Office Business Applications Developer Portal

Welcome to the Office Business Applications Developer home on MSDN. The 2007 Microsoft Office system provides a comprehensive set of servers, clients, and tools to make it easier for enterprises, software vendors and developers to build and deploy a new class of business applications called Office Business Applications (OBAs). In this section, you will find information about OBAs and how to build them using the Microsoft Office system Platform.

Introduction to OBAs

OBAs connect Line of Business (LOB) systems with the people that use them through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office. OBAs enable businesses to extend the Microsoft Office clients and servers into business processes running in LOB applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM). This enables enterprises to create new value from existing IT investments by combining them in innovative ways.

Bill Gates: Backstage at the Office Developer Conference Watch this Channel 9 interview during which Bill Gates shares the history of Office as a developer platform, some hints on the future of Access, how he personally uses Office 2007, if he still writes code, and his view on whether Office has hit the productivity plateau. Office Business Applications Services Web Site and Security Framework Learn to build custom applications that use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007, SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Integration Services, and the Business Data Catalog.

Video: Ballmer Talks Up Office Business Applications Solution Steve Ballmer talks about integrating software and services with OBAs. Video: Office Business Applications Explained Lewis Levin, Corporate VP, discusses Office Business Applications (OBAs). Video: What is an OBA? Javed Sikander, Director of Industry Architecture, talks about OBAs.

OBA Reference Application Packs (RAP)

Each RAP contains a reference solution architecture and a sample application that illustrate how to build an OBA using the Microsoft Office Platform.

• OBA RAP for Loan Origination Systems
  

  Learn how to build an OBA designed to support cross-functional processes and allow information workers to collaborate, and then download the code to get started.

• Consumer Engagement Reference Architecture (CERA) for Health Plans
  

  Walk through the process of building a reference architecture, and then download the OBA RAP for Health Plans.
  

• OBA RAP for Supply Chain Management
  

  Learn how to build composite applications on the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and then download the code.

• OBA RAP for Price Management
  Get more information of architectural design and building steps of the price management OBA.
• OBA RAP Pack for Manufacturing Plant Floor Analytics
  

  Learn how to build an Analytics OBA using the Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) Platform.

• OBA RAP Pack for E-Forms Processing in the Public Sector
  

  Learn how an OBA can be built to automate and optimize forms processing in a Public Sector organization.

Office Business Applications Services

Office system provides several key capabilities as services that are delivered on both client applications and also on the server. Each of these services has their own Web services interfaces. As a developer, you can take advantage of these services to cleanly integrate core business processes into Office clients and Office servers.

• Web Site and Security Framework
  
• Open XML File Formats
  
• Extensible UI
  
• Business Data Catalog (BDC)
  
• Enterprise Search
  
• Workflow
  

Office Servers, Clients, and Tools

Code Samples and Downloads

• 2007 Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map 2.0
  

  This map is a living document that provides links to MSDN Library reference documentation, MSDN portal pages, and RSS feeds that describe how developers can use the 2007 Microsoft Office system and associated tools and technologies to develop solutions that meet their needs.
  

• Customer Service Request Management
  

  This code sample presents an example of an Office Business Application (OBA) built on the 2007 Microsoft Office system and addresses some of the demanding collaboration and business insight requirements of a CSR application.

• Download VSTO 2005 SE
  

  Find out how to take your Office solutions to the next level.

• Sales Proposal Document Management
  

  Use the sample files in this download to learn how to use the Microsoft Office platform to create a custom solution that allows multiple users to collaborate on the creation of a sales proposal response document.
  

• Set Up a Development Environment (Code Sample)
  Samples include project files and sample files to create a basic Workflow template, a custom task pane, a Word add-in, and event handler. See MSDN article for more information.
• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
  Visual Studio project templates for Web Parts, site definitions, and list definitions; and a stand-alone utility program, the SharePoint Solution Generator.

Related Technologies

• Building ASP .NET Applications
  

  ASP.NET provides a unified Web development model that includes the services necessary for you to build enterprise-class Web applications. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework and enables you to take full advantage of the features of the common language runtime, such as type safety, inheritance, language interoperability, and versioning.

• Introducing the Office (2007) Open XML File Formats
  

  Learn the benefits of the Office Open XML Formats. Users can exchange data between Office applications and enterprise systems using XML and ZIP technologies. Documents are universally accessible. And, you reduce the risk of damaged files.

• How to: Manipulate Office Open XML Formats Documents
  

  Office Open XML Formats files replace legacy binary Office system files. Learn about the components that are included in a formatted file and about several scenarios that show the versatility of these files.

• Connecting Office Applications to MySQL and PostgreSQL via ODBC
  

  In cases where business applications have been built on open source databases, it may be necessary to connect other Windows applications to these databases for reporting or business intelligence purposes. This how-to walks through this process using Excel as an example application.