250,000 Email Business Directory/250,000 Email Business Directory.iso/msie/cd/win95/webpages/mspage/ms_offic/solwp~1.doc

Word Document | 1996-05-21 | 91KB | 668 lines

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Microsoft® Office
White Paper
                                                             for Windows® 95
Solutions

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Table Of Contents

The Chart House                                      2
Applications Software Automates Routine Tasks        3
Microsoft Office for Windows 95 Lets You Get Work Done Faster
  3
Custom Solutions                                     6
The Microsoft Office Solutions Platform              6
Microsoft BackOffice                                 8
Microsoft Solutions Provide a Competitive Advantage
10
For More Information                               12

The Chart House

In the fall of 1993, the Chart House Enterprises, with over 60 upscale
restaurants throughout the United States, implemented a customer service
program - the Aloha Frequent Diner program - in an effort to increase
customer dining frequency. The program was modeled after frequent flier
programs made popular by commercial airlines. Aloha program participants
accrue points whenever they dine at a Chart House restaurant, with
additional points available for customers who dine at Chart House
restaurants in different locations. Accumulated points can be used for free
meals and other benefits, with the highest point level providing an around-
the-world airline ticket.

Initially, the program was a tremendous success, with tens of thousands of
customers signing up every month. The outside firm that the Chart House had
contracted to administer the program had implemented a paper-based system
for logging and tracking customer records. Within weeks of the launch of
the Aloha program, it became evident that the paper-based administrative
system was not keeping pace with customer demand. Chart House customer
service representatives were receiving phone calls from Aloha program
participants inquiring about their membership and point status - it was
taking days to retrieve such information and get back to customers with it.
Additionally, the Chart House found it had no access to information on
customers enrolled in the program, or any numerical data by which to judge
the programΓÇÖs success. By March of 1994, over 100,000 customers had
enrolled in the Aloha program, but the administrative system had fallen so
far behind that customers who had joined the program in December were not
yet showing up on membership lists.

The Chart House knew that the frequent-diner concept was gaining acceptance
by customers. However, the paper-based system employed to administer the
Aloha program was putting the programΓÇÖs success at risk. It was in March
that the Chart House sought out the services of WinResources, a Microsoft
Solution Provider partner based in Southern California that specializes in
client-server systems. The Chart House needed to replace their outside
administrative system as quickly as possible to keep the Aloha program from
failing. WinResources presented Chart House with a new system design based
on Microsoft Office and Microsoft BackOffice( - the proposed system would
automate Aloha program administration, while bringing the administration in-
house. The Chart House contracted with WinResources to build the entire
system in three months.

On July 5, the Chart House rolled out the new system developed by
WinResources, and immediately began realizing tremendous benefits in
administering the Aloha program. The new system was made up of a server
component and four client components. The heart of the server component was
the Microsoft SQL Server( relational database management system running
under Windows NT( Server on a Compaq( Pro Linea computer. The SQL Server
database was used as the primary storage device for all Aloha customer
records. The four client components included a Microsoft Visual Basic(
application for entering and retrieving customer records, an application
created with Microsoft Access for generating customer reports, a Microsoft
Excel application for analyzing the profitability of the program, and a
combined Microsoft Word and Microsoft Mail application for generating
customer letters. All four client components connected directly to the SQL
Server database running under the Windows NT operating system, providing
instant access to customer data.

The new system developed by WinResources allowed the Chart House to realize
immediate improvements in customer service. Information on customer
membership status that once took days to retrieve was now available within
seconds. Chart House customer services representatives could use the new
Visual Basic client application to actually retrieve customer account
information while the customer was on the phone. Additionally, the new
system allowed Chart House executives to use Microsoft Access and Microsoft
Excel to analyze customer demographics and program profitability, enabling
them to make better decisions in managing the Aloha program. And, perhaps
of primary importance, the new system provided the Chart House with a tool
that allowed them to quickly and effectively communicate with their
customers.


