Project Overview

The client requested that their existing program, originally created by Wunz Efficiency, be given the ability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word to do various tasks.

Goals

   To send out automated email alerts when a project was close to being overdue.

   To send email using current program data.

   To export information for projects and clients to a word document.

   To export project estimates from the existing program to Excel so the client could send these excel files to their clients.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Since Wunz Efficiency created the original program, it was a straightforward task to add these additional functions. The existing program already tracked project due dates, scheduling and completion percentage which made it easy to add the ability to send out automated email alerts to predefined email addresses.

These emails were sent out weekly when a project was within a week of being due and also when the project became overdue. This was done with no intervention from the users of the program. Along with this improvement, Wunz Efficiency also gave the program the ability to open Outlook and create a message addressed to a particular contact that was selected within the program.

In addition, Wunz Efficiency provided the ability to export client information to Word. This information could then be used to create fax cover sheets, letters to clients, envelopes and labels. When the Word document is created from within the program, all pertinent information relating to the client is automatically inserted.

The original program also stored estimates for the particular projects. At times the client needed to export this information to Excel. Originally this was done by hand, but it was very time consuming and prone to errors.

So, the client decided to have Wunz Efficiency automate this process while adding all the other Microsoft Office functions. Now, it only takes seconds for the client to create the Excel file when it would have taken an hour or more by hand.

Benefits Of The Project

All this added functionality decreased the time it took to transfer information from one program to another. In addition, the likelihood of a user error was eliminated. To the client’s satisfaction, more projects were finished on time with less time spent on the phone reminding people of impending deadlines and manually entering data into Excel, Outlook and Word.