Over the years, Microsoft Office has evolved from a suite of personal productivity applications to a system of highly integrated tools.  Traditionally, law firms have taken a modular approach to the suite’s configuration, implementing each application to perform a specific purpose – Outlook for e-mail, Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations and Access for databases.

A Whole New Direction
Office 2003 uses a complex underlying set of tools tightly integrated with workstation and network operating systems.  The suite’s complexities are further compounded by integrated applications (document management systems for individuals, practice groups and the enterprise).  Thus, Office should be examined as a whole and configured as a complete solution.

Before beginning an Office design, prepare your staff, management and user community for success by asking these seven questions:

1.  What tools are available for deployment? 

Microsoft offers a resource kit that includes the Office Customization (OCW) Wizard.  This should be used to implement the firm’s office build, which should contain the Office settings used by the entire firm and serve as the foundation for installing integrated applications.  After integrated applications are implemented, supplemental customizations should be made via the Custom Maintenance Wizard (CMW).  (Be aware that there are several bugs and many limitations, particularly within Outlook, that will need to be addressed.)

 

2.  Who will be configuring the complete solution? 

Blueprinting an Office configuration is often done as a collaborative effort.  But how the application looks and functions is not representative of the effort required to produce the installation.  An Office Subject Matter Expert (SME) should be identified.  An SME will know the in’s and out’s of the resource kit, the OCW, the CMW, the registry as it relates to Office, roaming profiles, messaging profiles and most importantly, undocumented solutions that can be implemented.

 

3.  Will multiple configurations be required for users or groups who require different functionality? 

The firm’s mobile community often has unique requirements, and a modified configuration is deployed to those users.  The customizations made to the configuration usually include the ability to work on documents offline.  Accommodating offline functionality often requires scripting modifications to the *.PRF created on the workstation when the standard configuration was installed.  (Note: *.PRF file is used by Outlook when launched initially to create the user’s mail profile.)

 

4.  Does the firm use or plan to implement roaming profiles? 

 

Roaming profiles allow certain settings and files that follow a user to different workstations.  Office has specific requirements for this to function correctly.  Non-roaming configurations installed in environments with roaming profiles can cause functionality issues. 

 

5.  Does the firm plan to use policies to control user settings? 

 

Firms need to determine what settings users can change.  Microsoft provides policy templates for each application in Office for any customization.

 

6.  Does the firm plan to install Multilingual User Interfaces (MUI)? 

 

Each MUI, often called Language Pack, has its own set of customizations that need to be made.  Firms should work with users to determine functionality requirements.

 

7.  Is the infrastructure in place to support the goals of the implementation or will system implementations and upgrades be required? 

 

The firm’s underlying infrastructure must support the application suite and its configuration.  Key elements such as Active Directory should be in place to take full advantage of MS Office offerings.

Not Just an Install
Blueprinting Office and implementing a well-configured and reliable environment is no small feat.  A thoughtful implementation of Office requires more than “just” installing it – it entails developing an integrated Suite considerate of the impact of integrated applications, workstation operating systems, network infrastructure and user community requirements.

About our author …

Delane Heldt is a consultant with Baker Robbins & Company Chicago office.  She is an expert in the design and implementation of Microsoft Office in a legal environment.  Delane can be reached at dheldt@brco.com.