ACEware Systems Newsletter

Information to Run Your Program

November 2012

Lauri Gets Her Masters

Lauri Thompson just finished her Masters Degree in Teaching & Learning with Technology. A degree which focuses on incorporating technology into your training.

Most of you probably know Lauri as "the voice" on most webinar's with Chuck. She has been a consultant with ACEware for the last six years and before that was a customer and Student Manager user for nine years.

Lauri shares that graduation was really fun as her daughter was graduating at the same time!

When not slaving away for Chuck, she enjoys spending time with her Rottweiler, Buttercup, and her little Terrier, Ellie. (How did she end up with such opposite dogs?!) She is also on a quest to bake the perfect loaf of bread.

Matthew's Corner - Report Design Wizard

(Editor's Note: Matthew was away at a conference and is suffering from a lack of sleep and caffeine overload. This may explain the late night ad quality of this post.)

Creating reports in Student Manager is sooo much fun! I love to write reports with the Microsoft Report Writer all day long. Don't you?

Oh, you don't love it like I do? Well then, I guess I better come up with something easier and friendlier for you to use.

That module is here today. It is the Report Design Wizard and this product is just amazing in how much stuff it can do.

Are you tired of your boss asking you how many registrations were taken in yesterday, last week, or last month? Ever wanted to just have Student Manager just email that number to your boss automatically? Hey, the Report Design Wizard can do it! Heck, you can even create a little dashboard that sits on his or her desk showing an up to the minute readout!

What about looking at non-repeating students? In Student Manager, if you want to see someone that took a course two years ago but not last year, you would have to get creative with a nasty data filter to figure it out. The Report Design Wizard can do it in one simple query. Now you have a list of people to market to in a very specific way.

Do you love to see cross tab reports in Excel? Do you love CREATING cross tab reports in Excel? Yeah, me neither. But in the Report Design Wizard, it is pretty darn easy. Just set your two axis and let the program do it all!

What about charts? I have a hard time understanding charts, yet people want them everywhere. So, since I have to create them anyway, why can't I just have an easy way to do it? Oh wait; I have the Report Design Wizard. With it, I've got charts coming out of my ears. Oh, and that dashboard thing I mentioned before, I can even have charts on there too, updating in real time.

So why don't you have the Report Design Wizard? $995 is a small price to pay for so much power in your data analysis! Please call today to order this amazing tool before Chuck comes to his senses and starts charging what it is really worth.

We'll even have your technician install it for you for free! Operators are standing by.

Until next time,

Matthew Olson

ACEware Systems

Programmer/Technician

Have You Tried Prezi Yet?

Prezi is a web-based presentation tool that replaces PowerPoint. Prezi is a great alternative to PowerPoint once you understand the concept behind Prezi and learn to use the interface.

PowerPoint is based on the concept of moving between slides, while Prezi uses the concept of a large piece of paper. Basically you can zoom in an out of the "piles" of information you have placed on your incredibly large "piece of paper." This not only gives you the ability to share piles of information but zoom up and away and see the relationship between the piles.

The interface has few tools, and is designed this way on purpose. Your focus is on your data and the relationship between the different piles of data you create on the page. The zoom in/out feature gives some wonderful animation effects on your slideshow and is a lot different and is a refreshing change from the standard slide to slide movement in PowerPoint.

There is a free version and a full version. For educators with an .edu email, you can get the full version for free!

This is a worthwhile tool for anyone who creates lots of presentations. At the very minimum it will be a change for your audience from the same basic PowerPoint presentations we are all use to seeing.

www.prezi.com

Visit www.prezi.com/explore to see some examples of Prezi presentations.

ACEware on the Road

You will find Chuck and Greg at the LERN conference in Washington DC November 15th - 18th.

Greg will be at the CEANY Conference (Continuing Education Association of New York) next week in Saratoga Springs NY.

If you are at one of those conferences, stop by our booth and say hi! Will even answer any questions you may have and slip you a 2012 ACEware calendar.

Did You Know?

You have many benefits that come with your paid support agreement. Most importantly, this includes upgrades to your Student Manager.

Student Manager just have a major upgrade to version 7.2b which has lots of great new features. If you haven't upgraded in awhile, give your tech a call. They can schedule a time to walk you through the upgrade and explain the new software features.

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