Factory Painter? When I was, I think, 17 I blagged a job as a painter. The work involved painting the girders in the roof of what used to be the Gloster Aircraft factory, 40Ft up. They were then making petrol tankers for Esso, cut and curled sections of which stood, edge up, on the floor underneath.
In the good old days before Health & Safety (I think that the old Factories Act SHOULD have applied) we were expected to walk on 14inch duck boards across 12Ft voids with a bucket of paint in one hand and a bunch of brushes in the other.
When I was castigated for not painting the underside of the main braces, the surface of which was about 18Inches BELOW the duck boards I was shown by Murphy how to do it. This involved hanging upside down by one arm and one leg while painting with the free arm and we were NOT wearing ANY form of harness. Remember the curled section of tanker underneath?
Put the button on your toolbar! My FD told me some years ago that the best tip that I had ever given him was to put the 'Set Print Area' button on your toolbar. This can be done via Menu/Tools/Customize/Commands Tab. You just drag any required buttons up to where you want them on the toolbar. I always have the Set P.A. button next to the existing Print button. This way a selction is simply highlighted, click Set P.A., click Print.
Drag and two mouse clicks - Job done!
I also add the Page Setup Button which also saves a lot of faffing about.
Try Backwards Something to keep in mind when doing bank recs over a long period is that unpresented cheques go stale after 6 months. This means that they can be written back to creditors at least, if not P&L if not queried.
This means that if one does the rec backwards from the present one can reach a point where all the unpresenteds can be w/o the cash book. This assumes that any unpresented lodgements will have been queried a bit quick at the time! If the misbalance is immaterial it's not a problem. If it is not, then one has to trawl back to check for, for instance, missing standing orders etc.
I'd be interested to know on which software package you were asked to advise as the one we use is Dutch. I could tell you some tales! If you don't want to post it here please mail me at [email protected]. Thanks
Why use Text to Columns? What's wrong with Left, Mid, Right? David
If the user's account ID format is consistent, e.g. 3+5+4 or whatever, then surely the elements can be extracted using =Left, +Mid, and =Right in combination with =IF! These can be left as standing formulae in the sheet and from that point on automation should be possible.
What about the workers?! I am pretty good at Excel and can get by in Access. The reason why most of our in-house ad-hoc work is done in Excel is that I am one of only two people in the place that wouldn't run up the road screaming at the mention of Access.
The problem with Access is that unless one has time to do the full front end bit, people unfamiliar with it will either be unable to use it or will mess it up. As most people in a commercial environment are at least comfortable with Excel, one can knock up spreadsheets which they can and will use intuitively without too much additional coaching required. Protecting the bits that they may feel inclined to mess up is simple, and if they want or need to extract bits for their own use, they can.
Differentiation! I was just browsing your April ramblings (sorry!) and came across your reflections on differentiating products. This won't be any help, I guess, although I don't know what you make; however it may raise a smile. The figures are representative as I can't remember what they were.
An aquaintance of mine used, many years ago, to work for a firm that made weighing scales, very high tech. They made three versions; an industrial one that was painted black and cost £150, a military one that was painted green and cost £500, and a medical one that was painted white and cost £750. The only difference was the colour of the paint!!!
Sir Alan didn't like it either! Although the series 'The Apprentice' was originally an American show, I gather that it was conceived by an ex-pat Englishman! Sir Alan was interviewed on the radio part way into the series, and he made it clear that he wasn't at all keen on his new catchphrase. It was, he said, a contractual obligation of the American owners that this had to be used at all 'sackings'. As an inveterate people watcher, I found the whole thing fascinating. Like many, I couldn't work out how Saira managed to stay untill the final; I would have sacked her on day one just to get a bit if peace.
Sir Alan was also quoted as saying that he considered that four, I think, of the contestants should never have been there in the first place but that he had no say in the matter.
Of course the interesting thing will be to see if Tim is still with Sir Alan in six months or a year's time.
My answers
I always thought that pink slips, or 'Pinks' were vehicle regist
Am I wrong or is it used for both?
Factory Painter?
