KPIs FSS Dashboard and Monthly Monitor

A day's training on how EDF creates the FSS KPI Dashboard and briefly touching on the Monthly Monitor - a graphical KPI report.

Smarter searching in Google

Useful reminder of how to use commands to refine Google searches to find what you are looking for.

Infographic: Get More Out Of Google | HackCollege

Why it's time for business to get social

This is another person's view from the media event at the University of Brighton that I wrote a few days ago.  This writer comes from an HR background and so has a different perspective and some further interesting thoughts.

Robin Hall HR Ltd :: Why It’s Time For Business To Get Social

Social media for job searching

Useful report about use of social media for job hunting in US (interesting because I don't think UK is far behind).  The opening stats are not well written but I think they mean:

• 84% of job seekers have Facebook and of them, 2/3rds use it to look for work.
• 35% of job seekers are on LinkedIn and almost 100% of them use LinkedIn to look for work.

Most interesting, one in 6 of the sample had found a job in 2011 using social networking (although the sample was from a recruiting software platform so will be skewed towards computer literates).

Intuit's New QuickBooks Online Accountant Brings the Cloud – and Its Benefits – to Accountants | AccountingWEB.com

Information about Quickbooks online (cloub based) and a new service they have provided for accountants supporting clients using QB.

Intuit's New QuickBooks Online Accountant Brings the Cloud – and Its Benefits – to Accountants | AccountingWEB.com:

'via Blog this'

Pearltrees

This clever idea lets allows you to make 'trees' out of web sites and then share them (mindmap meets shortcut).  I haven't had the chance to play with it but image if you could use it with local content too and share directories not just pages  How many places have you seen company hard drives with data stored one way for one reason but for other users would be much more useful another way?

For example, one department looks after day to day data input but creates an accrual at the month end.  Another department collects the journals and posts them.  This idea could allow sharing in a better way than just shortcuts so that each party can find the data where it is logical for them..

Pearltrees:

'via Blog this'

How to get the most from the media

Attended an IoD event a the University of Brighton presented by John Fryer who after years at the BBC and Sunday Times certainly seemed to know what he was talking about.

Key points I took away:

• In a press briefing/interview, don't expect to be able to get across more that 3 key points
• Make sure you try and tie those points into other things going on in the world that are interesting
• If you have a bad news story, learn from Blackberry and don't wait 3 days before you say anything
• Social media are key to the future of information dissemination.  Journalists now rank their stories by what is getting hits in social media.  Even newspapermen believe that paper newspapers may not be around in 10 years' time.

And a final ironic twist: it took me a while to find John Fryer on Linked In because he is listed as Fryer John.  You can easily find him though by following this link.

Evidence of attendance.

EDF Finance Conference

Interesting day at the Grand Hotel in Brighton and not really what I was expecting.  I had expected updates on accounting standards, perhaps some explanations of year end and budget procedure for EDF.  Reality was more of a team building day with some business games in the afternoon.  Useful for my energy industry knowledge and putting faces to some voices that I only normally hear from a phone.  It was fun too and useful to hear what some of EDF's recent joiners though of the competition that they had been working with previously.  I cannot go into what was said because of client confidentially...

Link to agenda

More about Google's +1 button

This looks like it might be something to keep watching.  More information by clicking the link...

Social SEO: Google Adds +1 Button To Image Search

Yammer Widens Its Ecosystem Big Time

Interesting article about Power Pivots - these are what will take over from Pivot Tables if and when we all upgrade to Excel 2010.   Excel extras: using PowerPivot

An article reminding us that operating leases will become even rarer.  Lease accounting changes 'little known' - Accountancy Age mobile