IT training - ECDL or equivalent - advice wanted

[srw]

If it's more complex than SUM() it should be developed in SQL by trained developers adhering to a recognisable SDLC.

I don't disagree. But that sort of message goes down like a lead balloon in a room full of actuaries, or in a corporation squeezing budgets left, right and centre. In my 21 years of working with spreadsheets I've seen surprisingly few real problems with user-developed spreadsheets - as long as they're operated by people who know what they're doing and overseen by people who understand the problems they're trying to solve.

 

[Tin Pot]

I don't disagree. But that sort of message goes down like a lead balloon in a room full of actuaries, or in a corporation squeezing budgets left, right and centre. In my 21 years of working with spreadsheets I've seen surprisingly few real problems with user-developed spreadsheets - as long as they're operated by people who know what they're doing and overseen by people who understand the problems they're trying to solve.

SOX.

Audit trail of changes.

End argument.




Not had to discuss it with non-US listed companies yet.

 

[srw]

SOX.

Audit trail of changes.

End argument.




Not had to discuss it with non-US listed companies yet.

My group was US-listed when SOX was introduced and I was responsible for implementing it in my department. When the US listing was removed we kept on with most of the discipline of formal financial reporting controls. I'm now responsible (for the next three weeks, at least) for making sure those controls exist and are adequate for the UK company.

We have always managed with a lot of spreadsheets, and decent management controls. I know the other 70-odd companies in the group do too, as do all of our competitors in the UK market, many of which are US-listed. When someone brings out a useable modern spreadsheet system that self-documents changes and forces proper build documentation, and charges a sensible price for it, Excel will die like 1-2-3 did.

 

[the stupid one]

Is this all real or are you lot just winding me up now?

 

[Tin Pot]

Is this all real or are you lot just winding me up now?

It's nothing you have to worry about, but it's all real but behind closed doors hidden from the business. I joke about it but IT is ridiculously complicated - but that's why people get paid to sort it out.

 

[the stupid one]

Well I'm back again, just in case anybody ever stumbles over this thread wanting more ECDL information.

There is an official ECDL Foundation, established in 1997. More at ecdl.org

They work with National Operators, which in the UK is the British Computer Society - bcs.org - which oversees a range of qualifications including ECDL. BCS works with 1500 approved training centres which offer some or all of tutored courses, flexible learning, distance learning and testing. As mentioned earlier in the thread by raleighnut, the tests are invigilated, offline, 45 minute affairs taken at one of the centres. There are seven modules currently in a complete ECDL qualification.

I eventually went over to Everton Development Trust and I've been using their materials/computers and taking tests with them. They've no funding at present for ECDL, so if/when I've paid for all the materials, the tests, plus the registration with BCS I'll have coughed up £275. This is more than the couple of online providers I got in touch with (about £175 - £200 looked average), but they weren't offering the invigilated tests, so couldn't be offering genuine ECDL awards. That's not to say that they don't provide some sort of qualification, but how recognised that might be I don't know. And some of the online reviews weren't very convincing.

So far I've passed the Word and Excel modules. It's not terribly high-level, and the tutors over at EDT know their stuff. I suspect I'll have completed the whole thing within a couple more weeks.

Yes, you could pick this up easily enough if you were just using the Office suite frequently, and there's plenty of help in the various Office for Dummies books and on youtube, for example. But if that certificate looks good to a potential employer and you want to become useful with Office in a short time then ECDL might be worth looking at.