                            Training

                      Intranet User's Guide

     Welcome to the Intranet User's guide section of the R&D
  Intranet.   This help came with our Instant Intranet and will
 answer many of your questions about how to use our new intranet
                   and all its great features.

Click on a link below to find answers to the following questions:

                      General Questions  |

              How to Contribute to an Intranet Using

                      Microsoft Office 97

 What is an intranet?  | How do I save new or existing Office 97
    documents on the intranet in their native file formats?

    Why should I post information to the intranet?  | How do I
      convert new or existing Word 97 documents into HTML?

  When should I post information to the intranet?  | How can I
         easily create a personal home page in Word 97?

  What programs should I use to create content for the intranet?
    | How can I create an HTML presentation in PowerPoint 97?

  Where should I post my content on the intranet?  | How can I
        create a PowerPoint animation in PowerPoint 97?

   In what format should I save my files on the intranet so my
co-workers can view them?  | How can I save a range of data or a
                  chart in Microsoft Excel 97?

                      Additional Resources

  To find out more about the Internet and intranet features in
          Office 97, check out the Office home page at
                http://www.microsoft.com/office/

 To find out more about the benefits of intranets, check out the
                  Office Intranet home page at
            http://www.microsoft.com/office/intranet/

  To get in-depth information about using Microsoft Office 97 to
  create or contribute to a team or departmental intranet, look
   for Official Microsoft Intranet Solutions by Micro Modeling
Associates, Inc. with a local bookseller, or check out the Micro
       Modeling Home Page at http://www.micromodeling.com/

    To find answers to specific questions you have about any
Microsoft Office 97 application, open the application, go to the
           Help menu, and select one of the following:

  Microsoft [Application] Help. Type your question in the space
            provided when the Office Assistant appears

        Microsoft On the Web: Frequently Asked Questions

              Microsoft On the Web: Online Support

                      What is an intranet?

  Simply put, an intranet is a corporate network designed around
Internet metaphors, protocols, and technology. Like a collection
  of shared folders on a server, an intranet gives you and your
  co-workers the ability to save a file, content, or information
in a central location where others can find, view, and/or modify
   it. However, intranets include many additional features and
  benefits beyond those of traditional shared network folders.
                     These benefits include:

  the ability to quickly search through many documents and find
                          information.

the ability to hyperlink from one resource to related resources.

the ability to navigate from one part of the "server" to another
  part more easily, because of the navigation metaphors used on
                          the Internet.

          Why should I post information to the intranet?

  Think of all the things you do with the documents you create.
    You develop a financial forecast in Microsoft Excel 97 and
  include it as an attachment in email to the managers in your
   department. You write a business plan in Microsoft Word 97,
print it, and make copies to distribute to your team. You create
a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint 97, give the presentation
  to your co-workers, and then save the presentation to a shared
  folder on the network so that others can review the slides if
                    they missed the meeting.

   Consider the benefits an intranet provides over each of the
                      examples noted above:

                 Benefits Over Email Attachments

 Assume you send a document as an email attachment to ten people
  in your department. If the document is 500 KB, you have just
  taken up 5 MB of server space because that 500 KB document has
 been saved to 10 different inboxes. Now, 5 MB, by itself, isn't
 that large. But consider how many people in your department are
sending email attachments on a daily or weekly basis. The amount
   of server space taken up by redundant attachments escalates
  quickly. By posting your document to the intranet and sending
    around a hyperlink in email, you virtually eliminate this
                           redundancy.

      Consider what happens if you send one document to five
  individuals for review. If each individual makes changes, you
      need to consolidate feedback from each individual and
incorporate it into your original document--a time consuming and
    unnecessary process. By directing your co-workers to your
   document on the intranet (and using the shared workbook and
    tracking features in products like Microsoft Word 97 and
     Microsoft Excel 97), all revisions are made to the same
document, and you simply need to review those changes and decide
                          which to keep.

                 Benefits Over Printed Documents

When you print a document on paper and make copies, you increase
  costs in your department. Your portion of that cost may not be
  significant, but if you add up the costs of everyone in your
 department printing documents and making copies for others on a
daily basis, the cost is significant. Using the intranet as your
        primary "printer" reduces this cost considerably.

   It is less efficient for others to modify or revise printed
       documents than it is to modify or revise electronic
documents--both for the person making the revisions, and for you
 when you try to incorporate those revisions. When you post your
  documents to the intranet, all revisions are made online, and
          you can accept or reject modifications online.

Look around your desk or your office. If your team or department
 relies heavily on printed documents, you probably have numerous
  reports, memos, and plans lying around. If you're lucky, these
  are stored in a filing cabinet. But you may also have a pile
  here and a pile there. Not only does this add to clutter, but
   consider the difficulty in finding a specific document, let
  alone finding relevant information within a document. When you
    post documents to an intranet instead of creating physical
    copies for everyone on your team, you not only reduce the
  clutter in their offices, but you also make it easier for them
    to find the document. In addition, because of the search
    capabilities of an intranet, you make it possible for your
    co-workers to quickly find specific information within the
                   documents you have created.

