Need Help With Some Office Work

[OrbitzXT]

I basically just got handed a job by my brother's friend and the friend's father who own their own electrical contracting business. They asked me to do a number of computer related tasks, and since I'd like to impress them right off the bat I thought I'd come here to make sure I'm doing things well and correct.

1) First off, it seems I'm replacing some guy who works there and they plan on demoting him to some trivial clerical work. They want me to set up the computers in the office where he cannot access more sensitive things anymore, and to only be accessed on certain computers throughout the building. I have a general understanding of how to do this, but what is the best and most secure way to ensure I get the job done?

2) The second task I've been asked to do, is to pick out a tablet PC for them to purchase, and basically set it up for the electricians they hire to use. What they want done is for the electricians to be able to see a list of parts, catagorized and organized properly, and to be able to place an order via email the parts they need for the particular job. They also work with blueprints and layouts and such, and they would like those to be available on the tablet as well. I was thinking for the parts list aspect of the task, I could use Excel perhaps? Basically just create an order form and they can input whatever it is they need to. Is there a better way to do that?

Also, is there a way to have Excel email this information to a particular address? Or will they simply have to save the file and attach it themselves to the email?

3) Lastly, they want me to look into one of those services that you pay to back up all of their files. I haven't gotten a look yet at what and how much needs to be backed up, but is there a better way of doing this that can possibly save the company money? Rather than paying someone else to do this for them?

I appreciate any help you can offer me. Tomorrow is my first day and I'd like to go in and be able to get some of these tasks done.

 

[Solaris17]

I basically just got handed a job by my brother's friend and the friend's father who own their own electrical contracting business. They asked me to do a number of computer related tasks, and since I'd like to impress them right off the bat I thought I'd come here to make sure I'm doing things well and correct.

1) First off, it seems I'm replacing some guy who works there and they plan on demoting him to some trivial clerical work. They want me to set up the computers in the office where he cannot access more sensitive things anymore, and to only be accessed on certain computers throughout the building. I have a general understanding of how to do this, but what is the best and most secure way to ensure I get the job done?

file sharing? with some of them being password protected?
you can set this in the menu its called password protected sharing. it might just be your ticket


2) The second task I've been asked to do, is to pick out a tablet PC for them to purchase, and basically set it up for the electricians they hire to use. What they want done is for the electricians to be able to see a list of parts, catagorized and organized properly, and to be able to place an order via email the parts they need for the particular job. They also work with blueprints and layouts and such, and they would like those to be available on the tablet as well. I was thinking for the parts list aspect of the task, I could use Excel perhaps? Basically just create an order form and they can input whatever it is they need to. Is there a better way to do that?

Also, is there a way to have Excel email this information to a particular address? Or will they simply have to save the file and attach it themselves to the email?

hmm. i dont know too much about this. but sony and samsung i beleive have some pretty sweet tablet PC's like ipads only far far more usable.

3) Lastly, they want me to look into one of those services that you pay to back up all of their files. I haven't gotten a look yet at what and how much needs to be backed up, but is there a better way of doing this that can possibly save the company money? Rather than paying someone else to do this for them?

I appreciate any help you can offer me. Tomorrow is my first day and I'd like to go in and be able to get some of these tasks done.

you can get acronis. and 2/3 big drives and throw them in a normal desktop. their are various version of acronis that can do network backups and you can set them to do it in intervals. you can also tell it what to save. were to save when to save and you can tell it to overwrite or keep the old one for backup. you can also tell it to update only changed files so backups take less time after the initial backup.

^ thats all iv got.

 

[OrbitzXT]

Thanks Solaris, very helpful =) Gonna look into some of these things now. If anyone has any tips for my 2nd task I'd appreciate it. They're not very computer literate themselves, so they have the idea but no clue how to implement it...which is where I come in =p

 

[ERazer]

1) do they have server? bc u can limit wat user(s) can access by ther log in

2) tough note books maybe?

3) again if u have server, auto back up

my 2 cents

 

[OrbitzXT]

I didn't get a very good look at things today, I was only there for a short meet and greet. I'll know more tomorrow, but from the looks of it I don't think there was a server. There seemed to be one PC in the room I'll be working in alone, and 4 or 5 PCs setup in another room together.

 

[OrbitzXT]

As for my second task, I've never shopped for a Tablet PC before. I'm looking on NewEgg now and they seem to vary greatly in price but I don't see how they stand out from each other very much. I suppose I should just look for a decent brand I trust and go with a cheap one since this is mainly used for placing orders and checking out a building layout pdf?

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Think carefully about the workflow. A tablet sounds good, but only if the software is suitable to touch. You also mentioned Excel. Nope. Tablet and Excel DO NOT go together. It may well be that netbooks are more suitable to all the tasks the technicians need to do, esp. if sending and responding to emails.

FORGET about going round all these computers trying to individually secure them against a bad egg. If they have the budget to buy new tablets/netbooks for all the staff (and it sounds like a lot of them) then they will have or should have a server. In which case, everything can be managed from the domain controller.

More data needed from your side. Ask to do a site survey, understand what equipment is there, what OS, what peripherals, and what software, exists or is needed.

INVESTIGATE/AUDIT >> ANALYSE >> RECOMMEND >> AGREEMENT >> ACTION/IMPLEMENT

In that order, and nothing else. If you start making recommendations or start doing stuff out of sequence they will know you are just an amateur noodle.

 

[OrbitzXT]

That's sound advice Bonkers, tomorrow is my first day so I'll have more information when I come home tomorrow.

 

[OrbitzXT]

I meant to ask, I've never personally worked with a tablet before but what makes them so poor for the tasks I described? Filling in a couple of numbers on Excel and emailing it doesn't sound terribly difficult to do.

 

[OrbitzXT]

I did some googling it seems that Tablets with XP and older versions of office were pretty bad, but from what I gather Windows 7 Tablets and newer versions of office work fairly well together. If anyone could confirm that I'd feel more comfortable recommending this idea at work.

 

[ERazer]

bump, some1 help him out

 

[Frick]

Excel (at least 2007) have functions for sending mail directly, with the .xls/.xps as attachments, or if you have a PDF printer you can send them as PDF.

The best way is to get your hands on a tablet and toy around with it, see what can be done and not. For managing blueprints I think you generally want a laptop, but it might work with a tablet if they only will look at them (here multitouch would be a great thing, with zooming and whatnot). As said, you probably have to try it out first.