WinResources was able to develop the new Aloha system for the Chart House
in a three month period, with only three developers working on the project.
What technologies enabled WinResources to develop the Chart House client-
server system so quickly? Why did WinResources choose Microsoft Office and
BackOffice as the platform for the system? Are there ways in which such
systems can benefit your organization? These and many more questions will
be answered in the pages that follow, as we take a look at the technologies
provided in Microsoft Office and BackOffice that allow rapid development of
powerful client-server solutions.


Applications Software Automates Routine Tasks

With the advent of new personal computing technologies over the past
fifteen years, companies have realized substantial gains in efficiency in
running their day-to-day operations. Such gains have resulted for the most
part from installation of standalone and networked personal computers
running general business applications software such as spreadsheets, word
processors, desktop databases and presentation graphics software. Out of
the box, these applications have provided tools to help people finish work
in less time, while attaining a higher level of quality in the work they
do.

While personal computers gained market acceptance by providing businesses
with efficiency gains over the mechanical devices they replaced, Microsoft
Office has gained market acceptance for the same reason - by providing
businesses with efficiency gains. Five years ago, no companies were using
Microsoft Office - yet, today, most companies are using Microsoft Office.
Companies have chosen Office for the primary reason that Office
applications allow them to get more done with less effort and at a lower
cost. In the mid-1980s, Lotus( 1-2-3(, WordPerfect( and dBase( were leaders
in the personal computer software market - all provided tools that allowed
companies to realize tremendous efficiency gains. Yet, over the past ten
years, fierce competition has led to numerous software innovations and has
resulted in a much different competitive landscape. Today, Microsoft Office
is a clear leader in business applications software - more companies run
their business on Office than any other desktop applications suite.


Microsoft Office for Windows 95 Lets You Get Work Done Faster

How does Microsoft Office for Windows 95 allow companies to realize
efficiency gains in their day-to-day business? To begin with, Office takes
full advantage of Windows 95, a modern 32-bit operating system that gets
the most out of todayΓÇÖs personal computer while breaking new ground in
terms of ease of use. Office provides powerful tools in the areas of
document creation/management, data analysis, database access, presentation
graphics, and personal information management - tools that can be used to
complete general business tasks in less time. In addition, Office for
Windows 95 offers better integration among Office and Office-compatible
applications; second-generation IntelliSense( technology to help make
complex tasks easy and simple tasks automatic; and enhanced networking and
workgroup support, to help users communicate better in an increasingly
connected world. LetΓÇÖs take a brief look at the products in Microsoft
Office.



Microsoft Office Shared Features

One aspect of Microsoft Office that has set it apart from its competitors
is the high degree of integration among the various Office applications,
and this is now truer than ever. Menus and toolbars have a consistent look
and feel across all Office for Windows 95 applications, as do dialogs for
common operations such as creating, opening, and printing files. The Office
File Open dialog supports indexed searches, and searches based on document
statistics or user-defined properties. The Office Binder allows related
data and documents from several different applications to be gathered
together into a single convenient container. AutoCorrect, now available in
all Office applications, corrects spelling errors as you make them -
incorrectly enter ΓÇ£tehΓÇ¥ and AutoCorrect will correct your error to ΓÇ£theΓÇ¥
before you can type the next word. The Answer Wizard searches for and
displays help topics in response to a query typed in natural language. And
the Office File New and File Open dialogs have been redesigned to
acknowledge the fact that users think of their work in terms of the type of
documents they create, rather than in terms of the application that was
used to create that document.


