Training Staff on New Business Software

Many businesses each year bring in new software to help run their business more efficiently and effectively but there are always minor problems along the way. The most common is staff not wanting to see change and also worried they won’t be able to understand the new software put in place.

If you decide to implement new business software you should make sure all your staff understand why you are putting in place new software, the benefits of this and also any important points of what the software package does to help the business. The more you explain the more likely your staff are to understand and enjoy the new training.

There are two different ways in which you can train your staff on new computer software but there is the idea of not training your staff at all and letting them learn the new software themselves but this is just unproductive. Your staff could take weeks maybe even a good few months to learn a new piece of software on their own wasting their time and yours as well as money. If you want to run an efficient business then you will need to always train your staff with new software as well as up to date training when necessary. The more your staff know the more productive they will be in their work.

The two ways in which you can train your staff are as follows:

On-Site Training – this offers you the ability to train multiple staff in a suitable training environment with all the resources needed also at hand. Training lots of people at the same time can work out well sometimes but other times there are a variety of people, some who can pick things up quickly but others who take longer to understand and therefore may struggle getting the hand of the software from this kind of training. Sending a large group of staff to be trained can be costly but also not possible as not everyone can leave the place of work as work needs to be carried out still.

Bespoke Training – this kind of training offers a bespoke service in the way of understanding that different people learn at different speeds and in different ways. The same is for every business has different training requirements for their staff and themselves and this needs to be taken into consideration. If you have a large group of staff who have the same ability and require the same training on a certain area of the business software then this can be arranged. Bespoke training is a good way of getting exactly what training you and your staff require as an individual business. Whatever the training may be from accounting packages to call centre software to customer relationship management software, training can be given. Bespoke training offers you a tailor made solution for your business training needs.

So if you’ve having a new software package implemented in your business or workplace from outsourced, in-house or purchased from a shop you need to train your staff on the new software. Not only will this make the switch over more productive but it will also help your staff welcome the new software if they fully understand the software package and how it will not only help them in doing their work but also how it will help the business become more productive and more competitive within their market.


Jene Pedder is the Webmaster of SynergyTechnology who specialise in Bespoke & On-Site Training.

What is Opera II XRL?

Opera II XRL is a software package that gives you the user fast, accurate and secure reporting and analysis of your account details. Opera II XRL is an addition to Microsoft Excel, which integrates and connects with Opera II where the businesses financial information is held. For many years users struggled to get the financial information from Opera II into Microsoft Excel but with Opera II XRL it’s no problem.

Your question is how does it do this?

The answer is that Opera II XRL stops you from having to copy and paste and re-type the information from Opera II into Microsoft Excel. Instead Opera II XRL is seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Excel which saves not only time but also security and the accuracy of the information. Opera II XRL also allows you to view individual transactions.

Ease of Use

Opera II XRL is easy to use and if you do get stuck why not check out the XRL Wizard who can guide you through on how to import your data from Opera II into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. A break down of this is as follows: -

• Select the Company who’s data you want to get

• Identify the area of the system you want to access i.e. Stock, Sales, Payroll, Costing, Production

• Choose the fields you want to import

• Your now done and this will only take a few seconds

Another way is to use the drop down menus and click on the data you want to be extracted from your accounts system; this is then imported into your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

An added bonus of Opera II XRL is that the language is English so you won’t have any problems with grammar and technical jargon.

Accuracy and Security

Accuracy and Security are important points in any business software. Opera II XRL has security measures in place these are as follows:

• You need to log onto the software – the system will check your user rights this ensures only the relevant users can access personnel data

• Once logged in you can use XRL to display the financial data you require

• This is done is seconds no need to wait for a few minutes and guess what the data is accurate too due to the data being extracted straight from the financial system, which eliminates input errors from manual spreadsheet input

Reporting Power

You now have more time to produce valuable and detailed analysis financial spreadsheets using XRL’s powerful reporting tools. If you want to create Management Reports in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet you can create links which link any data to a specific field in the spreadsheet, this used to take a few days to create, but now with Opera II XRL it only takes a matter of hours.

