And the art of delegation is in Outlook
In the corporate world, an administrative assistant is a coveted perk. Administrative assistants make life easier: They handle distractions, they manage crises, and—best of all—you can delegate tasks to them. However, you don't need to be a corner-office bigwig to enjoy the benefits of delegation. Instead, you and your Microsoft Exchange Server's Microsoft Outlook clients can take advantage of the nifty delegation features available in most Outlook versions.
Outlook's easy-to-use delegation features let you automate resource scheduling and delegate Outlook tasks (e.g., Calendar management) to other users. But because the variety of Outlook delegation features can be confusing, users will probably come to you, the Exchange Server administrator, for help.
A Question of Permissions
The easiest delegation method is to grant other users access to your mailbox's folders through the Permissions tab controls on those folders' Properties pages. These controls look like and apply the same predefined roles (e.g., Author, Editor) as the controls you use to grant and deny access to public folders. Figure 1, page 100, shows that Carmen Siems has Editor access to the Calendar. However, Carmen doesn't have access to other folders unless you specifically grant it. You can use the Permissions tab's Permissions check boxes to modify a role's permission set, but you can't use this tab to give other users send permissions.
If You Trust Your Assistant
Giving an assistant permission to send items on your behalf is useful for delegating scheduling tasks. To grant an assistant send (as well as read and modify) privileges, you need to use Outlook to name that assistant's mailbox as a delegate of your mailbox.
To enable this feature, select Tools, Options from the menu bar, and go to the Delegates tab. You can browse for a user's name or enter it manually. Clicking Add, then clicking OK assigns that user as a delegate and brings up the Delegate Permissions dialog box, which Figure 2, page 100, shows. From this dialog box, you specify delegate permissions. To open this dialog box for a previously added delegate, click the Delegates tab's Permissions button. The Delegates tab's Properties button shows you the selected user's Global Address List (GAL) properties (e.g., distribution list—DL—membership).
The Delegates feature lets you assign only predefined roles: Editor, which permits creating, reading, modifying, removing, and sending; Author, which permits reading, creating, and sending; Reviewer, which permits reading only; and None, which denies all access. By default, new delegates have Editor permissions to the Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks folders and the None permission to the Inbox, Notes, and Journal folders. Although using the controls on individual folders' Permissions tabs lets you customize delegation with greater granularity, only the Delegates feature's settings let you enable another user to send items on your behalf.
The Delegate Permissions dialog box also contains check boxes that control delegate interaction and permissions:
- You find the Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me check box in only Outlook 2002. This feature sends your meeting requests, acceptances, and cancellations also to your delegate.
- You find the Delegate can see my private items check box in only Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2000. Whether selecting this check box is desirable depends on your Calendar's contents.
- Selecting the Automatically send a message to delegate summarizing these permissions check box causes Outlook to email the new delegate about his or her delegate access.
After you grant another user access to your folders, the user can select File, Open, Open Other User's Folder to open your folders. The folders open in Outlook windows that are separate from the delegate's personal mailbox window, so he or she can work simultaneously in both mailboxes.
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