Microsoft Word

As the worldΓÇÖs best-selling word processing software program, Microsoft
Word allows you to do much more than create and print documents. Among
WordΓÇÖs numerous powerful features are its Spell-It and AutoFormat
utilities. Spell-It spell checks your document as you type, making it
easier to correct errors as you go, and making spell-checking faster if you
prefer to do it only when the document is complete. AutoFormat takes
unformatted text and applies a complex heuristic of over 600 formatting
rules to create a professionally formatted document as you type. Other
features include WordMail, which allows Word to be used as the Microsoft
Exchange electronic mail editor, bringing rich-text formatting and the
power of a full-featured word processor to the task of creating electronic
mail messages. Word Internet Assistant and Word Viewer make it easy to
create, share, and explore information on the Internet. WordΓÇÖs Tables, Mail
Merge, Bookmarks, Revision Marking and numerous other features make
Microsoft Word a powerful tool for creating and managing documents.


Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is the worldΓÇÖs leading spreadsheet, as well as one of the
most powerful data analysis software programs available on the market.
Among the many powerful data analysis features of Microsoft Excel, the
PivotTable( is perhaps the most powerful. PivotTables allow you to analyze
numerical data from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or external databases in
various different dynamic views - giving you greater insight and
understanding of large data sets. In Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, the
recalc engine has been re-engineered to provide performance improvements of
up to 50 percent in some areas. Microsoft Excel also provides a powerful
charting engine with over 90 different chart types, and a Data Map add-in
that can display complex data geographically. Microsoft Excel has numerous
other data analysis features, including a robust spreadsheet engine with
hundreds of built-in business and financial functions, data consolidation
tools, scenario management, list sorting and filtering, advanced
statistical functions and multi-variant problem-solving. The power and
flexibility of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, the tight integration of
Microsoft Excel with Microsoft Access, and the enhanced workgroup features
of Microsoft Excel for Windows( 95 give you the tools to convert data into
useful information, helping you to make better decisions in running your
business.



Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access is a powerful relational database management system that
meets the needs of a wide spectrum of users - from novice users to
application developers. For new users, Microsoft Access provides wizards
for creating tables, queries, forms and reports - itΓÇÖs easy to build a
simple database for tracking customers or entering orders. Wizards are also
available for working with Microsoft Excel data from within Microsoft
Access, and for converting flat-file or spreadsheet data into a Microsoft
Access relational database. More advanced users can take advantage of
validation rules, relationships, linking external tables and the powerful
Data Access Objects in creating robust database applications. Combined with
Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access acts as a powerful front-end tool
for client-server applications. By allowing business people to
interactively locate and report on enterprise data stored on BackOffice
servers, Microsoft Access ultimately helps them make better business
decisions based on up-to-date information.


Microsoft PowerPoint

The Microsoft PowerPoint( presentation graphics program provides tools for
creating powerful and compelling business presentations. With a wide array
of graphics and presentation formatting features, PowerPoint makes it easy
to present your ideas graphically. PowerPoint sports a host of powerful
features. The AutoContent, StyleChecker, and AutoClipArt Wizards automate
the process of building a presentation. Slide transitions and build effects
add interest to your presentations. Write-up transfers an outline of your
slide presentation to Microsoft Word. Meeting Minder and Presentation
Conferencing make PowerPoint more versatile, allowing you to use it in
meetings, informal presentations, or online conferencing. Numerous
multimedia effects are available, including embedded sounds and video
clips. PowerPoint gives you the tools to embellish your ideas - to make
them stand out and have a greater impact on your audience.


Microsoft Schedule+

Microsoft Schedule+ is a powerful time management program that incorporates
task management, group scheduling, and contact management into one easy-to-
use application. A flexible user interface allows users to view
appointments and work with to-do lists in a way that suits their work style
the best. The contact manager stores and organizes important names,
addresses, and contact information. Names and addresses from Schedule+ can
be easily inserted into a Microsoft Word document via the Microsoft Word
InsertAddress toolbar button. The Schedule+ Planner view makes group
scheduling easy: users can display available times for people and resources
such as conference rooms, and use the Meeting Wizard to automatically
select a time when everyone is free.


