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MICROSOFT OFFICE 2003: WHERE'S THE EXCEL-LENCE?

Microsoft spent milliions on their launch of the new whiz-bang Office update, but a survey conducted by "Mr Excel" Bill Jelen indicates that users need help converting cold software into task and time-saving functions. Jelen's Excel usage portal is an alternative for accountants and other excel users who don't know the macro to use Excel power tools that could shave hours off of their workweek.

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Contact: Bonnie J. Hilliard
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MS OFFICE 2003: DOES IT REALLY EXCEL?

Half of survey respondents say they're not using complicated existing Excel spreadsheet functions that could improve efficiency

(Uniontown, Ohio) On Tuesday October 21, 2003, 400 MILLION Microsoft Excel users were introduced to the shiny, new Microsoft Office 2003 released in fanfare events across the globe.

But a survey at MrExcel.com indicates they need more than the new upgrade to achieve efficiency goals. Microsoft Excel consultant Bill Jelen - known as "Mr. Excel" of the MS Office solutions portal MrExcel.com website - polled 2000 Excel users and found that the top 10 features in Excel's older versions were underused.

"The new version may not be the panacea to repetitive data tasks," said Jelen. To date, less than half of the users polled were using the top 10 power features: Pivot Tables, Array Formulas, Automatic Subtotals and others power tools.

For survey results, go to http://www.mrexcel.com/quickpoll.php.

For a poll chart, see: http://www.mrexcel.com/pollresults.html.

"The big software firms are good at pushing upgrades, but they drop the ball when it comes to using their product," says Jelen, an Excel usage consultant. "The problem is not with the software, but in the training of those who use it," Jelen says. "If most people aren't using Excel properly, upgrading won't speed their repetitive data tasks. If your job every day is to import data, subtotal it, and print it, I can write a code in about an hour that will allow you to simply press a button."

Bill Jelen is the author of Mr Excel ON EXCEL, published in April 2003 as the definitive "How To" for unlocking money and time saving secrets of Excel; Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel; and CD ROMS: 1600 Excel VBA Examples and Excel Knowledge Base (a Q&A archive). Jelen's books, utilities and other MS Office usage tools are available at Amazon.com, Borders Books, Barnes and Noble, Micro Center and at www.MrExcel.com.