Course Listing 

Learn how the Lean Six Sigma process can be applied to the Healthcare Supply Chain process within your organization to drive out cost and establish long-term change. This course provides a high-level overview of various cost reduction methods and how staff core competencies and organizational resources impact the supply chain operation.

The capacity to successfully communicate in today’s global economy is a pivotal element to the success of any organization. To meet an improvement project’s specified goals and objectives, a manager must also effectively plan, estimate, and monitor the progress of the project and know what tools to apply.

The Executive’s Role in Reducing Healthcare Supply Chain Costs is a one day course designed for the C-Level Executive interested in improving margins and decreasing expenses. This interactive and collaborative course provides the bridge between the clinical and business sides of the healthcare organization. This course is designed to enhance your understanding of the: Impact of supply chain to profitability Clinical impact and manufacturing impact of supply chain Major components, complexities and gaps in the supply chain Roles and responsibilities in the supply chain Necessary supply chain components to be included in your strategic plan

Do you know what your customer wants? Traditionally, companies have assumed customer needs and expectations. Today,the more successful companies actively solicit customer input to create products and services the customer wants and needs. To compete successfully in today’s market, you’ll need to do the same. This course presents ways you can solicit your customer’s voice, methods to prioritize customer requirements, and techniques to apply this knowledge to your organization.

We can no longer do business as usual. Whether you call it a revolution or an evolution, managing the supply chain effectively has a direct impact on the level of success of the organization. This introductory course will teach the basics of supply chain management. Participants will learn about collaboration within the supply chain and the effects the system has on the entire healthcare organization. Participants will be able to define organizational strategies, understand how to synchronize the supply chain, and how to use technology to maximize the value of the supply chain.

In today’s economy, companies must be able to move large quantities of product quickly to locations across the globe. Overnight delivery methods have drastically altered customers’ expectations regarding delivery times. Lead times of four to six weeks are no longer acceptable. In light of these changes, effective Inventory Management is no longer static - the emphasis is on movement, and quick response to changing market demands.

Six Sigma has become synonymous with quality in the business world, but there is no prescriptive process for planning and launching a Six Sigma initiative. Each business must learn to call upon the strengths and abilities of its diverse professionals, from executives to highly trained technical specialists. What are the roles of each in the Six Sigma process? What planning should take place to launch their efforts? How can you tell whether your organization is really ready to take on Six Sigma? What is the proper culture, and can your organization achieve it? How should the transition be managed? This course examines these crucial issues, as well as providing insight into the organizational responsibilities of Six Sigma participants, and the essential strategic training they will require.

The challenge for businesses today is to find new ways to dramatically reduce costs and improve investment returns while better serving their customers. To meet these challenges, organizations have turned to Lean Thinking, which seeks the elimination of all forms of waste, strives for continuous improvement, and simplifies business processes. This course explores how businesses that implement Lean Thinking learn how to reduce waste, streamline production and improve operational flexibility. Practical steps and tools for the identification, treatment and removal of waste are explored while focusing on increasing organizational effectiveness.

Lean Manufacturing is more than a concept, it is a philosophy based on complex definitions, vocabulary, and principles. In this course, you’ll receive an explanation of lean manufacturing logic and learn about its evolution, definition, philosophy, and critical principles. In Lesson 1 you’ll uncover what lean is, how it came to be, and what foundational premises exist. In Lesson 2 you’ll examine the lean principles of value, flow, pull, and perfection that must be applied to any lean undertaking.

Discover how to prepare for, develop, and maintain a lean organization. In Lesson 1 you’ll learn what lean techniques to implement first and how to make the organizational transition go smoothly. In Lesson 2 you’ll explore how to deploy specific lean techniques and support your efforts with proven strategies. In the last lesson, you’ll discover how to expand lean initiatives, get suppliers involved, and set yourself up for a future lean legacy.

This course shows how lean techniques can help organizations maximize value and minimize waste. In Lesson 1, you’ll examine lean production techniques that can be successful for many manufacturing organizations. In Lesson 2, you’ll explore organizational techniques critical to the lean enterprise and you’ll discover what implementation techniques must be in place for an organization to become lean.

Anytime you have products sitting in inventory it means your resources are not producing cash flow. Identifying and removing the non-value-added steps and tasks in the supply chain is the key element in effective inventory management. This course examines how Lean businesses seek to integrate their supply chains with their production processes so as to minimize inventory levels, improve the flow of raw materials, and ultimately reduce costs.

Lean experts propose a holistic view of value that stretches beyond organizational boundaries and stream from manufacturer to supplier to producer. This course explores this value principle in depth. In Lesson 1 you’ll consider the benefits of the lean transformation for your own business and look through the lean manufacturing lens to redefine product value. Then in Lesson 2 you’ll learn about value-stream mapping - a technique designed by several forefounders of the lean manufacturing movement. Applying this technique to identify waste, create an ideal value stream and initiate lean projects will be the culmination of your new-found knowledge.

Process improvement involves planning, implementation, and effective management to see the effort through from start to finish. Many organizations neglect the management phase, and, as a result, the effort ends up failing. How do you manage such a vast improvement undertaking? This course will explain who is responsible for managing process improvement, how to manage improvement effectively, and how to handle inherent process improvement problems. You’ll learn to set short-term improvement goals and acknowledge each milestone your organization achieves on the road to process perfection.

Similar to the Executive course, this intermediate one day course is designed for front line managers and clinical professionals who are faced with the challenges of managing the healthcare supply chain on a daily basis. This interactive and collaborative course takes an in depth look at the supply chain to include strategic ways of:  Enhancing product consistency and utilization Collaborating with material-intensive clinical departments Moving from data to knowledge Striving to be the lowest cost customer Managing quality at point of service Measuring performance against goals

Anytime you have products sitting in inventory it means your resources are not producing cash flow. Identifying and removing the non-value-added steps and tasks in the supply chain is the key element in effective inventory management. This course examines how Lean businesses seek to integrate their supply chains with their production processes so as to minimize inventory levels, improve the flow of raw materials, and ultimately reduce costs.

In today’s business environment, we all recognize the need to improve operational efficiency within our business, but often lack sufficient knowledge of the flow of materials through our organization. This course will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the history, perspectives, strategies, and key areas of Logistics Management.

What is Supply Chain Management? Why has it become such a hot topic for discussion and analysis in recent years? This course shows how a more thorough understanding of this three word catch phrase can improve the flow of material through your organization, increase customer satisfaction, and help you to establish high quality vendor relationships.

This course will present fundamental supply chain management (SCM) strategies one needs to consider before implementing an effective and workable SCM system. SCM concepts and strategies included in this course are centralized and decentralized distribution systems, push- and pullbased supply chains, risk pooling, the bullwhip effect, and centralized and decentralized inventory systems. The course will also examine the importance of supply chain partnerships and will look at strategies for implementing a global supply chain. Completion of the course will allow the learner to assess the needs of a particular organization and choose the strategies that will help build a successful SCM system.

Key components of supply chain management include planning demand and supply, along with inventory management. From raw material to finished product, planning and managing the process is key to implementing successful supply chain management systems. In this course, you will learn how to how to achieve a strategic fit between your supply chain management and competitive strategies. Once your strategies are determined, you will learn about the forecasting and planning processes. Finally, you will discover different types of inventory management and how to maintain optimal levels of inventory across the supply chain. In other words, you will understand what is required to get the right materials to the right place, at the right time.

