Business solutions

The old "80/20" rule for software - that 80 percent of users use only 20 percent of a program's features - doesn't apply to Microsoft Excel. Instead, this program operates under what could be called the "95/5" rule: 95 percent of Excel users use a mere 5 percent of the program's features. Most of those users know that they could be getting more out of Excel by using more of its commands and options, but aren't sure where to start. Excel is big and complex, and most of its intermediate-to-advanced features are shrouded in the mysteries of mathematics, finance, and impenetrable spreadsheet jargon. This Business Solutions title demystifies the program's features and presents them in a jargon-free way. This book not only takes them through Excel's intermediate and advanced options, but also tells them why these options are useful and shows them how to use them in everyday situations and real-world models. This book aims to do all of this with no-nonsense, step-by-step tutorials and lots of practical, useful examples.

Microsoft Access is a large, intimidating program. Unlike Word or Excel where users can perform basic tasks without much in the way of training, Access presents challenges from the outset. Most users never progress beyond creating simple tables and using Wizards to create basic forms and reports. At the same time, all users - from managers to researchers to administrative assistants - need to know that what they seek is embedded somewhere in their Access tables. Without a more sophisticated knowledge of how to extract and present that data, they are forced to rely on office gurus and overworked IT people to provide canned reports or one-size-fits-all solutions.This book changes all that by giving readers the skills required to etract the data they need (queries), build efficient front-ends for that data (forms), and publish the results in an attractive and easy-to-read format (reports). To that end, this book shuns the big Access picture and instead focuses intently on queries, forms, and reports. This in-depth approach will give the reader the skills and understanding he or she needs to get at the data and prove the old adage that knowledge is indeed power.