Microsoft Project

In addition to the Office applications listed above, there is one
additional Microsoft application that, while not part of the Office suite,
adds substantial functionality to Office. Microsoft Project, as one of the
leading project management software packages for the personal computer,
makes it easy for you to manage complex projects, giving you the tools to
develop and manage schedules and delegate tasks to appropriate resources.
Providing Planning Wizards, Gantt and PERT Charts, an advanced reporting
module, and enhanced workgroup support through tight integration with
Microsoft Mail and Schedule+, Microsoft Project is powerful enough to be
used as part of an enterprise solution, but accessible enough to be used by
anyone with a project planning need..

Custom Solutions

While general business applications provide powerful tools for completing
day-to-day business tasks, companies often encounter processes that are
difficult to complete even with the features provided by applications
software. For example, compiling a budget usually involves gathering and
consolidating data from numerous sources into a single spreadsheet. While
the spreadsheet provides advanced tools for analyzing and summarizing data,
the process of consolidating data can actually be quite difficult. Another
example is a simple order entry system. While it is easy for a user to
employ a desktop database to create an order entry tool, the process of
distributing that tool to others, as well as tying it the companyΓÇÖs central
accounting system, may be beyond the means of the average user.
Traditionally, companies have employed the talents of corporate developers
in creating custom applications to handle such processes. And in the past,
developers have looked to high-end development languages such as C or C++
to create custom systems. Past systems based on these high-end programming
languages, while serving well the tasks they were created to address,
tended to be very costly to develop and very difficult to modify and
maintain. In the late 1980s, it was quite common for the development of a
corporate budgeting system to require a staff of C programmers working two
or more years.

However, by the early 1990s, developers began realizing that the rapid pace
of advancements in computing technology would render the products of two-
year development cycles obsolete by the time they were completed. The
introduction of visual programming tools in the early 1990s placed,
perhaps, the greatest pressure on shortening development cycles for custom
business solutions. Tools such as MicrosoftΓÇÖs Visual Basic programming
environment allowed developers to create custom applications in a fraction
of the time required by using C or Pascal. With the shortening of
development cycles and the proliferation of personal computers in
corporations over the past four years, the demand for custom solutions that
automate business processes has increased significantly, forcing corporate
developers to search out new tools that will allow them to create more
powerful solutions in less time.


The Microsoft Office Solutions Platform

While Microsoft Office is considered by many to be a set of powerful
desktop applications, Office is also a very powerful development platform
for creating custom solutions. Three features make Office a compelling
solutions platform: programmable and reusable components; a common
programming language; and built-in support for OLE, including OLE
automation, embedding and linking, visual editing, and drag and drop. All
of these capabilities of Office work together, allowing you to create more
powerful applications in less time.



Powerful Components

At the heart of the Office Solutions Platform is the same functionality
provided by the end-user features in Microsoft Office products - document
creation/management features in Microsoft Word; data analysis features in
Microsoft Excel; database access features in Microsoft Access; presentation
graphics features in PowerPoint; and time- and contact-management features
in Schedule+. Because of the way Microsoft Office applications have been
designed, the key features in each application are available to the
corporate developer as a set of reusable, programmable components, or
ΓÇ£objects.ΓÇ¥ Office components can be controlled and incorporated into a
business solution by using the Visual Basic for Applications® programming
language. For example, by writing a program that defines and uses a
Microsoft Excel ΓÇ£chart object,ΓÇ¥ a corporate developer makes the very
powerful charting functionality of Microsoft Excel an integral part of the
custom application. In the same way, using a Microsoft Access ΓÇ£report
objectΓÇ¥ as part of a business solution provides the custom application with
all of the versatile reporting features of Microsoft Access. Using Office
components allows developers to create custom solutions with less code,
which in turn results in shortened development cycles and the increased
likelihood of meeting the demand for custom solutions from corporate users.
Using Office components has the added benefit of adding stability and
standardization to the business processes where they are used.

Microsoft Office provides one of the richest set of programmable, reusable
components of any development platform available on the market. In total,
Office provides over 300 objects, representing millions of lines of code
written by Microsoft in-house developers. Office components are of the
highest quality, built by some of the worldΓÇÖs best software developers at
Microsoft and subject to some of the software industryΓÇÖs most rigorous
design and testing requirements. By using Office components, corporate
developers can create higher-quality custom solutions that deliver more
power - and Office makes it possible to build such solutions in a lot less
time.


