Additional Phone Number Fields

P

PMokover

Outlook newbie...

Is it possible to add additional phone number fields to Outlook 2007
contacts? Business and Business 2 already exist but I need Business 3,
Business 4, etc. Can that be done. If so, how?

Thanks.
Peter
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

J

Jim Robertson

You can design a custom form. See this:
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?ID=35
Click to expand...

I'm new to Outlook (a physician trying to nudge his 4-doc practice from
pen/paper/19th century towards early 21st).

My first project with the SBS 2008 Server I've installed was to create a
calendar in a Public Folder on our Exchange 2007 server (part of the default
install of SBS 2008) for docs and staff to get an overview of who's working,
who's away, what meetings are coming up, etc. Right now, I've set it so that
I and the office manager are the only people who can edit the calendar
(she's not yet ready to do so), but all of us can view it.

Making this work correctly both locally, over OWA, and over Outlook Anywhere
took me several days (should give readers a clue as to my lack of
familiarity with how Outlook works under the hood). I'm not a TOTAL newbie,
however; I was able figure out how to make my Mac Pro tower at home accept
the SBS Server OS in a native installation on one of its internal drives and
run two different wireless networks for initial testing (one with dhcp
managed by the Server whenever I'd be testing, the other with dhcp managed
by one of my two 802.11n routers so that my wife and kids didn't shoot me
WHILE I was testing).

Having created our practice calendar (this isn't anything as ambitious as
patient scheduling - we'll leave that to a commercial electronic health
record that we'll purchase once our Uncle Samuel in DC tells us which ones
he endorses), I've started contemplating putting our patient demographic and
referring physician contact information into Outlook. This would be part of
our prep for our eventual installation of commercia EHR

Is it likely that a non-programmer could create a custom Outlook contact
form that would store additional fields that require patterned input; e.g.,
"social security number", or pick-list limited input; e.g., "referring
physician" (which would link to the referring physician's own entry in the
Outlook database) or custom check box fields; e.g., "active", "deceased",
"dialysis patient", etc..

The main purpose of this form would be to get this information into a simple
database that would provide us temporary access to it but also help prepare
us for the implementation of a true commercial EHR (we'd hope to be able to
export the data then for import into the EHR).

Thanks so much,
Jim Robertson
 
L

Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert

I'm new to Outlook (a physician trying to nudge his 4-doc practice from
pen/paper/19th century towards early 21st).

My first project with the SBS 2008 Server I've installed was to create a
calendar in a Public Folder on our Exchange 2007 server (part of the default
install of SBS 2008) for docs and staff to get an overview of who's working,
who's away, what meetings are coming up, etc. Right now, I've set it so that
I and the office manager are the only people who can edit the calendar
(she's not yet ready to do so), but all of us can view it.

Making this work correctly both locally, over OWA, and over Outlook Anywhere
took me several days (should give readers a clue as to my lack of
familiarity with how Outlook works under the hood). I'm not a TOTAL newbie,
however; I was able figure out how to make my Mac Pro tower at home accept
the SBS Server OS in a native installation on one of its internal drives and
run two different wireless networks for initial testing (one with dhcp
managed by the Server whenever I'd be testing, the other with dhcp managed
by one of my two 802.11n routers so that my wife and kids didn't shoot me
WHILE I was testing).

Having created our practice calendar (this isn't anything as ambitious as
patient scheduling - we'll leave that to a commercial electronic health
record that we'll purchase once our Uncle Samuel in DC tells us which ones
he endorses), I've started contemplating putting our patient demographic and
referring physician contact information into Outlook. This would be part of
our prep for our eventual installation of commercia EHR

Is it likely that a non-programmer could create a custom Outlook contact
form that would store additional fields that require patterned input; e.g.,
"social security number", or pick-list limited input; e.g., "referring
physician" (which would link to the referring physician's own entry in the
Outlook database) or custom check box fields; e.g., "active", "deceased",
"dialysis patient", etc..

The main purpose of this form would be to get this information into a simple
database that would provide us temporary access to it but also help prepare
us for the implementation of a true commercial EHR (we'd hope to be able to
export the data then for import into the EHR).

Thanks so much,
Jim Robertson
Click to expand...
I'd probably recommend BCM or Sharepoint for this.

BCM supports custom fields and will be much easier to customize. It has
ability to store data offline and to share it as well. You can use it as
a light-weight CRM solution to track patients over time. The data is
stored in a standard SQL database and so it's easily exportable. It
won't support web-based entry as of 2007. I thought of adding that
product in the past, but got side-tracked.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100650271033.aspx

One fair warning about BCM - we have a dedicated group for it, but I am
aware of fewer than 10 people who support this product.

I can't make a specific recommendation about Sharepoint for this
application, but I am sure Sharepoint groups would have much to say.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

J

Jim Robertson

I would not recommend BCM for this - I don't think I would even suggest
Outlook for it. I'd use Access or Infopath against SQL. Sharepoint is an
option too.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at this as a VERY temporary solution (months to less than two
years) for a small LAN consisting of a an SBS 2008 server, 4 docs who work
with laptops on and off the domain, and 5 office staff with workstations
permanently on the domain. We're on a limited budget, and my idea was to use
the tools we now have (MS Office Outlook for some staffers, Outlook Web
Access for others) to get patient and referring physician information into a
contact form that would be usable now but capable of being migrated to a
commercial electronic health record once we purchased one.

