BackOffice Logo Program

The Designed for Microsoft® BackOffice® Logo Program is meant for the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) who creates products to work with Microsoft BackOffice, Office, and Windows NT® Server applications and their client software, hardware, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) systems. The "Designed for Microsoft BackOffice" logo means that the product or service has been tested in both the BackOffice and Windows NT Server environments and has met the technical specifications for making the product or service an integral part of the BackOffice and Office platforms.

Application consistency and reliability are the key benefits of the BackOffice logo program. For their own applications, Fitch & Mather (F & M) chose to consider the BackOffice logo requirements that emphasize using products, services, user interface elements, and components already purchased by their company. It is important that employees see a consistent user interface in the various programs they use.

F & M developers are also interested in implementing industry standards, new technology, and existing application programming interfaces (APIs) in a standard way. Future software purchases and in-house applications are expected to follow the BackOffice logo requirements. As the software industry moves to this standard, F & M can take advantage of reusable components, reduce development costs, and complete their projects sooner.

The BDG sample applications comply with many of the individual requirements of the BackOffice logo program. This section lists the current requirements and the degree to which they are fulfilled in the sample applications. These features are divided into five groups:

• Phase I Server Core Requirements. Features required to earn the Designed for Microsoft BackOffice logo effective April 1, 1999.
• Phase II Core Requirements. Features required effective upon the release of Windows® 2000.
• Phase III Core Requirements. Features required effective upon the release of BackOffice 5.0.
• Special Interest Groups. In addition to the Core Baseline Requirements, your application must comply with two or more of these application- and technology-specific requirements.
• Advanced Recommendations. These features are not currently required but are strongly recommended. Some may become requirements in future versions of the Designed for Microsoft BackOffice Logo Program.

For more information on the Designed for Microsoft BackOffice Logo Program see: http://www.microsoft.com/backoffice/designed/default.htm.