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Extensions to the Microsoft Outlook User Interface

Siebel CRM Desktop is a composite application that displays Siebel CRM sales data in Microsoft Outlook. To store and display Siebel CRM data, the Outlook add-in framework deploys CRM Desktop to Outlook and extends the Outlook data model and user interface. Extensions to the Outlook user interface allow the user to display Siebel CRM data. The following are some examples of these extensions:

• Custom toolbar buttons.
• Custom menu items.
• Custom forms that display Siebel CRM data.
• Custom controls that are embedded in Outlook forms that display Siebel CRM data.
• Personalization options dialog box.
• Predefined Siebel CRM views in Outlook folders. For example, the Opportunities by Account view.

Outlook uses these extensions to allow the user to do a variety of work. The following are some examples of work that the user can do:

• Create new Siebel CRM data in Outlook.
• Mark the Outlook item to share with the Siebel Server data and related sales data. As an option, it can share or unshare a calendar appointment, task, contact, or email message.
• View and edit sales data.
• Start a standard Outlook action, such as sending an email or scheduling a meeting in the context of a sales item.

The following are some examples of validation that CRM Desktop can do when the user enters data:

• Make sure the data type is valid for a given field.
• Make sure each required field includes information.
• Make sure some fields are disallowed, depending on the access rules for conditional data.