The value of Project Management :-)

Useful Excel Tip: Remove Duplicate data

Always learning new tips :-)
To delete duplicated entries from a list: in the past I had a macro that would check if the previous line was the same. There is however a smarter or easier way of doing this.

Found in the Microsoft Help & Support:

How to remove duplicate records or create list of unique records in Excel
To create a compiled list of unique records, follow these steps:

1. Select the column titles above rows or records that you want to sort.
2. On the Data menu, point to Filter, and then click Advanced Filter. If you are prompted as follows, click OK.

No headers detected. Assume top row of selection
is header row?

3. Under Action, click Copy to another location.
4. Click to select the Unique records only check box.
5. In the List range box, type or select the range of records (such as A3:H10).
6. In the Criteria range box, type or select the same range of records (that is, A3:H10)
7. In the Copy to box, type the address of or select the first cell where you want the information to be placed. Make sure there is enough room so you don't overwrite pre-existing data.

Note You can only do this in the active sheet.
8. Click OK.
Notes

If the first record of original data is duplicated, it appears twice in the new list. Just hide the first line.

If you perform the Advanced Filter command in-place, the sheet still contains all records. Duplicate records are hidden. To work around this behavior, point to Rows on the Format menu, and then click Unhide

Vendor selection Tips - from a competitor :-)

Interesting summary at Gamasutra news for Babel Media´s VP North America presentation at the Game Outsourcing Summit.
You can even get the slides of the complete presentation at: http://gdcfocuson.com/gos/

I completely agree with one of the statements Ben Wibberley mentioned in the presentation:
"Bargain bucket is bargain bucket and will cost you more in management time and missed deadlines".

Interesting also his action list for selecting a vendor for outsourcing work:
•RFP/RFI
•Pilot Tests (metrics)
•Audit
•SLA’s

I would add that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) must be live documents that should continuously be reviewed, analyzed and adapted. We see them too much as a formal document that simply needs to be signed to get it off our checklist of due tasks to get a vendor (or client if seen from the other side) to work. This document should illustrate the details of Client/Vendor relationship, allow to set expectations on both sides, and provide a good basis to measure performance in regards to reaction times, quality... in summary be able to know if you are getting a good service.

Localization and translation is very close to what is understood as a "perfect market" by economic theories: Plenty of demand and plenty of offer too.
However, selecting the correct vendor and creating a fruitful relationship is what is going to help you find the process that will really work for your company. No matter if your are in the videogame, life science or Information Technology industry, to mention a few examples.

Open Source Project Management Tools in Java

The following site contains links to interesting Java based Project Management tools.

http://java-source.net/open-source/project-management

Not all of them are completely free to use (specially for commercial use) but are pretty interesting to check.