Office 2000 to Office 2003 upgrade value

Our environment of 300+ users is standardized on Windows 2000 Pro and
Office 2000 Pro. Few of the office users are "power users." Most use
Word and Excel with a number of them using Access. However, the
larger Access databases are being converted to SQL Server.

We have already migrated from Outlook 2000 to Oulook 2003 and are
running Exchange 2003 on a Windows Server 2003 platform in a Windows
Server 2003 Domain Controller environment. Most other file and print
servers run on Windows 2000 server.

A question has been presented regarding an upgrade of the Office suite
from Office 2000 Pro to Office 2003 Pro in the next year. Is this a
justifiable move? Can it be justified based on ROI? The licensing
costs are not trivial, we are looking at a quarter of a million
dollars over a three year span for the Office upgrade. At some point
in the next 2 - 3 years we will be upgrading workstation hardware and
the new workstations would include whatever the "current" office suite
is. Current hardware performance is acceptable.

I know that an upgrade includes costs that extend beyond the
product/license price - costs like deployment, user training and
hand-holding, document compatibility, etc.

Have any of you faced this question? How have you handled it, valued
it, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

ChiefDarkCloud

(Please reply to the group, not to me.)

If you already upgraded to Outlook 2003 (presumably with your Exchange 2003
upgrade), you would do well to upgrade the rest of Office. Many automation
functions require the same versions of Outlook and Office, such as mail
merges, send to from Office applications, etc.

--�
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, ChiefDarkCloud
asked:

| Our environment of 300+ users is standardized on Windows 2000 Pro and
| Office 2000 Pro. Few of the office users are "power users." Most use
| Word and Excel with a number of them using Access. However, the
| larger Access databases are being converted to SQL Server.
|
| We have already migrated from Outlook 2000 to Oulook 2003 and are
| running Exchange 2003 on a Windows Server 2003 platform in a Windows
| Server 2003 Domain Controller environment. Most other file and print
| servers run on Windows 2000 server.
|
| A question has been presented regarding an upgrade of the Office suite
| from Office 2000 Pro to Office 2003 Pro in the next year. Is this a
| justifiable move? Can it be justified based on ROI? The licensing
| costs are not trivial, we are looking at a quarter of a million
| dollars over a three year span for the Office upgrade. At some point
| in the next 2 - 3 years we will be upgrading workstation hardware and
| the new workstations would include whatever the "current" office suite
| is. Current hardware performance is acceptable.
|
| I know that an upgrade includes costs that extend beyond the
| product/license price - costs like deployment, user training and
| hand-holding, document compatibility, etc.
|
| Have any of you faced this question? How have you handled it, valued
| it, etc.
|
| Thanks in advance for your help.
|
| ChiefDarkCloud
|
| (Please reply to the group, not to me.)

Milly - could you point to a resource which describes/defines this,
please? We have been running Outlook 2003 with Office 2000
Professional SR1 for a month or better and I have not heard any
wailing or gnashing of teeth over lost functionality. Of course,
maybe said functionality has not been stressed tested in our
environment yet.

Thanks.

ChiefDarkCloud



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote in message ...
If you already upgraded to Outlook 2003 (presumably with your Exchange 2003
upgrade), you would do well to upgrade the rest of Office. Many automation
functions require the same versions of Outlook and Office, such as mail
merges, send to from Office applications, etc.

--�
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]



[snip]