The document provides instructions for searching the FAME database to find small companies in London that operate in the hotels and restaurants industry. It describes how to use the Expert Search tool on FAME to filter search results by number of employees, geographic location, number of directors, and industry sector. This allows the user to start with thousands of results and gradually refine the search down to tens of relevant companies. It then shows how to view company details, export a standard company report into Excel, and open the exported file.

1. Searching FAME: An Expert Search

2. Open your browser and type in the Learning Resources web address into the location bar …….. www.lr.mdx.ac.uk Select Electronic Resources

3. Make sure that you have set your institutional cookie Scroll down to the bottom of the Electronic Resources page and click on to the link Once you’ve clicked on to the link, a pop-up window will appear and then close automatically – you only need to do this once

4. Log into Athens Athens is an authenticating system that allows students to access Middlesex University databases outside of the university Click on to the Athens link Log in using your IT user ID and your network password and once you have accepted the terms and conditions, you will be presented with a list of databases

5. Searching FAME Scroll down and choose FAME from the list of databases

6. About FAME FAME is a database that contains information about companies in the UK and Ireland They provide extensive support from their user guide

7. FAME – Expert Search Begin by clicking on Expert Search While Expert Search sounds complicated, it actually provides more search criteria with which to search or exclude irrelevant companies

8. Scenario Imagine that you want to search for a small company Click on to No of Employees on the left hand panel Set the number of employees to between 1 and 30

9. Refine the search Reduce the number of small companies by setting a geographical location Click on Geographical Location, search by County and then choose London Click on > so that it appears in the right hand panel

10. You could select several counties

11. Too many hits?.................... You many need to select further criteria

12. Selecting further criteria Reduce the number of companies further by specifying the number of directors Click on Directors/Contacts and then No of Directors. Choose between 1 and 3 directors

13. Look at the results You may need to include further criteria to reduce your results

14. Specifying the Activity or Industry of your company Click on Major Sectors Choose Hotels and Restaurants, for example Click on > so that it appears in the right hand panel

15. Look at the results again Refining your results has meant a reduction from thousands to tens

16. Viewing your results In order to view the list of companies, click on the List tab making sure that the default, General format, is selected, click on ok

17. Choose a company with fewer than 10 employees Click twice on the heading of the final column in order to sort from 1 onwards

18. Odessa Trading Company Ltd

19. The Standard Report Double click on the company name and make sure that the Standard Report option on the left hand panel is clicked

20. The Standard Report

21. The Executive Report The Executive Report gives a more graphic view of company performance

22. Drawing out company Ratios From the Report Sections on the left hand panel, choose Ratios

23. Looking at the Ratios for OdessaTrading Company Ltd

24. Exporting the Standard Company Report into Excel Select the Export option at the top right hand side of the screen

25. Exporting the Standard Company Report into Excel Make sure that you choose a name for your report and that you have selected Excel

26. Exporting….. A pop-up window will appear

27. Opening the report Double click on the link to open the report in Excel

28. The End…..