Adding a second server box and upgrading our SBS license to premium and
buying BCM licenses for our office staff just to make our lives a little bit
easier now and migration easier later (especially since after the migration
we'd have no use for BCM) probably doesn't make sense.

I know nothing about InfoPath. I've peeked at its product page, which
suggest it can be used to design forms that can be opened in Outlook. I also
haven't begun exploring SharePoint yet (I'm a Mac guy doing this in my spare
time).

Is InfoPath a tool that I could use to modify the basic Outlook contacts
template so that users on our SBS domain using the full Outlook client or
OWA could open a contact form for patients that would contain the additional
data elements (referring physician, Social Security Number, and yes/no
status fields for which a checkbox would be the interface element (active
patient, deceased, dialysis, and transplant would be examples)? Or would we
need the SQL server?

Sorry to ask such basic questions. I'm taking baby steps here :)

Jim Robertson
 
L

Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert

I'm looking at this as a VERY temporary solution (months to less than two
years) for a small LAN consisting of a an SBS 2008 server, 4 docs who work
with laptops on and off the domain, and 5 office staff with workstations
permanently on the domain. We're on a limited budget, and my idea was to use
the tools we now have (MS Office Outlook for some staffers, Outlook Web
Access for others) to get patient and referring physician information into a
contact form that would be usable now but capable of being migrated to a
commercial electronic health record once we purchased one.

Adding a second server box and upgrading our SBS license to premium and
buying BCM licenses for our office staff just to make our lives a little bit
easier now and migration easier later (especially since after the migration
we'd have no use for BCM) probably doesn't make sense.

I know nothing about InfoPath. I've peeked at its product page, which
suggest it can be used to design forms that can be opened in Outlook. I also
haven't begun exploring SharePoint yet (I'm a Mac guy doing this in my spare
time).

Is InfoPath a tool that I could use to modify the basic Outlook contacts
template so that users on our SBS domain using the full Outlook client or
OWA could open a contact form for patients that would contain the additional
data elements (referring physician, Social Security Number, and yes/no
status fields for which a checkbox would be the interface element (active
patient, deceased, dialysis, and transplant would be examples)? Or would we
need the SQL server?

Sorry to ask such basic questions. I'm taking baby steps here :)

Jim Robertson
Click to expand...
If you have Office Professional or Small Business, you already have BCM.
If not, it's a $149/seat SKU product. It does not require a dedicated
server as it is a light-weight application.

I will disagree with using Access in this case. That's custom
application development. Custom == $$$. Then again, whenever I see the
suggestion of access, I counter it with Asp.net web applications. Amount
of development time is similar, yet the user is not tied down to Access.

BCM would store all this data easily, can handle links to files on the
file system, and the 2010 version is even more flexible. It is basically
a SQL server interface on top of Outlook with built-in replication,
easily customizable forms (unlike Outlook, which I consider to be a
custom application development), and other normally expensive features.
The page to which I linked illustrates how it is done. In fact, now that
I think about it, I might simply build a commercial EMR solution on top
of it. Thanks for that idea.

You definitely don't have Infopath, which comes only with the most
full-featured SKUs of Office (Professional Plus, Enterprise, and I think
maybe Ultimate). That is again custom application development and
carries much higher cost.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)
 
J

Jim Robertson

If you have Office Professional or Small Business, you already have BCM.
If not, it's a $149/seat SKU product. It does not require a dedicated
server as it is a light-weight application.
Click to expand...

I have Office Standard. I don't know what other people in our business have,
but I think those who have Office have Standard. At the moment, we haven't
planned for those who don't have Office to buy it, relying instead on OWA
for them.
--snip--
Click to expand...
The page to which I linked illustrates how it is done. In fact, now that
I think about it, I might simply build a commercial EMR solution on top
of it. Thanks for that idea.
Click to expand...

I guess you haven't been on the same playground as the geniuses at CMS who
are implementing the "stimulus" portions of the "HiTech Act." They're
stumbling all over themselves trying to write so many regulations and
penalties that it's going to be a nightmare.

In any event, I'll look at BCM. Just so I understand, however: if I
struggled with InfoPath (or if someone who knew what he was doing used it as
a development tool), the result would require a SQL server, not just
SharePoint. Is that correct?

I REALLY appreciate your willingness to help me sort out what this is all
about.

Jim Robertson
 
J

Jim Robertson

If you have Office Professional or Small Business, you already have BCM.
If not, it's a $149/seat SKU product. It does not require a dedicated
server as it is a light-weight application.
Click to expand...

Sorry to keep bothering you.

I couldn't find a stand-alone trial version of BCM. The only download from
MS appears to be as part of MS Office Professional. I already have Office
Standard installed on Win 7 VMs on both my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro. It's
not obvious to me how I add the BCM without installing all of Office
Professional.

