Microsoft’s Solution Showcase highlights how leading companies are solving critical business problems using solutions built with the Microsoft Office System. These solutions are a small sample of the many ways organizations are transforming their businesses by taking advantage of the Microsoft Office products they already own and their employees use every day.

• Addressing Sarbanes-Oxley Challenges Using the Microsoft Office System – The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act affects all public companies whose stock is traded on United States exchanges. SOX solutions built on the Microsoft Office System use existing technology to facilitate regulatory compliance and sustainable corporate governance. Because such solutions use familiar Microsoft technologies, they can be deployed quickly, without disrupting the organization, and with minimal training costs. (Sarbanes-Oxley Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Automating Clinical Forms Using the Microsoft Office System – Healthcare providers face ongoing business challenges including the need to reduce costs, comply with government regulatory requirements, and consistently improve patient care. But in many cases, outdated clinical and administrative processes prevent providers from meeting these challenges effectively. Today, more than 70 percent of processes at healthcare providers are paper-based. Automating these processes can help healthcare providers reduce costs, manage information, and improve the quality of care. (Clinical Forms Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Automating Government Forms Using the Microsoft Office System – Agencies that manage licenses and claims are often asked to do more with less. Government paper forms remain a primary data-gathering interface, and these forms are often manually intensive and expensive to process. In addition, agency budgets are shrinking and citizens are requesting better access to information at reduced service costs. A government forms automation solution built on the Microsoft Office System can help reduce the costs associated with forms processes, while improving citizen and constituent satisfaction. (Automating Government Forms Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Automating Investigative Case Management for Government Agencies Using the Microsoft Office System – Government agencies that conduct investigative work often do not have the tools required to collaborate efficiently with internal and external stakeholders. Additionally, they often spend a significant time on case administration. This results in a decreased capacity to conduct investigations. With a solution based on the Microsoft Office System, agencies can streamline their processes to plan, develop, and run an investigation, which helps resolve cases faster, and provides better service to constituents. (Investigative Case Management for Government Agencies Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Automating Lean Manufacturing Process Design Using the Microsoft Office System – A lean manufacturing process design solution can help organizations reduce lean manufacturing implementation costs, improve collaboration surrounding lean manufacturing implementation, and enhance progress tracking for lean improvement projects. Based on the Microsoft Office System, a lean manufacturing process design solution can be deployed quickly with minimal training costs. (Lean Manufacturing Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Automating Wealth Management Proposals Using the Microsoft Office System – A wealth management proposals solution streamlines the entire financial sales process, from initial fact finding to financial plan generation. The solution helps advisors deliver superior planning advice, regardless of a planners individual expertise and level of experience. And with less time spent collecting data and performing administrative tasks, advisors can spend more time with clients, building relationships and expanding sales opportunities. (Wealth Management Proposals Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Building Financial Reporting Dashboards Using the Microsoft Office System – Enterprise financial information is often housed in accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), and other line-of-business systems. The data from these systems is rich and comprehensive, but it is often difficult to use. Regular reports might not have the most current information or address the most critical business questions. A financial dashboard solution built using the Microsoft Office System enables financial decision-makers to retrieve, view, and analyze the data they need from these systems without leaving the familiar Microsoft Office Excel 2003 environment. (Financial Reporting Dashboards Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Building Investment Banking Pitchbooks Faster Using the Microsoft Office System – An investment banking pitchbook solution can help companies decrease their pitchbook preparation time, improve pitchbook quality, and more effectively collaborate across pitchbook teams. Based on the Microsoft Office System, these solutions build upon familiar Microsoft technologies so they can be deployed quickly with minimal training costs. (Investment Banking Pitchbooks Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Collaboratively Implementing Product Lifecycle Engineering Changes Using the Microsoft Office System – Product lifecycle management (PLM) engineering change process (ECP) solutions built using the Microsoft Office System can help manufacturers manage complex workflows. In this highly-collaborative process, internal and external stakeholders can work together to identify recurring problems, jointly investigate and validate solutions, and release the final designs to the release vault. The Microsoft Office System provides the tools and technologies that enable the level of effective cross-team, real-time collaboration, integration, and project management that is essential for successful engineering change processes. (Engineering Change Process Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Collaborative Product Development Using the Microsoft Office System – In an increasingly competitive business environment, manufacturers want to reduce product development design cycles. Customers, however, frequently change requirements and expect fast results. Aggressive competition shrinks windows of opportunity, and companies are afforded fewer second chances to win business.
