2007 Microsoft Office system: Customers share productivity stories
By Fawn Fitter
The 2007 Microsoft Office system isn't the same Office anymore. The latest version of Microsoft's desktop productivity suite has expanded beyond the word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software at its heart. It now includes formerly freestanding collaborative tools that make sharing information, improving teamwork, and creating custom applications easier and more efficient. A collaboration platform. This article explores early feedback from customers.
In Summary:
| • | The 2007 release now incorporates the collaboration platform, including Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007, Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007, Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. |
| • | These new tools create a fast, cost-effective foundation for building custom applications. |
| • | Formal training will increase employee buy-in and allow your company to maximize the software sooner. |
Even while the 2007 release was still in beta, 30 to 40 midsize businesses around the world had already deployed the collaboration platform with the help of Microsoft's Rapid Deployment Team. Below, two of these pioneering companies share their experiences.
The Menninger Clinic: More time with patients, more accurate medical records
The Menninger Clinic, a 159-bed psychiatric hospital in Houston, is using the 2007 Office release to power a much-needed upgrade of its patient information solution, according to the clinic's information technology (IT) director, Terry Janis. The Menninger Clinical Information System (MCIS) gathers information on patients from the point of admission through discharge and follow-up.
Currently, Menninger's clinical staff must enter data into the system multiple times — in five Microsoft Office Access databases as well as one custom application driven by a Microsoft SQL Server database. However, the hospital has begun using Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Office InfoPath 2007 to aggregate all of its databases and create browser-based forms for data entry. Office InfoPath 2007 creates dynamic forms that streamline processes and improve information gathering, while Office SharePoint Server 2007 makes the results easier to share through a portal integrated with the desktop applications and tools of the 2007 Office system. A true collaboration platform.
The improved version of MCIS, with more than 24 new features, has been in development since the start of 2006 and was scheduled for deployment in late November 2006. When it launched, the clinic's 240 employees would use the familiar Microsoft Office system interface to access patient information in a single central database, Janis says. By eliminating redundant data entry, MCIS will give clinical staff more time to spend on direct patient care and less on clerical work — which in turn should reduce errors and improve both the quality and safety of care.
"Obviously, people are not going to get this kind of application out of the box with Office 2007," Janis notes. "The point is that it helps the front end access a lot of other technology, which was not possible with the previous version."
In addition, the development costs have been just half that of the previous version of MCIS, says Bill Breslin, director of sales and marketing for Microsoft Gold Partner Insource Technology of Houston, the clinic's technology partner.
The Menninger Clinic will deploy the other desktop applications in the 2007 release once it completes the development of MCIS, Janis says. "It's a big jump from Office 2003."
Municipality of Deventer: Better public services
When residents of the Municipality of Deventer, Netherlands, which includes the city of Deventer and four surrounding villages, need to pay fees, apply for permits, or conduct other business with the local government, they fill out forms that officials then process manually. That will all change next year with the completion of Deventer's redesigned Web site, which will support about 100 different transactions.
The site combines the Office InfoPath 2007 and Forms Server functionality in the 2007 release with Meridio records management for Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, says Gert Koerselman, Deventer's head of information and document management. It will also include a workflow application.
Koerselman says the municipality, which has 96,000 residents, chose to participate in the Early Adopter Program for the 2007 Office system to take advantage of the software's reduced implementation time, minimal maintenance demands, and limited training requirements. In fact, he says, "For the software support and form development, we required less than a day of training."
In July 2006, Deventer introduced the first phase of its Web site upgrade with a dozen forms created and formatted in Office InfoPath 2007. Residents now receive feedback as they fill out forms, with incomplete or incorrectly completed forms bounced back for more information. As a result, Koerselman says, officials receive far fewer incomplete or incorrect forms, allowing them to respond to requests faster.
"Based on our experiences, we advise other companies to start as soon as possible with their [2007 Microsoft Office system] project," Koerselman says. "It takes more time to analyze and describe the processes and forms than it takes to implement the server and software environment."
The new tools and features built into the 2007 release go far beyond the Office desktop applications midsize companies have long used to create and share information. By making collaboration easier than ever through sophisticated applications that generate forms, build Web sites, organize data, and streamline business processes, all within the familiar Microsoft Office environment, the 2007 Office system helps midsize businesses innovate as if they were much larger companies.
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Implementation tips for IT managers Ready to upgrade to the next generation of Microsoft Office? Consider these suggestions from Bill Breslin, director of sales and marketing for Insource Technology. | • | Although the 2007 Office release works best as a complete suite of products, it is possible to upgrade or install the previously freestanding server-side tools, such as Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Office InfoPath 2007, while continuing to use older versions of desktop Office applications — a benefit for the especially cautious company. | | • | Pave the way for deployment by asking one or two key IT employees to use the 2007 release and document their experiences. It will help demonstrate the integration capabilities of the 2007 Office system and allow your company to predict training needs. | | • | Breslin recommends formal user training classes — developed by Microsoft, your technology partner, or in-house — to help employees make the most of the 2007 release's bundled collaborative tools. |
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Fawn Fitter is a freelance writer in San Francisco, specializing in business and technology. She has written for publications including Fortune Small Business, Knowledge Management, and Computerworld.