Is there a stand-alone DL of BCM available? If I install BCM trial, when it
expires, will I need to reactivate my Office Standard or the Outlook client
within it?

Is there another way of demonstrating for myself how BCM might be usable for
my purposes?

Thanks again,
Jim Robertson
 
L

Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert

Sorry to keep bothering you.

I couldn't find a stand-alone trial version of BCM. The only download from
MS appears to be as part of MS Office Professional. I already have Office
Standard installed on Win 7 VMs on both my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro. It's
not obvious to me how I add the BCM without installing all of Office
Professional.

Is there a stand-alone DL of BCM available? If I install BCM trial, when it
expires, will I need to reactivate my Office Standard or the Outlook client
within it?

Is there another way of demonstrating for myself how BCM might be usable for
my purposes?

Thanks again,
Jim Robertson
Click to expand...
A standalone SKU means you need to buy the product. $149/license. It was
created specifically to address this concern.

This product is not included with Office 2007 Standard. If you purchased
the Office 2007 product within the last 90 days, something could be done
about that with volume licensing but that's off-topic and unlikely.

There is actually no such thing as BCM trial and it won't stop working
unlike other Office products (in fact, that's how we install it on
volume license deployments where BCM is excluded from the download
package but legal to use), but you can't legally use it with Office 2007
Standard. The only way you could legally try it would be to uninstall
your licensed version of Office 2007 Standard and install trial of
Office 2007 Professional, install BCM on top of that. You might as well
install Office 2010 Professional Plus beta while you are at it and enjoy
the improvements.

There is an upgrade SKU for Office 2007 Small Business, but it will
actually buy you Office 2010 Professional as of today.

For a preview, see
http://www.microsoft.com/events/ser....aspx?tab=Webcasts&seriesid=46&webcastid=2214

Customization is covered at about 12 minutes into video.

More webcasts are available at
http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/officesystemwebcasts.aspx?tab=webcasts&id=42401
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Try Exchange Online http://bit.ly/free-exchange-trial
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you :)
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

Will the EHR system be able to import Outlook or BCM data? If not, migration
may not be easy. I would first find out what format the main EHR systems
can import and plan from there. You don't want to spend hours creating the
records in Outlook only to discover you can't import them into the EHR
system.

BCM data is not accessible from OWA.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee693018.aspx for info on
customizing OWA forms. It's not as simple as customizing an Outlook form and
having it available in OWA. It's actually a lot of effort - definitely more
effort than its worth for 6 months use. You could probably put something
together in Access with a SQL backend (SQL Express if your SBS doesn't
include it) that can be accessed using either Access or Infopath.

If it comes down to hiring someone to develop a system for you, you're
probably better off putting the funds into EHR (dev work can be pricey).
With just basic knowledge of Access and the desire to learn, you could do a
database yourself fairly easily. It won't be fancy, but it will store the
data. If your office version doesn't have Access (or Infopath), I wouldn't
buy it - save the money for the EHR and use sharepoint. It can be accessed
over the web (although you need to be sure its secure and in compliance with
HIPPA).


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

Do you sync your mailbox with a smartphone or pda?
http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?t=39473
 
D

Diane Poremsky [MVP]

I guess you haven't been on the same playground as the geniuses at CMS who
are implementing the "stimulus" portions of the "HiTech Act." They're
stumbling all over themselves trying to write so many regulations and
penalties that it's going to be a nightmare.
Click to expand...

A friend is a dev for one of the top companies. It's no fun for them either.
:) They need their software ready to go when the regs are finished.
In any event, I'll look at BCM. Just so I understand, however: if I
struggled with InfoPath (or if someone who knew what he was doing used it
as
a development tool), the result would require a SQL server, not just
SharePoint. Is that correct?
Click to expand...

SQL Express will do.
 
J

Jim Robertson

Will the EHR system be able to import Outlook or BCM data? If not, migration
may not be easy. I would first find out what format the main EHR systems
can import and plan from there. You don't want to spend hours creating the
records in Outlook only to discover you can't import them into the EHR
system.

BCM data is not accessible from OWA.
Click to expand...

As to point 1, with the requirement for interoperability among EHRs to be
"certified" by CMS or whomever they delegate, I can't imagine that
demographic data in CVS tables couldn't be massaged into whatever we use
eventually, but you're absolutely correct; I should ask that question of any
vendors with whom we're considering working.

As to point 2, that's very relevant to our current needs. Poking around, I
discovered there are user-definable fields in standard Outlook (apparently 4
of them). Their value types can be specified, but the range of formatting
options; e.g., for numeric values, is limited, such that it doesn't seem
possible to have a string of 9 inputted integers display in the format
###-##-#### (as would be desirable for SSN's). Moreover, it's not obvious to
me how to make those extra fields appear on the standard contacts forms.
I'll explore that a bit more.

Things like "pick lists" for referring MD and insurance company could
probably be handled by links instead.

Jim Robertson
 

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