Drilldown

Drilldown allows you interrogate the data you’ve exported from Opera II to Microsoft Excel by not only looking at the fields but the transactions which are behind them.
An example of this is:

• Turnover Value for a customer can be expanded by an invoice number

• This can then be expanded again, to see the stock items which make up that invoice

A drilldown helps you to investigate any transaction behind a field of your choice quickly and efficiently and also meaning you wouldn’t have to go back and look in the accounts system.

Writeback

If you’ve prepared information in your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and you want to load it in the account system then the facility in XRL ‘Data Send’ allows you to do this. If you have any information including the following these can be entered into your accounts system with little effort and time.

• Price Lists
• Nominal Budgets
• Stock Adjustments

The Benefits of XRL

The main business benefits of XRL are as follows:

• Accuracy of data transfer which ensures accurate results

• Significant time savings over manual entry of data

• Powerful reporting tools which can present data in graphical form which makes it easier to understand

• Powerful analytical tools which provide better and quicker results which then can be acted upon

• Reports can be published from Opera II XRL using the Executive Modules, which means the information can be accessed anywhere at any time

• The dynamic link between the accounts system and Microsoft Excel provides instant management information when required, enabling decisions to be made when they need to be

• Finally Opera II XRL works and it must work as over 17,000 companies worldwide use it

Opera II XRL is a smart accounting package that puts you in control of your business. The features within this package are designed to take the strain out of running your business and it enables you to fully tailor the software to your business needs.

Opera II XRL is the smart choice for businesses who want more time spent making money and less time spent producing spreadsheets. Get your business growing faster with Opera II XRL.

Jene Pedder is the Webmaster of Synergy Technology who specialise in Opera II XRL Business Software.

What is Business Software?

Business Software has become an essential part of every business that competes in a competitive business environment. There are few businesses now that have no business software so its very clear that business software is a much for every business.

There are many different types of business software but they all do one thing and that’s to help maintain and control the business. This is done by having more than one piece of business software but every different software package is linked up to another business software package through the business.

Some businesses buy there business software from an outside company but some also create their own software packages. There needs to be software developer within the company who has a wide range of knowledge. The developer is told exactly what the business requires in the package and how the software should supposed to be used.

The pointers to consider in deciding what business software you require are:

• What are you specific needs for the software? Do you require an entire system that supports all the functions of your business or just one specific area?

• What features and abilities do you require in the software package? Will there be any services provided as well what level of expertise with the package offer you?

• Maintenance how is this going to be carried out, will there be help desk facility for all your employees and who will install this help desk?

These are all important points to consider, you will need to take the time and decide what your specifically need from the software package.


The different types of business software are as follows:

• Spreadsheet Programs – enables you to track orders, profits as well as your incomings and outgoings, an example of this is Microsoft Excel.

• Accounting Software – if you’re not very good at numbers and figures an accounting software package will help a lot. They can track your spending and profit, enables you to create invoices for your customers and suppliers instantly and then send them as well as accessing bank statements easily to check your accounts.

• Auto responder Program – this program saves time, if you want to send out a special offer to your customers instead of taking the time to write the same email over and over again. You add all your customers addresses into the program and the offer will be sent to them all in one email.

• Desktop Publishing Program – this is used to create newsletters, business cards, brochures and other marketing materials.

• Web Design Program – there are many different software packages for web site design, these include Dreamweaver and FrontPage. They let you build the website using HTML without learning the language.

Having the right business software for your business can help make your business more profitable and successful. Many businesses start off with just a computer and access to the Internet, but once your business takes off you will need to be able to track your customers orders, hold account information including profits and expenses as well as marketing your product or service.


Jene Pedder is the Webmaster of Synergy Technology who specialise in Business Software.