Effective development of teamsimproves the organization’s quality and productivity. Team development encompasses team establishment, assignment of roles and responsibilities, and performance evaluation. Dynamic team goals and objectives must align with the organization’s vision and mission. This course explores team building and team dynamics. It is aligned with the Quality Management Division of the American Society for Quality’s Certification Handbook and is designed to assist learners as part of their preparation for the ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence certification exam.

History tells us we can no longer do “business as usual.” Whether you call it a revolution or an evolution, how you manage your supply chain will affect your level of success. This course will teach you the basics of supply chain management (SCM). You will learn about the evolution of SCM, collaboration within the supply chain, and the effects the system has on an organization. You will be able to define organizational strategies, understand how to synchronize the supply chain, and how to use technology to maximize the value of the supply chain. The course will conclude with an exploration of the challenges that occur when implementing SCM systems across various sectors, along with future implications for SCM systems.

The health care industry is under constant pressure to streamline operations and cut extraneous spending, while providing quality, safe, and cost-effective care to its patients. Operating in a highly regulated environment, industry players need to constantly adjust their systems and processes for compliance. As a result, they are fine-tuning their business strategies and turning to information technology to eliminate inefficiencies in the value chain, to address issues of access, to improve quality, and to reduce cost. This course provides a high-level view of the health care industry environment, key players, trends, structure, and relevant business and regulatory issues. It also provides an overview of the state of affairs and insights into the health care industry. The course examines strategic solutions to overcome issues and challenges that the industry is facing in North America and other parts of the world.

Customers want quality. Quality includes customer requirements such as ease of use, reliability, or response time that are sometimes difficult to measure. To produce improvements that will generate the results customers want, these quality requirements must be redefined as measurable goals. The purpose of this course is to show you how to redefine customer quality requirements as measurable goals so they can drive process improvements.

An automotive department has an excellent reputation, yet it receives numerous complaints about delays in repairs. When the sequence of activities in the auto repair process is mapped out, the problem is discovered. Surprisingly, it is due to an unnecessary paper shuffle between the auto shop and front office. This course shows you how to understand different types of processes, break a process down into a sequence of activities, and then analyze the sequence for problems.

Today in America, the emphasis is on service. Health care organizations, insurance agencies, investment brokers, and accountants sell services rather than products. Customer satisfaction - and quality - are quickly becoming the value-added features that can make or break a product or a company. To meet their expectations of quality, you need to look at how services and products are viewed by customers. This means asking customers what they want and then tuning your operations to generate these results. This requires becoming more customer-driven. This course presents an overview of customer-driven process improvement. Simple examples will encourage you to try the approach in your own company.

Perhaps one of the most exciting and challenging changes that comes with moving into a management role is the need to take a more strategic view of the work you are doing. You need to develop a greater awareness of how your own work, and the work of those in your department, fits with the strategic vision of the company. You will also need to have a greater understanding of the impact the output of your department can have on other parts of the organization. Enhancing the quality of the product you produce or the service you provide, or looking at ways in which to improve processes also improve working relationships.

Running a department without understanding the budget process is like driving a car without knowing how to steer. Every manager needs a basic understanding of how to plan, use, and monitor adherence to a budget. Addressing the needs of your own budget process will help you support the financial processes and goals of your organization as a whole. In this course, non-financial managers will learn the concepts and techniques vital to the budget process, including: forecasting revenue and expenses; choosing the best kind of budget strategy, and progressively measuring the success of your plan through the use of variance reports.

As a new manager, it is important that you understand that leadership is about giving direction, it is also crucial that you realize that it involves trusting and empowering your staff. You will undoubtedly have been very good at your last job, but now you will need to resist the temptation to continue doing it. For some time to come, it may be true that you could do it quicker or better, but an important part of your new role is delegating tasks to others. Effective communication is at the heart of most successful businesses. The way in which you communicate with each group may be different, but the clarity of the message, and the appropriateness of the method will always be important.

What does becoming a manager involve? What skills are needed to be a good one, and what will others expect of you? These are all natural questions for anyone who is about to become a manager, or who has recently been promoted. Moving into a first management role represents possibly one of the biggest changes in your working life. The transition from player to manager is an exciting, but challenging, one. It takes most people out of an area in which they have been comfortable and successful for some time into more unfamiliar territory. Moving from being one of the team to leading it can be daunting.

Performance issues can often be identified and predicted during the interview process. This course teaches hiring managers the fundamentals of behavior-based interviewing. Participants have an opportunity to practice ways of screening applicants for competencies and cultural fit through structured situational questions, thus reducing poor hiring decisions.

Inspiring others is closely correlated to employee productivity and retention. Inspirational leaders can distinguish motivational issues from training and performance issues. They understand that internal motivators are a much stronger influence over performance than external rewards. In this session you will learn how to: Assess what motivates you and others Remove obstacles to performance Develop motivational strategies Reinforce performance-enhancing behaviors

How do you choose among potential sellers? Why is it important to manage the contract and relationship between the buyer and seller? What’s the most effective way to complete and settle contracts? As you advance in this course, which focuses on seller selection, contract administration, and contract closure, you will obtain the skills and knowledge required to manage these areas of Project Procurement Management. This course is aligned with “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” (PMBOK® Guide) - Third Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Inc., 2004. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

Barry is new at quality control. He completed three weeks of training, but he has already made two major errors that cost the firm $3000. He’s obviously upset and discouraged over his shaky start. If you were Barry’s supervisor, what would you do? Situations like this one can cause managers to begin talking about disciplinary action. However, leaders take a different approach. A leader would take the time to coach Barry and find out what’s really going on--perhaps determining that three weeks of training wasn’t quite enough. Or offering to find a mentor for Barry until the situation eases. Taking the time to evaluate a situation and making an action plan is part of the process of coaching for performance that you’ll explore in this course. You’ll learn when it’s appropriate to mentor, train, counsel, or discipline an employee, and you’ll be given guidelines and tips on how to perform each of these tasks in the most effective manner.

You’ve asked an employee TWICE to complete a project as soon as possible and still the work isn’t completed. You’ve delegated a task to another employee only to have it done incorrectly. You’ve sent an e-mail asking for extra help on a project to which you’ve had several negative responses. What’s going on? While these situations could be the result of many different influences, you can eliminate one of the variables by ensuring that your communication style is positive, clear, concise, and to the point. Learn how to coordinate your verbal and nonverbal message to get the best results and learn how to write in such a way that you get the highest impact with as few words as possible.

For many people, success in the workplace depends on their abilities to influence others to take a particular course of action. This course gives a practical demonstration of how to communicate for best results in three common, but sometimes difficult, situations. Firstly, you will learn the communication skills required to ensure the collaboration and cooperation of your colleagues and peers when you are working as a member or as a leader of a project team. Secondly, this course will outline the communication required to maintain customer relationships during sensitive situations, such as when customers make a complaint, or you must deny their requests. Thirdly, you will learn how best to present information to your managers. Whether your intention is to report or to persuade, if you also want to impress your boss, it’s crucial that you communicate concisely, and in a manner which is guaranteed to be understood the first time.

In this session you will learn how to appropriately allocate decision-making authority. Clearly communicate the parameter of delegated responsibilities and be able to hold people accountable. Identify barriers to delegating, discover ways to develop a system for delegating, and build a model for feedback and follow-up methods that create a motivated, learning environment.

