Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Excel – Separating positive and negative numbers:

Problem:

One column contains mixed values of positive and negative numbers, needs to be
Separated into two columns, in the first column positive values in second column negative values.
Finally, add a formula to return running balance along the cells in a third column.

Solution:

Steps 1 - Into cell B2 enter the formula:

=IF($A2>=0,$A2,"") and then copy the formula down to all cells in the range of data of column A.

Steps 2 - Into cell C2 enter the formula: =IF($B2="",$A2,"") and again copy the formula down.

Steps 3 - Into cell D2 enter the formula: =SUM(A2:B2).

Step 4 - Into cell D3 enter the formula:=D2+SUM(A3:A3) and copy the formula down the remainder of the range.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Drag and Drop files:

Instead of using the "File-Attach..." menu or the "Attach" toolbar icon and then navigating to a file in the "Create Attachment" dialog box, it is much easier to just drag and drop the file right from the desktop directly into the body of the document.

Adjust the size of the Lotus Notes window so that we can see both the desktop and the Notes document. Simply click on the file, keep the mouse button pressed, drag over to the document, and release the mouse button. Tada.... the file is copied into Notes.

But that's only the start of this tip. In the example above we had to adjust the size of the windows so we could easily see where we were dragging and dropping. We don't have to do that. Try this... First start a new document in Lotus Notes. Next, select the file from your desktop, keep the mouse button pressed, and drag the file to the Window's taskbar button for Lotus Notes. Don't release the mouse button yet, pause over the taskbar button for a second, and Lotus Notes will pop up into the foreground.


Now (still holding down the mouse button) drag the selected file to the Notes document you want to drop it into, then release the mouse button. If the document you want is already showing on the screen you are all set. If not, you can even switch back and forth between Notes tabs while dragging.

You can use this technique when working with Document Libraries, TeamRooms, mail, calendar, or anywhere else you want to attach files to a rich text field. Remember though, one of the key attributes of Lotus Notes is that you don't have to send around attachments via email. Instead store them in a central repository/library and then send users links to the document instead.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Using Feedback as a Tool:

As a project manager it is important to be able to give and receive feedback effectively. Feedback is best given on a one to one basis soon after the event that triggers its need. Here are some tips that can help:
Giving Feedback
• Feedback is always more powerful when asked for.
• Think about when and where you give feedback.
• Think carefully about what you want to say and how to say it.
• Feedback is as much about stating the positives as it is about stating the negatives.
• Be specific about the behaviors you are commenting on.
• Take responsibility for your feedback; say "I feel," "I noticed."
• Make your comments clearly and don't get emotional.
• Use analogies and examples to illustrate your points.
• Be aware of the other person's body language.
• Allow an opportunity for discussion and actively listen.
• Make sure you understand whether the feedback has been accepted or rejected.
• Look together for a solution or for a way of making things better.
Receiving Feedback
• Don't be afraid to ask for feedback.
• Listen carefully to the feedback.
• Don't leap to your own defense.
• Check your understanding and ask questions to clarify any grey areas.
• Ask for specific examples of good and bad behaviors.
• Allow yourself time to take in the feedback.
• Say which points you agree with and those you don't and why.
• Look together for a solution or for a way of making things better.
• Thank the other person for their time and effort in giving you the feedback.
Feedback is a powerful tool often underutilized. It can be used to motivate people, help with a person’s development, uncover risks and issues and solve problems. Frequent, honest and relevant feedback helps to foster an environment of open communications. Start now, there's no time like the present.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Retrieving the value of first non-blank cell in the list:

Problem:

Retrieving the value of the first non-blank cell in Range1(A2:A7).

Solution:
Use the INDEX and MATCH functions as shown in the following Array formula:
{=INDEX(A2:A7,MATCH(TRUE,A2:A7<>"""",0))}

Monday, December 20, 2010

Visual Merchandising:

Visual merchandising is the art of implementing effective design ideas to increase store traffic and sales volume.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Copy Data from Lotus Notes to Spreadsheet:

Since spreadsheets are designed for number crunching and chart creation, let's look at how using "Copy Selected as Table" can help you easily transfer data from Notes documents into a spreadsheet.

Select the documents we want to transfer, right click, and choose "Copy Selected as Table"



Next open the spreadsheet (Lotus 1-2-3, OpenOffice Calc, Excel, etc.), place the cursor in the cell where we want the data to start, and "paste".




