Office 2007: Making NHS IT managers' lives easier

You might have heard that Microsoft Office 2007 is out. But how is it different to previous versions, and why should the NHS and its IT managers be interested?

Microsoft Office 2007 is the latest version of the Microsoft Office suite, which remains the world’s most popular office productivity software.

The new suite contains many familiar applications, such as Word for creating documents, Excel for working with spreadsheets, Outlook for email, and PowerPoint for presentations. In all, there are 16 applications - including Microsoft Office Groove 2007, a peer-to-peer collaboration solution.

However, Office 2007 is not simply an upgrade; it is a completely new version in its own right and one that allows you keep using many of the features from, for example, Office 2003 while users get used to the new features.

Office 2007 in Rotherham PCT

Rotherham Primary Care Trust has been rolling out Office 2007. Its technical, network and security manager, Derek Stowe, likes the new suite because “it seems much more stable and user friendly than the previous versions” - and this makes life easier for his IT team.

"One of the key features of Office 2007 is the Ribbon, which gives users access to most of its functions and helps them get to grips with Office much more quickly once they’ve got the hang of it."

The beautiful Ribbon

One of the key features of Office 2007 is the Ribbon, which gives users access to most of its functions. This looks very different from the drop down menus that used to run across the top of the screen, but helps users get to grips with Office much more quickly once they’ve got the hang of it.

“The adoption of the Ribbon is a very useful feature and it tends to make life especially easier for beginners,” says Mr Stowe.

From an IT manager’s perspective it is simpler to talk someone through the Ribbon system than having to go through loads of menus. It’s so easy to learn that the new system reduces the levels of training required.

Easy to deploy

This helps to make Office 2007 easy to deploy. Once users are comfortable with the Ribbon and its “niceties”, Rotherham PCT’s IT department sends them a “disk or access to a shared area where they can download the suite.” In the future, the PCT plans to roll it out via Systems Management Server (SMS).
A faster, better search engine

Mr Stowe also commends the new search engine. He is impressed by how quickly it finds things, and says this should also reduce pressure on the service desk, since staff will need to make fewer calls about being unable to find documents on their computers.

"By default, the new search engine searches everything, including the Outlook calendar’s overlay function. Rotherham PCT has incorporated this feature into its room booking system." By default, the new search engine searches everything, including the Outlook calendar’s overlay function. Rotherham PCT has incorporated this feature into its room booking system. “By using it in that way, we cannot only see when particular colleagues are free, but also when rooms are free for meetings that we wish to hold.”
Other nice features

Office 2007 also allows users to open calendars, contacts and email in separate windows, and makes it easier for users to share documents created in different applications. The new filing system opens with a quick download.


And Office 2007 integrates better with Exchange 2007, too. As a result, Rotherham PCT is planning to upgrade from Exchange 2003 to see what the benefits are.
"Office 2007 makes it easier for users to produce documents and share information across a team or even organisations."

Instilling greater collaboration

Office 2007 also fits well with the national emphasis on getting NHS organisations and the administrative and clinical teams within them to collaborate and share knowledge more effectively and efficiently.

“Office 2007 makes it easier for users to produce documents and share information across a team or even organisations,” says Mr Hall. “At the moment, someone may create a document and then email it around for comment. Many people could be working on it, making it hard to keep track of changes.

“Co-ordinated knowledge management is the buzz phrase for avoiding this kind of problem, and there are several tools to promote it in Office 2007.”

If the new Office suite is integrated with Microsoft SharePoint, for example, IT managers can provide access, allocate server space, and design permissions structures for file storage spaces from a simple browser dashboard. This encourages collaborative working and improves workflows.

“People will really get value out of Office 2007 when they think of it as an integrated system, including seamless connection with SharePoint and non-Microsoft products too,” says Microsoft’s UK product manager for Microsoft Office, Darren Strange.
Better business planning

The integration of Office 2007 with other server-based products presents a business advantage to IT managers. Mr Stowe says that organisations can plan ahead for desktop and back-end upgrades in the knowledge that “integration is not going to be compromised, and that includes legacy systems.”

IT managers can therefore make financial assessments well in advance of each implementation to work out the business benefits - avoiding any nasty surprises.

Related Links

* As an NHS employee, you can benefit from Home User Programme the and get a free copy of Office 2007 for your home. There is a small charge for postage and packaging.