Do you have to put up with difficult people at work on a regular basis? This course will guide you in your journey to coping effectively with difficult people. You’ll learn step-bystep methods and processes to help you identify difficult people to cope and communicate with them. With the help of this course, you’ll no longer have to be frustrated or intimidated by difficult people.

Can anyone, regardless of company status, be a leader? Yes! Leaders can be found at all levels in the work force. When you’re learning how to lead, is it possible also to be responsible for discovering new future leaders? You bet it is. Even though you aren’t in management, do you have the power to influence someone to change his behavior? Again, the answer is yes. In this course, you’ll learn how to become a leader; how to train yourself and others to lead; how to build effective relationships; and how to build strong, long-lasting coaching relationships.

To be competent, confident communicators, leaders need to know how to communicate with any audience in any situation. This fourhour session will teach you how to coordinate your verbal and nonverbal message to get the best results from your team. You will also learn how to write in such a way that you get the highest impact with as few words as possible.

This course introduces you to the importance of energizing and empowering employees. By doing so, you multiply the benefits to your department, team, and organization. The course begins by showing you ways to cultivate employee energy as well as the reasons why it’s important. It shows you not only the need to energize and empower employees, but also how to do so. Then you’ll explore the role of communication in amplifying that energizing process. You will also learn how to create a work environment that inspires excellence. Finally, you’ll see how to act on that energy and reap the benefits.

Organizations use financial statements to report their performance and their financial condition to investors and lenders. This course provides a foundation for reading the three key financial statements prepared by most corporations--the balance sheet (or statement of financial condition), the income statement (or earnings statement, or profit and loss statement), and the statement of cash flows. The course also explores how to use basic ratios to analyze these financial statements.

In today’s unpredictable and challenging business environment, you have to build successful work relationships and interact with people in a positive way to achieve your organizational goals. Discover the basic competencies critical to solid work relationships—and career success.

Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. To handle conflict well, you need to build a repertoire of techniques. These techniques require you to behave differently from your natural instincts at times. Therefore, a good starting point is to establish what your instinctive approaches to conflict are, and where these attitudes stem from. This will enable you to decide on a range of different approaches to conflict, based on a spectrum that goes from being only concerned about your own needs, to only being concerned about other people’s needs. This spectrum gives rise to five possible strategies for dealing with conflict. Whatever strategy you apply, some core techniques will make you more effective. These involve three main actions: confronting the conflict, communicating with the other party, and determining an acceptable outcome.

It is almost impossible to be productive in today’s business environment without being an effective communicator. This is particularly true if achievement of your goals depends on your ability to influence others. You need to be able to communicate your ideas, instructions, thoughts, and feelings accurately. This is not as easy as it may seem, and ineffective communication is often at the core of a high proportion of the errors, misunderstandings, and conflicts that occur in the workplace. This course is designed to give you an understanding of the prime causes of poor communication, and, more importantly, the skills required to minimize their impact.

Specializing in the film and television industries, Limelight Connections is a web-based, career-search company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. As part of the marketing team, you have been with Limelight for just under two years. Your dedication, industry knowledge and hard work have paid off, recently earning you a promotion to manager of the department. But with the new title comes new challenges- -some from sources you may never have expected. But challenges like these are all part of moving into management and assuming the mantle of leadership.

In this session you will learn successful practices in the day-to-day activities of managing people within the areas of hiring, discipline and corrective action, and effective performance evaluation.

Do you sometimes feel like you are not getting the whole message when someone talks to you? If you have problems receiving information that is verbally communicated, this is the course for you. This course will familiarize you with the communication and listening processes, and how listening functions within communication. You will discover the factors and variables that influence communication and listening and learn strategies to overcome weak listening skills. You will thenapply these skills to business-based examples. Knowing the basic communication and listening processes will make you aware of where communication can be adversely affected

Can a profitable company with a positive net worth run short of cash? Without sound cash management, it certainly can. Every organization, large and small, must manage the generation and expenditure of cash to ensure that bills can be paid on time. This course covers the principles of sound cash flow management, including cash management strategies, the best use of credit collection, and ways to reduce overhead. With knowledge of these strategies, managers improve their ability to maintain appropriate levels of working capital in their own organizations.

This four-hour workshop is designed for healthcare leaders who want to improve their skills in managing conflict. Throughout the session you will learn various methods and techniques that will enable you to successfully address and manage conflict situations in your workplace. You will leave this session with the confidence to effectively manage conflict and with practical tools you can immediately use on the job. Following this session you will be able to: I dentify sources of conflict Manage problematic behavior Establish the best method for resolving the conflict Take appropriate action to resolve the conflict

You work for The Electric Car Company. Recently your boss, Sonya Black, promoted you to Marketing Manager. Your main focus is now on managing the activities of others. You’ll initially find that some of your coworkers’ expectations of you have changed. Some of your former colleagues will have trouble accepting your promotion, and you will need to respond appropriately to their negative reactions. This will involve confronting and overcoming their concerns and behaviors. You will also need to resolve conflict between team members. As a new manager, you will need to resist the temptation to continue doing your old job. When Sonya assigns your team to handle the launch of your company’s newest electric car, you will need to effectively delegate the tasks involved, resisting the urge to do most of the work yourself. To ensure the success of the launch, you will have to motivate your team members. This will require you to listen and respond to the individual needs of each of your team members.

Having the ability to effectively negotiate among diverse groups of people is a major feat. Imagine trying to communicate with someone who is very different from you. Inclusive Negotiating is about becoming familiar with both the similarities and the differences among different types of people. In this course, you will explore the cultural characteristics of negotiators from around the globe. You will also discover ways to develop sensitivity to important distinctions among groups that are diverse in other ways. In this way, you can benefit by knowing how to clearly communicate your needs and wants. Likewise, your understanding of your opponent’s needs and wants can be known as well, leading to a quicker and more successful outcome. Online Courses Owens    

In today’s business world, e-mail is used to do everything from processing orders to supplying information. Because of the limitations of telephone communication when people who are very busy or sometimes in different time zones work together, e-mail use is on the rise in U.S. E-mail offers a plenitude of new opportunities for business, but understanding how to properly use it is essential in order to take advantage of these opportunities. This course will tell you what makes e-mail unique and provide you with the skills to write, send, and receive business e-mail effectively. You will learn how to best use the features that are commonly included in e-mail programs in a way that improves your communicative ability and efficiency at work.

Almost every group activity or project requires a meeting, or meetings, of some sort. Knowing how to hold efficient and effective meetings can help make projects successful. In a good meeting, participants’ ideas are heard, decisions are made through group discussion and with reasonable speed, and activities are focused on desired results. Good meetings help generate enthusiasm for a project, build skills for future projects, and provide participants with techniques that may benefit them in their future careers. It is crucial to your meeting’s success to know what your role is during a meeting. By knowing your duties, you can effectively assume one of these roles and help to attain success during your meetings.

Project Procurement Management is a critical aspect of any project. As you advance in this course, you will gain an understanding of what processes are involved in Project Procurement Management, and how they interact with the overall project life cycle. You will also obtain the skills and knowledge required to enable you to: plan purchases and acquisitions, document contractual requirements,identify potential sellers, and get the relevant information, quotations, and proposals from potential sellers--all vital processes that ensure that you are able to procure the products, services, or results that will enable you to achieve project success. This course is aligned with “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge” (PMBOK® Guide) - Third Edition, published by the Project Management Institute (PMI®), Inc., 2004. Copyright and all rights reserved. Material from this publication has been reproduced with the permission of PMI®.

