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Rockwell Institute: A class act at increasing productivity
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Index Making the grade Scoring big on the Web Taking the future home |
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You could say that Rockwell’s success is built on the success of its
students. More than 90 percent of Rockwell students pass the state’s
licensing examination on a first attempt. Their largest competitor
averages only 73.5 percent. To help its students succeed, Rockwell
relies on Microsoft® Windows® 95, Microsoft Office for Windows 95, and
Windows NT® Server 3.51. "It’s a fast and reliable system, and in most
cases the software does a lot more than what we’ll ever need," Program
Manager John Hunt said. With the speed and power of Windows 95, Windows
NT Server, and Pentium-based computers, the staff can spend less time
waiting on their computers and more time developing and enhancing
software titles. "Our new network is a lot faster than our old system.
And that makes a big difference when developing CD-ROM titles because we
sometimes must transfer 60 or 70 megabyte files to and from a server,
which can eat up a lot of time." Daily activities such as registering
new students in the student database has been dramatically improved with
Microsoft Access. "We used to have to wait 10 to 15 minutes to pull up a
student name in the database (which has about 5,000 to 7,000 records).
With Microsoft Access it’s cut down to 30 seconds at the most," Hunt
said. "Plus, we now have the ability for multiple registrars to access
the database. So if one staff member is signing up a student over the
phone, another student can be registered at the front desk at the same
time. It’s been a big help."
A cornerstone to Rockwell’s marketing effort is its web site, where potential customers can learn more about their services, check out class schedules, read the company’s monthly newsletter, and more. In a recent contest sponsored by Microsoft and Success Magazine, Rockwell’s web site was named "Most Innovative Small Business Web Site." During the duration of the contest, more than 3,500 people visited their site! Even though John knows HTML, the code system used to create web pages, he choose Internet Assistant for Word to create the site. "I used Internet Assistant for Word because it’s so easy," said Hunt, who created the site in less than one week. "It was just a matter of throwing it together in Word. I did use NotePad and Microsoft FrontPage to make a few minor changes, such as adding a video clip, but most everything was done quickly and easily using the Internet Assistant." At some point, Rockwell hopes to deliver pre-licensing education directly to future realtors via their computers. "The possibilities are really exciting for us," said Hunt. "Instead of people having to come to our facilities to train, they’ll be able to do it from their PCs, wherever they are - and that opens a whole new world of customers to us." Vital Statistics
Rockwell Institute Rockwell Institute uses the following Microsoft products:
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