[Lvlug] Office activities

[Tom Stoddard]

Here's another:

As a Sales Manager, I used to get monthly sales data sent to me in an Excel
file. I imported that data into an Access table and then created a report
for each sales rep. In the report, I embedded a nice 3D chart (Excel lingo
for graph) into the bottom of the report. I would also create the same
report using the combined data for all sales reps in my division and would
present that to my boss each month. Access would use Excel to create the
charts.

When you insert objects created by other applications such as Excel into a
Word document, you have the ability to link to or embed the object. The
difference is, for example, when you link to a chart in a spreadsheet, you
are just pointing at the object and when the spreadsheet is changed, the
chart in the document changes as well. When embedding, you are creating a
new instance of the spreadsheet object which is stored with the word
document and can only be updated from within the word document.

Perhaps you should consider, when creating your examples, choosing examples
that can be integrated into one large application. For example, start with a
spreadsheet that shows sales or some internal cost data. Format it, create a
pretty chart, whatever you think will wow them. Then create a document using
a word processor, link to the chart and email it out to various "internal
customers". Then create a presentation and link to the same spreadsheet
(maybe a different chart in that spreadsheet) in one of the presentation
slides. Show how the data can subsequently be updated in the spreadsheet and
then open the document and show that the chart has changed. Then open the
presentation and do the same. It might not "wow" them, but it will at least
prove to them that they are not sacrificing that sort of functionality by
not using MS Office.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Faber Fedor" <faber@linuxnj.com>
To: <lvlug@thelinuxlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2002 3:48 PM
Subject: [Lvlug] Office activities


> For those of you in the audience that work in an office, what activities
> do you need your software to do?
>
> All I can figure out is: word processing, faxing, spreadsheets, and the
> occasional presentation.
>
> Have I forgotten anything (I hope I did, otherwise it's going to be a
> short presentation!).
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Faber
>
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