                  Benefits Over Shared Folders

   As we mentioned in the introduction, at its basic level, an
  intranet is like shared folders on a network server. To review
    the additional benefits an intranet provides, consider the
                            following:

 When looking through shared folders on a network, you generally
  have to rely upon document titles to determine which document
  contains the information you need. (If you are fortunate, the
   document creator may have also included a document summary,
 though this is the exception, not the rule.) Intranets give you
    the ability to search quickly within documents to find the
                information you are looking for.

Intranets give you the ability to hyperlink from one resource to
  other related resources. If you are using Microsoft Internet
      Explorer 3.0 or later, you remain within your browser,
  regardless of the file type you are linking to (whether it be
                HTML, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint).

 To go from one part of a traditional network server to another,
    you have to navigate through levels of file hierarchies,
  sometimes a time consuming and confusing process. And what if
  you forget the location of a subfolder? Intranets give you the
  ability to navigate from one part of the "server" to another
  more easily because of the navigation metaphors (for example,
                hyperlinks) used on the Internet.

    As you see, posting your documents to an intranet has many
  benefits over the traditional ways of distributing information
  in a department. That isn't to say that you won't occasionally
  include a document as an attachment in email, print a document
   and distribute it, etc., but by posting your content to the
               intranet, you gain many advantages.

         When should I post information to the intranet?

   Any time you want others to find, read, review, or modify a
  document you have created, you should post it to the intranet.
  The intranet becomes your all-purpose printer. As a result, in
   most instances, you should post information to the intranet
                            instead of

          including file attachments in email messages

   printing documents, making copies, and distributing them to
                              others

             saving files to a shared network folder

  In essence, remember that "Any time you want others to find,
 read, review, or modify a document you have created, you should
                    post it to the intranet."

  What programs should I use to create content for the intranet?

    Microsoft Office 97 is an excellent tool to use to create
  content for your intranet. Office 97 enables you to save your
files in HTML format (the standard format of the Internet) or in
      native file formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).

This means that rather than considering which tool would be best
  for an intranet, you can create content using the application
  that is best suited for the information you are working with.
    For example, Microsoft Word 97 works well for text-based
     documents; Microsoft Excel 97 works well for financial,
 statistical, or graphical information, and Microsoft PowerPoint
                97 works well for presentations.

   If the information you are planning to put on your intranet
 already exists, there is no reason to re-create it. Simply open
the document in Office 97 and save it as HTML or in an Office 97
                          file format.

                The main points to remember are:

    The best program to create content for the intranet is the
 program that is best suited for the type of information you are
                          working with.

  Microsoft Office 97 applications (like Word 97, Excel 97, and
 PowerPoint 97) are ideal for creating content for your intranet
 because (1) each is integrated with Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.0 and (2) each application gives you the ability to save to an
            intranet in native file format or as HTML.

         Where should I post my content on the intranet?

    Your intranet administrator (or the person who created the
  intranet) likely created a user folder for you on the intranet
  server. Ask this individual for the location of this folder.
  Then, save all of the files you want to share to this folder.
When you save to this location, you enable the intranet's search
  engine to access your documents when a user executes a search.
  If one or more of your documents contains data that others are
    searching for, they will be able to find it more easily.

You should also include a hyperlink from your personal home page
   (and possibly from the intranet News and Projects pages) to
    documents that need to be highly visible to your team or
    department. (For example, a business plan and forecast.)

   In what format should I save my files on the intranet so my
                    co-workers can view them?

  When developing content for your intranet, you can choose to
  post your finished product as HTML, the traditional format of
 the Internet, or in the native Office format you used to create
  it --Microsoft Excel 97, Word 97, or PowerPoint 97. The best
 choice for posting --HTML or Office format-- will depend on how
     the information will be used once it's up on your site.

If the content you are posting is static--in other words, if you
 are posting it primarily for informational purposes and it will
  not change regularly, or if you do not want others to revise
    your content--you should save your files in HTML using the
                applicable Office 97 application.

  If the content you are posting is dynamic--in other words, if
  the content you are posting will change often or if you want
  others to modify and revise what you have written--you should
save your files to the intranet in their native file formats. In
this way, when co-workers open your documents, they will be able
to revise them and save them back to the intranet with Office 97.

                   The points to remember are:

  If the information you are posting is static, meaning it will
  not change regularly or you do not want others to revise what
                  you have posted, save as HTML.

  If the information you are posting is dynamic, meaning it will
change regularly or you want others to revise your content, save
          it to the intranet in its native file format.

  The 60 Minute intranet kit contains the full text of this help
    file in the Foundation Instant Intranet.  In addition, the
  Training Module contains the training file in a frames based
      environment to further enhance your users experience.

Send mail to research@arcadiabay.com with questions or comments
about this web site.
Last modified: August 18, 1997

