Access Accounting - Blog

Vista Explorer

This is article 2 of my Vista Blogs. I have spent some time looking at, and working with, Vista, and have separated various new features into several different articles.

In this article I am going to talk about the additional features in the Explorer window.

Windows explorer

It is now possible to not only see an icon for a document, but also preview the actual document contents.

Users can then highlight a document, see the document text and even copy and paste from that document, all without actually opening it!

There is a lot more information presented in these windows now as well, including links to edit the document, as well as all the property information, without having to right click the file and open a separate Properties window.

It is also possible to right click a file and view a list of the previous file versions, very handy if you need to go back to an earlier version!

Fig 1. Explorer with the preview pane and property information in view.

Kirsty Lowe

Internet Explorer v7

In this Blog I am going to cover 3 of the new features available in IE v7; Tabs, Phishing Filter and Quick Search. 

This new release will be sent out as a Windows update in the next few months. 

For further information on this update, including how to prevent the automatic update from occurring, what the supported O/S’ are etc. See:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx?mg_ID=10010#ie7rss

Tabs
Microsoft have picked up on the tab user function available in other browser applications, and have integrated it in with the new IE release.

As a user that hasn’t used this functionality in a browser before, I can say that it is very handy, and it makes it difficult to go back to IE v6!

As can be seen in Fig. 1 multiple internet pages can be opened in the one browser application, by the use of tabs.

Fig. 1 Example of the multiple tab functionality in IE v7

(Multiple pages are opened by using Ctrl/left click to click on multiple URLs.)

Additionally, to make it easier for users to view all of their open web sites, in order to decide which one to maximise, Microsoft have added a Quick Tabs window, so that all pages can be seen as thumb nails.  See Fig. 2.

Closing IE then allows the user to choose to close all tabs, and to reopen them next time IE is run.  See Fig. 3.

Fig 3. This is the prompt message that appears (with options in view) when closing IE

Phishing Filter

Information from Microsoft:

Proactively warns and helps protect you against potential or known fraudulent sites and blocks the site if appropriate. The opt-in filter is updated several times per hour using the latest security information from Microsoft and several industry partners.

This filter gives the user a warning if a site is suspected of phishing.  If a site prompts this message, then users can report the site to Microsoft using a link on message.  Reports are then sent to staff at Microsoft who check the site, and then update the list of phishing sites as appropriate.  This will mean that the next person to visit the site will be told it is a confirmed Phishing Site, instead of suspected, or the warning on the site will be removed, whichever is appropriate.

For users who do not know to check for padlock symbols in their browser, to ensure the site is secure, this will be a very helpful feature.

I hope that it helps to cut down on the number of fraudulent web sites out there, to allow the internet to be a safer place to ‘play’.

Quick Search

An additional search bar has been added to the IE Browser window (See Fig. 4).  This allows users to search text on the web page they are currently viewing.

Users can select their preferred Search Provider, as well as set a default.

Fig. 4 The Quick Search Bar and menu

For users needing to find specific information fast, this is a great tool, and one that I will be making the most of.

Kirsty Lowe

Feel Good by Payroll Giving

What is Payroll Giving?

Payroll giving is an easy way for you to make tax-free donations to your chosen charity. For each £1 gross you wish to donate, only 78p will be deducted from your pay if you are a standard rate tax payer.  This means you can give money to your favourite charity every pay day in the knowledge that they will be better off by an extra 22% - or 40% if you are a higher rate tax payer.

How does it work?

If your employer does not already run a Payroll Giving scheme you will need to persuade them to start one. It is easy and inexpensive to run, and if they are an SME (with less than 500 employees) they will be eligible for a grant of between £300 and £500 if they sign up to a scheme before the end of December 2006. Additionally, a grant matching the employee contributions (up to the first £10 per month) will be paid for the first 6 months, up to the end of March 2007.

