News

Microsoft Provides “Elixir” for Outlook

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• January 12, 2006

A year after first disclosing its internal “Project Elixir,” Microsoft has begun releasing sample code and documentation so that developers can use it as a pattern to design their own integrated front-end and back-end systems around Outlook 2003.

“Project Elixir uses Microsoft Office 2003 as the development platform and Microsoft Outlook as the familiar user interface to make data in its back-end systems more accessible to the company’s sales force,” a company spokesperson said in an e-mail to ENTmag.com this week.

Internally, Project Elixir delivers data from four company systems -- customer relationship management, customer support, as well as sales history and marketing databases -- from the back-end systems to the Outlook client via Web services.

The move is just another part of Microsoft’s push to transform Office from a group of integrated productivity applications into a “platform” that developers and integrators view as a crucial part of integrated solutions.

Microsoft has made the documentation and sample code, including that for a CRM integration “add-in” for Outlook, available to MSDN subscribers. The company says the sample code is designed to provide “guidance,” not a technology solution, enabling other companies to implement similar systems.