Outlook plug-in now available for downloading

Matchpeg's plug-in for Microsoft Outlook has finished its beta period, and is now freely available for download.

You can find further information on the plug-in at http://www.matchpeg.com/brochure/outlook/index.asp

The plug-in seamlessly integrates Matchpeg with Microsoft Outlook:

• Your meetings in Matchpeg are automatically added to your Outlook calendar.
• You can also choose to have the minutes of meetings automatically filed against the Outlook appointment in PDF form.
• Actions from meetings are added to your Outlook task list.
• Workflow items assigned to you are also added to your task list.
• You can create meetings in Matchpeg from appointments in your Outlook calendar: in other words, schedule meetings in the usual way using Outlook/Exchange functionality, and then add the meeting to Matchpeg once the attendees are confirmed.
• You can edit the minutes of a meeting off-line, and then upload the minutes into Matchpeg when an internet connection is available again.
  

The plug-in is in fact a "suite of off-line tools". The off-line minutes editing is available both within Outlook and as a standalone application. Therefore, it's worth having a look at the tool even if you are not an Outlook user.

NEW feature - guest access to workflow items

You can now include people outside your firm in workflows - in other words, you can send workflow items to anyone on the internet and have them approve things, add comments, send the item back for further work etc.

When you choose who to assign a workflow item to, the pop-up list of users contains a new option (at the bottom) for entering the e-mail address of a "guest". This new option is available in three contexts:

• When delegating a workflow item, and choosing who to delegate it to.
• When moving a workflow item to the next stage, and choosing manually who to assign the item to next.
• When creating a workflow definition, and choosing who an item gets assigned to at each stage of the workflow. In other words, you can set up workflows where items are always assigned to a particular external person.

When a workflow item is assigned to a guest, a random 6-digit PIN number is generated. The guest is sent an e-mail containing this PIN, plus a URL for logging in to Matchpeg and viewing/modifying the workflow item.

The guest's PIN only gives them access to that one single workflow item (via a special, cut-down version of the usual workflow editing page). If multiple items are assigned to the same guest then they receive multiple e-mails, each with a different PIN.

Once the workflow item moves on to a new owner, the guest's PIN stops working. If the same item is then later re-assigned to the guest user, a new PIN will be generated and a new e-mail will be issued.

N.B. If you are assigning workflow items to guests, please warn them that the e-mail which is sent to them may get classed as spam. Please ask them to check their junk/spam folders, and to "white-list" messages from matchpeg.com so that the spam filter always lets them through.

If the guest doesn't receive the e-mail containing their PIN number, the e-mail can be re-sent using the link at the top of the page about the workflow item. As a last resort, administrative users of Matchpeg can "grab ownership" of workflow items and re-allocate them back from guests to normal users.