Home > Courses Certifications > Business Skills > 4006: Time and Task Management Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

4006- Time and Task Management Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Duration: 2 days

Prerequisites:

• Experience as business professionals who work within Outlook and Microsoft Office as a regular part of their day.
• A working familiarity with Outlook as a communications platform; specifically through e-mails, appointments and reminders, and tasks.
• A general awareness of time management principles, and a desire to take control of their day.

Introducton: E-mail, calendaring, and meeting management are critical activities that drive individual workers' daily lives. So many people "live" in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, making it their prime tool for communication and productivity. This course will provide experienced business professionals with a better hands-on understanding of how to manage their time more effectively, define tasks more accurately, and process incoming information more efficiently. Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 as a "dashboard" application, students will learn how to manage their schedules, projects and assignments, and create and respond to e-mail with greater confidence.

At Course Completion:

• Use dated and undated tasks, combined with context and categorization to make an informed decision about the next most important thing that needs to be done at any given time.
• Effectively customize and manage the Task Pad and Task window in Outlook to provide the right types of information for various life and business scenarios.
• Learn how to make e-mail more useful and get faster, more accurate responses by creating meaningful subject lines.
• Learn how to use drag-and-drop techniques to instantly convert e-mail into calendar events or tasks. Students will also learn how these techniques can be used to attach the e-mail (including any file attachments) or convert the e-mail body to a text note in the new appointment or task.
• Use custom views to create the "Outlook Dashboard" to bring all of the information necessary to properly manage time and tasks into one central location.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Microsoft Outlook

• Outlook Is An Information Processor
• Walkthrough: Panes and Views in Outlook
• Walkthrough: Configuring the Navigation Pane
• Discussion: Challenges to be Addressed
• After completing this module, students will be able to:
  • Know how to use Outlook as an information processor.
  • Navigate Outlook quickly and easily.
  • Understand the purpose of each Outlook tool
  • Customize Outlook for everyday use.

Chapter 2: Effective Use of E-Mail

• Two Approaches for Two Kinds of Mail
• E-Mail: Process, Then Take Action
• Exercise 1: Creating an Effective Filing System
• Exercise 2: How to Process E-Mail
• Discussion: How to Process Task-Oriented E-Mail
• After completing this module, students will be able to:
  • Describe the difference between processing e-mail and taking action on the tasks contained in those messages, and also explain the importance of keeping these two activities separate.
  • Create an efficient filing system for processed e-mail.
  • Perform a first-pass scan of Inbox e-mail by subject line to immediately file or delete items that do not require an action on your part.
  • Decide how to act on each remaining message using the 3D Filter

Chapter 3: Managing Your Calendar

• Keyboard Shortcuts in the Outlook Calendar
• Walkthrough 1: Creating an Effective Appointment
• Exercise 1: Cleaning Up Your Calendar
• Walkthrough 2: Creating Appointments from E-Mail
• Exercise 2: Using Labels and Customizing Labels
• Discussion: A Well-Organized Calendar
• After completing this module, students will be able to:
  • Use navigational and functional keyboard shortcuts to work more efficiently in Outlook.
  • Create effective meeting requests and announcements.
  • Describe the difference between items that do and do not belong on the calendar.
  • Describe the purpose of appointments that you make with yourself.
  • Describe how e-mail, meetings, and tasks interrelate.
  • Create and maintain an efficient calendar organization system using categories and labels.

Chapter 4: Effective Use of Tasks

• How to Use Tasks
• Walkthrough 1: Creating a Custom View
• Exercise: Creating and Applying Categories
• Dated vs. Undated Tasks
• Walkthrough 2: Creating Tasks
• Discussion: The Role of Tasks
• After completing this module, students will be able to:
  • Describe the difference between a task and a project.
  • Define and use custom views.
  • Assign categories to tasks and attach contacts.
  • Create task actions by including necessary information.
  • Understand when to use dated and undated tasks.
  • Create tasks.
  • Describe how e-mail messages, calendar items, and tasks flow together in a time- and task-management system.

Chapter 5: Setting Up the Outlook Dashboard

• Introduction to the Dashboard
• Walkthrough: Creating the Dashboard
• Exercise 1: Using the TaskPad
• Exercise 2: Configuring the TaskPad
• Discussion: Outlook as a Time Management Tool
• After completing this module, students will be able to:
  • Create a custom calendar view.
  • Organize access to multiple Outlook resources.
  • Use the TaskPad to create new tasks.
  • Configure the TaskPad display.
  • Use the Outlook Dashboard to access all of your commitments.