MS Outlook & Diary Software

[mickeyh080]

Looking for a cost effective way of integrating a Diary system with MS Outlook 2007. Need to be able to provide shared calenders for senior management with the ability to make appointments on behalf of others i.e the Heads PA and other secretaries.

 

One version after visiiting the lifeline (Google) is Office Calendar

https://www.officecalendar.com/index.aspx. But this seems a little expensive especially as it looks like an annual subscription even with the high dollar to pound ratio.

 

Any sugestions or comments on software to match this program would be welcome.

[somabc]

Why are you not using Exchange, it is designed to all of the above and lots more.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/overview/default.mspx

 

You can also publish calendars to a WEBDAV server

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA101471191033.aspx

Edited June 30, 2008 by somabc

[mickeyh080]

Mainly cost I suppose, inherited a setup where by its never been cost effective in the past. Gather to go down the exchange route with no previous experience could be tricky.

 

gather would need a dedicated server to run it then theres the licences server and client CAL's.

 

Does it need a beast of a server to run effectively?

 

Just seems like a lot of expense for senior management use only.

 

What other benefits would it bring ?

[somabc]

http://www.nottinghamhigh.co.uk/EasySite/lib/serveDocument.asp?doc=1065&pgid=1457

 

http://www.msexchange.org/

 

Exchange is a mail server that also enables group collaboration. It integrates extremely well with Outlook. I did not find it particularly hard to setup but YMMV. You would not need a particularly powerful server depending on how many users you plan on having. It is best to run it on its own Windows Server 2003/08 box or VM. It would prob cost £1500+ all in for hardware, licences etc. You can also buy hosted exchange plans where you get a company to run the servers remotely and your users can connect over the internet. Which one is more cost effective for you depends on how many users you will have. Running your own server has high startup costs, but the annual costs are low (excluding your wages for running it!) Hosted is cheaper at 1st but may prove more expensive over several years

eg £500+ per year

 

New To Exchange - Rackspace UK's Leading Managed Hosting Provider

 

As an alternative to exchange you could look into Zimbra, Calgoo or simply use something like Google Calendar?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbra

Edited June 30, 2008 by somabc

[budgester]

Or you could try Zimbra, it's got an Outlook plugin IIRC