The data from Notes view is now in a spreadsheet. We may have to format the rows and columns a bit to look exactly as we want.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

WikiLeaks:

WikiLeaks is an international new media non-profit organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and news leaks. Its website, launched in 2006, is run by The Sunshine Press. Within a year of its launch, the site claimed its database had grown to more than 1.2 million documents. The organization has described itself as having been founded by Chinese dissidents, as well as journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.

WikiLeaks was originally launched as a user-editable wiki site, but has progressively moved towards a more traditional publication model, and no longer accepts either user comments or edits. The site is available on multiple servers and different domain names following a number of denial-of-service attacks and its severance from different Domain Name System (DNS) providers.

WikiLeaks has no official headquarters. The expenses per year are about €200,000, mainly for servers and bureaucracy, but would reach €600,000 if work currently done by volunteers were paid for. WikiLeaks does not pay for lawyers, as hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal support have been donated by media organizations such as the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Its only revenue stream is donations, but WikiLeaks is planning to add an auction model to sell early access to documents.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Interesting facts:

1. On eBay, there is an average of $680 worth of transactions each second.
2. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
3. The world's first computer, called the Z1, was invented by Konrad Zuse in 1936. His next invention, the Z2 was finished in 1939 and was the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer.
4. The first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in around 1964 and was made of wood.
5. Domain names are being registered at a rate of more than one million names every month.
6. There are approximately 1.06 billion instant messaging accounts worldwide.
7. The first banner advertising was used in 1994.
8. E-mail has been around longer than the World Wide Web.
9. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute, less than half the normal rate of 20.
10. One of every 8 married couples in the US last year met online.
11. The average 21 year old has spent 5,000 hours playing video games, has exchanged 250,000 e-mails, instant and text messages and has spent 10,000 hours on the mobile phone.
12. By the year 2012 there will be approximately 17 billion devices connected to the Internet.
13. MySpace reports over 110 million registered users. Were it a country, it would be the tenth largest, just behind Mexico.
14. While it took the radio 38 years, and the television a short 13 years, it took the World Wide Web only 4 years to reach 50 million users.
15. There are approximately 1,319,872,109 people on the Internet.
16. Bill Gates' house was designed using a Macintosh computer.
17. The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com.
18. Another name for a Microsoft Windows tutorial is 'Crash Course'!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Running effective Project Meetings:

As a manager or leader, chances are that you will be given responsibility for a project at some time in your career. It could be a new computer system implementation, building a new facility, introducing a new piece of equipment or a new product or service.
As part of your role, you will want to make sure that the project is progressing as expected and that any issues are being addressed. Project meetings are one of the most common ways of doing this, so how can you ensure that your project meetings are effective?
1. Set Objectives
Have you ever gone along to a meeting that took two hours out of your day and achieved nothing? If yes, chances are that there were no clear objectives for the meeting. Before calling any meeting, make sure that you have clear objectives that you can measure.
2. Set an Agenda
Meetings without an agenda drift, take longer than they need to and don't get results. Produce and circulate the agenda in advance, at least 1 or 2 days before the meeting, not 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. Give indicative timings for each item and allow for slippage.
3. Get the Right People to Attend
While there is usually a core project team, there might be decisions that require someone more senior from time to time. If you know this in advance, make sure that you get the person who can make the decision along otherwise you will have a frustrated team on your hands.
4. Make Sure the Physical Environment is Comfortable
Have you ever gone to a meeting in the heat of summer where there is no air conditioning and the person chairing has not even thought about having ice cold water available? Effective meetings can only take place if the people attending are comfortable, so take care of this the best you can.
5. Start and Finish on Time
There is nothing more frustrating than people turning up 15 minutes after the scheduled start time and the meeting running over by 30 minutes. Make sure that it is clear to everyone that you will be starting and finishing on time. Encourage them to leave 30 minutes either side of the meeting free to ensure they can get there on time and that if something major arises it can be dealt with.
At the end of the day, running effective meetings is about planning. Make sure you take care of this vitally important area.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Word-of-mouth:

Definition: Possibly the most effective form of marketing is the verbal recommendation and positive approval from a satisfied customer.
Also Known As: Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Buzz Marketing, Viral Advertising
Alternate Spellings: WOM Marketing
Examples:
Due to budget constraints, the news of their grand opening was spread by word of mouth.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Increasing or Decreasing the Screen Magnification percentage:

To quickly increase or decrease the screen magnification percentage:

1. Select a cell.

2. Press Ctrl, and roll the mouse wheel forward (to increase the magnification) or backward (to decrease it).

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Wrap Text around Images:

When you insert and image into a document, by default the text you start typing next is aligned with the bottom of the image. However, Lotus Notes allows you to choose from many different behaviors.




