Monday, December 29, 2008

Keyboard Shortcuts

A very simple example of improving information efficiency is the use of keyboard shortcuts. Using Cntl-C and Cntl-V in Microsoft Office, for example, is much faster than retyping a section of text, or even using the mouse to cut and paste.

The best compendium of keyboard shortcuts I've see is at the Windows Keyboard Shortcut of the Day blog. If you've got a favorite, post a comment, or send me a URL and I'll mention it in an upcoming post.

Questions welcome

Please send Mr. Streamline your questions about information efficiency management. If you have a tedious data conversion task, or you just feel that there ought to be a better way, Mr. Streamline can help.

By submitting questions, you agree to have your question posted on this blog along with the answer.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Success Story

My father runs his own business near San Antonio, TX. He came to me one day with a newly obtained electronic list of potential customer contacts -- thousands of them. The problem was, the format of the customer list didn’t match the format that his customer database recognized. It would take him weeks to retype, or copy and paste all that data into his customer database. He knew that my job frequently required a lot of electronic data mining and data manipulation. He asked if I could help. In a few hours, I was able to write a program that converted his data into a useable format, and he had it loaded into his customer database the same day.

This is the goal of information efficiency management.

Introduction


This blog is devoted to the topic of information efficiency for businesses and individuals.

Information efficiency management is the practice of improving business processes with regarding to handling of information in all its various forms. While much focus is placed upon information as it enters the business, or leaves the business, there is also a great deal of improvement that can be had with inter-company information processes.

An efficiency expert is a business consultant who sets up shop at, say, an assembly plant for a couple of weeks, and observes all facets of making widgets. They interview employees and figure out how to make the process of widget manufacturing more efficient.

An information efficiency expert does the same thing, but they focus on a company’s information management. Streamline is an information efficiency management company that can reduce or eliminate much of that wasted labor, so that your employees can spend more time making your company productive!