As a small business owner, it can be very challenging to grow your business, remain profitable, and maintain a balance in life with your family. Some property managers can manage 50-100 properties without the need of a full time employee or commercial office.  However, once the portfolio exceeds 100 units, an owner needs to consider hiring an employee and opening a commercial office.

As the need for project management courses is becoming more and more prevalent, quite a number of courses with more up-to-date training are being offered. Global Knowledge, the leader in information technology instruction, for example, has recently opened project management courses that feature Microsoft Office Project product training. These courses are expected to provide managers with the project management knowledge they need to compete in this IT-driven industry.

About Global Knowledge

Global Knowledge, the company offering the new Microsoft project management courses, offers its IT courses via training centers, the Web, and private venues. Having a variety of learning environment choices has allowed Global Knowledge to give its customers to freedom to choose when and where they want to learn.

The company currently offers more than 700 courses on a wide variety of topics. Global Knowledge has courses on subjects like IT security, Oracle, networking, and Cisco. Global Knowledge is based in North Carolina, but has training centers in countries all over the world, from the US to France to Singapore.

About Microsoft Office Project products

Microsoft’s project management applications, Microsoft Office Project and Microsoft Office Project Server, are a part of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management software solution. Microsoft Office Project has been touted as top-of-the-line project management software. It is used to assist managers in creating project plans, managing resources, and keeping track of project progress. Microsoft Office Project Server allows project teams to collaborate on project plans and effectively manage their work.

All about the courses

The new project management courses being offered by Global Knowledge are called “Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project 2007” and “Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007.” Each course lasts four days and has a total load of 40 Professional Development Units (PDUs). The project management courses are also offered over a three-day period, with a total load of 18 PDUs.

Upon completing each project management course, students can earn Microsoft certification. In the Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project 2007 course, students receive Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification for Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project 2007 upon passing the exam. Certification for Enterprise Product Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 can be attained by passing the Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 boot camp. These two certifications that can be acquired through Global Management’s new project management courses have been approved by the Project Management Institute.

In these project management courses, students will learn how to go through all of the project management steps – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing – and use Microsoft Office Project 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 to facilitate the entire process. More specifically, the courses will teach concepts such as how to create and define project goals, how to make accurate project estimations, and how to generate useful project reports. The project management courses involve a wide range of activities, including hands-on exercises and skills training. Students are also given sample tests and drills to prepare them for the certification exams.

The role of the compliance officer is a scary job with difficult and growing pressures.  It is nonetheless an exciting and challenging role for someone who desires to be in the middle of what is making things happen and keeping things rolling.  Before taking a position, it is advisable to meet the CEO and the CFO and understand the business.  Do not just walk into a can of worms where you would be required to do the clean up.

Why Back Office Administration?

In the international development sector, back office administration and social networks are fundamental to how practices are improved. The work of the administrator expert for the purpose of providing back office activities for development projects include such a diverse range of administrative tasks and routine services. These services carried out in support of a professional activity such as monitoring and organizing a national survey, providing overall administrative guidance and support to multi-donor programs for good governance and economic growth programs have played a central role in consultants’ work in various regions of the world. Such work has involved efforts to reach out to the relevant local partners, government officials, urban professionals, businessmen and women, and rural community heads.

You’ve got the office space you need and you’ve purchased all the furniture and electronic equipment required. The phone lines are in, the computer network is connected, and you’re ready to do business. But wait – you still have some important shopping to do. Don’t forget the office supplies!

Yes, office supplies may seem a bit trivial when compared to the other equipment you have to purchase and set up, but think about it for a second: what office would be complete without office supplies? Even the Fortune 500 companies need pen and paper, you know.

But what supplies do you need to order right away, and what are those that can wait until much later? If you think that all you need in your office are a dozen pens and a couple reams of paper, then you are in for a rude awakening. There’s much more to setting up shop when it comes to office supplies, and this article may be what you need to guide you in your office supplies shopping adventure.

Here is a master list for your guidance. You do not have to buy all items on the list, although it will help if you include most of it, if not all:

Printer cartridges
Fax paper
Stationery
Bathroom and cleaning supplies
Calculators
Calendars
Computer disks
Cork boards
Glue
Envelopes
Invoices
Mailing labels
Manila folders
Markers
Note and message pads
Packing tape
Paper clips
Pencils
Pens
Rubber bands
Scissors
Staplers
Tools
White boards

Now, when you’re done with your shopping, there are a few basic rules to keep in mind in order to be sure that you’ll have everything you need to keep your office functioning smoothly.