It's easy for your company to set up - all they need to do is sign up with a Payroll Giving Agency - a list of these can be found at http://www.payrollgivinggrants.org.uk/. Each pay period they will need to collect the donations from their employees, and each month send the money to the Payroll Giving Agency by BACS or cheque, together with a listing of the employees and the amount of their donations. The employee will have completed a form instructing the agency with the details of the charity they wish to donate to, and if they wish to change the charity, again, this is done direct with the agency and not via the employer.

How much does it cost?

There are little or no costs to the employer - all payroll systems offer the facility to make charitable deductions, and if they are eligible for the grant this will more than offset any start-up costs. The agency does charge a small administration fee per donation which can either be deducted from the donation or be paid by the employer and offset against company profits.

So everyone can feel good - the employee by knowing that they can make tax-efficient regular donations to their favourite good cause, the employer by demonstrating that they are committed to working in partnership with the community and care about their employees, and the charity because they know they will receive regular, committed income which enables them to plan for the future.

Pip Trowles

Vista Sidebar

This is article one of a series of four Vista blogs which I will be writing over the coming weeks. I have spent some time looking at, and working with, Vista, and have separated various new features into several different articles. In this article I am going to talk about the Sidebar.

The Vista Sidebar is a feature that allows gadgets and RSS feeds (for more information on RSS see the note at the bottom of this article) to appear on the desktop.

I have found this sidebar to be a very helpful tool. It also allows any software house to create a gadget for their users to place on their side bar.

Microsoft has many gadgets you can download from their website; see http://gallery.microsoft.com/default.aspx?l=1 for examples. The Sidebar is set up from Control Panel \ Appearance and Personalization \ Windows Sidebar.

This allows users to select which gadgets to appear on the sidebar, and how the sidebar will be displayed. Gadgets can also be placed on desktop by dragging them from the sidebar; these items can be games, information, pictures, mini applications and more.

Fig 1 (left): Sidebar example containing calculator, RSS Feed, Note, a numbers game and an analogue clock.

Users can interact with any gadget at any time. I have found the note gadget the most helpful, as I can enter in names or numbers to store quickly, and for quick access. It works well as a ‘to do’ list for me!

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

This is like a summary feed of information be it the news, weather or stock exchange data which is updated in ‘real time’. This is really helpful because it can set this up for a particular feed and then I don’t have to load Internet Explorer to see the information; I can just go to my desktop or stay in my current application (if the sidebar has been set to always appear on top).

Users have been able to set RSS feeds up in Internet Explorer for some time, and now with Vista it comes to the desktop, by using the Sidebar. There are many RSS feeds to sign up to, and they are free (for the moment anyway!).

For more information on RSS see http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223484.stm and http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/reference/rss/ (this gives information specific to Vista, including which RSS versions will be supported by the sidebar.)

Kirsty Lowe

Microsoft Office Word 2007 (BETA)

I am going to go over some of the features that I have found most useful in Word 2007.  I thought to help with this I would write this piece using Word 2007 BETA, and so far so good.

It took me a while to find where the 'About' option had gone to, finding that I needed to add it to my toolbar, so the location of some functions aren’t completely obvious.

I have had no formal training on the new Office 2007 product, so I am just learning it as I go.  This is something which I suspect most users will probably do.

I like the overall look and feel of the application, but this is going to take a bit of getting used to!    The ribbons are however, clear and well laid out.

For those of you that have read my post on ‘Microsoft Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System’, you will know that Microsoft say users will take on average 2 days to 2 weeks to get used to the new way of working with this software.  Once you have got a handle on it in one application, however, the knowledge will port to the rest of the Office suite - as with previous versions.

Investing in People

People are the lifeblood of any company. A cliché perhaps, but I can’t help being a great believer in the importance of investing in staff whether this is through training, self-development or enhancing their current role to make it more rewarding. Quite simply, we’ve found this approach to add great value to the company.

This whole philosophy is part of our ‘always recruiting’ culture where we’re constantly on the lookout for talented individuals with spark, passion, creativity and vision – even if no role currently exists for them. There’s no denying that this approach does take time and effort. What’s more the whole process doesn’t stop there, as you’ve also got to constantly “sell” the idea of a career to all staff. The process is therefore ongoing, requiring commitment from us as directors to encourage people who want to develop their career - and inspire them with the possibilities that are open to them. 

