MS Office applications are available in vast majority of organizations and houses, however, their functional potential is not fairly utilized. Connectivity and integration between different Office applications allow development and implementation of various automatic data processes.
For example:
- Building PowerPoint presentations automatically
- Distribution of files to mailing lists in Outlook or other email protocols
- Transactions with Access databases
- Generating files to SharePoint
- Building text reports in Word based on SQL Server databases
- Utilizing Web connectivity
Using those capabilities makes it possible to design simple models that supplement existing information systems and create new opportunities.
Office Tools Collaboration
Every Office application has a usage purpose and unique value proposition. However, when mapping the business processes, we sometimes discover that blending the powerful features among office apps can deliver extended value to users. For example, after data is analyzed in Excel, and charts are ready, there is a need to build PowerPoint presentation. This can be achieved not only manually. Automatic building of presentation is possible through Excel and PowerPoint programming.
Following are additional examples for office applications collaboration power:
- Automatic PowerPoint presentations from Excel
- Send html based email templates through Outlook based on Excel model on click
- Scheduled customized files backup on SharePoint
- Excel and Access data transactions
- Word reports processing through SQL Server
Office Advantages
- Availability of main Office platforms in organizations and householders
- Development flexibility and time to market
- Cost efficient solution
- Main applications (like Excel, Word, Outlook) are well-known
- A lot of time can be saved by automation programming
- Integration to various data systems is possible via export/import of data files
- Many professionals and available knowledge
Professional office modeling and programming allows building agile standalone or collaborative tools to improve business performance.