Large-scale systems such as SAP and PeopleSoft, and other comprehensive line of business (LOB) systems, are critical for the successful management of all types of business data and processes. However, not everyone in an organization has access to these systems, so the business data in them is often available to only a select few. This often results in data being extracted out of the system for processing, creating a disconnect between the business data source and the information workers who consume that data.
Office Business Applications (OBAs) address this problem by using Microsoft® Office to bridge the divide between business data in LOB systems and the information worker. Office features allow you to perform tasks such as integrating customer relationship management (CRM) data into Microsoft Outlook® through custom form regions and folders, integrating business intelligence into Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server (MOSS) to provide views into Sales performance data, and even integrating Microsoft Excel® with finance data to provide forecast templates that use data directly from LOB systems, to name a few.