Financial management is a key tool in controlling and directing the resources of any business organization. Managers can use this tool to generate and analyze the financial information that is essential to decision making in business. Understanding the principles of financial management helps all managers, from line supervisors to senior executives, to use this tool more effectively to support the organization’s goals. This course introduces non-financial managers to the principles of financial management. It explores the basic concepts of risk and return and the time value of money understanding the budget process is like driving a car without knowing how to steer. Every manager needs a basic understanding of how to plan, use, and monitor adherence to a budget. Addressing the needs of your own budget process will help you support the financial processes and goals of your organization as a whole. In this course, non-financial managers will learn the concepts and techniques vital to the budget process, including: forecasting revenue and expenses; choosing the best kind of budget strategy, and progressively measuring the success of your plan through the use of variance reports.

In this course, you’ll learn the skills necessary to first set the stage for group problem solving and decision making by recognizing the components of an effective team. You’ll explore valuable strategies for improving group effectiveness, strategies that will enable you to move past groupthink and other obstacles and on to team productivity. You’ll also learn how to better diagnose problems within a group setting, and then generate dynamic alternatives based on your diagnosis. Finally, you’ll explore concrete ways to select the best option and make a wise, lasting business decision. You can’t go it alone. This course will show you why and how to make the most of the advantages inherent in group problem solving and decision making.

Situational leadership proposes the environment and the readiness ofthe team determines how a leader should lead. Adaptive leadership is more than just reacting to the situation. Adaptive leaders anticipate and employ a broad based style of leadership through effective critical thinking and decision making. You are able to switch from one critical task to another without hesitation. By understanding theinterplay between leadership styles, the environment, and the readiness and motivation of your employees, you can strengthen your leadership skills while gaining experience and confidence in your own ability to lead.

“Stress is the psychological, physiological and behavioral response by an individual when they perceive a lack of equilibrium between the demands placed upon them and their ability to meet those demands, which, over a period of time, leads to ill-health.” “Stress is the psychological, physiological and behavioral response by an individual when they perceive a lack of equilibrium between the demands placed upon them and their ability to meet those demands, which, over a period of time, leads to ill-health.”

This session offers a structured solution for healthcare leaders to develop talent management and retention strategies that provide clear career paths for highly valued employees.

What does becoming a manager involve? What skills are needed to be a good one, and what will others expect of you? These are all natural questions for anyone who is about to become a manager, or who has recently been promoted. Moving into a first management role represents possibly one of the biggest changes in your working life. The transition from player to manager is an exciting, but challenging, one. It takes most people out of an area in which they have been comfortable and successful for some time into more unfamiliar territory. Moving from being one of the team to leading it can be daunting.

When it comes to being a member of a team, what role do you think you should play? Legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant said, “In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first--ahead of personal glory.” Yet, according to General George S. Patton Jr., “If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn’t thinking.” When it comes to getting results without authority on your team, it’s necessary to do both. In this course, you’ll learn how to achieve results by playing the game, and you’ll learn how to assert yourself.

This course will introduce you to several different techniques for improving your time-management skills--experiment with them, and then choose and apply the tools which best suit your own situation. In order to achieve anything it is important to establish goals. You need to know what you want to do, before you can decide how and when you are going to do it. Making “To-do” lists is a useful technique, but you can end up feeling overwhelmed by the amount that has to be achieved in a day, a week or a month. It is vital to prioritize the tasks, and the Priority Matrix is a quick and effective way of sorting the urgent, from the less important.

“The ability to make people believe in you and trust you is one of the few absolutely fundamental qualities of success.” This course is about developing your ability to dynamically interact with others. You will examine types of negotiating styles and strategies and ways to best apply that knowledge in communicating what you want out of a deal. Choosing a style and strategy that feels right for you can enhance your confidence in pursuing your outcome. In addition, you will discover ways to strengthen your emotional control in difficult situations. Keeping a cool head when negotiating about hot issues can sometimes be the determining factor in winning the deal.

The negotiation process can be frightening if you are unprepared. Feelings of uncertainty can wreak havoc with any deal. The intent of this course is to prepare you to negotiate from a place of strength, not fear. The process and stages of negotiation are explained in a step by step, practical way. Investigator, presenter, bargain-hunter, and winner--you’ll explore how to assume each of these roles as you learn about the essential aspects of what you need to know and do before, during, and following negotiation. From the beginning, you’ll discover how to ask for what you want and how it is possible to achieve a win-win solution in any negotiation situation.

Without diversity in the workplace, companies run the risk of becoming monocultural organizations that see things from a very limited perspective. Establishing diversity in the workplace is not limited to laws that pertain to the hiring of women and minorities. Nor is it limited to managing or even honoring differences between people, but rather, it is about putting those differences to work in the best possible way for both the good of the company and for the good of the worker. This course will take a closer look at diversity initiatives in the workplace and what makes them matter. One lesson will look at the history of diversity programs and how they’ve evolved over time. Another lesson will explore the far-reaching implications of diversity initiatives on business. Additionally, it will explore the ways in which diversity in the workplace brings outstanding benefits, not only to organizations, but to workers, as well. The content in this course is in compliance with federal law and court decisions.

Quality teams depend on a leader’s ability to build relationships and a culture in which communication flows freely and individuals can express their ideas and collaborate with their co-workers.  In this session leaders will learn tools and techniques to create shared visions and develop collaborative teambuilding skills through effective group process facilitation.

As many would agree, the budget process in any business can be challenging and time-consuming. A well-planned budget is just the tool to help steer your company in the right direction--you will be able to make critical decisions based on current facts and reasonable forecasts. In this course, you will learn the key components of an operating budget and be able to create a budget that you can manage and control. You will also learn various techniques to analyze your financial information, address variances, and, as a consequence, improve your company’s operational performance and profitability.

A priority of effective budget management is to take steps to ensure that businesses create a manageable and controllable budget and to prevent cash crunch situations from developing. To effectively manage your budget, you need to understand the elements of various budgets and understand the importance of ongoing monitoring and analysis of their individual components. In this course, you will learn how to develop a cash budget and utilize various techniques to determine a company’s current or desired cash flow and liquidity levels. You will also learn various techniques to monitor and control your company’s budgeted costs as well as the appropriate corrective actions to address issues that might arise. After completing this course, you will be able to apply your new-found knowledge to effectively manage you company’s budget.

This course takes a look at the financial impact supply chain has in the operating room. Similar to Understanding the Business of Healthcare®, participants interact with one another through an OR simulation and address typical challenges associated with supply chain in the OR. From poorly managed inventory to missing patient charges and expensive FTE’s, supply chain managers and clinical professionals will gain an in depth understanding of the importance of supply chain management in the operating room.

Capital budgeting is an essential part of financial management. It involves examining investment assets to determine whether or not they will achieve the company’s desired returns over an extended period of time. This course will explain what a capital budget is and present the different types of assets that you will inevitably encounter. It lists several factors that influence fixed asset acquisitions, and illustrates how to evaluate such acquisitions before you spend any money. You will learn the concept of the Time Value of Money and discover how to use this information as well as Net Present Value, Profitability Index, Internal Rate of Return, and Payback Period to evaluate different investments.

