The objective of this Assignment:
To demonstrate the ability to effectively use advanced Outlook functions to organize an inbox.
Scenario
For this project, imagine that you are starting a job as an administrative officer at Boddy & Boddy Associates. Part of this role involves managing the generic inbox for the company, the email address that acts to funnel communication throughout the company and between internal staff and external clients. Using what you’ve learned in this course so far, you will need to determine what tools you can use to manage this inbox.
Pre-Assignment Instructions:
Open the “Midterm Project – Inbox” file. This Excel file represents the contents of the inbox that you have been tasked to organize. There are four tabs in this file: Inbox, Sent Items, Contacts, and Calendar.
The Inbox tab represents an Outlook Inbox that you need to organize. Each line in this tab represents one email.
The Sent Items tab represents a list of sent emails. Each line in this tab represents one sent email.
The Contacts tab represents a list of contacts in Outlook. Each line in this tab represents one contact.
The calendar tab represents a calendar in Outlook. The items in the calendar tab represent scheduled meetings.
Assignment Task:
Write a 3-5 page report detailing how you would use Outlook to organize the inbox represented in the “Midterm Project – Inbox” file. Your report can be supported by images or tables, but they should not occupy more than oneone-quarter the report. In the report, respond to the following questions. Approximate page lengths are given for each question as a rough guide to the level of detail to include, but they are not mandatory. Take as long or short as you need to provide a complete answer.
How would you use folders and categorization to facilitate retrieval of important emails from this inbox (response ~ 1 page long)?
There are many different ways to do this. Do not worry about understanding the details of every email. You will only be able to see the subject line and the other information in the Excel sheet. Do not try to organize every email; instead, look for overall patterns and explain your reasoning. The main goal is for you to develop and explain an organizational strategy.
What tools could simplify the process of organizing and responding to emails (response ~ 1 page long)?
How could the features of Calendar be used to better manage the listed events in this calendar (response ~ 0.5 page long)?
How could you organize Contacts for this Inbox (response ~ 0.5 page long)?
How could the Tasks feature be used in the context of managing this Inbox (response ~ 0.5 page long)?
What is one product integration that would be useful in managing this Inbox (response ~ 0.5 page long)?
Tips for Using this Excel Sheet
To help you find patterns in the Excel document, you can use the arrows next to the top row headers to filter the Excel list by specific items or to sort the list by a particular category.
If you aren’t comfortable with Excel, you may find it helpful to print the document so that you can write notes on it to guide your thought process.
Questions to Help Guide Your Analysis
You don’t have to answer these in your report, but considering them may help.
Consider the flow of information through this Inbox:
Are there any email chains?
What are common topics that appear in the subject lines, and how can these topics be grouped?
Who is sending information about certain topics, and where is that information being sent afterwards (sent items and contacts)?
Do any of the emails connect to upcoming events?