You can select the style you want using the "Text Wrap" options available in the Picture's Properties Box.




For example, you can set the text to wrap around an image that is locked in position on the left side of the screen.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Writing for Business:

The purpose of business writing is to convey information to someone else or to request information from them. To be effective writing for business, you must be complete, concise, and accurate. Your text should be written in such a way that the reader will be able to easily understand what you are telling or asking them.
A lot of writing for business is sloppy, poorly written, disorganized, littered with jargon, and incomplete. Often it is either too long or too short. All these attributes contribute to ineffective business writing.
Whether you are writing a sales proposal, an email to your department, or an instruction manual for a software package, there are certain steps you need to follow to create effective business writing. You need to:
1. organize your material
2. consider your audience
3. write
4. proofread
5. and edit your text.
The emphasis on each step may vary, depending on what you are writing, but the steps will be the same.

MDM:

Master data management (MDM) is a comprehensive method of enabling an enterprise to link all of its critical data to one file, called a master file, that provides a common point of reference. For MDM to function at its best, all personnel and departments must be taught how data is to be formatted, stored and accessed.
In computing, master data management (MDM) comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization (which may include reference data). MDM has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Category Killer:

Definition: A large retail chain store that is dominant in its product category. This type of store generally offers an extensive selection of merchandise at prices so low that smaller stores cannot compete.
Also Known As: Big Box Store
Examples:
Best Buy is an example of an electronics category killer.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Paper Battery:

A paper battery is a battery engineered to use a spacer formed largely of cellulose (the major constituent of paper).
This technology can also be used in supercapacitors. It incorporates nanoscale structures to act as high surface-area electrodes to improve the conduction of electricity.
Development
The creation of this unique nanocomposite paper drew from a diverse pool of disciplines, requiring expertise in materials science, energy storage, and chemistry. In August 2007, a research team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (led by Drs. Robert Linhardt, the Ann and John H. Broadbent Senior Constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering at Rensselaer; Pulickel M. Ajayan, professor of materials science and engineering; and Omkaram Nalamasu, professor of chemistry with a joint appointment in materials science and engineering) developed the paper battery. Senior research specialist Victor Pushparaj, along with postdoctoral research associates Shaijumon M. Manikoth, Ashavani Kumar, and Saravanababu Murugesan, were co-authors and lead researchers of the project. Other co-authors include research associate Lijie Ci and Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center Laboratory Manager Robert Vajtai.
This cellulose based spacer is compatible with many possible electrolytes. Researchers used ionic liquid, essentially a liquid salt, as the battery’s electrolyte, as well as naturally occurring electrolytes such as human sweat, blood, and urine.
Ionic liquid, which contains no water, would mean that there’s nothing in the batteries to freeze or evaporate, potentially allowing operation in extreme temperatures.
Naturally occurring electrolytes might allow more biocompatible batteries. According to Pushparaj “It’s a way to power a small device such as a pacemaker without introducing any harsh chemicals – such as the kind that are typically found in batteries — into the body.”
Durability
The spacer is an integrated combination of spacer, and electrodes. “It’s essentially a regular piece of paper, but it’s made in a very intelligent way,” said Linhardt, “We’re not putting pieces together — it’s a single, integrated device,” he said. “The components are molecularly attached to each other: the carbon nanotube print is embedded in the paper, and the electrolyte is soaked into the paper. The end result is a device that looks, feels, and weighs the same as paper.”
Uses
The paper-like quality of the battery combined with the structure of the nanotubes embedded within gives them their light weight and low cost, making them attractive for portable electronics, aircraft, automobiles, and toys (such as model aircraft), while their ability to use electrolytes in blood make them potentially useful for medical devices such as pacemakers. The medical uses are particularly attractive because they do not contain any toxic materials and can be biodegradable; a major drawback of chemical cells. However, Professor Sperling cautions that commercial applications may be a long way away, because nanotubes are still relatively expensive to fabricate. Currently they are making devices a few inches in size. In order to be commercially viable, they would like to be able to make them newspaper size; a size which, taken all together, would be powerful enough to power a car.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Run of Paper:

Definition: An advertising term used by newspapers referring to an advertisement that may be placed anywhere within the paper.
Also Known As: Full Run or ROP
Examples:
Our retail display ad contract gave us run of paper, so our advertisement may appear in any location within the newspaper, except in the classified section.