[AccessD] Sign up for an Office 365 Developer Site

Hi Darryl

A lot of small businesses could learn from this. 
Did your wife manage this setup all by herself or were you the helping hand?

/gustav


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Darryl Collins
Sendt: 13. januar 2014 00:28
Til: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Emne: Re: [AccessD] Sign up for an Office 365 Developer Site

Firstly, Office 365 comes in many flavours.

The version we use has MS Office 2010 installed locally on everyone's PC, you can open up files using Office 365 on the web if you want, although there is far less functionality on the web version.  The main use of Office 365 is as a central document repository, Sharepoint (list based) Database and MS Exchange.

It is not some much Office 365 itself, but more how you can seamlessly integrate everything together.  For example, Outlook with Onenote and then with Sharepoint, and then be able for any team member to access that information from any device, PC or Mobile.

She runs a clinic for kids with special needs - has a lot of clients with kids with ADHD, Autism, social skill issues, that sort on thing.  

In the past they all used take down notes on paper and file them in a big steel cabinet. 

Now they put all their notes in Onenote, along with any other relevant docs, emails, notes from the school / parents etc on sharepoint and attach those docs to the client's record in the Sharepoint Client 'Database'.  Sharepoint can be set up as a simple database as well as document management.    These documents can be updated live and shared as well.

You can also get sharepoint to set up processes - for example, you might need to follow up a client 2 months after a certain test - sharepoint will send an email to the consulting therapist, plus CC Monica to ensure it gets done.

The upside is all this stuff is automatically backed up and if another therapist needs to see that client, they can instantly access all of the relevant records, even if they are offsite.  All of the data is updated live and can be edited on the fly.

They use MS Exchange extensively, for email, tasks and calendars.   You can also set up 'resources' and 'rooms' in MS Exchange so a therapist can book a room and some piece of working kit and everyone else can see in the calendar that those resources are busy for that time space.  

All of the therapist have different mobile devices (although they are mainly Apple or Samsung) and getting MS Exchange setup was painless and fast.  The girls all love it.

In the past it was all a big mess - using a series of local databases, spreadsheets and paperlists with multiple copies on USB sticks etc.  Urrrrgh.



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Salakhetdinov Shamil
Sent: Monday, 13 January 2014 10:07 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sign up for an Office 365 Developer Site

 Hi Darryl --

Thank you for sharing your experience with SharePoint/Office 365.

May I ask you to list briefly a few business use cases where your/your customers or your wife's businesses find Office 365 a "killer app"? FYI: I have ZERO experience with SharePoint/Office 365. 

Thank you.

-- Shamil


Sunday, January 12, 2014 10:37 PM UTC from Darryl Collins <darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au>:
>Yes,  Exactly - We use Sharepoint as part of Office 365 - although we should use it a LOT more, in particular for workflows and the like. Cost is about $6 per month per user - although that varies country to country - either way, it is very affordable for most small businesses and there is pretty much zero IT overhead onsite once you have things set up.  Luckily have had exposure to Sharepoint in the past so I know enough to bumble my way around the setup etc.
>
>The other huge upside is you get MS Exchange for outlook included as well, which is just brilliant.  Works well on PC, plus both Android and Apple mobile devices.   Been a game changer for my wife's business.  She loves it - One note is probably the killer app on Office 365 (for her business at least) and all of Office 2010 works rather seamlessly with.
>
>Not Pro MS for everything, but their Office 365 small business solution has worked well for us.
>
>Cheers
>Darryl.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From:  accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
>Sent: Sunday, 12 January 2014 12:34 AM
>To:  accessd at databaseadvisors.com
>Subject: Re: [AccessD] Sign up for an Office 365 Developer Site
>
>Hi Shamil
>
>As I understand it, you can use SharePoint of Office 365 meaning zero local install and quite low cost.
>
>Among the happy clients of Sharepointinnovations Microsoft Partner Networks is listed. Interesting info as that site has been slow not to say buggy for many years. They will for sure claim that it is caused by the connection to the back-office at MS. Still, I'm not impressed.
>
>Thanks for the additional link.
>
>/gustav