First, always keep a small stash of supplies available. You’d be surprised to know the amount of time wasted in traveling back and forth from the supply room to your desk. And that goes for your clerks and secretaries, too. A desk drawer or even a small cabinet near you will do just fine. Now you’ll save time and energy getting supplies and use them instead for what’s more important – taking care of business.

Second, there are some supplies that you really don’t need to have near you 24/7. These include stacks of stationery, piles and piles of message pads, Post-Its, and rolls of tape. All of these stuff can make your office look messy and disorganized, which I’m sure you don’t want. Organize the supplies according to how often you need them. For example, the items you need on a monthly basis should be kept in a cabinet or on a shelf. Other supplies you use less often than that should be kept in a supply room or closet.

Third, remember that master list? You can use it to take note of the supplies that are running low, and how often. You don’t have to shop for supplies very week. Once a month will be fine, as long as your master list is updated. That way, you’ll no longer need to fear running out of markers in the middle of an important presentation.

You’ll also need to check and analyze how much you are spending for office supplies. You can assign a staff member or two to do some comparison shopping, especially for the supplies you use most often. Usually, there are office supply stores in your local area and on the Internet where you can find the best prices for what you need. Some vendors are even willing to give discounts in exchange for your loyalty. If you can, buy in bulk for even bigger savings, but don’t overdo it. You don’t really need to buy supplies that will last until December when it’s only June, right?

We’ve all heard that old saying, “time is money.” When it comes to time spent at work, it couldn’t be more true. Managing your time at the office as efficiently as possible makes a big difference in your effectiveness-and your bottom line. Here, we’ll go over a few tips on how to streamline your time management at work.

Organize your desk. If you can barely see the surface of your desk for all the paper, you need to reorganize. Many people with messy desks will insist that they “know where everything is”-but this is in fact rarely true, especially if it’s documentation for a project that’s been on the back burner for a while. Over time, you’ll waste hours just looking for things that should be easy to locate.

To get back in shape, set aside an hour to a day-or even more, depending on how chaotic your desk is-to sorting, filing, and organizing your office. You’ll need a filing system that works for you. Put everything within easy reach-you should never have to spend more than thirty seconds locating a single piece of paper. Even though you may feel like you don’t have the time to pay attention to organization, this investment of time will pay you back over the long run.

Delegate when you can. High-achieving business owners and managers often hate to delegate, because they feel out of control when they’re not doing everything themselves. However, strong and effective leaders know the strengths of their employees-and how to rely on those strengths to best advantage. If you feel overloaded in your tasks, delegate to trusted employees when you can. Choose someone who’s eager to prove herself, but who also isn’t too inexperienced to do a good job-and when you can, choose employees who have talents to match the task.

Schedule e-mail time. Constantly checking email is just another way of procrastinating on other things. Turn off the automatic notification feature on your email-it kills concentration-and only check your email two or three times per day. That way, you won’t feel like e-mail is taking up all your time at work.

Get rid of your paper in-box. If a document crosses your desk that you have to take care of, handle it now-don’t set it in a “to-do” pile. We all tend to procrastinate with paperwork-but the more quickly you get it done, the less you’ll feel like it’s controlling your life. Don’t let paperwork sit on your desk for more than a day if you can possibly help it.

Make sure you have the right software. If your business management involves a lot of software-spreadsheets, documents, data management systems-you could be wasting a lot of time just transitioning from one program to the next. Look for a software solution that combines mutually compatible programs that take care of all your data management needs. The best ones include tracking features that will let you keep track of time, efficiency, defects, financial information, and other information crucial to your business’s effectiveness. That way, you’ll be able to manage all relevant data, track your time, and make sure you’re running your business as efficiently as possible.

Crucial time management is crucial to your bottom line and to your work-life balance. Get it right, and you’ll work efficiently and have time left over for your family and yourself. Get it wrong, and you can start to feel like your work is taking over your life. Follow these tips, and you should be able to get it all done-with time to spare.

