Use Microsoft Dynamics and the 2007 Microsoft Office system together for best results
Integrate business software tools to empower your people and achieve your goals
People often need to work with structured financial or other business management information, as well as unstructured information and files; for example, in writing documents and sending e-mail messages. While they may spend the majority of their time using one program, they occasionally need to switch between several. Traditionally, doing so caused productivity disruption, because different software systems have often presented disparate interfaces and navigation. Microsoft software can help you eliminate that barrier.
Microsoft Dynamics business management solutions and 2007 Microsoft Office system applications not only share similar design concepts, they also offer many points of integration. You can give your people the information and functions they need, from within a unified software environment that helps them be more productive. Integration between Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system helps you realize a prompt return on your technology investment and extend the reach and impact of software tools in your organization.
On This Page
Let people use already existing skills to be more productive
Offer your people business software that reflects their needs and preferences, keeping job satisfaction high and avoiding the distraction of unfamiliar software challenges that can confuse users. Microsoft Dynamics presents a comfortable, familiar user interface that is fully consistent with what people know from the Microsoft Office system programs they use every day. Not only do Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system programs offer the same interface, they also share important screen and navigational components with the Windows Vista operating system. Your workers can interact with their entire software portfolio in similar ways. They can extend existing software skills to become productive with Microsoft Dynamics in very little time, which also means that organization-wide software adoption can happen quickly. Your business will have the potential to register tangible productivity benefits shortly upon implementation of Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: Microsoft Dynamics shares design concepts with the 2007 Office system to help ensure important information and processes are delivered to your users in an easy-to-understand way.
The RoleTailored design of Microsoft Dynamics boosts productivity in many other ways. People can easily customize their screens for the most effective workflow and rapidly get to the information and functions they need the most, based on their tasks. Customized Microsoft Dynamics home pages directly surface the Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 e-mail inbox and calendar. Without leaving the software application where they spend most of their time, workers can access and work with unstructured information and files, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 e-mail messages or Microsoft Office Word 2007 documents, together with structured transaction or process-derived information from Microsoft Dynamics.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: Home pages that are based on an individual person's role also surface Microsoft Outlook inbox and calendar data to help increase productivity.
Work within your preferred software environment
What does interoperability between Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system look like? Traditionally, many information workers perform their jobs either in Microsoft Office system programs or in Microsoft Dynamics business management applications, and need to create documents and reports, or make collaborative decisions, that involve bridging the two areas. For these business roles, Microsoft removes the need to switch between applications or ask for somebody else's help, by bridging the gap between the Microsoft Office system and Microsoft Dynamics experiences.
The use of SmartLists and smart tags has broken down barriers between Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system for years, but now there are more touch points between the two realms than ever before. For example, workers can export Microsoft Dynamics forms and information directly to Microsoft Office Excel 2007, including Office Excel PivotTables, and Office Word 2007. They can also perform standardized, automated exports from Microsoft Dynamics to Office Excel 2007 and Office Word 2007. Or they can use the Microsoft Dynamics Snap applications to bring data from Microsoft Dynamics into Office Excel 2007, Office Outlook 2007, or Office Word 2007. Your employees can, for example, use these applications to search and browse business information, manage worker's time, or run reports in Office Excel 2007, without leaving the Microsoft Office system software environment.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: Example of Budgeting Dashboard created using the Custom Report Generator Snap-In.
Facilitate effective collaboration across boundaries
Microsoft Dynamics integrates with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to enhance effective teamwork and collaboration within the organization and between employees, customers, and business partners, using business portals on the company's intranet. Information from Microsoft Dynamics, such as financial updates and reports, customer account and transaction histories, sales results and projections, or inventory availability updates, can become immediately available to people, no matter where they are or what schedules they work. You can maintain the integrity of business information by connecting it to individuals' business roles, so they can access the information they need without viewing data and documents inappropriately.
Advanced search capabilities within Office SharePoint Server 2007 allow people to find documents and information on company portals with ease and confidence. With Microsoft Dynamics Web services, Microsoft Dynamics is registered within the Business Data Catalog in Office SharePoint Server 2007, making it easy to search at the same time for structured financial or other information within Microsoft Dynamics as well as unstructured information that resides within, say, Office Excel 2007 spreadsheets or Office Word 2007 documents. Your employees can quickly check on a customer's credit history and transaction history, review contract details, or exchange revisions to a product design, all from within one portal, across geographical and organizational boundaries. They also can adjust their views of business information on the portal to display the information that is of the greatest relevance in making decisions and planning the business.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: The Office SharePoint Server 2007 Search engine using Microsoft Dynamics Web Services enables users to search on Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Office data from a single point.
Even beyond effective collaboration and communication among workers, vendors, and customers, integration between Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system can help you make team business processes consistent and efficient. Microsoft Dynamics uses the Windows Workflow Foundation to let you implement streamlined workflows and promote the completion of tasks through notifications in Office Outlook 2007.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: Your people can receive notifications of actions that need attention, and quickly complete tasks using Microsoft Dynamics Approvals and Notification, built on windows Workflow Foundation.
Empower decision-makers and drive business performance
Integration of Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system provides you with many ways to understand your actual business performance in relationship to your objectives, steer the organization in the most profitable direction, and respond quickly to changes in your markets and competitive environment. Use familiar software tools such as Office Excel 2007 to access business information, run reports, and perform data analysis. Microsoft Dynamics offers extensive drill-down capabilities, so you can get to the right information quickly. Microsoft Office Excel Services, which lets people access and share refreshable Office Excel 2007 spreadsheets through an online connection, is supported from within Microsoft Dynamics, using fast, automated exports, taking decision-driving information to those who need it. This ensures that the organization is always looking at real time data. For more challenging reporting requirements, you can leverage the integration of Microsoft Dynamics with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to apply SQL Server Reporting Services to business information, analyze data to get to its meaning, or organize it efficiently to inform smart business decisions.
Supporting corporate performance management through a single software tool, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint 2007 (formerly Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager) integrates with Microsoft Dynamics, the Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to provide valuable, actionable business insight through a richly featured scorecard and dashboard solution, again drawing on both structured and unstructured information. You can use the automatic cube builders in Microsoft Dynamics to create scorecards in Business Scorecard Manager, define key performance indicators (KPIs) that connect business goals to actual results, and empower managers and executives by publishing scorecard findings on secure business portals. You also can publish critical reports and metrics directly to decision-makers through Office Outlook 2007.
Click to view larger image
Screenshot: Organizations can access scorecards to help understand the state of their business by using Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager and Microsoft Dynamics.
Next steps
Let your business requirements and goals determine how exactly you want your organization to benefit from the integration of Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Office system. Assisting with the implementation and supporting specific needs, Microsoft technology partners can help you reap the most value from your technology investment.
