Excel Tip – Import a Text File to Excel:

1. Select File -> Open -> find the text file and click Open.
2. In Text Import Wizard dialog box:
Step 1:
Select Delimited, US- ASCII and click Next.



Step 2:
Select Tab and click Next.



Step 3:
For each column select the Column Data Format and click Finish.



3. If delimiter is not present in the text file,

Step 1:
Select Fixed width and click Next.

Step 2:
By default, the data will be split at each spaces available in the data. If any changes are required, then click on the arrow and move it to the desired place of data separation and click next.


Step 3:
For each column select the Column Data Format and click Finish.

XML in 10 Points:

1. XML is for structuring data
Structured data includes things like spreadsheets, address books, configuration parameters, financial transactions, and technical drawings. XML is a set of rules (you may also think of them as guidelines or conventions) for designing text formats that let you structure your data. XML is not a programming language, and you don't have to be a programmer to use it or learn it. XML makes it easy for a computer to generate data, read data, and ensure that the data structure is unambiguous. XML avoids common pitfalls in language design: it is extensible, platform-independent, and it supports internationalization and localization. XML is fully Unicode-compliant.
2. XML looks a bit like HTML
Like HTML, XML makes use of tags (words bracketed by '<' and '>') and attributes (of the form name="value"). While HTML specifies what each tag and attribute means, and often how the text between them will look in a browser, XML uses the tags only to delimit pieces of data, and leaves the interpretation of the data completely to the application that reads it. In other words, if you see "

" in an XML file, do not assume it is a paragraph. Depending on the context, it may be a price, a parameter, a person, a p... (and who says it has to be a word with a "p"?).
3. XML is text, but isn't meant to be read
Programs that produce spreadsheets, address books, and other structured data often store that data on disk, using either a binary or text format. One advantage of a text format is that it allows people, if necessary, to look at the data without the program that produced it; in a pinch, you can read a text format with your favorite text editor. Text formats also allow developers to more easily debug applications. Like HTML, XML files are text files that people shouldn't have to read, but may when the need arises. Compared to HTML, the rules for XML files allow fewer variations. A forgotten tag, or an attribute without quotes makes an XML file unusable, while in HTML such practice is often explicitly allowed. The official XML specification forbids applications from trying to second-guess the creator of a broken XML file; if the file is broken, an application has to stop right there and report an error.
4. XML is verbose by design
Since XML is a text format and it uses tags to delimit the data, XML files are nearly always larger than comparable binary formats. That was a conscious decision by the designers of XML. The advantages of a text format are evident (see point 3), and the disadvantages can usually be compensated at a different level. Disk space is less expensive than it used to be, and compression programs like zip and gzip can compress files very well and very fast. In addition, communication protocols such as modem protocols and HTTP/1.1, the core protocol of the Web, can compress data on the fly, saving bandwidth as effectively as a binary format.
5. XML is a family of technologies
XML 1.0 is the specification that defines what "tags" and "attributes" are. Beyond XML 1.0, "the XML family" is a growing set of modules that offer useful services to accomplish important and frequently demanded tasks. XLink describes a standard way to add hyperlinks to an XML file. XPointer is syntax in development for pointing to parts of an XML document. An XPointer is a bit like a URL, but instead of pointing to documents on the Web, it points to pieces of data inside an XML file. CSS, the style sheet language, is applicable to XML as it is to HTML. XSL is the advanced language for expressing style sheets. It is based on XSLT, a transformation language used for rearranging, adding and deleting tags and attributes. The DOM is a standard set of function calls for manipulating XML (and HTML) files from a programming language. XML Schemas 1 and 2 help developers to precisely define the structures of their own XML-based formats. There are several more modules and tools available or under development.
6. XML is new, but not that new
Development of XML started in 1996 and it has been a W3C Recommendation since February 1998, which may make you suspect that this is rather immature technology. In fact, the technology isn't very new. Before XML there was SGML, developed in the early '80s, an ISO standard since 1986, and widely used for large documentation projects. The development of HTML started in 1990. The designers of XML simply took the best parts of SGML, guided by the experience with HTML, and produced something that is no less powerful than SGML, and vastly more regular and simple to use. Some evolutions, however, are hard to distinguish from revolutions... And it must be said that while SGML is mostly used for technical documentation and much less for other kinds of data, with XML it is exactly the opposite.
7. XML leads HTML to XHTML
There is an important XML application that is a document format: W3C's XHTML, the successor to HTML. XHTML has many of the same elements as HTML. The syntax has been changed slightly to conform to the rules of XML. A format that is "XML-based" inherits the syntax from XML and restricts it in certain ways (e.g, XHTML allows "

