Week 11: clear

This week was pretty smooth sailing. I have used acess at a previous work place, but this has really helped me understand it. In most cases it seems the a database would be much more pratical to use then excel. It is great to use if you have large inventory, and need to now when, how much and etc., when you need to re-order. You can create a table that lets you know exactly where you are on usage, for ordering information. A table is a set of important inforamtion, it is all the data that you are using depending on the data type you have to name it a unique name so that the database can recognize it. If you have a ton of different information you can use a query to help identify what exactly you are looking for throughout your tables. A query will find the exact data you are looking for (e.g. alll students named Alexia), you can change, sort or combine data from different tables as well. A lot of memebrship companys use this to delete memebers that have been inactive for a extended period of time. Microsoft is a great tool for those of us who are not computer programmers and need a visuably pleasing and not to advanced program.
Access is not the only database program out there, sunbase star, dBase, Alpha Five, and many others. You have to pick which is confortable for you. Access is helpful to me becuase there it is so widely used that you can always find help.

The photo above is of a query. It is pulling all the inventory from that certain month in that certain year. A database provides data integrity meaning the data is valid, accurate, complete, verifiable, and formatted correctly. A database should also avoid data redundancy and no duplication of data, and provide data security.

Week 10: Clear

This week was actually interesting to me. I knew a lot about networks and how they are used already but it really painted a much clearer picture for me as far as DSL, FTTP's, ATM's and so on and so fourth. Also i found very interesting the different types of WiMax , IrDA, and WAP. I began to think to myself, that if there are so many different types of wireless connection's out there how come we are provided with so-so service.

I am a resident in Newberry, FL which is about 20 minutes west of Gainesville, it is pretty much in the boonies, but are Internet is horrible. I wonder when Internet will become just another utility bill? It would be awesome to have a fast operating system out in Newberry with having to pay outrageous cost to build a T1 line or something crazy that for just an everyday Internet surfer. I was not aware of the wireless connection capability and how it could be available to people.

WAN, which stands for a Wide Area Network, connects computers in different areas through telephone lines and radio waves. This is convenient for people how might work lets say on campus, (CAN for example) and work in more then one building but need he same documents or information for both places, they can have the same info. in one building on one totally different computer and then go to the next across campus and retrieve the same info. at a different desk. It allows people and company's to work more efficiently together and through their computers. There is also a smaller network available for smaller business's which is LAN, Local Area Network. This provides computers in the small general area the network, usually the space to which the business occupies. This network would not be sufficient on a larger scale basis.

There are five different types of networks out there though: WAN LAN, CAN,MAN, HAN Using the different types of networks really helps business's, students, and professionals be more efficient.

Excel Project

This excel project was extremely time consuming for me. I had no idea how to do any of the required steps and had to re-watch the lectures multiple times. I opened the link at the beginning of the semester to just skim over the requirements for each project and at the time i thought to myself " O! this will not be that bad", boy was i wrong! I started the project late, unfortunately, and spent a long time trying to figure things out. All this information and learning is a good thing though as i have recently been employed and we use excel a lot! So hopefully all this tasks will come in handy.

The freeze panes were really confusing for me to figure out because the option at the top only gives you the option to freeze the first row only. It is really a good thing to know though so when you are working at the bottom of a work sheet and you need to have the labels visible at the same time it is sooo convenient. All the beginning things were pretty simple for me to fix and edit after having done the excel scavenger hunt. Like renaming he tabs and add columns, i would not have known how to do those things if i had not done the scavenger hunt before.

I am still not convinced that i am 100% on using and figuring out how to do them and input the data correctly, but, i guess it will reflect in my grade. I think that this project will help me in the long run in a future business career or even in my own work out and health routine. I am excited to show others what i have learned and help others if and when it is needed. The Pivot tables gave me a lot of trouble because i have never heard of them before this project and was not exactly sure what they were for or how they were used.

Week 9: Muddy

OK...so... at the beginning of this hunt and project I was extremely worried. I have worked with excel before but only once and I am not at all confident with the software. I have to admit I kept putting it off because I was worried the information was going to overwhelm me and that with the rest of my midterms I was just going to stress myself out about nothing.

I know that Excel plays a huge role in our business world today and was actually pleased to be able to work with it and find shortcuts for things while I was doing research for the hunt. Like how to format cells, and add columns and delete them, etc. I am so pleased now that having done this hunt and having found this little hints and shortcuts because it will help me out a lot in future projects at work. I would normally sit there and spend a couple minutes clicking on different toolbar functions trying to figure out what it is I was looking for, now with a list of functions I can use my little cheat sheet I created.

One thing that I learned that I did not know how to do before is how to rename a worksheet. It is so much easier to name them something help so I know where to look for exactly what I am looking for. I had asked people that use excel for their business and they did not know how to do that, so I was able to help and show them how to use it.

I will be using excel on upcoming work projects and I will not be subjective to it. I am excited about the new techniques I have learned and to use the new skills and further my knowledge in the excel project.