However, we’ve found this to be time well spent, having a positive impact on staff retention - which can only be good for us as a company!

It would be interesting to hear from other businesses that have also tried this approach or indeed have other approaches to HR that they would like to share.

John Beech

Preparation for CIS Scheme

In April 2007 the Government introduces a new scheme to manage the tax liability of sub-contractors involved in the construction industry.  The new scheme replaces old manual vouchers,  grubby certificates, and annual returns.  The scheme simplifies the variety of ways in which a sub-contractor might be categorised.  It will allow contractors to verify the identity and tax status of subbies on-line and will require that companies make monthly returns, with on-line submission being the preferred route.  However, as with all new systems the transitionary period might be painful.  Companies will need to ensure that the data that they hold on their sub-contractors matches exactly the data held by HMRC.  A mis-match in a sub-contractors name will result in the whole return being rejected.  HMRC will be providing companies with either listings or CDs containing the data identities of sub-contractors that the company has employed within the last 2 years.  For larger companies it will be a task of some magnitude, to match this HMRC data against their own records.  The Access CIS software will contain tools to assist with this matching process. For those companies that have traded with less than 125 subcontractor records then they will only receive a paper listing from HMRC.  In these cases a manual reconciliation process will be required.  It is obvious that companies need to plan well in advance to ensure that their data will be "cleaned" and prepared for the new scheme.

Kevin Misselbrook         

Data Fragmentation in SQL Server 2000

Although SQL Server is a database management system, it will not do everything for you automatically. In many cases, even the most basic administration tasks are neglected by the average user & can result in a decrease in performance. For the purposes of this article we will take a beginners look into maintaining indexes on SQL Server 2000.

To start with, you have the ability to produce a fragmentation report for the data and indexes of the specified table with in SQL Server. Run DBCC SHOWCONTIG using SQL Query Analyser. This command returns a report for either the entire database or for specified tables. It is especially useful to run this if your database has suffered a gradual decrease in performance over periods of time. A gradual decrease will indicate index fragmentation. By scanning through this report you will be able to determine the primary tables that have been affected. Two important areas of this report to look at are:

1. Extents scanned & Extent Switches – in an ideal world you should have one less switch than extents

2. Extent scan fragmentation levels

Once you have diagnosed to problem tables/indexes, you can run DBCC DBREINDEX. This command rebuilds one or more indexes for a single table. Generally, your best bet is to rebuild all indexes on a given table or rebuild the primary index (rebuilding the primary one will automatically rebuild all others). This command can only be run on a table by table basis – i.e. it can not be run on the entire database. In addition to this, the DBCC DBREINDEX command should be run as an offline operation i.e. single user mode. The following example rebuilds all indexes on the PRODUCTS table using the default fillfactor they were originally created with:

DBCC DBREINDEX (PRODUCTS, '', 0)

For more in-depth information about these DBCC commands, including parameter options, please refer to resources such as SQL Books Online.

Oliver Cox

Return of Expenses & Benefits – It’s not too late!

The last date for submitting forms P11D, P9D and P11D for the 2005/06 tax year is nearly upon us, these forms need to be submitted to HMRC by 6 July 2006, and copies of the P11D and P9D forms given to the employees by the same date. These should cover all expenses and benefits paid to employees which are not covered by a dispensation or PAYE settlement agreement.

P11D’s and P9D’s can be submitted on paper, by magnetic media or electronically (via the Internet or EDI) to HMRC. If your payroll software does not support an electronic method of submitting these forms then you can still submit them online by using the HMRC PAYE for Employers online service, although this method is best suited for employers with fewer than 50 employees.

Any Class1A NICs due must be paid to HMRC by 19 July if the payment is sent by post or cash, or 21 July if paying electronically (as the 22 July falls on a weekend).

Pip Trowles

Microsoft Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System

I attended a Microsoft Partner Community Day in London on 20th June 2006.  This conference focussed on Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System, and how ISVs can take advantage of the new functionality and UI (User Interface).

