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Microsoft NHS Resource Centre - features

Welcome to the Microsoft NHS Resource Centre

A dedicated central resource for all NHS staff to share best practice and experience across healthcare and IT through articles, events, tips, user groups and discussion forums.

NHS Resource Centre Community

Designed as an interactive collaboration and communication web portal, the NHS Resource Centre is a central location within which NHS users can get connected with their colleagues, peers and friends within the NHS and Microsoft. Soon, NHS users will also be able to share information and advice with healthcare IT and software partners.

To become a member of the NHS Resource Centre you can sign up for free by registering with your NHS email address. Once you have registered you will have access to all content posted on the site, whether from Microsoft, another trust, or a colleague from within your organisation! You will also have automatic access to e-learning courses and have the option to sign up for the free e-newsletter.

As a registered member you can start interacting with the website straight away by writing an article, posting an event, submitting a tip that you want to share or by creating an exclusive user group. You can also start customising your own homepage so that you see only the content that you choose to see. As part of this you have the option to move content boxes around, replace them with new content, add your own article posts and your favourite RSS feeds!

At the same time you will want to set up your own profile, which will include your name and email address, trust and job title plus a selection of other interesting facts about yourself, your interests or your job.

As a non-registered member of the site, you will still be able to view a whole selection of topical articles, events and tips submitted by the Microsoft NHS team and access benefits such as the Home User Programme or Employee Purchase Programme, but you will not be able to fully interact with the site, which includes being able to view NHS user content.

Articles, Events and Tips

You can now submit your own content onto the NHS Resource Centre in the form of an article, an event or even a tip! To be able to submit an article, event or tip you must first register as a user. You will then also be able to view other NHS user content and interact with NHS users by posting a comment for example.

You will have a toolbox to help you write and format your article which is very similar to the tools you find in Microsoft word. Articles and posts can be as succinct or as long as you like.

As a non-registered user you can review all Microsoft web content but you will not be able to view NHS user content or post comments. You will also not be able to create your own content.

Use the powerful search facility on the site to search for all content. Enter a subject, keyword or set of words into the search box and all relevant items will display on the page under the headings of articles, events and tips.

To search for specific content, you should also use the “Tag search facility”. Each article that is created has a set of tags associated to it, which describe the main content of that article. Please remember to tag your articles accordingly when creating new content on the site as it will allow users to find it more easily.

To perform a content search associated to a particular tag, just click on your chosen tag in the "Most popular tags" box or click on the "Explore more tags" link which will allow you to view all the tags on the website.

E-Learning

Get started with your online training

To access the free courses on offer, all you need is to sign up with your NHS email address and a security password of your choice. When you sign up to become a member of the NHS Resource Centre however, you will automatically be signed up for e-learning too so you do not have to repeat this process twice.

Once you have signed up, you will be able to sign in from work or home using the same email address and password to review your own personalised learning space and keep track of your progress.

What does the training pack offer?

There are currently three Collections, each introducing different Microsoft software packages:

  • Office 2003: word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and email.
  • SharePoint: collaborative working with shared documents and resources.
  • InfoPath: managing data and information in your organisation and using it to make better decisions.

This training pack is delivered entirely online so that:

  • Learners can study at their own pace either at work or from home with a PC, Mac or laptop.
  • The service can be used by individuals or scaled up to support an entire team.
  • All participants’ progress is accurately stored, maximising the use of training time for each individual.

Training using this service is an ideal continuation of the ECDL standard training modules, and can be effectively used to increase the productivity gained from the many technology investments being made throughout the Health Service.