Hospitals are under unprecedented pressure to improve financial performance. With dramatic increases in the cost of technology; labor costs rising; and reimbursements historically slow; the burden on cash flow has never been greater. If hospitals are to improve their bottom line, they must focus the organization’s attention on day-today operations to gain everyone’s help in managing the business profitably. To help your managers and employees understand your business, Owens & Minor University is offering an entertaining and easy-to-understand business simulation that walks through an operational and financial view of a hospital’s financial cycle. Understanding the Business of Healthcare® has been designed uniquely for your organization and is geared to all employees and managers. From physician or nurse to the hospital administrative staff, we can all benefit from understanding how we individually impact financial performance. Following this workshop you will: View your job in a new and unique way Understand the economics of the Health System business Identify key financial measures Health Systems use to measure performance Identify ways to positively impact business results through process improvement Develop a practical action plan to implement back on the job

This course is designed to bring awareness into the work environment and help eliminate preventable back injuries. It will provide information regarding job-specific hazards, safe work practices, and ergonomics. The content in this course is designed to comply with the intent of the applicable regulatory requirements.

This one-hour course will provide you with a basic understanding of bloodborne pathogens, common modes of transmission, methods of prevention, and what to do if exposed. Information presented will help minimize serious health risks to persons who may have exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials in the workplace. This course has been updated to reflect new legislation for needlesticks in OSHA regulations for Bloodborne Pathogens that went into effect on April 18, 2001. This course is designed to comply with the intent of the applicable regulatory requirements. The training requirements established under the Bloodborne Pathogen standard require an employer to allow for an opportunity for interactive questions and answers with the person conducting the training session. Employers may use a variety of methods to meet the intent of the standard. As an example, OSHA has previously stated that an employer can meet OSHA’s requirement for trainees to have direct access to a qualified trainer by providinga telephone hotline. This course was developed with subject matter support provided by EnSafe Inc., a global professional services company focusing on engineering, environment, health and safety, and information technology.

This one-hour course is designed to provide the basic information needed to recognize and report musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) signs, symptoms, and risk factors. It addresses the key components of an Ergonomics Program and also provides information to assist both employees and employers in minimizing the risk of developing work-related MSDs. This course applies to employees and employers required to work in computer/data entry environments. The content in this course is designed to comply with the intent of the applicable regulatory requirements.

This training course will introduce the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Regulations, including definitions, an introduction to the nine Hazard Classes, and the HAZMAT Table. The proper identification, preparation, and transportation of hazardous materials impact everyone’s safety. This training course may be used to meet the requirements for general awareness or familiarization training. Your employer will provide additional function-specific training.

This training course will introduce the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Regulations, including packaging, labeling, marking, and placarding. The proper identification, preparation and transportation of hazardous materials impacts everyone’s safety. This training course may be used to meet the requirements for general awareness/familiarization training. Additional function-specific training will be provided by your employer.

This half-hour training course will introduce the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Regulations, including the components of the basic description of hazardous material, general information required on the shipping paper, use of the HAZMAT Precedence Table, and general emergency response information. The proper identification, preparation, and transportation of hazardous materials affect everyone’s safety. This training course may be used to meet the requirements for general awareness/familiarization training. Additional functionspecific training will be provided by your employer.

This one-hour training course will introduce the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s Hazardous Materials Regulations, including the interpretation of the segregation table, general guidelines for shipping papers, loading and unloading HAZMAT, and incident reporting requirements. The proper identification, preparation, and transportation of hazardous materials affect everyone’s safety. This training course may be used to meet the requirements for general awareness/familiarization training. Your employer will provide additional function-specific training.

Drug and alcohol abuse problems can affect profits and expose companies to increased medical and insurance costs, and any related financial loss due to compensation. Several U.S. laws have been enacted to combat drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace. The Department of Transportation (DOT) interprets these laws and provides employers who are responsible for transportation employees with guidelines for setting up effective drug-free programs. These guidelines encourage employees and supervisors in the transportation industry to be vigilant of any coworkers who may display symptoms of substance abuse and provide details for effective drug and alcohol testing procedures. This course identifies the causes, indicators, and resultant problems of substance abuse and substance dependency in the U.S. transportation industry. It describes the U.S. laws that relate to drug and alcohol testing of transportation employees and outlines DOT regulations that enforce compliance.

This course is an awareness level course that discusses how to work safely with electricity. It focuses on specific electrical hazards found in the workplace and methods to minimize or eliminate those hazards.

This course outlines the pitfalls involved in using e-mail and accessing the Internet through a company’s network, and the policies that are often implemented to encourage and regulate these activities. Additionally, the course contains advice on how to deal with an “e-crisis” if it occurs.

This one-hour training course was designed and developed to provide instruction on emergency response, safety, reporting, and evacuation of company facilities and work areas in the event of a natural disaster, fire, bomb threat, or other emergency. The procedures contained in this training should be followed unless otherwise directed by your employer, police or fire department officials.

This one-hour course provides information about planning for and responding to emergencies. The intent is to provide basic information on procedures that cover onsite emergencies such as an accidental release or spill of a hazardous chemical, fire emergencies, explosions, bomb threats, threats to security or personal injuries. The content in this course is designed to comply with the intent of the applicable regulatory requirements.

This one-hour course is designed to provide the basic information needed to recognize and report musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) signs, symptoms, and risk factors. It addresses the key components of an Ergonomics Program and provides information to assist both employees and employers in minimizing the risk of developing work-related MSDs. This course applies to both office and industrial settings.

Medical emergencies can occur at anytime but may be hidden because of injuries suffered in an accident, or an accident may trigger a medical emergency such as a heart attack, stroke, or seizure. This one-hour training will focus on the signs and symptoms of specific medical emergencies and their treatment. Being trained in first aid could mean the difference between life and death. Note: This training should not be used as the primary basis for any first aid certification. It is intended to provide knowledge-based training only. This training should be accompanied with a performance-based component provided by a certified first aid instructor.

This one-hour training course addresses how to prevent fires and recognize fire hazards. It will also discuss what actions to take in the event of a fire, including the proper response and use of portable fire extinguishers.

The primary focus of this 30-minute course is the proper use of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Use of the AED also includes the ABCs of basic life support: maintaining an open airway, restoring breathing, and restoring circulation, which will also be briefly reviewed in this training. Note: This training should not be used as the primary basis for any AED certification. It is intended to provide the learner with basic classroom training only. This training should be accompanied with a performance-based component provided by a certified instructor.

This one-hour training course will focus on how to use a systematic approach to evaluate an emergency situation and respond to basic first aid situations prior to the arrival of the Emergency MedicalServices (EMS). Note: This training should not be used as the primary basis for any first aid certification. It is intended to provide knowledge-based training only. This training should be accompanied with a performance-based component provided by a certified first aid instructor.

Emergencies requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can and do occur without warning. It is important that you know the basic emergency techniques for recognizing and treating failures of the respiratory system and heart. This one-hour course will focus on the ABCs of basic life support: maintaining an open airway, restoring breathing, and restoring circulation. Note: this training should not be used as the primary basis for any CPR certification. It is intended to provide knowledge based training only. This training should be accompanied with a performance-based component provided by a certified CPR instructor.