It is worth noting before I continue that Microsoft were heavily pushing the naming of Office to '2007 Microsoft Office System', I think that's a bit of a mouthful, so I will just refer to it as Office from here on in, seeing as we all know that I am referring to the new release.

Anyway, overall it was a very enjoyable day and a lot of information was provided, the only negative point were the chairs, now I know that is a little picky but they were very thin and hard and everyone was packed in, obviously this is not the fault of Microsoft but the hotel the conference was run in (I won't do a name and shame here of the hotel, but the conference attendees will understand what I mean!).

Microsoft came across very enthusiastically and positive about the Exchange, Vista and Office ('EVO', as they call it) launch, and it is right that they should be.  They say it is:

"the most significant release in a decade!"

and I believe them.  The leap forward just in the UI alone is huge, they have obviously spent a great deal of time investing in the "User Experience" (Ux).

The software looks and runs great, even though it is still BETA.  In fact they said that Microsoft had rolled these products out internally already as they feel they are ready. I'd say that the software looks good, but I wouldn't run it on my own machines in place of Win XP and Office 2003.  I'm going to wait until November (the planned release of EVO for businesses) before requesting an upgrade on my office PC.

I'm going to invest in a new PC for home to run Vista, even though the hardware requirements have been set to a minimum 1Gb RAM, it'll be a good excuse to improve the speed and graphics capabilities!  I would also encourage any user to be running at least 2Gb RAM for Vista to run smoothly.

There are many features that stand out in Vista and Office, from the glass effect windows, to Flip3D, searching capabilities, ribbons, gadgets and the improved security.  I won't go into these features in any great detail here as I am sure that most people are already aware of them (you can find out on the Microsoft website if you don't), but I will say that I think they are great.  Vista allows people to work smarter, taking on some of the chores for itself, such as changing the default printer when the machine moves networks and saving the state just before a battery on a laptop dies, simple features but very handy!

With the new Office system having 48 applications in total, including 15 desktop applications and 6 server applications, it makes sense that Microsoft have introduced 'ribbons' and have removed the standard menu system that we are all used to seeing.  I have to admit that when I first saw the ribbons I wasn't too convinced, although they looked nice it didn't seem obvious where all the options were.  However, the more I see them and work with them the better they become.  Microsoft says that it takes the average user between 2 days and 2 weeks to adjust, and that seems accurate to me.  The context sensitivity of them is fantastic, if you are working in a table in Word then the default ribbon is specific to all the options available for tables.  I can see how it will enable people to use more features in their applications than ever before, as users will be able to find options specific to their task a lot easier and faster.  I think Microsoft will see a reduction in users requesting features that are already present!  And companies should see an increase in productivity.

Security was also a big focus for Microsoft, Vista has gone through a security lifestyle review, this is the first operating system to have gone through this, so I hope that we will find ourselves less likely to be 'attacked' by viruses and spyware etc.  IE v7 also includes anti-phishing software and the warnings associated with this make it very clear that users should be careful when IE comes upon a suspicious site, enabling them to report these sites to Microsoft to investigate.

This release is going to change the way we work, it may also help us address some of our workflow processes in our working lives, so that we spend more time achieving and less time running around looking for information and duplicating effort.  Therefore, I do believe that Microsoft are right when they talk about this being a revolution in the way we work (I'll point out here a document that Microsoft have published called "The New World of Work", definitely worth a read, it can be found here

However, a push to improve the wireless network connections in our towns and cities is required to help with these changes, and companies should embrace the concept of employees 'being mobile' working from places other than our desks, with the new technology this will become easier.

So, to conclude, Microsoft have come along way from Windows 95 and Office 97, Vista looks great and I believe it will help everyone in their work and home lives.  Office, once you are used to the ribbons, will stop the frantic searching for options and settings, I hope to hear no more frustrating mouse clicks and complaining in future ;0)

NB You can see some presentations on the Office features, including Excel Advances, Servers Overview and Developing in Word here

Kirsty Lowe