Microsoft Workgroup Templates 1.1

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The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Workgroup Templates 1.1

SUMMARY

Microsoft Workgroup Templates is a set of tools for developing powerful workgroup solutions with Microsoft applications and Microsoft database and development tools. You can use the templates as a starting point for building new applications that integrate desktop applications and tools with database, messaging, and scheduling services. Microsoft Workgroup Templates is intended for developers who extend and customize the templates for other users.

For more information about downloading the templates, see the "To Download a Template File" section of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Collaboration Templates

With collaboration templates, multiple users contribute to the same document or spreadsheet.

• The Expense Report Template (EXPENSE.EXE)

  The Expense Report template makes it easy to compose, to distribute, and to approve expense reports within an organization. The template provides a standard expense report for all employees. In addition, the template summarizes expenses according to categories that the organization defines. Employees record their expenses in the expense report, and then send a copy through Mail to their manager for approval. Managers review the expense report, and either approve it and send it to an accounting department, or do not approve it and send a notification message back to the employee.

• The Report Consolidation Template (REPORT.EXE)

  With the Report Consolidation template, a document owner creates a report by distributing different sections to contributors and then by consolidating the sections as contributors return them. The template adds macros and custom commands to the Microsoft Word word-processing program.

  The document owner first creates a master document, which organizes the sections of the report, and then defines the sub-documents and distributes them to contributors through Microsoft Mail. In turn, contributors complete drafts of their sub-documents and return them to the document owner through Mail. Finally, the owner merges the returned sub-documents into the original master document.

Activity Management Templates

Activity management templates record activities, action items, or documents associated with projects or customers.

• The Customer Tracking Template (CUSTOMER.EXE)

  With the Customer Tracking template, users can record customer and contact information, as well as sales and customer service actions, in a relational database. The Customer Tracking template uses a file cabinet model to organize information on potential or actual customers into drawers or categories. Each folder within a drawer represents a company, and each company may have many contacts and actions in its folder. With the template, users can enter planned actions (meetings, tasks, or phone calls) related to a customer. The template stores the actions in both the Customer Tracking database and in Schedule+, and users can access Schedule+ group scheduling features directly from the Customer Tracking template.

• The Expertise Planner Template (EXPERT.EXE)

  The Expertise Planner template allows a team leader to maintain a database of people and their particular capabilities. The template enables the team leader to schedule assignments by matching required skills with available people. Users maintain their individual schedules in Microsoft Schedule+, and the team leader uses the template to read their schedules and determine availability. When the team leader selects a person for an assignment, the template books the project as an appointment on the person's Schedule+ calendar.

• The Meeting Coordinator Template (MEETING.EXE)

  The Meeting Coordinator template helps meeting organizers to schedule meetings and to coordinate the receipt and distribution of meeting materials such as documents, graphs, and presentation slides. The template supplements the Microsoft Schedule+ group scheduling and invitation functions by allowing meeting organizers to import meetings from their Schedule+ calendar into a database, to store documents for the meeting in the database, and to distribute documents from the database to attendees, either by providing shared access to the database or by sending the documents through Mail.

  The template also includes an electronic form for meeting attendees, who can use the form to send documents to the meeting coordinator through Mail. The meeting coordinator uses the template to retrieve submitted objects and to store them in the database.

• The Service Requests Template (SERVICE.EXE)

  The Service Requests template allows your technical support department to maintain a database of incidents and actions. End-users report incidents, questions, or problems that support managers then log in the Service Requests database and assign to support engineers. When a support engineer accepts the assigned incidents, the template automatically creates new entries in the engineer's Schedule+ calendar and task list. As engineers work to resolve or to close the incident, they log their actions in the database, and the template automatically sends notification messages to end-users to inform them of the status of their incidents.

• The Status Reporting Template (STATUS.EXE)

  With the Status Reporting template, project owners create projects and related activities, some of which they may assign to other users. Project owners then send assignment notifications through Microsoft Mail. Users can review the details of a project and accept or decline assigned activities. When a user accepts an activity, the template adds the project and activity to the user's Schedule+ task list.

Electronic Form and Routing Templates

Electronic form and routing templates present structured documents that users send to other users or to automatic processes.

• The Help Desk Template (HELPDESK.EXE)

  The Help Desk Template is an electronic form for requesting assistance or information from a help desk or support department. The template provides basic fields for typical support requests such as problem description, and software names and versions. The template also automatically attaches configuration files, such as the WIN.INI file, to the E-form message and automatically detects the user's configuration.

