OfficeTalk is supplied with several Electronic Forms templates for tight integration with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook. One such template is a Task Assignment Form. If you send a task assignment to a Microsoft Exchange/Outlook user who does not have the MS Exchange Server service installed then the assignment message will arrive in the same format as it would to any e-mail recipient, as explained above. If the Microsoft Exchange/Outlook user does have the MS Exchange Server service installed, then the OTTask form may be installed onto their machine. This may be found in the shared server directory in the Forms sub directory, provided that the Microsoft Exchange Connectivity component was installed during OfficeTalk Setup. Once this form has been installed then any task assignments sent to the Microsoft Exchange/Outlook user will appear in their Incoming Mail folder as a Task Assignment form.
Double clicking on the new mail will display the following form:
The Exchange/Outlook user may use the form to update the originator with his/her progress. Instead of replying to the mail message, the Exchange/Outlook user simply types in the percentage completion value for the task into the Percentage Complete field and presses the Submit button.
The completion information is sent back to the originator of the task assignment as a mail message. On receiving the mail message, OfficeTalk will recognise the instruction and will automatically update the completion status of the task.
For information on how to install the Task Assignment form into Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook, see Installing Forms into Microsoft Exchange/Outlook .