Microsoft Office Suite

Microsoft Office Suite on the Desktop:

Integration, Navigation, Templates, Organization, Proactive Maintenance and Troubleshooting

In Chapter 2, we looked at several ways to keep your computer support costs under control when dealing with common PC peripherals such as modems and printers.

Now, let’s examine some simple ways to control your computing expenses with Microsoft Office software applications.

Be sure to use the right Microsoft Office suite application for the job.

As Microsoft Office applications have become more powerful, through about a half-dozen version upgrades, the line often has become blurred among the numerous software programs.

Avoid Time-Consuming Rookie Microsoft Office Suite Mistakes

Don’t make the common mistake of using the wrong program for the job (Table 3-3).

Although you can compile a database on a very small scale in Microsoft Excel, it’s not a database management program. Microsoft Access is a much better choice.

Although you can prepare desktop publishing documents in Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint, neither one is a true desktop publishing package. Microsoft Publisher is a much better small business choice for most basic desktop publishing needs.

We often see small business end users preparing financial statements, or other similar tables, in Microsoft Word. Microsoft Excel is a much better choice for anything related to scientific, financial, economic or accounting data. Microsoft Excel also provides plenty of formatting tools to enrich the presentation of this sort of data.

Many times, small businesses will start a simple mailing list database in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Outlook. However, as the number of fields begins to grow and the volume of records scales up, Microsoft Access becomes a far superior choice, for it allows you to manage the mailing list as a relational database.

Commonly Misused Microsoft Office Suite Applications

Although special circumstances may dictate otherwise, many Microsoft Office applications that allow you to start a certain task aren’t necessarily the best places to continue performing that task repeatedly – as your company’s needs evolve.

Protecting Yourself From Having to Start Over

Fortunately, Microsoft Office applications contain several import and export wizards that guide you through migrating data from one program format to another.

So, for example, if you’ve built a simple contacts database in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Outlook, you generally can import the data quite easily into a Microsoft Access database table.

Microsoft Office Suite Action Items

Do you have an inventory of which computers in your company have Microsoft Office installed?

Of these systems, do you know which versions and editions of Microsoft Office are on each?

What kind of training does each of your employees receive on Microsoft Office applications that are most important to their jobs?

Do your managers and employees have a good enough grasp over the function of each Microsoft Office application to make an informed decision on best usage?

Do you have any mailing lists or other small databases that are being maintained in Microsoft Office programs other than Microsoft Access?

Are any desktop publishing documents being created in Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint when the documents could be better created and managed in Microsoft Publisher?

Are you aware of the import and export wizards that allow you to share data across Microsoft Office applications?

 

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