A Common Programming Language

While Office components allow developers to create custom solutions with
less code, some code must still be written for most solutions, although it
is possible to build a solution that contains no code at all. Microsoft
Office provides a common programming language that makes it easy for
developers to write code that controls Office objects. If a developer is
familiar with Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Access, then it
will be very easy for the developer to use Visual Basic for Applications in
Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Project, or the WordBasic language in
Microsoft Word. Office programming languages should be looked upon as the
ΓÇ£glue that ties Office components togetherΓÇ¥ in a custom solution. For
example, if developer is creating a custom solution that involves taking
data out of a Microsoft Excel worksheet object and placing it into a
Microsoft Excel chart object, the developer would write code as a part of
the solution to ΓÇ£glueΓÇ¥ together the worksheet and chart objects. Currently,
Visual Basic for Applications is included in Access, Excel, and Project,
and will be included in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint in future
releases.



OLE Support

Quite often, developers will find the need to pair data from one Office
application with data from another. For example, a developer might
determine that the most efficient way to create a data analysis system is
to come up with a tool that combines a Microsoft Access report object with
a Microsoft Excel chart object. However, the Microsoft Access report object
and the Microsoft Excel chart object exist in different applications -
Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel, respectively. Microsoft Office
supports a technology called OLE (pronounced like the Spanish word olé)
that allows developers to combine objects from different applications into
a single custom solution. The user-interface features of OLE - embedding
and linking, visual editing, and drag and drop - make it easy for an end-
user to work with data from several different sources in a single document
without having to worry about where that data came from. OLE Automation
makes it easy to choose the most appropriate way to present and work with
data; developers can create a single custom solution based on components
from several different sources.


The Office Platform

In summary, the Microsoft Office Solutions Platform has three key features:
a rich set of programmable, reusable components; a common programming
language, Visual Basic for Applications, the glue that ties objects
together; and support for OLE, which allows components from different
applications to be combined into a single custom solution. All three of
these features of the Office Solutions Platform lead to the same result -
providing developers the tools they need to create powerful solutions in
less time. By taking advantage of the development capabilities provided by
Office, companies can automate business processes and create systems that
allow for more effective delivery of information to decision-makers. And
such systems can be easily created using the tools which are already
standard on the desktop - those provided by Microsoft Office.


Microsoft BackOffice

Microsoft BackOffice provides the relational database management,
messaging, systems administration, and mainframe connectivity services that
allow you to extend Office solutions to the entire enterprise. Based on
Microsoft Windows NT Server, BackOffice provides the necessary server tools
for creating powerful multi-user applications that allow the users within
your organization to access information in central corporate databases, as
well as easily share information with each other. Solutions developed with
Microsoft Office and BackOffice streamline processes within your
organization and provide the means for accessing and understanding more
information, allowing decision-makers within your organization to make
better decisions. LetΓÇÖs take a look at the products that make up the
Microsoft BackOffice


Microsoft Windows NT Server

Microsoft Windows NT Server provides a powerful and robust server operating
system for managing your organizationΓÇÖs data and messaging services.
Providing advanced security and network management, Windows NT serves as
the platform for the Microsoft BackOffice. Windows NT provides the power
and security for effectively managing high network traffic, ensuring that
users gain optimal access to information.



Microsoft SQL Server

As MicrosoftΓÇÖs premier server-based relational database management system,
Microsoft SQL Server provides one of the most powerful database systems for
personal computer-based applications. Running under Windows NT, SQL Server
offers a high-performance system capable of handling quick execution of
queries from multiple users in a network environment. MicrosoftΓÇÖs ODBC
(Open Database Connectivity) standard gives developers the pathway to SQL
Server data - because all Microsoft Office products support ODBC, itΓÇÖs easy
to exchange data between Office on the client and SQL Server on Windows NT.
And stored procedures in SQL Server provide a tool for developers to
delegate query processing to the server, greatly increasing the speed of
query execution. Microsoft SQL Server provides one of most effective
relational database management systems available on the market for high-
speed delivery of information to users.


