Deploying office 2007

Deploying the 2007 Office release with Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 R2

March 2007

Summary
The scope of this white paper is to provide detailed technical guidance on the planning, processes and procedures when using Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Release 2 (R2) to deploy the 2007 Microsoft Office release in a medium to large network environment.

IntroductionMany organizations use desktop productivity applications such as Microsoft® Office to enhance competitiveness and to achieve more with fewer resources. Microsoft continually seeks to improve the applications within Microsoft Office and the integration of these applications with external services. The 2007 Office release, the latest release of Microsoft Office, provides significantimprovements in usability, interoperability, collaboration, and ease of deployment. However, organizations that want to benefit from the improvements in the 2007 Office release must first deploy the 2007 Office release on their client computers.
SMS 2003 R2 is the most recent version of the Microsoft desktop, server, and device management system, aimed at medium to large organizations. SMS 2003 R2builds on SMS 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) to provide additional functionality in the areas of third-party application updates and system vulnerability assessment. Although the guidance in this paper is identical for SMS 2003 and SMS 2003 R2, all product references are to SMS 2003 R2.
When combined with the new deployment tools in the 2007 Office release, SMS 2003 R2 is the best solution fordeploying the latest version of Microsoft Office into medium and large network environments.

Audience
The target audience for this paper is IT professionals, including those who currently do not use SMS 2003. These IT professionals could include network managers, consultants, and IT managers who work for or with medium to large enterprises.

Prerequisites
Priorknowledge and experience will help readers understand and apply the information in this paper, particularly experience in the following areas:
● SMS 2003 or SMS 2.0
● Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office XP, or Microsoft Office 2000
● 2007 Office Resource Kit (ORK)

Network Environment
Rather than address a complex network environment, which would require asignificantly longer white paper, the authors have confined this discussion to a simpler setup. Hence, this document includes the following network environment:
● Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 R2
● Microsoft Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) clients
● SMS 2003 R2
● Microsoft Office Standard 2007, Microsoft Office Professional 2007, Office Professional Plus 2007, OfficeUltimate 2007, or Office Enterprise 2007
● Single local area network (LAN)
● Single SMS Site

Note: This paper does not cover multisite scenarios, wide area network (WAN) links, or VPN connections. For further guidance from Microsoft, see the Systems Management Server 2003 Product Documentation (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=78506&clcid=0x409) Web site.

IPreparing to Deploy the 2007 Office release

Microsoft Office is the most popular suite of desktop productivity applications in the world. The 2007 Office release seeks to build on this popularity by offering features that generate real business benefits for organizations. The 2007 Office release includes eight suites, with each suite specifically tailored to typical users' requirements.
●Office Basic 2007
● Office Home and Student 2007
● Office Small Business 2007
● Office Standard 2007
● Office Professional 2007
● Office Professional Plus 2007
● Office Enterprise 2007
● Office Ultimate 2007
This paper focuses on Microsoft Office Professional 2007. However, the recommendations also apply to Microsoft Office Standard 2007,...