", but not ""); it also adds meaning to that syntax (XHTML says that "

" stands for "paragraph", and not for "price", "person", or anything else).
8. XML is modular
XML allows you to define a new document format by combining and reusing other formats. Since two formats developed independently may have elements or attributes with the same name, care must be taken when combining those formats (does "

" mean "paragraph" from this format or "person" from that one?). To eliminate name confusion when combining formats, XML provides a namespace mechanism. XSL and RDF are good examples of XML-based formats that use namespaces. XML Schema is designed to mirror this support for modularity at the level of defining XML document structures, by making it easy to combine two schemas to produce a third which covers a merged document structure.
9. XML is the basis for RDF and the Semantic Web
W3C's Resource Description Framework (RDF) is an XML text format that supports resource description and metadata applications, such as music playlists, photo collections, and bibliographies. For example, RDF might let you identify people in a Web photo album using information from a personal contact list; then your mail client could automatically start a message to those people stating that their photos are on the Web. Just as HTML integrated documents, images, menu systems, and forms applications to launch the original Web, RDF provides tools to integrate even more, to make the Web a little bit more into a Semantic Web. Just like people need to have agreement on the meanings of the words they employ in their communication, computers need mechanisms for agreeing on the meanings of terms in order to communicate effectively. Formal descriptions of terms in a certain area (shopping or manufacturing, for example) are called ontologies and are a necessary part of the Semantic Web. RDF, ontologies, and the representation of meaning so that computers can help people do work are all topics of the Semantic Web Activity.
10. XML is license-free, platform-independent and well-supported
By choosing XML as the basis for a project, you gain access to a large and growing community of tools (one of which may already do what you need!) and engineers experienced in the technology. Opting for XML is a bit like choosing SQL for databases: you still have to build your own database and your own programs and procedures that manipulate it, but there are many tools available and many people who can help you. And since XML is license-free, you can build your own software around it without paying anybody anything. The large and growing support means that you are also not tied to a single vendor. XML isn't always the best solution, but it is always worth considering.

Blind Ordering:

A practice of writing a new order even though an outstanding order has not been received.

Reply, then Reply All:

When responding to an email, you have the choice to click Reply or Reply to All.



If you choose Reply, but then decide you want to include "all", you don't have to copy the reply you've created to the clipboard, close the email, and start over again this time pressing "Reply to All".
Instead, even if you first choose just "Reply" you can then click "Reply to All", and Notes will fill in the additional names for you.

Bill and Hold Basis:

A method of conducting sales by billing the customer on the same day the transaction occurs, but not delivering the goods until a later date. Using the bill-and-hold basis is sometimes regarded as a controversial practice because allowing the seller to receive payment now, but making them wait a length of time before transferring the product could be used to inflate revenues meant for subsequent quarters.
The bill-and-hold basis is one method of revenue recognition. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it is the buyer's responsibility to request that a transaction be on a bill-and-hold basis and must have substantial business purposes in doing so. In addition to those criteria, any goods sold under this basis must be finished goods at the time of sale and not be available to fulfill any other orders.

Main components of Effective Presentation:

An effective presentation must get three components right:
• Content
• Design
• Delivery
Each of these components has to be on the mark and they all have to work together, as well.
When writing your content, decide on two or three main points and make sure that everything else that you write leads to those points. Make your content logical, simple, and clear. Figure out what your audience needs and wants to know and tailor your content for the audience.
Regarding design, your number one concern is legibility. Don’t put too much text on a slide and keep it large enough to read easily. The text color should contrast highly with the background color. Then, make sure that your design complements your content. Your background and images shouldn’t detract from the content. Images should work to clarify text. The layout and size of text should bring important points to the fore.
Don’t forget a winning delivery. Engaging your audience with eye contact and your overall energy is important. Know your main points and emphasize them with your voice and the amount of time you spend on them. Two’s a party; three’s a crowd, they say. If you just read your slides, you’re putting PowerPoint between you and the audience and they’ll resent it. Instead, use the slides only as support for your presentation.

Beta Testing:

A field test of new equipment or software programs to identify errors or problems, and to solicit user's comments so that the manufacturer can make final modifications before the equipment or software is released for sale.

Excel Tip – Calculating the Date at the end of the month:

Use the EOMONTH function.

Rabbit Chase:

A work procedure where each of the 2/3 work-persons go through all the steps of the multi step process, performing the same tasks (start from the beginning to end). This is applicable within an assembly line or for part supply tasks.

Bag Stuffer:

An ad circular placed in a customer's grocery bag during bagging.
They're those little colorful slips of paper that have offers or coupons for savings that you often find in your bags after a day of shopping. These are a great way to promote your business and develop repeat customers.
They are very inexpensive to make and can be easily changed if a new promotion arises.