  
  
  Fortunately for manufacturers, design and manufacturing data have become increasingly digital, enabling a new generation of collaboration tools that overcome many of the challenges posed by accelerating design processes. (Collaborative Product Development Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Contract Lifecycle Management for Enterprises Using the Microsoft Office System – Because of increased volume, complexity, and governmental compliance requirements, enterprises should streamline management of contractual agreements through the entire lifecycle. Unfortunately, many enterprises rely on disparate systems that are often loosely connected, paper-laden, and might not meet compliance requirements. A contract lifecycle management solution based on the Microsoft Office System can provide management with tools to enable better contract content governance, execution management, and performance tracking, while providing a measurable return on investment. (Contract Lifecycle Management Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Controlling Services Procurement Spending Using the Microsoft Office System – For many companies, services account for one-third of every purchasing dollar spent. And yet, few companies have standardized procedures specifically designed for the complexities of services procurement. Often, the result is excessive costs, drawn-out purchasing cycle times, and inconsistent workflow procedures. The Microsoft Office System is a simple and cost-effective way to help standardize your contracts and purchase orders, drive compliance, and create a more efficient services procurement process. (Services Procurement Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Creating Pharmaceutical Structured Product Labels Using the Microsoft Office System – Create Structured Product Labels (SPL) in XML faster, easier, and in compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements with the tools workers use everyday in the Microsoft Office System. These Office tools automatically convert a document into XML-based SPL that conforms to FDA regulations. Once XML-enabled, pharmaceutical companies can then integrate all information and business process silos, eliminate operational complexities and costs associated with global product labeling, and take new drugs to market faster. (Pharmaceutical Structured Product Labels Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Delivering Earned Value Management for Government Agencies Using the Microsoft Office System – Organizations that manage multiple, complex projects involving several subcontractors often spend substantial time gathering earned value management (EVM) data. Chasing earned value information from subcontractors to meet reporting requirements leaves less time to analyze performance data and improve project management. An earned value management solution based on the Microsoft Office System gives federal agencies the ability to integrate cost, schedule, and technical performance data from multiple sources to meet EVM reporting requirements, reduce costs, and harness EVM information to better manage projects. (Earned Value Management Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Delivering Integrated Workspaces for Professional Services Using the Microsoft Office System – In order to deliver service efficiently to clients, professional services teams must be able to access information from multiple locations including time and billing, customer relationship management (CRM), document management, and calendaring systems. An integrated workspace solution delivers role-based information directly to the professional workers’ desktops so that they can spend less time looking for what they need and more time using it. (Integrated Workspaces Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Document Creation and Assembly for Professional Services Using the Microsoft Office System – A document creation and assembly solution built on the Microsoft Office System can help law firms and other professional services organizations (PSOs) streamline document creation, improve the quality of deliverables, ensure use of up-to-date-content, and increase employee productivity. This scenario focuses specifically on information challenges faced by the legal industry, but the challenges and solution benefits can easily be applied to management consulting firms, and other enterprise PSOs. (Document Creation and Assembly Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Document Management and Retention for Professional Services Using the Microsoft Office System – Client information in professional services organizations is often held in unstructured forms such as text files, graphic files, and e-mail. This information must be controlled to reduce organizational risks, but it should also be readily accessible to client engagement teams. A professional services document management and retention solution, part of the Microsoft focus on Service Delivery Management for Professional Services, can help enforce an organization's records management policies while enabling client teams to easily store, retrieve, and share diverse information related to client engagements. (Document Management and Retention Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Effectively Managing IT Workloads Using the Microsoft Office System – IT work management solutions built using the Microsoft Office System provide tools, framework, and business processes that can enable IT organizations to more effectively manage technology, business, and software development projects and deliver true business value to companies. Such solutions can also help IT departments better manage issue resolution with centralized issue assignment and tracking tools. The work management solutions can enhance IT productivity by automating common IT processes and providing better project visibility. (IT Work Management Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Improving Emergency Management Collaboration for Government Agencies Using the Microsoft Office System – Agencies responsible for mitigating against, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters need the ability to collaborate and share information during an emergency response. Lack of effective information sharing can degrade a common operating picture (COP), which can lead to a fragmented overall emergency response. A collaborative emergency management solution based on the Microsoft Office system gives agencies the ability to ensure they are focused on changing the outcome of a disaster instead of managing information. (Improving Emergency Management Collaboration for Government Agencies Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Improving Financial Analysis and Reporting Using XBRL and the Microsoft Office System – The creation, analysis, and verification of financial reports is time-consuming and error-prone. Data must be manually re-entered or copied and pasted. Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) alleviates much of this pain by attaching "bar codes" to individual pieces of data within documents and spreadsheets so this information can be automatically pulled into reports and analyzed (Financial Analysis and Reporting Using XBRL Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Improving the Recruiting Process Using the Microsoft Office System – Hiring the right people is a strategic necessity for every company. As a result, many companies have implemented software to help automate the recruiting process. Despite these efforts, recruiting often remains a disjointed, manual process because common tasks, such as scheduling interviews, must be performed outside of automated systems. A recruiting solution that integrates automated recruiting tools with the Microsoft Office System can help all participants in recruiting collaborate more effectively and improve hiring processes. (Improving the Recruiting Process Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Improving Supply Chain Collaboration Using the Microsoft Office System – Extend internal collaboration beyond organizational boundaries to effectively work with partners, suppliers, and customers with a Microsoft Office System-based supply chain collaboration solution. This solution will help to provide better visibility of supply-chain activities, and give more control to stakeholders. The solution can also help to strengthen accountability by clearly assigning responsibilities to the right owners. With improved visibility and accountability, new product introduction can be accelerated to gain a competitive advantage. (Supply Chain Collaboration Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Increasing Student Achievement and Sharing Instructional Best Practices Using the Microsoft Office System – Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, states have implemented measurements for determining whether their schools and local educational agencies are making adequate yearly progress in student achievement. Unfortunately, school districts are struggling to meet these requirements. A student achievement solution based on the Microsoft Office System enables teachers to collaborate with students in new ways, empowers students to track their progress by providing access to information on their achievements, and helps school districts meet NCLB requirements. (Student Achievement Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Integrating Small Manufacturing Suppliers Using the Microsoft Office System – Large manufacturers face challenges integrating their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business-to-business (B2B) systems with the information systems used by smaller suppliers. Small suppliers often do not have the system infrastructure and resources needed to fully integrate with the systems a large manufacturer has in place. For manufacturers that need to automate transactions between themselves and small supplier partners, a solution built using the Microsoft Office System is an ideal choice. (Integrating Small Manufacturing Suppliers Interactive Demo)
  
  
• K-12 Classroom Collaboration for Students, Teachers, and Parents Using the Microsoft Office System – Teachers are under increasing pressure to improve student performance while engaging parents and making activities within the classroom transparent. Unfortunately, school districts are struggling with swelling student-to-teacher ratios, disengaged parents, and increased performance reporting requirements. A K-12 classroom collaboration for students, teachers, and parents solution based on the Microsoft Office System enables teachers to give parents access to curriculum and assignments, enables peer-to-peer collaboration with teacher and parent involvement, and helps parents engage in the educational process within and outside of the classroom. (K-12 Classroom Collaboration Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Lowering Support Costs with an IT Help Desk Knowledge Base Solution Using the Microsoft Office System – IT help desk knowledge base solutions based on the Microsoft Office System can help IT organizations effectively control escalating help desk demands and costs. Companies using self service portals for IT help desks can save money and improve employee productivity. With lowered help desk costs, IT organizations can refocus resources to help solve more complex business problems. (Help Desk Knowledge Base Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Managing Requirements Authoring for Complex Application Development Using the Microsoft Office System – Software development projects can be bolstered by more effective requirements gathering and authoring. With today’s distributed development teams often located in different time zones, communication and collaboration can be a challenge in the requirement-definition process. Leveraging XML as the backbone for data integration, solutions for requirements authoring using the Microsoft Office System can enable development teams to more easily author and edit requirements documents for complex projects. (Managing Requirements Authoring Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Managing Six Sigma Projects Using the Microsoft Office System – Six Sigma is a continuous process improvement methodology that helps companies reduce expenses and increase profits by streamlining operations, improving quality, and eliminating defects. Six Sigma solutions built using the Microsoft Office System can help Six Sigma intiatives succeed by establishing an infrastructure for financial results tracking, project and resource management, and enhanced collaboration and knowledge sharing capabilities. Solutions that use familiar Microsoft technologies can be deployed quickly without disrupting the organization and with minimal training costs. (Six Sigma Projects Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Maximize Strategic Investments with IT Governance Using the Microsoft Office System – In order to make strategic decisions about IT investment in an organization, executives