Trey Research chose Microsoft Office largely because of the powerful programmability provided by Visual Basic for Applications and the various OLE Automation interfaces available in each Microsoft Office application. Microsoft Exchange Server provides an OLE Automation server for MAPI that can be accessed from Microsoft Office applications and Visual Basic. This integrates the company's applications with Microsoft Exchange Server and enables the company to take advantage of its existing investment, to build applications quickly, and to add, customize, or change applications rapidly.
Microsoft Office applications can also be integrated into workgroup solutions offered by Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets, for example, can be stored in the Microsoft Exchange Server information store, as well as shared between the Microsoft Office applications and Microsoft Exchange Server.
Trey Research plans to use Microsoft Excel as a reporting mechanism for public folder applications. It is to be used by sales managers to compile periodic contact and sales data automatically. For example, a sales representative can enter information about new customers, outstanding customer issues, and sales closed. A sales manager can use the analysis and charting capabilities of Microsoft Excel to evaluate trends, track the business, and automate the compiling, publication, and distribution of a report by using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Exchange Server.