Review” drop-down menu on the Reviewing toolbar (Word 2007: the “Display for Review” drop-down menu in the Tracking group on the Review tab). This drop-down menu contains choices such as Final Showing Markup, Final, Original Showing Markup, and Original. Setting this to Final hides the changes, so you should be able to save the document and send it, right?

Wrong. The Final setting only hides the tracked changes, which means your recipient will still be able to display them again by setting the Reviewing toolbar selection to Final Showing Markup. The “Display for Review” drop-down menu simply offers different ways of viewing a document with tracked changes. The only way to remove the changes permanently is to accept or reject them.

Word 2007:

1. Click the Review tab.

2. In the Changes section, click the Accept button and choose “Accept and Move to Next” if you need to accept some changes and reject others, or choose “Accept All Changes in Document” if you want to accept all changes that were made.

3. To reject changes, click the Reject button (located next to the Accept button) and choose “Reject and Move to Next” or “Reject All Changes in Document” to return to the original document.

Word 2002 and 2003:

1. Make sure the Reviewing toolbar is enabled. To do this, click the View menu, select Toolbars, and make sure there is a checkmark next to Reviewing. If not, click it to display the Reviewing toolbar.

2. Click the Accept button (it looks like a check mark over a piece of paper) on the Reviewing toolbar.

3. Choose “Accept All Changes in Document” to accept all the changes, or click “Accept Changes” to individually review changes. Use the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through the changes.

4. To reject a change, click the “Reject Change” button, which looks like a red “X” in front of a piece of paper. You can also click the “Reject Change” button and select “Reject All Changes in Document” to return to the original document.

Word 2000:

1. Click the Tools menu, select Track Changes, and choose “Accept or Reject Changes.”

2. To accept all tracked changes in your document, click the Accept All button. You can also click the “Reject All” button to reject all changes in the document.

3. If you want to review individual changes, press the Find buttons to navigate from one change to the next, and press the Accept or Reject button for each change.

4. Click Close when done.

After you have accepted and/or rejected all changes, be sure to turn off Track Changes.

To do so, use the key combination Ctrl+Shift+E or simply click on the Track Changes button in the Tracking section of the Review tab so it is no longer highlighted (Word 2007). (For earlier versions, go to Tools | Track Changes, and click the Track Changes button so it is no longer highlighted.) You can then save the final document, which makes the changes permanent.

Insert Text from Existing Files into Another Document (Word 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007)

By MaryHazel McDermott

If it’s your job to assemble a departmental report that includes material created by others, you may wonder if there is an easy way to do it. Word contains several features to assist you. This tip will cover inserting an entire file into another file.

To start, open the file that will be your final product:

Word 2007:

1. Click the Insert tab

2. Click the Object drop-down arrow and select Text from File.

3. Place your cursor where the inserted material should go.

4. Browse to the file to be inserted and click the Insert button.

Word 2003, 2002, 2000:

1. Click the Insert menu and choose File.

2. Place your cursor where the inserted material should go.

3. Browse to the file to be inserted and click the Insert button.

Repeat as needed.

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Over the past 11 months, the piece has received a smattering of comments, many of which are tinged with vitriol. Office 2007 doesn’t just suck, according to CIO’s readers; it’s reviled, despised, detested, loathed.

Taking a stand by sticking with an earlier version of Office is hardly a political move.

Here’s a sampling of the comments:

“I’m a longtime Office user (since its inception). Office 2007 is an abomination and shows just how out of touch those developers are with real world use and workflow.”

“Thought my suckage meter was just already broken or something, it being beyond the warranty period, but as the 10 or so days went by from having installed this step backwards in software development, and having not latched onto what I had assumed was some kind of groundbreaking innovation in GUI, I started to suspect that Microsoft’s product itself had gone beyond the limits of my suckage meter and broken it… and everyone here has affirmed that.”

(That previous commenter called Office 2007 an “emotional disappointment” and offered an SAT-style analogy: “MS Office is to ‘misunderstood’ what Charles Manson was to ‘goofy.’”)

The readers are angry with Microsoft, and used the comments section to vent. They took umbrage with what they perceived was my defense of the Ribbon. And I’m OK with that.

Here’s my take (you can retract your claws for a moment): There are plenty of things wrong with Microsoft’s Office 2007 product. We could create an entire social community focused on sharing what we think is unintuitive about its software. (They may already exist.) However, a large portion of businesses uses Microsoft, and many people learned basic computing skills on Microsoft software. (Personally, I dropped out of a FORTRAN class in college because I didn’t see its practicality. I opted to study Spanish too, instead of the languages I really wanted to learn — Icelandic and Swahili.)