• The Remote Query Template (RQUERY.EXE)

  With an application built with the Remote Query template, users can send queries to a remote database--a database to which the user does not have a direct network connection. Users complete a Query form and route it to a query processing agent. The query processing agent is an automatic process that accepts the query, runs it, and sends an answer to the user. Users read data returned by the processing agent in an Answer form. The template uses Mail to exchange information between users and the query processing agent.

• The Supply Order Template (SUPPLY.EXE)

  The Supply Order template provides employees with electronic order forms to order supplies through Microsoft Mail. This template automatically routes employee orders to managers. Managers can then use electronic approval forms to automatically send approved orders to the supply department, or to return notification of disapproved orders to the employee.

• The Travel Reservations Template (TRAVEL.EXE)

  The Travel Reservations template is an electronic form for requesting travel reservations. The template provides basic fields for typical travel requests such as destination, departure time, and arrival time. The template also records an individual's travel profile, so that the user does not need to repeatedly re-enter common fields such as preferred airline seating or meal selection.

Developer Libraries

The following libraries enable developers using Microsoft Office and Visual Basic to add Microsoft Mail and Schedule+ functionality to their applications.

• Microsoft Schedule+ Libraries for Visual Basic and Access Basic (SPLUSLIB.EXE)

  The Microsoft Schedule+ calendaring and scheduling program Libraries allow you to develop applications that manipulate appointments and tasks on users' calendars, and they also allow you to exchange meeting messages between Microsoft Schedule+ users. The Schedule+ Libraries function set is divided into two categories:

      - Meeting message functions--these functions let you manipulate meeting
        invitations and responses.
  

      - Calendar functions--these functions let you manipulate calendar tasks
        and appointments.
  

• Simple MAPI for Visual Basic for Applications (VBASMAPI.EXE)

  The Simple Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) is a set of messaging functions that help you create messaging-enabled applications. It is a subset of MAPI, which provides complete access to messaging and information exchange systems. With Simple MAPI, you can:

      - Log on and off the messaging system.
  

      - Find and read messages.
  

      - Address new messages by adding recipients to the messages.
  

      - Add attachments to messages.
  

      - Save and send messages.
  

• Workgroup Extensions for Microsoft Excel (XLMAPI.EXE)

  With Workgroup Extensions for Microsoft Excel, you can include E-mail and simple network management functionality in your custom applications. With Microsoft Excel macros, you can:

      - Send messages, including attached files, to multiple users on your
        network.
  

      - Search for messages stored in your Mail Inbox.
  

      - Read or delete messages in your Mail Inbox.
  

      - Connect to, display, and disconnect from network resources.
  

      - Copy files between computers running on a network.
  

• Workgroup Extensions for Microsoft Word (WBMAPI.EXE)

  With Workgroup Extensions for Microsoft Word, if you are a Microsoft Word developer, you can include electronic mail in your custom applications. With the Workgroup Extensions and WordBasic, the macro language of Microsoft Word, you can access the messaging application programming interface (MAPI) to create applications in Word that can:

      - Send messages and attached files to multiple users.
  

      - Search for messages in your Mail Inbox.
  

      - Read or delete messages in your Mail Inbox.
  

To Download a Template File

The following is the complete list of Workgroup Template files that are available for you to download from the Microsoft Software Library (MSL).

   Filename              S<Number>
   --------------------------------

   CUSTOMER.EXE          15221
   EXPENSE.EXE           15222
   EXPERT.EXE            15223
   HELPDESK.EXE          15224
   MEETING.EXE           15225
   REPORT.EXE            15226
   RQUERY.EXE            15227
   SERVICE.EXE           15228
   SPLUSLIB.EXE          15229
   STATUS.EXE            15230
   SUPPLY.EXE            15231
   TRAVEL.EXE            15232
   VBASMAPI.EXE          15233
   WBMAPI.EXE            15234
   XLMAPI.EXE            15235

• Microsoft's World Wide Web Site on the Internet

        On the www.microsoft.com home page, click the Support icon.
        Click Knowledge Base, and select the product.
        Enter kbfile <FILENAME>, and click GO!
        Open the article, and click the button to download the file.
  

• Internet (anonymous FTP)

        ftp ftp.microsoft.com
        Change to the Softlib/Mslfiles folder.
        Get <FILENAME>
  

• The Microsoft Network

        On the Edit menu, click Go To, and then click Other Location.
        Type "mssupport" (without the quotation marks).
        Double-click the MS Software Library icon.
        Find the appropriate product area.
        Locate and Download <FILENAME>.
  

• Microsoft Download Service (MSDL)

        Dial (425) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL
        Download <FILENAME>
  

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online
               Services