50408: Introduction to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) (1 Day)
About this Course
This course provides hands-on, guided experience with the important features and functions of Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) so the student’s organization can conduct a thorough evaluation and make effective and efficient use of the product.
Audience Profile
This course is intended for business owners, office managers and others who are interested in learning how to leverage the collaboration and communication features unique to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite. No prior experience with BPOS is necessary.
At Course Completion
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Determine the best combination of BPOS products and features and licensing models for an organization.
- Create realistic, real-world return on investment and total cost of ownership models to compare between various BPOS options and against traditional local server/software deployments.
- Select between on-premise and hosted versions of BPOS.
- Understand how to get started with BPOS.
- Be familiar with “day one” and on-going BPOS administration tasks.
- Be aware of BPOS administrators can manage services and users.
- Understand options for configuring Exchange Online and administering hybrid deployments where a local Exchange Server is involved.
- Be aware that mailboxes can be migrated both to and from Exchange Online.
- Use Office Communicator and presence awareness as an alternative to phone calls and e-mail messages.
- Take advantage of LiveMeeting for supporting branch offices, remote sites, home workers, customers, partners, suppliers and others in training, collaboration and sales presentations.
- Leverage SharePoint collaboration, sharing and search features to keep a network of users up to date with the information, relationships, documents and notifications they need to be efficient and productive.
- Understand how to construct SharePoint Workflows to encourage best practices and streamline and automate routine procedures.
- Create a vision for the student’s organization where BPOS creates a connected, productive, efficient and effective workforce no matter where they are located.
Course Outline
Module 1: Product Overview
Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) is a key component in a line of software as a service offerings from Microsoft.Microsoft’s online strategy is to provide essential business software and services on a subscription basis.Companies gain a predictable, stable cost structure along with reliability and availability they could not otherwise afford.
Lessons
- Background on Software as a Service and “Cloud Computing”
- Nature and Purpose of BPOS
- Estimating Costs, Calculating Return on Investment
- Working with a Partner
Lab : Product Overview
- Use BPOS Pricing Calculator
- Use BPOS Cost Comparison Tool
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Identify key business drivers for online services
- Understand BPOS product options
- Estimate costs and savings
Module 2: Administration
Once you have successfully subscribed to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite, whether on a free trial or the real thing, someone in your company needs to perform a small number of basic administrative duties. These duties fall into two categories: “Day One” activities that are typically done once and only periodically reviewed, and on-going tasks that occur more regularly. If you prefer, you have the option of delegating administrative duties to a Microsoft Partner.
Lessons
- Subscribing to BPOS
- “Day One” Administrative Duties
- Setup Accelerator
- Online Services Sign-In Utility
- User Management
- Technical Support
- Subscription Expiration
- Over of Service Configuration
- The User’s Experience
Lab : Administration
- Administrative Sign-In
- Create and Manage a User Account
- Configure Sign-In Utility
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Understand how to get started with BPOS.
- Be familiar with “day one” and on-going BPOS administration tasks.
- Select between on-premise and hosted versions of BPOS.
- Be aware of BPOS administrators can manage services and users.
Module 3: Exchange Online
Exchange Online offers “access from anywhere” to corporate e-mail, contacts, tasks, calendars and conference room scheduling, based on the features and functions of Microsoft’s Exchange Server.
Lessons
- Basic Operations
- Administration
- Migration
- Coexistence
Lab : Exchange Online
- Outlook Web Access Sign-In
- Conference Room Scheduling
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Understand options for configuring Exchange Online and administering hybrid deployments where a local Exchange Server is involved.
- Be aware that mailboxes can be migrated both to and from Exchange Online.
Module 4: Office Communicator
Office Communicator is a corporate instant messaging utility that also provides presence awareness and the ability to use one-on-one audio and video. If you don’t think instant messaging has a place in your company you’re wasting time and missing out on some important efficiency features.
Lessons
- The Importance of Presence Awareness
- Use of Instant Messaging instead of Phone or E-mail
- Administration
- Client Operations
Lab : Office Communicator
- Communicator Sign-In
- Set/Check Presence
- Send Instant Message
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Use Office Communicator and presence awareness as an alternative to phone calls and e-mail messages.
Module 5: Office Live Meeting
Live Meeting is a hosted web conferencing service that enables communication and collaboration with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Meetings can be scheduled in advance with careful control over attendance or opened to a general audience. With optional live audio and video and the capability to display any document or application screen, Live Meeting helps users minimize travel costs and related disruptions and streamline communications with colleagues, customers, and other audiences.
Lessons
- Potential Uses for Live Meeting
- Running a Meeting
- Administration
- Live Meeting Scheduling and Configuration
Lab : Office Live Meeting
- Host a Meeting
- Join a Meeting
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Take advantage of LiveMeeting for supporting branch offices, remote sites, home workers, customers, partners, suppliers and others in training, collaboration and sales presentations.
Module 6: SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online is all about connecting people so they can search, create, collaborate, and share information. SharePoint is arguably the most important and exciting part of the Business Productivity Online Suite in terms of creating value and making your workforce more efficient and effective. The other components of BPOS focus on a single user and rely on the user keeping track of information and performing self organization tasks. SharePoint brings all users together where they can contribute to a larger body of information.
Lessons
- Product Overview
- Administration
- Creating Site Collections and Sites
- Working with Lists and Libraries
Lab : SharePoint Online
- Create a Site Collection
- Authorize Users
- Create a Sub-Site
- Create a List
- Create an Alert
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Leverage the SharePoint collaboration, sharing and search features to keep a network of users up to date with the information, relationships, documents and notifications they need to be efficient and productive.
Module 7: SharePoint Workflows
Workflows help encourage the use of best practices and automate or at least streamline repetitive activities that involve documents, tasks or other list items in SharePoint. Unique among other features of Business Productivity Online Suite which rely on users actively doing something to reach out and communicate, SharePoint workflows can take an active role and initiate communication, make routing decisions, and more. Workflows can be based on formal company policy, informal processing rules or even just the capture the decision-making process used by more experienced employees.
Lessons
- Workflow Overview
- Survey of Actions and Conditions
- Getting Started with SharePoint Designer
- Advanced Workflows
Lab : SharePoint Workflows
- Run an Out-of-Box Workflow
- Create a SharePoint Designer Workflow
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Understand how to construct SharePoint Workflows to encourage best practices and streamline and automate routine procedures.
Module 8: Putting it All Together
The goal of this course is to create a vision of your organization using Business Productivity Online Suite to become more connected, more efficient and more effective. This final module summarizes key features and benefits of BPOS in terms of how they help meet these goals.
Lessons
- Implementation and Administration
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Efficiency
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Create a vision for the student’s company where BPOS creates a connected, productive, efficient and effective workforce no matter where they are located.
While there are no formal prerequisites, due to the pace of the presentation and the amount of material that will be covered it will help if the student:
- is comfortable with using a web browser like Internet Explorer, and
- has some experience with Microsoft Outlook.