The ideas of check-in and check-out have long been the province of programmers and a smaller sect of people who would use it to manage code. However, with the advent of SharePoint into the workplace, it is now applicable to a much broader audience. From a SharePoint perspective, it applies to anything you store in the document management system. From spreadsheets to word documents, everybody should follow these processes. However, what do they mean exactly? To define:

Check-Out - Checking out a file means that you are locking it for editing by yourself. This allows you to work on it without worrying about other people modifying it. The key here is that in SharePoint and many other similar systems it will show who has the file checked out. That way, everybody knows who is working on it.

Check-In - Checking in a file means that you are uploading the modified file to the document management system and it is now available for edit by other users. This is done after you’ve checked it out and made your changes. The key here is that when you check it back in, you can describe what changes you made to it. Then, other users can see the history of changes made to the document. This is great especially when you have many people collaborating who may or may not be working in different locations.

So how do you do it in SharePoint? This is actually very simple. To check out a file, such as a Word document, simply click on the arrow next to the file and select “Check Out” from the drop-down menu. Then, your username should be displayed in the “Checked Out To” column.

You can check in a file a few different ways. One is from the same drop-down menu where you checked it out from. In the instance of a Microsoft Office file such as a Word document, you can do it right from the File menu of the document. Either way, you have the chance to note what changes you made to the file. This is especially important for both the other people working on the file as well as yourself. Otherwise, you may lose track of what has been going on.

As an additional note, to see the Version History of the file, click on the arrow again and select “Version History”. This will bring up the list of changes made to the document, the dates, and who made them. This is where describing your changes becomes important as it will be shown here.

Why should you do it? That’s simple: To make working collaboratively as painless as possible. It’s a simple process that will save you lot’s of time and effort and used correctly, and well worth the few extra seconds it will cost you in time.

Otherwise known as: A Peer to Peer Network, or one of the quickest ways to the back of the unemployment line.

While a No to No Network doesn’t ring a bell, the phrase Peer to Peer Network probably does. In the current jungle that is the internet, file sharing, social networking, and all manner of instant media on demand is the norm. Some examples of these would be Kazaa and eDonkey. While the concept has it’s place in both the workplace and at home, the point of this article will be how you should use them at work. In short: Don’t.

This is where the following counter arguments come into play:

- I use it all the time at home, I’m sure it’s fine. Or: Even though I’m using my work computer, I only use it at home.
- I’m sure my work anti-virus and firewall software will take care of it.
- How will I get the latest cat juggling videos if I don’t use them?

Let’s go through each one:

I use it all the time at home, I’m sure it’s fine. Or: Even though I’m using my work computer, I only use it at home.

Great. Unfortunately for you, you’ll still take that computer and bring it back to work with you, hence opening up the rest of your work network to whatever happens to be currently residing on your computer. The minute you connect to your work network and for instance check your email, a virus you downloaded along with Spiderman 3 could send itself out to everybody in your address book. The point to remember is this: Any network you connect to will be exposed to the entire contents of your work computer.

I’m sure my work anti-virus and firewall software will take care of it.

A touching thought, but many times just not true. While many companies try and keep pace with the seemingly endless stream of threats to network and computer security out there, there is always going to be something that they don’t account for. Does their software catch most of it? Probably, however do you want to take that chance? Clearly not. I’ll go out on a limb, but the grainy video some guy took of the new Harry Potter is probably not worth losing your job over.

And finally: How will I get the latest cat juggling videos if I don’t use them?

Carefully, and without telling any of your friends. Just kidding, but this brings up a good point: Where can I use these programs? My only advice is to get a personal computer for, shockingly, personal use. You can get a decent desktop or laptop for peanuts these days, and it will save you a lot of worrying about screwing up your companies property.

The one caveat I have to this is if it is a company approved program or service. Many companies these days have incorporated popular commercial software such as AOL Instant Messenger into their everyday activities. This is perfectly fine as long as you follow the rules they set for them. For example, in the case of Instant Messenger, usually there is a separate security program involved that secures your chat connections. Once again, as long as you follow the rules, you’ll be fine.

In the end, it’s up to you whether or not you roll the dice with your job. People do it every day, and many never get caught. However, personally that’s just not a chance I’m willing to take when there are easy ways to avoid the problem entirely (see above: buying your own personal computer).

There is a big difference between describing your accomplishments in glowing detail and attributing successes or skills where they don’t belong. Here’s an example:

Job Experience

Domino’s Pizza delivery driver

Basic Information

• Only late two times out of 100 - Does not remember exact reason
• Employee of the Month Feb. 2007
• No customer complaints
• Employed one year

Pretty basic job, sounds like the person above really maximized their time there. With that being said, there is the right way to maximize the description for it on your resume, and the wrong way. Here’s one way you could present this in the correct way using the basic information that was provided above:

Good Example

• Excellent delivery on-time percentage, completed 98% of all deliveries made on time.
• Earned the Employee of the Month Award for February of 2007.
• Received zero customer complaints during the entire tenure of employment.

