A review of new software products that can make a big difference to your business Should you upgrade to Office 2003?* By Michael Burns *This is an expanded version of a column that appeared in the January-February 2004 print edition of CAmagazine. A few months ago Microsoft launched the Microsoft Office System, which includes Word 2003, Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, PowerPoint 2003, Access 2003 and Publisher 2003. Some people don't use all the features in their existing Office suite. So how can Microsoft compel you to upgrade when you already have more features than you can handle? Collaboration Microsoft Office 2003 represents a transition from a suite of personal productivity products to a more comprehensive and integrated system. The former Office was designed primarily for single users, who store their documents on their computers and share them via e-mail. With Microsoft Office System, enterprises can provide teams with the tools needed to work collaboratively by setting up a virtual workspace. A virtual document is stored on a central server and only colleagues specified by you are given access to update it with their input. You could also allow access only to certain portions of the document. Now, you have one document with all participants' input in one place. The system will track versions of the document, send alerts when colleagues have completed their parts, and you could use Instant Messenger to communicate in real time about the document. Microsoft Office System allows the same collaboration for setting up meetings. You could set up a meeting using your calendar and invite colleagues to participate. You could add agendas, reading material, action items - what you need to have a meeting no matter where the participants are located. Collaboration is also possible with other systems using XML (eXtensible Markup Language). You can share your data with other systems that support XML - a great technology based on standards that need to be defined. Most of the leading software vendors are now working together to define these standards and it may be years before XML will help in the integration of other systems. Information overload Who would have guessed a few years ago that we would receive so many e-mails every day? Many of these are unwanted. And it's a big job to track all the others. Microsoft Office System offers some spam protection and makes it a lot easier to manage your inbox. The look and feel of Outlook have changed a lot. You will now see three columns – folders, rows of e-mail showing header information, and a panel showing the document that you can scan quickly. How often have you been too busy to respond to an urgent e-mail, then lost it in the pile? Now there are coloured flags that you can use to identify the urgency of your e-mail. How much time do you spend looking for e-mail? Now you can use search folders that will automatically link your e-mail to criteria such as mail from and to specific people and keywords found anywhere in your e-mail messages. You no longer need to manage folders manually – Microsoft will do it for you automatically. Security With a couple of clicks, an employee can send confidential information to a competitor, or embarrassing information to a client. Microsoft Office System includes Information Rights Management, a technology that controls whether an e-mail can be printed, forwarded, copied, etc. Although you can't stop malicious employees, you can make it more difficult for them and eliminate accidental sharing of confidential information. InfoPath 2003 How often have you filled in a paper form – be it a job application, expense report or control checklist? Completing these forms manually is inefficient and error prone. InfoPath 2003 will allow you to design forms that are integrated with back-end systems (such as accounting and human resources) to validate and speed up data entry using defaults. InfoPath is a solution looking for a problem, and developers everywhere will start using this tool to automate business processes. Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager If you're a small business with fewer than 25 employees, you will benefit from this system, which tracks business contacts and manages sales opportunities. Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager will appeal to companies without a Contact Management system like ACT or Maximizer. OneNote 2003 OneNote is a new concept that one day may significantly reduce the need for paper. You will be able to take notes on a tablet PC while listening to a lecture or discussing issues with a customer. But now you will have a permanent record and won't need to type the information or get angry when you lose it. You could enter your notes anywhere on the screen and start typing. You could record audio notes that are synchronized with your written notes to make sure you don't miss something important. You could handwrite your notes or draw diagrams and pictures using a Tablet PC or a pen input device on your laptop or desktop computer. You could put pictures, text, and other information from a Website directly into OneNote using the drag-and-drop operation. OneNote automatically includes the Web address for you so that you can reference the information later. Bottom line Microsoft has a number of editions of Microsoft Office System, ranging from a basic, inexpensive student/teacher edition to more expensive professional editions with just about everything you could want. Microsoft has done minor tweaking that you might overlook in Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2003, but the benefits extend through XML and document sharing. Microsoft Office System represents a significant improvement in terms of collaboration and controlling information overload. The new products InfoPath and OneNote 2003 will probably become as indispensable as the other Office products. To use all the features of Microsoft Office System, you will also need Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has found a way to compel you to update your Office suite and your operating system – all at the same time. Michael Burns, MBA, CA, is President of 180 Systems (http://www.180systems.com), which provides independent consulting advice in the selection and implementation of business systems. Michael can be reached at 416-963-1296 or by email at mburns@180systems.com