Harassment can be based on all protected characteristics, including race, color, national origin, religion, age, and disability. Depending on state law and other circumstances, additional characteristics such as sexual orientation and marital status may also be protected. An effective harassment prevention training program must touch upon all of these categories. This one-hour course will provide an overview of the characteristics of various forms of harassment and what can be done to create a harassment-free work environment. If you have questions about harassment either during or after this course, please contact the designated human resources professional at your company who is trained in this area.

This one-hour course will acquaint you with the precautions that both you and your employer must take in order to safely use, handle, and dispose of hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

This one-hour course is designed to provide the basic information needed to recognize and report musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) signs, symptoms, and risk factors. It addresses the key components of an ergonomics program and also provides information to assist both employees and employers in minimizing the risk of developing work-related MSDs. This course applies to employees and employers in office/administrative type settings. The content in this course is designed to comply with the intent of the applicable regulatory requirements. Office Safety — This course is designed to cover hazards that may be encountered when working in administrative areas. These areas of concern are ergonomic stress, hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens, and electrical safety. Portable Fire Extinguishers— This one-hour course is designed to protect employees and help prevent serious property loss from workplace fires. It identifies the various classes of fires, types of portable fire extinguishers, and actions to take in the event of a fire. It describes when and how to use portable fire extinguishers to put out small fires. Slips, Trips, and Falls— Slips, trips, and falls constitute the majority of general industry accidents. They cause 15% of all accidental deaths and are second only to motor vehicles as a cause of fatalities. This course is intended to provide employees with the ability to recognize and prevent slip, trip, and fall hazards and to address the key components of ladder safety. Workplace Safety Orientation — This one-hour course will provide an awareness level orientation of basic industrial safety fundamentals. It was designed to provide an overview of some of the basic concepts and techniques used in modern industry to protect workers. It also describes the purpose of the following safety programs: Hazard Communication; Bloodborne Pathogen Safety; Lockout/Tagout; Confined Space Entry; Emergency Response; Respiratory Protection; Personal Protective Equipment; Hearing Conservation. Workplace Security Awareness — This one-hour course will provide an awareness-level orientation of basic workplace security fundamentals and appropriate actions for workers to take in the event of potential threat situations that may be encountered in the workplace, including encountering trespassers, receiving phone threats, dealing with workplace violence incidents, evacuating during an emergency, and protecting against various types of terrorist acts.

The potential impact of a pandemic flu outbreak on the social and economic infrastructure is enormous. To address this, the government has released a response plan called the “National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation Plan” referred to as “The Strategy.” The Strategy outlines the roles and responsibilities of governmental and nongovernmental entities, but clearly indicates that the center of gravity for pandemic response will be at the community level. It is essential for all institutions and businesses to develop their own pandemic plan. This course is designed to increase awareness of the pandemic threat the bird flu poses and to provide information that can be used to form the basis of preparedness and prevention for your organization.

This course considers the concept of ethics and its role in today’s corporate culture. It looks at the impact of business ethics on both the individual and the organization and covers how the use of an ethical framework can promote ethically driven behavior. The course also focuses on how the learner can use an ethical filter to help negotiate ethical dilemmas.

By the time most people have the chance to develop their first survey, they’ve seen so many that it seems like developing one will be a piece of cake. To an extent, they’re right. Developing a survey that gets valid, reliable data, however, is both science and art. In this course, you’ll learn to use the principles of survey design to develop a customer satisfaction survey that works. You’ll explore factors that influence selection of the survey method. You’ll also learn to design the survey instrument itself, including selection of question formats, sequencing of questions, and wording of the items themselves. Finally, you’ll examine issues relating to selection of a sampling method and determination of sample size.

The return on customer loyalty goes directly to your company’s bottom line. To build a successful customer satisfaction system, you have to begin with the basics. When customer satisfaction programs begin with a survey, and not a plan, the result is frequently customer dissatisfaction. To overcome this risk, you must begin by developing a customer satisfaction system before you develop the survey. In this course, you’ll explore the bottom-line payoffs for building customer satisfaction. You’ll discover the elements of an effective customer satisfaction system. Most important, you’ll learn how to discover what your customers want before you try to measure whether you’re delivering it.

Organizations consist of an independent chain of individuals and functional units, each taking inputs from one another and turning them out into external customer service. If everyone within the organization works to provide their “internal” customers with better service, then the end customers will receive a much higher quality service in the long run. Focusing on your internal customers not only helps your organization to survive and prosper, but also has the added benefit of motivating your employees, meeting their needs, and promoting a satisfying work environment.

During an average working day in a call center, customer service agents (CSAs) handle dozens of customer calls. The calls may range from simple requests for product information to urgent demands for solutions to complex problems. CSAs are expected to meet the challenges of handling all of these calls and customers with speed, skill, accuracy, and composure. This course helps CSAs to manage these challenges successfully. It teaches CSAs effective techniques for handling aggressive callers, such as controlling, outraged, and threatening customers. It also teaches CSAs practical methods of managing nonaggressive but nonetheless difficult callers, such as customers who demand excessive amounts of call time and customers who are either technical experts or novices. In addition, this course helps CSAs develop strategies to manage their time and cope with the stresses associated with their jobs.

The return on customer loyalty goes directly to your company’s bottom line. To build a successful customer satisfaction system, you have to begin with the basics. When customer satisfaction programs begin with a survey, and not a plan, the result is frequently customer dissatisfaction. To overcome this risk, you must begin by developing a customer satisfaction system before you develop the survey. In this course, you’ll explore the bottom-line payoffs for building customer satisfaction. You’ll discover the elements of an effective customer satisfaction system. Most important, you’ll learn how to discover what your customers want before you try to measure whether you’re delivering it.

This course is designed to help CSAs understand their essential functions as well as the context and importance of their work. Increasingly, CSAs are responsible for managing customer relationships. Their jobs have evolved from simple processing of customer service requests, to more complex nurturing of the customer; supporting company profitability by building customer loyalty. CSAs collect more detailed data than ever before, assess a variety of complex problems, and use increasingly sophisticated technology. Working under intense time pressure, they must meet customer needs and exceed their expectations. This course teaches CSAs how to manage each stage of the call, from introduction through problem resolution. It also covers methods of balancing customer needs against limited resources, and ways of measuring that effectiveness.

Excellent customer service lies at the heart of any successful business. However, you should not overlook the importance of meeting the needs and expectations of fellow employees; your internal customers. Giving great service to yourinternal customers means that people you work with can see, hear, and feel that they are valued. When employees value one another, the result is increased performance, which contributes to the success of the entire organization, it also creates a positive and productive working environment.

Microsoft Office Access 2007 makes it easy for you to share and manage data using the collaborative environment of a Microsoft Windows SharePoint site along with the many data management features available within Access 2007. This course explains how SharePoint sites can be used with Access and demonstrates options such as moving data to a SharePoint site, publishing data to a SharePoint site, importing from or linking to a SharePoint list, creating an Access view of a SharePoint list, working offline with SharePoint lists, as well as tracking data versioning in SharePoint. Another feature of Access 2007 is its programmability. Using Access macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code you can easily add functionality to a database to suit your business needs. In addition to SharePoint integration, this course provides an introduction to programming in Access and explores when to use macros or VBA code to automate processes. It also demonstrates how to create, launch, and modify macros and explains the use of the Visual Basic Editor to create event handlers and set control property values. Topics include: Programmability and Administration in Access 2007 and Database Administration in Access 2007.

