Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Tool: Adoption Reporting

  • Article

Abstract: The Adoption Reporting Tool enables administrators to more easily measure both usage and adoption of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in their enterprise. You can download this tool from the Download Center.

Author: Sasa Juratovic

Publication date: October 2010

Product version: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Some customers experience difficulty in quantifying the adoption and usage of their deployment of Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Although the anecdotal feedback is often very positive, it lacks additional context and supporting evidence. The burden of proof that Communications Server 2007 R2 creates a positive impact on the business was unfortunately left as an exercise for the customer. With the Adoption Reporting Tool, Microsoft now provides a tool to help provide these business-analytic metrics. You can download the Adoption Reporting Tool from the Download Center.

The Adoption Reporting Tool offers the following features:

  • Ease of use This tool is meant to be deployed and run by administrators that have various skill levels.
  • Adoption accelerator materials Each report is accompanied by a set of adoption accelerator materials that can be used to accelerate adoption of specific Office Communications Server modalities.
  • Export to CSV file Report metrics can be exported into CSV files for charting or other purposes.
  • Logging Run-time logging provides useful information for troubleshooting purposes.
  • Online Help Provides the necessary details to deploy and run this tool. Help also describes reports and associated metrics that the tool collects.

The following scenario illustrates how this tool can be used to benefit an organization. There is a company-wide mandate to reduce the cost of travel. As much as possible, meetings are to be conducted online by using the built-in audio/visual capabilities in Communications Server 2007 R2. To monitor usage and adoption of Communications Server 2007 R2 technologies, the administrator can use the Adoption Reporting Tool to take data "snapshots" on a monthly basis over a period of six months. Every month, the administrator can report to upper management the adoption trends as well as the actions taken to accelerate adoption.

The following video provides a brief overview about how to use the Adoption Reporting Tool.

To learn more about the Adoption Reporting Tool, download its Help file. It contains detailed information to help you successfully install and run this tool. It also contains report descriptions and the metrics that this tool collects.

Summary

One of the most common requests from administrators is for a way to more easily measure usage and adoption of Communications Server 2007 R2 in the enterprise. Further, they want to know what unified communications (UC) technologies (for example, instant messaging, audio/visual, web conferencing, and so on) that users prefer and areas where users need to be better educated. The Adoption Reporting Tool helps address these enterprise needs.

[Video]