must be able to measure, compare, and respond to varying performance indicators across many projects. An IT governance executive dashboard solution based on the Microsoft Office System can help align IT spending with business strategy by automating access to critical business information on IT initiatives and accelerating identification of problems or risks in time to realign projects with new priorities. (Investments with IT Governance Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Restaurant Business Intelligence for Managers Using the Microsoft Office System – With volumes of granular data, restaurateurs need to be able to analyze business performance quickly to respond to an ever-changing marketplace. Unfortunately, many enterprises rely on proprietary database solutions that require batch reports to be manually created, resulting in analysis of stale data. Restaurant business intelligence solutions based on the Microsoft Office System give food service management the tools they need to analyze and collaborate on unit performance in real time, improve efficiency, lower costs, and identify key business trends to help keep them ahead of their competition. (Restaurant Business Intelligence Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Running Efficient Oil and Gas Projects Using the Microsoft Office System – Project intelligence solutions using the Microsoft Office System provide tools and business processes that enable oil and gas companies to effectively define, plan, and manage capital projects. Stakeholders across the value chain can benefit from such solutions to drive more transparency and predictability from their capital projects. With more visibility into the overall project processes, better decisions can be made in a timely manner so projects can be completed and can meet return on investment (ROI) expectations. (Oil and Gas Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Simplifying Clinical Trial Management Using the Microsoft Office System – One of the largest barriers pharmaceutical companies face in bringing new drugs to market is the clinical trial process. Often paper-based and always subject to intense regulatory pressure, clinical trials involve managing massive amounts of documentation between multiple parties and systems. A clinical trial solution based on the Microsoft Office System can help make it easier to plan effective trials, capture patient data, and manage administration tasks more efficiently. (Clinical Trial Management Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Streamlining Legal Case Management for Government Agencies Using the Microsoft Office System – Government agencies that manage legal cases often waste precious time and resources on the manual and administrative tasks of creating, finding, copying, and sharing case documents. With a solution based on the Microsoft Office System, agencies can streamline processes to connect people and data within a department or across the entire agency, which helps them manage work more efficiently, resolve cases faster, and provide better service to constituents.
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• Streamlining Project Initiation for Professional Services Using the Microsoft Office System – For many large, professional services firms, especially those with multiple departments and offices in several cities, increased business opportunities mean new process challenges. These challenges include tracking hundreds of employees’ billable hours and managing documentation for many concurrent projects. A solution to streamline project initiation can help these firms save time, increase revenue, and improve customer service by simplifying activity code creation and by delivering project workspaces to organize information and enhance team collaboration. (Project Initiation Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Streamlining Regulated Document Management Using the Microsoft Office System – To comply with an ever-increasing number of regulations governing electronic data, the life sciences industry must maintain strict controls over the way this data is managed and tracked. But these same controls can also impede workflow speed and efficiency. The Microsoft Office System provides the tools and flexibility needed for efficient document management without compromising the security needed for compliance. (Regulated Document Management Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Streamlining Retail Store Openings Using the Microsoft Office System – Using tools and methodologies that can assign, monitor, and report on the hundreds of discrete tasks associated with new store openings, the solution for store openings based on the Microsoft Office System helps companies streamline and refine the business processes of store opening projects. This enables companies to open stores faster within a given budget, perform tasks in a standardized and repeatable fashion, and better use existing technology assets to help manage corporate governance and compliance requirements. (Retail Store Openings Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Taking Real-Time Actions with Better Plant Floor Visibility and Intelligence Using the Microsoft Office System – Plant floor visibility solutions that leverage the capabilities of the Microsoft Office System provide real-time operational data through intuitive visual displays, delivering business insights to help make fast and informed decisions. Manufacturers can take swift actions to improve product offerings to better respond to customer demands. Plant floor processes can be adjusted based on real-time intelligence to enhance operational efficiency. Collaboration can be improved using a role-based portal as the workspace where all relevant information and key performance indicators (KPIs) are located. (Plant Floor Visibility Interactive Demo)
  
  
• Unlocking Workforce Potential with Employee Performance Reviews Using the Microsoft Office System – Employees are often a company's most valuable asset, since they have the greatest potential to influence the bottom line. To realize this potential, the work of employees should be aligned with and further the goals of the company. Unfortunately, most performance review processes are not designed for this purpose. A performance review solution based on the Microsoft Office System gives companies the power and flexibility they need to bridge the gap between employee potential and corporate performance. (Employee Performance Reviews Interactive Demo)