This page provides a closer look at some of the advantages to using Oracle Connector for Outlook.
If you were using Microsoft Outlook in Internet Mode Only (IMO), you had basic support for e-mailing and managing personal information with Microsoft Outlook Calendar, Address Book, Task, Journals, and Notes. When you switch to Oracle Connector for Outlook, you will have access to more services. By contrast with how you were previously using Microsoft Outlook, you will be using Corporate/Workgroup (CWG) mode with Oracle Connector for Outlook. This gives you access to a number of new services, such as Out of Office Assistant, full group and resource scheduling, access to your company directory, and a universal Inbox containing both mail and calendar invitations, server-based tasks, contacts, address books, journals, and notes.
If you were formerly using Microsoft Outlook with Microsoft Exchange, you will now benefit from the stronger security and reliability of Oracle Collaboration Suite. This means you will experience less downtime caused by viruses or other unplanned system outages.
When you use Oracle Connector for Outlook, you can access up-to-the-second information about your coworker's availability. It is the Oracle Calendar server, an integral part of Oracle Collaboration Suite and Oracle Connector for Outlook, that makes real-time scheduling possible. When you use Oracle Connector for Outlook, your calendar information is as up-to-date for you as it is for your colleagues who want to schedule meetings with you. When you and your colleagues are using Oracle Connector for Outlook, your calendars are stored on the Oracle Calendar server. Whenever users make schedule changes in their calendars, the updated information is immediately available for all users. When you look at another user’s calendar from Oracle Connector for Outlook, you see up-to-the-second information about this person’s schedule, even unconfirmed meetings. This results in fewer scheduling conflicts. This is an advantage you will find most useful after making the transition to Oracle Connector for Outlook.
By contrast, when scheduling with Microsoft Outlook alone, calendar updates rely on the transmission of e-mail messages. All meetings are created, stored, forwarded, and retrieved as e-mail messages. What happens when you create a meeting inviting your coworker, but he has not yet had a chance to check for meetings in his calendar? Anyone looking at his calendar would have no idea that the meeting exists and assume that your coworker is available. Without Oracle Collaboration Suite, Microsoft Outlook offers a message-based solution for scheduling. With the message-based solution, the meeting does not exist in your coworker’s calendar until he accepts it. Oracle Connector for Outlook is a solution where users' calendars are updated without the wait, giving everyone the true picture of their colleagues' availability.
When you switch to using Oracle Connector for Outlook you will be able to find and schedule shared resources, like conference rooms or projectors, much more efficiently. You can search for resources based on attributes like geography or seating capacity, and you can save your search criteria for the next time you search. You can also book a resource that requires approval, in which case an e-mail request is sent to the administrator directly through your calendar. Because schedules are updated instantly, scheduling conflicts involving resources are significantly reduced.
If your organization is deploying a number of other components of Oracle Collaboration Suite, then in addition to your e-mail messages, calendar, contacts, and directory, you will also be able to directly access your voice-mail messages, fax messages, Web conferences, and wireless services through Oracle Connector for Outlook.