Microsoft Outlook:
Making the most out of what we've got

Sometimes we get so caught up in our day-to-day work responsibilities that we don't notice tools we have at our disposal that could make our workload infinitely easier. One that comes immediately to mind is Microsoft Outlook, a readily available program that comes pre-loaded on virtually every new desktop computer. This "out-of-the-box" management tool, which requires some customization, training and discipline, is designed to help individuals and small businesses become more effective in their customer relations activities.

Outlook consists of six main components -- Contacts, Tasks, Calendar, Journal, Notes and E-mail -- which, when used together, can provide a good method of scheduling, follow-up, task management and record management. Using the components interactively is one of Outlook's major assets.

Contacts. This is an electronic address book that does much more than list names and addresses. The module allows you to group contacts by company names or by category. When calling up the program, the general page in the background looks like any address book. However, the detail page in the foreground allows you to enter as much information as you like. There's even an open text field where you can record details of past meetings or make personal comments.

Complete address fields, including zip code are important for drafting letters to be sent by regular mail. E-mail addresses can be used to send messages to a group of people with a few clicks while providing an electronic record of the correspondence. Faxes can also be sent from the desktop when Outlook is used in a network configuration.

Tasks. This function allows users to assign tasks to a specific contact, set priorities and due dates, issue reminders and monitor task status. By breaking this function down into categories, users can keep tabs on the progress of individual activities. One of the highlights is that Tasks can be assigned to Contacts. Outlook automatically generates an e-mail message containing an "Accept" button. When the receiver accepts the task, Outlook enters this into the receiver's "to do" list.

Calendar. This is a very valuable part of the program, especially for managers who are less than well organized. The Calendar can be displayed by day, week or month and users can customize the work week to accommodate holidays and other scheduling necessities, including appointments with others on the network or within the work group.

Journal. The Journal function works best if users have paid attention to detail early on with the Contacts, Tasks and Calendar functions. When the software tools have been used carefully, the Journal will log items that have been completed and link them to the appropriate Contact. There are approximately twenty types of Journal entries with the option of adding new types as needed. The Journal Options dialogue box can even be set up to automatically record certain types of activities for all contacts. This allows users to view their activity history by day, week or month, and to view the activity related to a single contact over time.

Notes. This function is just what it suggests: Random thoughts about general or specific activities, with the added convenience of time and date stamps, the ability to append them or to drag them into a task list or journal entry if these thoughts are important enough.

In addition to these specific features, Outlook can be personalized for each user. Customized print styles to fit a variety of needs including major styles of organizers, user profiles for computers with more than one user and personal and public folders to manage a variety of information are just a few of the special features that make Outlook so versatile with a relatively short learning curve.

While this overview briefly touches on many of Outlook's capabilities, there are some limits. Outlook is not a relational database when the application contains two or more types of entities (students and classes, customers and orders.) It isn't designed to handle large quantities of data and it does not handle permissions and security at the control level. These omissions, of course, can all be met by installing ancillary programs that are also relatively easy to master.

Outlook is one of the best-kept secrets in today's information technology world. The program, with all that it offers, is already installed in almost every desktop computer. If you've got it, why not use it?

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