Microsoft Mail and Microsoft Exchange

As one of the marketΓÇÖs leading electronic mail systems, Microsoft Mail
provides an advanced interface for users to share data within your
organization. Taking the fullest advantage of Microsoft Messaging
Applications Programming Interface (MAPI), Microsoft Mail allows Microsoft
Office users to access Mail services directly from within Office
applications. Routing a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or a Word document to
other users within the organization is as easy as selecting a command from
a menu. And MAPI support provides a powerful interface for developers as
well. MAPI lets developers access mail services directly, programmatically
routing documents through the system or even reading messages from the Mail
inbox. Microsoft Mail provides a powerful platform for users to share ideas
and collaborate on getting work done.

Microsoft Exchange, a next-generation client-server messaging system, will
be available from Microsoft after the release of Windows 95. Microsoft
Exchange Server provides advanced electronic mail, scheduling, groupware
applications, and custom application development. Microsoft Exchange Server
includes MAPI drivers that extend the capabilities of the Windows 95
Microsoft Exchange client. For example, when Microsoft Exchange is
connected to an Exchange Server, you can access a replicated ΓÇ£public
folder,ΓÇ¥ create custom forms and shared documents, schedule meetings with
others, manage time and tasks, and create custom electronic forms for use
in business. Of particular interest to developers is the fact that the
messaging functions of Microsoft Exchange can be accessed from within
Office applications via OLE Automation.


Microsoft Systems Management Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server offers a powerful systems
administration tool for hardware and software inventory management, network
administration, and remote distribution and administration of client
software. Updating users within your organization with new software no
longer requires the laborious process of individual machine installations.
Systems Management Server allows you to perform installation and
configurations from Windows NT Server, saving you the time and hassle
required for custom installations and eliminating the burden placed on
users due to software versioning problems within your organization.



Microsoft SNA Server

Microsoft SNA Server provides the gateway for accessing legacy data on IBM(
mainframe and AS/400( computers. SNA Server allows you to preserve your
investment in mainframe applications, giving you the tools to extract data
from mainframe databases and applications to bring down to client machines
via ODBC. SNA complements the BackOffice, allowing you to easily tie new
solutions into existing systems.


Microsoft Solutions Provide a Competitive Advantage

Together, Microsoft Office and Microsoft BackOffice provide a powerful
platform for developing custom solutions that automate processes within
your organization. The rich component libraries, common programming
language, and support for OLE provided by Office for Windows 95 form the
foundation for developing solutions that take advantage of ODBC and MAPI in
accessing the enterprise data management and messaging services of
BackOffice. In short, solutions developed with Office and BackOffice allow
users to access more meaningful information in less time, allowing them to
make better decisions in the day-to-day operations of your organization.
Organizations with systems that provide more effective delivery of
information to decision-makers enjoy a competitive advantage in the
marketplace. The more meaningful information you have at your disposal, the
better decisions youΓÇÖll make, and the better your organization will do in a
competitive environment.

Earlier in this paper, we saw how the Chart House implemented a Microsoft
Solution based on Office and BackOffice to automate the process of
maintaining and retrieving information on customers. Additionally, through
their Microsoft Solution, the Chart House was able to obtain meaningful
information regarding their customers and effectively manage a customer
service program for increasing dining frequency. Many other organizations
have realized benefits from Microsoft Solutions developed with Office and
BackOffice. LetΓÇÖs take a brief look:


Rhone-Poulenc Rorer

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (RPR), a major pharmaceutical firm, contracted Adaptive
Strategies, a Microsoft Solution Provider partner, to implement a Microsoft
Solution developed with Office and BackOffice to automate the dissemination
of product and marketing information to the RPR sales force. With a server
component employing Windows NT, SQL Server and Microsoft Mail, and a client
component using Visual Basic, Word, Microsoft Excel and Schedule+, RPR
sales representatives can dial in from remote locations to download current
marketing and sales information from the server. Easy access to information
helps the RPR field sales force keep up-to-date on new product offerings
and easily access product information for prospective customers. The
Adaptive Strategies system has resulted in a significant reduction in the
sales cycle, allowing RPR to respond to requests for proposals in less
time.


