Things to Know Before Deploying MS Office
by Ed Duncan, Consultant, SBSC, MCSE, MCSA
An issue I often see in many companies is the lack of standardization among desktop applications. It is not uncommon for a business to have employees running different versions of applications like MS Office. While many businesses may not see an impact to productivity, non-standardization can lead to problems with document compatibility, collaboration, and file sharing. Even keeping track of software licenses can become a challenge.
Let's do some role-playing for a second, and say you happen to be the decision maker in the company when it comes to software applications. Most of your employees use Office 2003, a few have Office XP, and another few have Office 2007 that came pre-installed on new purchased computers. You see the need for better efficiency and decide to upgrade all workstations to Office 2010 Professional when it's released later this year. This is a good project, so let's review some key things to be aware of before jumping into a deployment that can save the business money in the long run, and prevent some transition headaches when dealing with a migration.
1. Know exactly which Office suite your business requires.
When Office 2007 was released, Microsoft released a slew of various editions to choose from, which included: Basic, Home & Student, Standard, Small Business, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. There are 11 applications that make up the entire Office 2007 suite (not counting MS Project and MS Visio). Microsoft realized that not everyone will need all 11 applications, so they made the various editions with selected applications available (with Ultimate having all applications included). How Microsoft decided which applications to include in each edition is not exactly clear. OneNote for example, their popular notes organizer, is only available in the Home & Student and Ultimate editions. Users of other editions have to purchase it separately. I believe Microsoft underestimated how popular the application would become because it's included in all the 2010 editions. You can see how not choosing the right suite up front could end up costing you more if you over select or under pick the number of applications you need to use.
Office 2010 will make that decision process for businesses a little easier by offering fewer editions. As of this writing, Office 2010 will come in 5 editions: Home & Student, Home & Business, Standard, Professional, and Professional Plus. A small business requiring only the basics like Word, Excel, and Outlook, can get by with the Home & Business edition. A business requiring more features like Access and Publisher, will need the Professional edition. If however you only have one or two employees that need to use Publisher, then it makes more fiscal sense to purchase the Home & Business edition, and purchase 2 separate licenses of Publisher.
2. Factor in training costs
Don't assume your employees will be able to quickly get up to speed with Office 2010 if they are currently using Office 2003, or Office 2007 for that matter. There are changes to the graphical user interface and new features that your employees may have difficulties grasping at first if they are not Office savvy. (We'll spotlight some of the new features of Office 2010 in a future newsletter). It may cost your business some time in loss productivity if you rely on employees who are not Office savvy to figure things out for themselves. Investing in an online tutorial program, putting together a simple cheat sheet on how to do common tasks, setting up a demo Office 2010 pc, or hiring a trainer to give a one day class before deployment can help minimize the ramping up time some employees require whenever a new application is introduced.
3. Understand your MS licensing options
Purchasing your software from a brick and mortar shop or online retailer is quick and easy, but you could be missing out on some big savings by not utilizing a VAR (value added reseller). VARs can explain the different MS volume licensing programs available to your organization, and help select one best suited for your business. They can also help you take advantage of Software Assurance program benefits, and help you save money in upgrade licenses should Microsoft release Office 2013 while you are still covered under the existing contract. Some Software Assurance benefits also provide free training and support, Home Use rights, if you want to install Office on home computers, and Employee Purchasing Programs that give your employees discounted prices on Microsoft products. Speak to a VAR for more details on these programs. VARs also have information on Microsoft promotions and special pricing that retailers don't offer.
4. Make sure other applications will not be affected by the upgrade
Some applications rely on components from Office to function. Quickbooks for example uses the Word engine to generate and print envelopes. If you use applications that rely on Office components, or have special customized applications that were developed using Office apps like Access, you should check with the application developer beforehand to make sure those applications will work after deployment. Some Access databases and Word and Excel macros may require conversion before they will work after deployment. If you are not sure if your applications will be affected or not, a good idea would be to set up a test computer that has all applications that you currently use. Try a test migration to Office 2010 and see if any applications are affected afterwards. Make a note of which ones that are and contact the manufacturer or software developer to find out their support plans for Office 2010 going forward.