June 10, 1999

You can upgrade to Microsoft Outlook® 2000 at the same time that you deploy Microsoft Office 2000. You can also choose to deploy Outlook separately from other Office applications, or even at different times for different groups of users. Each strategy has different requirements - and unique advantages.

Note   Future issues of the Office Resource Kit Journal will provide more detailed information about deploying Outlook and about managing your organization's transition to the new version.

Deploy Outlook when you deploy Office

You can deploy Outlook 2000 as a part of your overall upgrade to Office 2000. Outlook is included in the following editions:

• Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
• Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
• Microsoft Office 2000 Standard
• Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business

Unless you have specific reasons for not including Outlook in your Office deployment, this strategy is the simplest option. By deploying Office all at once, you avoid the extra steps involved in customizing separate installations.

Deploy Outlook before other Office applications

In some circumstances, you might choose to upgrade your organization to Outlook 2000 before you deploy other Office applications.

For example, deploying Outlook early might make sense in the following scenarios:

• You want to test custom solutions that rely on previous versions of Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel before you deploy those Office 2000 applications.
• Your messaging support group has the resources to upgrade to Outlook now, but the desktop applications support group must wait to deploy the rest of Office.

You can use any of the following methods to deploy Outlook before you install Office:

• Install the standalone version of Outlook from its own administrative installation point.

  Later, you can create a separate administrative installation point for Office and direct users to upgrade from there at the scheduled time.

• Install the standalone version of Outlook from the same administrative installation point from which you plan to deploy Office.

  With this method you must rename the Setup program files for both Office and Outlook to prevent the files from being overwritten.

• Run Office Setup to install only Outlook.

  Later, you can rerun Office Setup in maintenance mode to install the rest of Office.

Advantages

By deploying Outlook promptly, users can begin reaping the benefits of new features immediately, without waiting for testing or technical support to become available for upgrading to the rest of Office.

Disadvantages

When you deploy the other Office applications later on, you must customize the installation process carefully to preserve your original Outlook settings.

If you install Outlook from a separate administrative installation point, you must also allow for more disk space because files common to all of Office are duplicated on the server.

If you install Outlook from the same administrative installation point as Office, you must take extra steps to manage multiple versions of the Setup files or to modify installation options.

Deploy Outlook after Office

You can wait to deploy Outlook until after you have upgraded to Office 2000. For example, if any of the following scenarios describe your organization, you might consider delaying your deployment of Outlook:

• You plan to combine your Outlook deployment with a future upgrade of Microsoft Exchange Server.
• You want to convert Lotus Notes to a Microsoft Exchange Server solution before you upgrade to Outlook.
• Your desktop support group has the resources to upgrade to Office now, but the messaging support group must wait to deploy Outlook.

You can use any of the following methods to deploy Outlook after you install Office:

• Install the standalone version of Outlook from a separate administrative installation point.
• Install the standalone version of Outlook from the same administrative installation point from which you deployed Office.

  With this method you must rename the Setup program files for both Office and Outlook to prevent the files from being overwritten.

• Run Office Setup to install Office but exclude Outlook.

  Later, you can rerun Office Setup in maintenance mode to install Outlook.

Advantages

In many organizations, it makes sense to coordinate Outlook deployment with an upgrade of a mail server, rather than with an upgrade of other desktop applications.

Disadvantages

When you install Office without Outlook, you must explicitly change default Setup settings in the Custom Installation Wizard so that previous versions of Outlook are not removed from users' computers.

Regardless of when or how you install Outlook separately from Office, you must take extra steps to manage duplicate files, multiple versions of the Setup files, or customizations to the installation process.

Deploy Outlook for some users before others

Some groups in your organization might be ready to upgrade to Outlook immediately. Other groups might need more time to prepare or find additional resources.

For example, you might decide to stagger your deployment of Outlook under the following conditions:

• Your normal policy is to stagger upgrades to ensure a smooth rollout of new software throughout your organization, and you want to deploy Outlook to a pilot team first.
• You have remote systems support groups (for example, in regional sales offices) that require relative autonomy in scheduling upgrades for their areas.
• Some groups want to wait until after a project deadline before making changes to their local computers.
• You have limited resources for staging and upgrading systems throughout your organization.

Advantages

Staggering your Outlook deployment gives you more flexibility for managing your upgrading resources. In addition, pilot users immediately become familiar with the new features and productivity enhancements of Outlook 2000.

Having users on different versions of Outlook within an organization does not pose any significant technical problems. Outlook 2000 users can communicate seamlessly with users of Outlook 97/98.

Disadvantages

You must take into account the logistics of scheduling and managing a staggered deployment. You might also encounter extra overhead to support users on different versions of the same product.

Related links

For more information about implementing a staggered deployment, see Staging Your Deployment of Office Premium in the Office 2000 Resource Kit.