Queuing Theory:

Queuing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines. The theory enables mathematical analysis of several related processes, including arriving at the (back of the) queue, waiting in the queue (essentially a storage process), and being served by the server(s) at the front of the queue. The theory permits the derivation and calculation of several performance measures including the average waiting time in the queue or the system, the expected number waiting or receiving service and the probability of encountering the system in certain states, such as empty, full, having an available server or having to wait a certain time to be served.
Here are details of four queuing disciplines:
First in first out
This principle states that customers are served one at a time and that the customer that has been waiting the longest is served first
Last in first out
This principle also serves customers one at a time; however the customer with the shortest waiting time will be served first.
Processor sharing
Customers are served equally. Network capacity is shared between customers and they all effectively experience the same delay.
Priority
Customers with high priority are served first

Expanding one slide into two:

If you can't make text fit properly on one slide without squeezing it in too tightly, split the text into two slides. If the text is in a text placeholder, this is easily done using the Outline toolbar. To display the Outline toolbar, right-click any toolbar and choose Outline.
1. Place the cursor in the Outline tab of the Outline pane (not on the slide) at the end of the last line of text that you want on the first slide.
2. Press Enter.
3. On the Outline toolbar, click Promote until a New Slide icon appears in the Outline pane.
4. Type a title for the new slide.
5. Adjust the rest of the text as needed by clicking Demote or Promote on the Outline toolbar.

Lotus Notes – Take action from your address book:

Instead of composing an email message and then filling in the recipients, or creating a calendar entry and filling in the participants, or using your buddy list to start chat sessions... your Personal Address Book can work as a central "hub" for these activities.

From the Contacts view of your Personal Address Book (directory) you can select a name, or even better multiple names, and then click on either "Write Memo", "Schedule Meeting", or "Chat with Contact".


Notes will create the new document, and fill in the names for you.

Pull-Push Strategy:

The business terms push and pull originated in the marketing and advertising world, but are also applicable in the world of electronic content and supply chain management. The push/pull relationship is that between a product or piece of information and who is moving it. A customer "pulls" things towards themselves, while a producer "pushes" things toward customers.
In a "push" system the consumer does not request the product to be developed; it is "pushed" to the end-user by promotion. An example of this is a perfume product. Women do not request to smell a fragrance they never smelled before; it is simply "pushed" to them, through the right advertisement.
• Applied to that portion of the supply chain where demand uncertainty is relatively small
• Production & distribution decisions are based on long term forecasts
• Based on past orders received from retailer’s warehouse (may lead to Bullwhip effect)
• Inability to meet changing demand patterns
• Large and variable production batches
• Unacceptable service levels
• Excessive inventories due to the need for large safety stocks
In a "pull" system the consumer requests the product and "pulls" it through the delivery channel. An example of this is the car manufacturing company Ford Australia. Ford Australia only produces cars when they have been ordered by the customers.
• Applied to that portion of the supply chain where demand uncertainty is high
• Production and distribution are demand driven
• No inventory, response to specific orders
• Point of sale (POS) data comes in handy when shared with supply chain partners
• Decrease in lead time
• Difficult to implement

Find or Replace in all sheets of the workbook:

1. From the sheet tab's shortcut menu, select Select All Sheets.

2. Press Ctrl+F to find or Ctrl+H to find and replace. (Note: Ctrl+F works only for a single sheet in Excel 97). In Excel 2002 and 2003, choose Sheet or Workbook from the within dropdown list (see the screenshot below).



Using wild cards in the text search:

Use * as a wild card for any number of characters, either before or after text, for example, searching for *CO will find both Cisco and Telco.

Use ? as a wild card for a single character, for example, searching for R?N will find Ron and Ran but not Rain.

To search for an asterisk, enter ~* in the search box.

Back Order:

Backorder: A distribution term that refers to the status of items on a purchase order in the event that some or the entire inventory required to fulfill the order is insufficient to satisfy demand. This differs from a forward order where stock is available but delivery is postponed for another reason.
Backorder Cost: A cost incurred by a business when it is unable to fill an order and must complete it later. A backorder cost can be discrete, as in the cost to replace a specific piece of inventory, or intangible, such as the effects of poor customer service. Backorder costs are usually computed and displayed on a per-unit basis.
Backorder costs include: costs of expediting, loss of customer goodwill and loss of sales revenues.
Backorder Date: Many vendors and retail businesses run into the problem of having backordered items, when they are waiting for the Manufacturer of a certain product(s) to deliver the expected goods. The manufacturer will give the vendor an expected date as to when the backordered item should be received. This date then becomes the backorder date for that specific item(s).