You’ll notice that the information above is pretty similar to the basic information provided. This is because the accomplishments really stand on their own, all you need to do is add the extra word smithing here and there to spice it up a bit. Now, let’s take a look at a bad example:

Bad Example

• Excellent delivery on-time rate, only late two times due to vehicle difficulties during entire year of employment.
• Earned the Employee of the Month Award in February of 2007, which showcases my ability to excel at any position given to me.
• No customer complaints were received for deliveries made during my tenure at Dominos. During my time, I gained invaluable knowledge about client relationships and feel that I am ready to sell future work.

Clearly, there are a number of things wrong with the above statements. For example, in the first bullet, there is mention of vehicle difficulties. However, the basic information states that the applicant couldn’t remember why those two deliveries were late. Maybe it was vehicle problems, maybe it was something else. The best way to go is to not speculate and possibly get yourself in trouble (maybe the potential employer calls Dominos and finds out it wasn’t vehicle problems).

Also, the second bullet reads way too much into getting that award. Yes, it’s a good award to have and you definitely want to document it. However, does that really mean you can excel at any position? This is too much of a stretch and just makes you look arrogant and/or foolish.

As for the third bullet, this is a clear overstatement of the amount of knowledge gained from the two minutes you talk to someone when you deliver a pizza. Once again, it’s great that there were no complaints. However, it doesn’t make you the expert at client relationships, let it speak for itself. Selling future work? This is not even remotely related to the experience point.

Believe it or not, these examples are based on real life examples that I’ve seen come my way. There is nothing that puts a potential employer off more than this kind of exaggeration. Remember: You need to be able to back up all of your statements on your resume with concrete reasoning and examples. A good check is to read each statement and make sure you have talking points for it before you submit it.

This will populate the Meanings text box with possibly several different contexts in which the word can be used. Making a selection in this dialog will bring up the list of corresponding synonyms in the Replace with Synonym text box. Finally, select the synonym that you want to use and click Insert. This will insert that word into your document. Just like that, no more repetitive terms!

This is a good way to avoid comments such as “Cut down on the use of the word xxx.”, or “Can we word this a different way?”. As we all know, the less comments you have to deal with, the better.

Funny Test Answers

Maybe we should adapt this for the office?

Not convinced? Answer this question: What is the end goal of answering a question? Clearly, it’s getting the person who asked the question the answer. It sounds simple, but too many people get caught up in the whole “the person in charge needs to know everything” syndrome to remember this fact. Regardless if you know the answer off the top of your head, or you had to ask the guy in the HR department, it doesn’t matter as long as the question is answered.

Keep this in mind the next time you’re tempted to make an “educated” guess at an answer, and not only will you get the right answer but you’ll save yourself a lot of time and problems in the long run.

2.) Wrong page numbers - This most commonly happens when the footer gets screwed up between sections, i.e. it’s set to follow the previous section when it should start again. Conversely, this can also happen when a section is removed. Overall, just spot check your page numbers when you’re done with a document. An easy way to see if a page number is off is….wait for it….update the table of contents! When you update your table of contents, you’ll know right away with just a quick visual inspection if something is amiss.

The point? Simply put, keep the above two items in mind whenever you’re creating a document. Every time that you don’t make one of these errors, it’s one less comment that a reviewer has to make and you have to incorporate.

Microsoft Excel 2007 Calculation Bug

It looks like a problem with the floating point representation of certain numbers. Fortunately, from what I can see this specific problem is unique to 2007, so if you haven’t upgraded yet you should be ok. Otherwise, if you use 2007 I’d read up on it to see if this affects you in any way.

Creepy bathroom hand soap

Let’s just say if I saw this in the bathroom, I might just take my chances with the water.

Happy Wednesday!

1. They provide a flexible schedule - Many of these courses allow you to go at your own pace as opposed to having to be at a class on a certain date at a certain time.

2. They allow you to address other needs - Because you can complete these courses at home, you can easily accomplish other tasks that need to get done without having to worry about if you’ll make it home on time.

3. They can cost significantly less than conventional classes - Because you aren’t paying for some of the costs that are associated with a conventional education, you can save some serious money. Obviously, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. However, this doesn’t mean if you see a good discount it’s necessarily a bad deal.

If this peaks your interest, there are a number of places to go where you can peruse available online degrees. One of these places is Earn My Degree. They have cataloged a wide selection of available online degrees in multiple disciplines and levels. These degrees are offered through many different universities and colleges, which are listed along with the degree that is being offered online.

The really nice thing about this site is that they provide you direct access to the relevant information about the online degree that you are interested in. You don’t have to sift through hundreds of course catalog web pages on a school website just to find out that none of them are offered online. This is great as it can save you a lot of frustration time.

Also, the site is really easy to navigate. Just by using the sidebar you can search by degree level or discipline. A search by location and a free text search are also readily available from the home page.

Another nice feature is the learning center that provides multiple articles on online education, career management, and educational tools and resources. Great for a reference even if you don’t end up getting your degree right away.

Overall, with all of the technology available today, the excuse of not having enough time to further your education is getting harder and harder to use. Even if you are only slightly interested, you should check out online degrees now. It never hurts to research a topic, as you never know when that information might come in handy.

*This is a sponsored post.