Microsoft Office Access 2007 offers several options for importing and exporting data, and also provides a variety of data presentation strategies. With Access 2007 you can link to, or import data and objects from external sources such as other Access databases, Excel spreadsheets, text files, XML files, and SharePoint lists. You can also export data and objects from an Access 2007 database to external sources. These modules explain and demonstrate the various methods of importing, exporting, and linking to external data sources. They also describe how to create and modify PivotTables and Pivot Charts as an alternate way to organize and present database data. The options used to apply aggregate functions to a PivotTable, add a calculated field to a PivotTable, and export a PivotTable to an Excel spreadsheet are also discussed in the modules. Topics include: Importing and Exporting Data; Data Presentation in Access 2007 and Advanced Data Management in Access 2007. 

Charts and pictures enable you to present data visually, demonstrating data more effectively than rows and columns of data. In Excel 2007, you can customize charts and their individual elements, as well as pictures and clip art, to create professional and appealing documents. Formatting, both custom and condition-based, enables you to display data in formats that best suit your needs. This course explores modifying charts and pictures and creating and editing custom number formats. Additional modules include: Advanced Formatting in Excel 2007; Advanced Data Management in Excel 2007 and Advanced Customization in Excel 2007.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is highly customizable. You can tailor the interface by selecting views  or modifying them  to suit your needs. Using a timeline you can track items, such as e-mail or phone conversations, within Outlook itself and also externally. In addition, Outlook allows you to configure and customize multiple e-mail accounts so that you can view e-mail messages from many different accounts within a single Outlook interface. This course demonstrates how to customize Outlook to meet a variety of such requirements, how to track items in Outlook, and how to configure additional e-mail accounts.  Additional modules include: Customizing Outlook 2007 and Using the Journal; Configuring Rules, Alerts, and Junk E-mail Settings in Outlook 2007; Working with SharePoint, Calendars, and Forms in Outlook 2007.

With PowerPoint 2007, creating customized slide shows has never been easier. These courses demonstrate how to create custom slide shows that meet your differing audiences' needs. You will learn how to create self-running presentations, how to annotate your presentation while it's running, and how to use Presenter View so that you see one thing while your audience sees another. Topics include: Creating Custom Slide Shows in PowerPoint 2007 and Distributing Presentations in PowerPoint 2007.

With Microsoft Office Project 2007, project managers can define how project data is recorded, reported, and displayed, using customizable, built-in templates. They can also customize the interface by adding or removing tools from the application’s default toolbars. And before project data is distributed, a project manager can format fields and views to meet particular needs. Additionally, if you need to modify information associated with tasks and resources, create custom tables, or create a work breakdown structure, Project 2007 provides a flexible, all-encompassing solution. These courses outline the basics of customizing Microsoft Office Project 2007, and also provide insights into some of the advanced customization features. Topics include: Advanced Customization with MS Project 2007 and Project Data Management and Performance with MS Project 2007.

Themes, Backgrounds and Borders can be used in Microsoft Office Word 2007 to create engaging and professional looking documents. With Word 2007, these tasks are made easier then ever before, specifically with the use of theme colors, theme fonts and theme effects. This course demonstrates how borders, shading, margins and horizontal lines are used when creating interesting documents and implementing emphasis to various parts of a document. Themes colors, theme fonts and theme effects are explained in detail and background colors and fill effects are explored as well. These training modules also demonstrate the use footnotes, endnotes, tables, charts, and graphics. Topics include: Advanced Formatting in Word 2007; Advanced Document Navigation and Document Reviews in Word 2007 and Using Tables, Charts, and Graphics in Word 2007.

With Access 2007, Microsoft introduces some of the most significant changes to Access in years. Most notable is the intuitive new user interface that replaces the traditional menus and toolbars with features like the Ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the Microsoft Office button. These courses provide an introduction to Access 2007 and demonstrate how to navigate within the new user interface. The introductory steps in planning a database, the components and views of an Access database, database creation methods, and reports are also covered. Topics include: Getting Started with Access 2007; Basic Access 2007 Tables; Basic Access 2007 Forms and Queries and Reports in Access 2007.

With the introduction of Office Excel 2007, Microsoft has made substantial changes to the user interface of its spreadsheet application. This course will help get you up-to-speed on the new features, and will introduce you to the basic features and functionality of Excel 2007. This will be accomplished through the demonstration of workbook creation and navigation, and worksheet data entry at a user-friendly beginner level.  The following training modules demonstrate other basic Excel functions: Getting Started with Excel 2007; Manipulating and Formatting Data and Worksheets; Reviewing and Printing in Excel 2007; Excel 2007 Formulas and Functions and Excel 2007 Charts, Pictures, Themes, and Styles.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 is an application used to manage your communication needs. It allows people to send and receive e-mail messages, and provides additional functionality to keep tasks, notes, appointments, and daily activities in one convenient location. The Outlook modules illustrate the basic features and functionality of Outlook 2007, including how to create e-mail messages, view and reply to incoming e-mails, and how to find information using Outlook 2007's basic Help features. Other topics include: Getting Started with Outlook 2007; Formatting and Managing E-mail in Outlook 2007; Using the Calendar in Outlook 2007; Using Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Customizing the Interface in Outlook 2007 and Completing Searches, Printing Items, and Working with RSS Feeds in Outlook 2007.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 is a powerful authoring application that enables you to create high-impact, professional-looking presentations quickly and easily. These courses show how to create a new presentation from scratch, and also how to use layouts and views to make working with your presentation easy. It provides you with a solid introduction to the basic, must-know aspects of PowerPoint, and it shows you how to use PowerPoint's powerful help features. Topics include: Getting Started with PowerPoint 2007; Adding Graphics to Presentations in PowerPoint 2007 and Adding Multimedia and Animations to Presentations in PowerPoint 2007.  

In the corporate world, the project is a fundamental building block. Each project in which a company engages is unique, and fulfills an individual or corporate goal. And each project comprises a series of related tasks that culminate in a project deliverable. Microsoft Office Project 2007 is a comprehensive tool for project managers responsible for the overall design of projects, enabling them to engage in task assignment and management, resource allocation, costs, and budget control in an easy and intuitive way. Microsoft Office Project 2007 also enables the collection and sharing of project progress information with a project's team members and stakeholders. These courses outline the basics of project management, and show how to create and manage a new project using Microsoft Office Project 2007. Topics include: Creating and Designing a Project with Project Server 2007; Specifying and Assigning Resources in Project 2007 and Tracking and Reporting Progress with Project Server 2007.

Microsoft Visio 2007 is powerful diagramming software that enables you to create different types of diagrams and work environments. This course shows how Visio 2007 has predefined templates and stencils that enable you to create diagrams quickly and efficiently; along with the Visio Help features that allow you to tap into the vast knowledge base both within the help files and online through the Microsoft knowledge base. Once the diagrams have been created, this course demonstrates how to manipulate the shapes and connectors before saving and printing them.  In addition, you can take the following modules to support your skills: Creating Visio 2007 Diagrams; Enhancing and Customizing Diagrams in Visio 2007 and Collaborating and Using Visio 2007 With Other Programs.

