This past week, I did a customized 1-on-1 deskside training class on specific topics in Microsoft Excel, Visio, and Project. It had been a while since I’d done training on Visio and Project. As we went over the individual’s questions, I was reminded of what great tools Project and Visio are. (Note: Versitas doesn’t sell any of these products, so these are just my personal thoughts on the software.)
If your company uses either of those applications, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, I’ll fill you in. Visio is a drawing software that lets you turn your designs, diagrams and maps, etc., into visual documents easily. You can create flowcharts, organizational charts, maps, and much more. There are stencils available with all kinds of shapes to use for your designs.
The student I was working with was mainly concerned with floor plans. She had scanned in her floor plans and wanted to plot items on those plans. She had an Excel spreadsheet listing all of the items and their dimensions/specs. I showed her how to import the Excel spreadsheet items in a list in Visio that she could use to drag those specs onto the items/shapes she had plotted in Visio.
It was all so easy! She thought she was going to have to go shape by shape and type in all of the information. It was one of those “happy trainer moments” to see the look of relief on her face when she realized the time she was going to save. Also, she was now going to be able to WOW her clients with the quality of her presentations.
We also worked with some Introductory topics in Project. Project is a project management software that assists in developing task timelines, planning and managing budgets, assigning and tracking resources, and assessing progress. Some people think Project is too complex. With a little training, it doesn’t feel overwhelming at all. In fact, it really can help a project manager in so many aspects.
Most of my student’s projects initially followed a similar pattern and format setup. I told her that she would need to spend some time setting up a generic template. After creating the first one, she could use that template for her other projects. She would have some date adjusting and other tweaking to do but those would require little time if the template was set up correctly.
We really had a fun training session. She was excited to see how these tools could work for her. I was happy to see what a great help the software would be for her with just our half day of training. It made me realize once again that the software we use can be so useful to our jobs!
Tags: Add new tag, Excel, Microsoft, Project, project management, software, spreadsheet, Versitas, Visio
I want to put a shout out for Visio - great program, very intuitive and easy to use. It has allowed me to amp up my presentations big time!
I must admit I have been intimidated at the thought of learning Visio but your blog made me realize this is a tool that could really help my business - thanks Angela!