Most enterprises have deployed the venerable Microsoft Exchange Server as their back-end "group-ware" application, but are you using all it's capabilities?

There are several features in Microsoft Outlook that users don't realize can make their lives easier, for example, there is task assignment options with tracking, there is journaling option and lets not forget the ability to track activities for objects (be they contacts, appointments or emails.) But, that is the topic for another day, today we'll dig into specific features that Exchange brings to the table.

First and foremost, there is a high value in being able to store all emails, contacts, appointments, and even files in a central storage area which gets backed up. Another advantage that Exchange gives you is seamless, anywhere, any device access. Since Exchange stores all the information centrally, this information can be seamlessly accessed via web, handheld or using the good old Microsoft Outlook. The web based capabilities will be considerably better in the upcoming Exchange 2010, but Exchange 2007 does a pretty good job of giving you the same functionality as Outlook.

Exchange allows users to share their mailbox objects with other users. So if you wanted to share your calendar with your assistant, you don't need to call the IT department, simply right click your calendar, go to properties, click on permissions and add the appropriate permissions for the user you want to share your calendar with.

Even if you don't share you calendar, other users can see your free/busy schedule. So even though users cannot see the details of your appointments (for privacy reasons), they can see if you are in the office, out of the office, busy or available at a specific time. This is a productivity enhancing feature of interest. It allows other users to send you appointment requests instantly that don't conflict with your existing schedule.

Users also have the capability to delegate "send on behalf of permissions". This allows another person to send email on your behalf. You can do this from Outlook by clicking on Tools, Options, Delegates. The recipient will know that the email they received was sent on your behalf by someone else.

These features pertain to user mailboxes, another powerful feature that Microsoft tried to remove from Exchange unsuccessfully is Public Folders. I'll write about Public Folders and how enterprises are using them to meet business needs another time.

I'll be out of the office for about a month starting July 28th. I'm going on a motorcycle trip to the arctic circle. I plan on routinely documenting the ride with plenty of pics here.