Metro Manila – Every day the Board is inundated with data. The influx of information comes in the form of cases filed, financial transactions recorded, and talent profiles gathered. These are just a few of the dealings encountered everyday at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) that require skills to have a good grasp of available information. And in order for this information to come in handy, an application has to be utilized to manage long and unwieldy datasets. This is where Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet software program, has become of vital importance.

The software has helped greatly in the efficient managing and keeping track of the Board’s services and programs as well as, increasing employee productivity. Recognizing its contribution in promoting efficiency in the office, the Board decided to enhance the capabilities of its personnel by conducting training opportunities to improve their knowledge and proficiency in navigating the software.

Hence, the NCMB, through its Research and Information Division (RID), hosted a five-day training/workshop on Statistical Data Management using MS Excel on 23-27 October 2023 at Sequioa Hotel, Quezon City.

In her message during the training, Executive Director IV Maria Teresita Lacsamana-Cancio assured the participants that the Board would continue to provide opportunities for its employees in broadening their horizons, discovering and learning new things to help them grow into the best versions of themselves. “Step out of your comfort zone, push yourself past your limits, and grab every opportunity that comes up,” ED Cancio said.

While the participants from the different regional branches nationwide may have been familiar with MS Excel, they still expressed their eagerness to have a keener and deeper understanding of its functionalities in order to present more accurate reports that will aid the Board’s decision-makers. Mikhael Vince Pimentel of RCMB X shared that he is optimistic to learn techniques that will help him in providing more efficient, accurate, and error free reports.

The training course covered a comprehensive discussion on key statistics concepts and the software’s basic mathematical formulas to the more complex functions and features.

The resource speaker, Ms. Eleanore Ramos, gave a detailed exposition on fundamental MS Excel functionalities. Accordingly, knowing the basics helps the user understand the software at a more profound level. “Understanding the basic terms and components will guide you to understand Microsoft Excel at a deeper level that will eventually lead you to easily navigate its more advanced tools,” she explained.

As a finale, OIC-Director II of Internal Services and concurrent RID Chief Marife Fausto expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the participants for their active participation and encouraged them to apply all the learnings they have gained to their respective branches. OIC Director Fausto also commended the innovation applied by Mr. Syrill Gayomali in the automatic generation of Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) by demonstrating how he created a script to generate a number of DVs in just a click of the excel function. “It is really very heartwarming to see that you were able to apply the functionalities of the software in your respective work processes. This will enable you to simplify your tasks that despite numerous designations you would be able to accomplish all assignments well and always on time,” Ms. Fausto said during the presentation of the workshop outputs of the participants.

end/nikka garcia