If a twenty-something wrote these tips for managing paper in the home office the first suggestion would more than likely be to do away with paper. I can see my son saying, “Paper? Why Paper? You don’t need paper?”

Well, there are reasons to use paper, and to file it away for safekeeping, especially if you’re 35 years old or more and you grew up learning from and deriving pleasure from the printed word and the study of books. Few in the business world would argue with the need for computers, online databases, Internet, contact management programs and various software applications. We all know they can make us more efficient by keeping our materials on our computers, on electrical storage devices such as external hard drives, CDs, DVDs and flash drives.

There are reasons to have the good old fashioned printed page, though. Eye strain, back strain, wrist and finger muscle strain can all be alleviated by leaving the computer and the keyboard for 30 minutes of relaxation in an easy chair while poring over the printed word.

Managing paper in the home office is more difficult than managing electric devices because it’s heavier and takes up more space.

Here are some tips for managing paper in the home office:

* An ongoing piece of information that updates and changes periodically should be electronic only.

* Writing a day planner on paper is a waste of time and space. A white board at eye level on the wall would work much better.

* If space is at a premium build up towards the ceiling. A narrow tall file cabinet will take up less space.

* Stay organized. This is perhaps the most important of the tips for managing paper in the home office. If you don’t take time every day to file you won’t find the important paper at your finger tips the next time you need it and you’ll find yourself printing it out time and again out of frustration for having to spend time looking for it.

* If you have no need for it throw it away. Go through your files on a periodic basis and weed out the old to make way for the new.

Project Management Office (PMO Service) saves companies considerable costs for project management office overhead for administrative tasks such as invoice and payroll processing, project accounting, project change order control, project cost reporting, and project auditing.

Business owners are faced with more than just the direct challenges that are a result of operating their businesses. Not only do business owners have to perform the duties of their specific business; but they also have the responsibility of managing any staff, and keeping track of finances.

Business finances can be a nightmare! Most business owners are very pressed for time, trying to get everything accomplished- and it could be their record keeping suffers as a result of the lack of time. Business credit cards can help you resolve this situation, and actually save you time and money. You might be wondering how a credit card could save you money, considering they have interest fees and finance charges and all sorts of “hidden” expenses; but with the right business credit card, your financial record keeping will not only become easier to manage, but will in fact reduce the time it takes you to pay your business expenses and saving that time will result in your ability to put your time into money-making activities.

Pay All of Your Business Expenses With a Single Credit Card

The first step to easier financial management and record keeping is to obtain a business credit card and designate it your one-and-only method for paying your operating expenses. Whenever you need to purchase business supplies, make a utility payment, order lunch for staff appreciation day you’ll whip out your new card and that’s where the charges will go.

That means you won’t pay with a personal check and have to transfer funds later to make sure you’re keeping your business and personal money separate. Using a single credit card for all your business needs means at the end of the month, you’ll receive a statement that itemizes every expense you had for the month.

Have you discovered the value in this yet? When you pay for everything on the single credit card, you’ll receive a single statement with a list of everything you’ve purchased or paid for, all in one- convenient place! You’ll easily be able to divide your expenses into categories for tax reporting purposes, and see at a glance what you’ve paid for the month versus what your business income was for the same month.

Give Key Employees a Business Credit Card

If you have office managers or other staff that have to make purchases for the business from time to time, there is a simple solution to this situation as well. Simply order additional business credit cards in the employee’s names and all of their purchases will appear with yours on the itemized statement. Many credit card companies will divide the purchases by each of the credit cards you have on the statement, so you can also easily see at a glance which cardholder made which purchases.

Easier Checkbook Balancing

Once you’ve begun making all of your business purchases and expenses using your business credit card, you’ll find that keeping your checkbook under control is a much easier task! Rather than having numerous entries throughout the month, you could very well have only the need to write out just one check each month to pay your credit card balance. It’s much easier to balance a checkbook with one or two transactions than one that has a few hundred checks and ATM card purchases going through each month!

Additional Benefits of Using Business Credit Cards

In addition to each of the benefits described above, using credit cards for business expenses makes it possible for you to earn rewards from various rewards programs offered through card issuers. You could be earning cash back or airline miles, among other benefits, that build up rapidly when you use your card to handle all expenses each month.