So they are stuck, for now at least. I think Office 2007 was a much-needed slap on the back of the head for IT leaders. Complacency is not an option anymore, not in this economy.

If they have migrated or are about to migrate to Office 2007, they cannot treat it like any other upgrade. Employees will need assistance in order to keep productivity at pre-migration levels.

Taking a stand by sticking with an earlier version is hardly a political move. It’s like not paying your AT&T bill because you think their 3G sucks. Nothing will change — except your service, which will be shut off.

Likewise, taking the martyr approach (We can do it alone! We’ll face the learning curve together!) will get companies nowhere.

If you really despise Microsoft, take a actual stand and find an alternative.

Just be sure to call us when you need software support.

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Windows 7 is upon us. New operating system, new Office suite. Let the games begin.

According to a leading industry source, about 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT infrastructures are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. That’s a whole lot of wasted investment.

Then there are companies who waited for that whole Vista debacle to blow over. They kept XP and Office 2003, with the aim of upgrading when Windows 7 was released.

Windows 7 is upon us. New operating system, new Office suite. Let the games begin.

We have compiled a list of the most common Office 2007 user questions and issues, and it was recently published by IT World. You can read it here. Take notes, and happy migrating.

PC Helps also recently published a white paper on the subject, titled “The Myths and Realities of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 Migration.” Download the free migration kit here.

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The whole point of upgrading to Office 2007 is to utilize new or improved features.

LeBlanc was the subject of a piece last week on NPR’s Planet Money program, and his profession is a particularly timely subject in the current economic climate where “more with less” is the mantra and efficiency and productivity are the only goals. (Listen to reporter David Kestenbaum’s interview with LeBlanc.)

LeBlanc works for a global shipping company, and his role is to find ways to streamline processes. He is sent to different locations and told, for example, to save the company $500,000.

As he explained in his interview with NPR’s David Kestenbaum: When he tells people that he can save thousands of labor hours just by moving a printer, they don’t believe him.

This company, PC Helps Support, is also in the efficiency business. (We’re a desktop application and mobile device support provider.) But instead of demonstrating how moving a printer can save money, we show how eliminating shadow support and increasing productivity can influence their bottom line.

Like LeBlanc, we are met with some resistance. A significant number of IT leaders believe there is little or no demand for software support, and thus don’t provide it. As a result, employees find costlier ways to solve problems:

• An employee asks a colleague (the office tech “expert”) for assistance with a problem. While it may seem harmless, it’s actually taking two employees away from their primary job functions to solve a problem. That’s double-downtime.

• Self-help, which is a proven time-waster.

• And no help at all, which means employees are finding unreliable workarounds.

Look at an Office 2007 migration as an example. The whole point of upgrading is to utilize new or improved features. If your employees haven’t a clue how to use the software, and neither does your internal help desk, what good is your investment? Where’s the ROI?

LeBlanc says there are eight types of waste, which he memorizes with the help of an acronym, Tim T. Wood: transportation, inventory, motion, talent, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing and defects.

In the case of an unassisted Office 2007 migration, a few of these apply. For one, talent: If your IT department is fielding “Where’s the File menu” calls all day when they could be working on mission-critical projects, do you think you are using their talents to your company’s benefit?

Likewise, your company probably didn’t hire the office “tech expert” – every office has one – to help her neighbors with their VLOOKUPs and macros. Are you using her skills to your advantage?

For more about Office 2007 & Windows 7 migration assistance, download our free kit here.

University of Tennessee researcher Kate Vitasek offers an in-depth look at how shortsighted cost-cutting and nine other behaviors can hurt companies in her new book, “Vested Outsourcing,” which was published earlier this month by Palgrave Macmillan.

For her study, Vitasek looked at outsourcing deals and identified the most common mistakes companies make when contracting. Among them: Micromanaging, lack of formal governance, metrics obsession, and, of course, cost-cutting as a quick-fix measure.

Cost-cutting, Vitasek writes, is the easiest to identify. Companies desperate to trim the bottom line take the cheapest offer. The result is a tradeoff in quality, service or both.

For more about the study, visit Vitasek’s blog, which features a wealth of articles. It makes for great snow day reading. And for previous posts published on this blog about the subject, see the following: Wasting Money is Bad for the Bottom Line, When Mistakes add up to Millions, and The Real Cost of Offshore Outsourcing.♦

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