UCLA Medical Center

The UCLA Medical Center document management system based on Microsoft Word
and Microsoft SQL Server allows medical center administrators to easily
access, update and print patient records. The UCLA Microsoft Solution based
on Office and BackOffice replaced a mainframe/dumb terminal system that
provided a very limited interface in working with patient records. UCLA
estimates that the greater flexibility and performance provided by their
Microsoft Solution is saving them over $150,000 a year in managing patient
records.



Bankers Trust

In seeking a way to allow customers to easily access information regarding
portfolio investments, Bankers Trust implemented a system in Microsoft
Excel that gives users the data analysis tools to track their investments
directly. This Bankers Trust Microsoft Solution has resulted in a higher
level of customer satisfaction, allowing customers to gain access to
information at any time, without having to go through a company
representative.


The Bank of Newport

The Bank of Newport based in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of the oldest
retail banks in the United States. Yet, they are keeping abreast of the
rapid pace of technology advancements in banking systems. Recently, The
Bank of Newport contracted Systeme Corporation, a Microsoft Solution
Provider partner, to develop a new system for running their account
management and teller operations. Using Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access,
Visual Basic, Word and PowerPoint, Systeme created a client-server system
that provides tools for customer service representatives to easily open new
accounts and retrieve information on existing accounts. The Bank of Newport
Microsoft Solution also provides customer service representatives the tools
for accessing information in selling new banking services to customers.


Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette

Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette, a full-service investment banking firm,
recently decided it needed a better way to present market research and
investment recommendations to institutional investors. The main
presentation tool for the company is a ΓÇ£pitchbookΓÇ¥ that combines data from
three Microsoft Office applications (Word, Microsoft Excel, and
PowerPoint). The pitchbook is an effective way to deliver information, but
Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette felt they could gain even more of a
competitive edge if they could reduce the time and effort it took to
assemble and produce the presentation tool. With the help of MicroModeling,
a Microsoft Solution Provider partner, Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette is
building an automated client presentation system based on Microsoft Office
for Windows 95. The raw information is stored in a Microsoft Access
database file, and includes Word documents, Microsoft Excel documents, and
PowerPoint documents. The firmΓÇÖs analysts use a Microsoft Access control
screen to decide what information to include in their report. Then the
presentation builder application assembles it into a completed pitchbook by
controlling PowerPoint from within Access via OLE Automation. Once this
solution is in place it will reduce the time required to produce a
pitchbook by 50 percent, allowing the firmΓÇÖs professionals to concentrate
on analyzing the data rather than on the mechanics of assembling the
presentation.



For More Information

For more information on Microsoft Solutions, call Microsoft Customer
Service at 1-800-426-9400. For information on contacting a Microsoft
Solution Provider to help develop a Microsoft Solution for your
organization, contact the Microsoft Solution Provider program at 1-800-765-
7768.

                                  #########
Copyright © 1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The information contained in this document represents the current view of
Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of
publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions,
it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft,
and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented
after the date of publication.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Microsoft, Microsoft Access, PivotTable, PowerPoint, SQL Server, Visual
Basic, Visual C++, Visual Basic for Applications, Windows, and BackOffice
are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft in the United
States and/or other countries.
DBase is a registered trademark of Borland International Inc.
Compaq is a registered trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation.
AS/400 and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation.
Lotus and 1-2-3 are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation.
WordPerfect is a registered trademark of Novell Inc.
Part Number
098-61042