When I was, I think, 17 I blagged a job as a painter. The work involved painting the girders in the roof of what used to be the Gloster Aircraft factory, 40Ft up. They were then making petrol tankers for Esso, cut and curled sections of which stood, edge up, on the floor underneath.
In the good old days before Health & Safety (I think that the old Factories Act SHOULD have applied) we were expected to walk on 14inch duck boards across 12Ft voids with a bucket of paint in one hand and a bunch of brushes in the other.
When I was castigated for not painting the underside of the main braces, the surface of which was about 18Inches BELOW the duck boards I was shown by Murphy how to do it. This involved hanging upside down by one arm and one leg while painting with the free arm and we were NOT wearing ANY form of harness. Remember the curled section of tanker underneath?
At that point, the end of day 2, I left.
Put the button on your toolbar!
My FD told me some years ago that the best tip that I had ever given him was to put the 'Set Print Area' button on your toolbar.
This can be done via Menu/Tools/Customize/Commands Tab. You just drag any required buttons up to where you want them on the toolbar. I always have the Set P.A. button next to the existing Print button. This way a selction is simply highlighted, click Set P.A., click Print.
Drag and two mouse clicks - Job done!
I also add the Page Setup Button which also saves a lot of faffing about.
Try Backwards
Something to keep in mind when doing bank recs over a long period is that unpresented cheques go stale after 6 months. This means that they can be written back to creditors at least, if not P&L if not queried.
This means that if one does the rec backwards from the present one can reach a point where all the unpresenteds can be w/o the cash book. This assumes that any unpresented lodgements will have been queried a bit quick at the time! If the misbalance is immaterial it's not a problem. If it is not, then one has to trawl back to check for, for instance, missing standing orders etc.
Which software?
David
I'd be interested to know on which software package you were asked to advise as the one we use is Dutch. I could tell you some tales! If you don't want to post it here please mail me at [email protected].
Thanks
Why use Text to Columns? What's wrong with Left, Mid, Right?
David
If the user's account ID format is consistent, e.g. 3+5+4 or whatever, then surely the elements can be extracted using =Left, +Mid, and =Right in combination with =IF! These can be left as standing formulae in the sheet and from that point on automation should be possible.
Try No. 9 !
One of the alternative Pivot Table formats (No. 9 in my version) displays multiple data columns side-by-side.
What about the workers?!
I am pretty good at Excel and can get by in Access. The reason why most of our in-house ad-hoc work is done in Excel is that I am one of only two people in the place that wouldn't run up the road screaming at the mention of Access.
The problem with Access is that unless one has time to do the full front end bit, people unfamiliar with it will either be unable to use it or will mess it up. As most people in a commercial environment are at least comfortable with Excel, one can knock up spreadsheets which they can and will use intuitively without too much additional coaching required. Protecting the bits that they may feel inclined to mess up is simple, and if they want or need to extract bits for their own use, they can.
Differentiation!
I was just browsing your April ramblings (sorry!) and came across your reflections on differentiating products. This won't be any help, I guess, although I don't know what you make; however it may raise a smile. The figures are representative as I can't remember what they were.
An aquaintance of mine used, many years ago, to work for a firm that made weighing scales, very high tech. They made three versions; an industrial one that was painted black and cost £150, a military one that was painted green and cost £500, and a medical one that was painted white and cost £750. The only difference was the colour of the paint!!!
Now THAT'S marketing.
Sir Alan didn't like it either!
Although the series 'The Apprentice' was originally an American show, I gather that it was conceived by an ex-pat Englishman! Sir Alan was interviewed on the radio part way into the series, and he made it clear that he wasn't at all keen on his new catchphrase. It was, he said, a contractual obligation of the American owners that this had to be used at all 'sackings'. As an inveterate people watcher, I found the whole thing fascinating. Like many, I couldn't work out how Saira managed to stay untill the final; I would have sacked her on day one just to get a bit if peace.
Sir Alan was also quoted as saying that he considered that four, I think, of the contestants should never have been there in the first place but that he had no say in the matter.
Of course the interesting thing will be to see if Tim is still with Sir Alan in six months or a year's time.