There are many ideas that the upcoming release of Micorsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) Managed API announced at PDC 2008 brings to mind.  The ease in which Tasks, Events, Appointments and other Microsoft Exchange items can be created or pulled from the Exchange environment and integrated with other web based solutions has sparked many ideas.

Read on to see how some eGROUP engineers are using Exchange Web Services to solve time entry needs and how the same processes can increase worker efficiency in other areas!

<!--more-->

When faced with the task of coming up with new and easy to use front end solution to time entry and expense tracking for eGroup engineers.  One of the first ideas brought to the table was to integrate personal  Microsoft Exchange calendars with the company accounting system.  Using Exchange Web Services and a single page .Net application engineers are able to record their time as appointments in their calendars and import them into the time tracking database in a few short steps.

By creating web services that leverage the Exchange Web Services SDK the application is able to query a individuals calendar with a variety of parameters and pull the relevant time tracking information directly from the body of the appointment item.  This allows engineers to use a familiar interface to quickly track their time as they work throughout the week and conveniently import it into the company accounting system without having to rekey data.

The end result?  Lots of saved time and increased engineer productivity.

There are many uses for Exchange Web Services that come to mind when working with the possibility of searching email, calendars, tasks, etc... and integrating that vital business information with other systems.  Almost every company has something sent to a mailbox on a regular basis that causes an employee to perform a routine action.  Automating these processes with Exchange Web Services and a custom applications can increase employe productivity and add a level of  consistancy and reliability to a key business process.

Contact eGroup and see how we can help enhance your business processes through Exchange Web Services, Custom ASP.Net development, and other business process enhancement  tools.