With Office Word 2007, Microsoft introduces some of the most significant changes to Word in years. Most notable is the new intuitive user interface which replaces the traditional menus and toolbars, featuring the Ribbon, the Quick Access toolbar, and the Mini Toolbar as well as a new Office button which replaces the File menu. These courses provide an introduction to Word 2007 and demonstrate how to navigate within the new user interface. Topics include: Getting Started with Word 2007; Working with Text and Paragraphs in Word 2007; Structuring, Editing, Saving, and Opening Documents in Word 2007; Printing, Help, and Automated Formatting in Word 2007; Working with Documents in Word 2007.

Collaboration is at the heart of effective teamwork. When operating in traditional work structures, with all team members in one office location having regular face-to-face meetings, this collaboration was relatively easy. But work environments have changed. Offices are no longer confined to a room or a building and teams often comprise members in different countries, working in different time zones. Office 2007 facilitates collaboration with its Office Groove 2007 and Office Communicator 2007 applications. Groove brings small teams together in virtual 'workspaces', stored on each team member's desktop. All the files the team needs for collaboration are stored in these workspaces and are updated after each change whether the team member is online or offline. Office Communicator extends these capabilities by enabling those in different locations and time zones to communicate easily and quickly with a range of unified communication tools, including voice, video, and instant messaging. This course explores Groove 2007 and Communicator 2007 as collaborative software packages. It teaches how to create Groove workspaces, how to invite people to share that workspace, and how to connect with team members using chat or discussion boards. The concept of 'presence', which displays a team member's status, is explained in relation to Groove and Communicator. The course also introduces the benefits of an integrated Office system and demonstrates how to use Communicator for real-time collaboration.  Topics include: Microsoft Office 2007: Collaborating with Groove and Communicator and Microsoft Office 2007: Sharing Information with OneNote 2007.

Excel 2007 provides powerful data analysis tools that enable you to explore large amounts of data and to make educated business decisions based on that data. With PivotTable reports you can interactively summarize data, making it easier to analyze and present the results. PivotChart reports provide a graphical view of PivotTable report data. Using Goal Seek and Solver enables you to retrieve required results from formulas by determining the data the formula requires. You can also use additional what-if analysis components, data tables and scenarios, to view how value changes in formulas affect the formula results and to forecast worksheet outcome models respectively. This course covers advanced data analysis features, such as PivotTable and PivotChart reports, Goal Seek, Solver, scenarios, data tables, and OLAP.  The following training modules are also included: Analyzing Data in Excel 2007; Protecting and Sharing Excel 2007 Workbooks; Exchanging Data with Excel 2007.

The following modules help you recognize the new features for end users in Microsoft Office 2007: New Features for End Users in Microsoft Office 2007; Microsoft Office Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook 2007; Microsoft Access 2007 and Microsoft Publisher 2007 and Sharing and Collaboration in Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007.

You can use the enhanced security features included in Microsoft Outlook 2007 to protect your e-mail and computer from malicious attacks that can arrive in the form of incoming e-mail messages. The program also provides you with tools used to archive and manage the size of your mailbox to ensure that you can locally store your e-mail messages for future reference. With Outlook 2007 you can choose to work offline and access your e-mail messages without connecting to a server, and then synchronize Outlook with the server at a more convenient time. You can also connect to the Exchange Server using Outlook Web Access (OWA) at times when you do not have access to the Outlook application. OWA provides you with many of the same features that Outlook 2007 offers, but through a browser interface. This course demonstrates how to configure the security settings, offline access, and synchronization settings for Outlook 2007. The course also shows you how to access Outlook from the Internet, and how to archive data and manage your data file sizes.  The following courses also support the Power User: Data Security, Archiving, and Working Offline in Outlook 2007; Instant, Text, and Unified Messaging in Outlook 2007 and Business Contact Manager with Outlook 2007.

Outlook Web Access (OWA) 2007 has many improvements over previous web-based mail products set forth by Microsoft. Enhancements start with a redesigned interface, and include new Calendar, Mail, and Document features. Everyday tasks such as composing e-mail and scheduling tasks in the Calendar are simplified using OWA 2007. You can recover deleted e-mails, and the global address list feature allows you to search and locate contacts more efficiently. The OWA Light version is available for users with slow Internet connections, or those using web browsers other than Internet Explorer. OWA Light is designed to be available to most users, but at the cost of a reduced features set and limited interface. Topics include: Using Outlook Web Access 2007 and Outlook Web Access 2007 Advanced Features.

Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 helps you expand your creativity by enabling you to customize and share a wide range of personal and business publications to suit both home and office requirements. You can use this application to quickly create and personalize professional-looking publications such as newsletters and flyers. This course explores the wide range of available templates and the creating, editing, printing, and publishing tools at your disposal. It also introduces the new features of Microsoft Publisher 2007, and delves into redesigned and enhanced familiar features.  In addition the following modules support Publisher: Creating Customized Publications with Publisher 2007 and Extending Publisher 2007 Beyond Publications.

Word 2007 enables you to create forms quickly and easily, so that they can be used by other users of Word 2007. Forms contain form fields that you can link to external data sources, and Word 2007 contains security features to protect forms from tampering by other users. Inserting fields has been simplified in Word 2007 by means of built-in commands and content controls. The mail merge feature is also improved and simplified in Word 2007, enabling users to merge content into letters, e-mail messages, envelopes, and labels very easily. These additional courses show how to add, modify, and update form fields, as well as other data manipulation processes: Advanced Data Manipulation Features in Word 2007; Advanced Document Features in Word 2007 and Collaborative Features in Word 2007.

Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 is designed to deliver efficient web-based communication and collaboration. Live Meeting 2007 enables participants in a meeting, who may be widely dispersed, to conduct the meeting as if everyone were in the same room. It does this by enabling participants to use webcams and headsets to communicate with each other through voice and video. Presenters can share content, such as web pages, polls, or presentations, in real time with the attendees of a meeting, and attendees can respond to the presenters and each other. These courses provide a detailed overview of the benefits and features of Office Live Meeting 2007, and cover common tasks such as how attendees can join meetings and interact in them. Voice and video configuration options are also explored in this course, as well as how to record a meeting, and how to use meeting playback features. Topics include: Attending a Microsoft Office 2007 Live Meeting and Hosting a Microsoft Office 2007 Live Meeting.

In today’s business environment, rarely does a company have a single project manager overseeing a single project. Businesses are fast-paced, with multiple project managers in charge of a variety of projects, often across many locations. Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 is the main component of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management Solution and the toolset best suited to keep project managers, teams, and stakeholders updated with the latest multi-project information. This course introduces some of the features and processes of Project Server 2007, including implementing a collaborative Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution, and working with Project Web Access. This course is one of a series in the Skill Soft learning path that covers the objectives for the Technology Specialist (TS): Microsoft Office Project Server 2007: Managing Projects 70-633 exam. Passing this exam will earn the learner the MCTS: Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 certification. In turn, this certification counts as a credit toward the MCITP: Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 certification.  In addition, the following modules are available to support your certification: Initiating Projects with Project Server 2007; Planning Projects with Project Server 2007; Managing Resource Capacity in Project Server 2007; Executing Projects with Project Server 2007 and Monitoring, Controlling, and Closing Projects with Project Server 2007.

To use SharePoint for file sharing, collaboration, and discussion, and integrate and use it with Office applications. Topics include: SharePoint 2007 Essentials and Creating and Managing Personal Sites and Searches in SharePoint 2007.