“A little upfront learning can prevent the productivity plunge and the frustration”
Switching to new software can be frustrating and time consuming. In the case of Microsoft Office 2007 it can also slow productivity and even stop work completely. The conversion will be disorienting as users struggle to find familiar commands and attempt to break old habits. The good news is that it’s worth the effort and once proficient most users will be more productive and create better end products. Here’s what you need to be aware of….
At the end of this year Microsoft will no longer provide mainstream support for Windows XP and Office 2003. Office 2007 will replace the 2003 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook and others. These new products were released last year but many companies and individuals have been reluctant to upgrade due to technical issues and the anticipated annoyance of change. It seems that most of the technical issues have mainly been around hardware requirements to run Vista. Many companies will upgrade to Office 2007 this year while still running Windows XP. They will wait until its time to buy new computers to change the operating system to Vista.
Professionals will find that Office 2007 is a worthy upgrade for the user. It has a refreshing look and feel and you will find several new features that will improve performance.
The thing is…version 2007 is a considerable change. Past upgrades were practically transparent to a user who had little notion that they were converting and perhaps unaware of improvements. A switch to 2007 will be considerably more dramatic. To save a document, no more clicking on the File menu….it doesn’t exist! Find the Office icon button, or check out the Quick Launch bar. In Office 2007 you no longer have traditional menu items with sub menus that drop down (File, Edit, View…), they are replaced with Command Tabs and the Ribbon. Like topics are logically grouped together and presented with buttons and shortcuts.
Another big issue with Office 2007 is file compatibility. Earlier versions cannot open 2007 files. So if you are sending your client (who doesn’t have 2007) a file you either have to save it as a different file type or they will have to download a conversion program to open it. If you save it as a different type you will lose the cool HTML features that you upgraded to 2007 for!
Each of the Office products offer the new look and feel with more formatting options, themes and designs. Excel offers big improvements to the sorting and filtering features and Word lets you save documents as PDF files. In addition, Word allows you to add an invisible digital signature to a document, or you can insert a Microsoft Office Signature Line to capture a visible representation of a signature. This provides assurance as to the authenticity and origin of your document. PowerPoint 2007 has a presenter view which allows you to see your speaker notes on the computer screen while projecting your presentation.
Learning the new programs seems to be easier for first time users than for those who are switching from an earlier version. To someone switching it can be frustrating and wearisome. With a little bit of planning you can avoid the productivity loss, reduce frustration and increase efficiency and abilities while upgrading to Office 2007.
Provide users with short hands-on learning sessions to understand the considerable differences in the new version. This will ensure a smooth conversion; avoid the productivity plunge and the frustration. Work will flow smoothly as users improve their performance.