The need
Productivity tools are used by all users. Most users spend 30-80 percent of their time working on such tools. Surprisingly, most organizations do not have much standardization of how work happens on products like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, e-mail client or similar tools.
This article discusses various facilities available to provide standardization across the organization.

The drawback of standardization
Standardization is a good thing. But it does have a potential negative impact. If too much standardization is attempted, usability of products may reduce thereby declining productivity. Users then become resistant to excessive standardization and find their own ways of bypassing the standardization process. In the process the very purpose of standardization is defeated. You must avoid this situation by involving end users in the standardization process, and testing the impact before rolling it out on a larger scale.

Approaches to standardization
There are lots of features and technologies available for standardization. There are various approaches available for standardization. Some of these can work at an organizational level, while others may be specific to a department or even a project. The granularity will depend on the business needs.
The list given below is by no means complete. But it does cover commonly available and easy-to-implement approaches.

1. Templates: This is a well known feature. However it is not used in a standardized way. Creating templates is easy. Most products offer a ‘Save as Template’ functionality. The problem is that these templates are stored in a local user profile and thus not available for organizational reuse.
The solution is to create a centralized repository of templates. You can group these by departments, roles or type of work. MS Office provides a way by which you can set the Workgroup Templates path to a centralized server share. Using Group Policy you can map the server templates very easily across all users. Going further, you can also map specific departments to different template stores if required. UNC path like \\server\templateshare can be configured for Workgroup Templates.
One feature which is commonly not known is that Outlook can also have templates. This is very useful for standardizing formal e-mail replies for customer handling, helpdesk, sales management, procurement, HR, etc.
If you have Exchange server, e-mail templates can be stored centrally and made available automatically to all Outlook users.

2. Macros: Macros are typically created by specific users. Usually, macros are not shared between users. However, you will be surprised to know that many macros are actually reusable by many users across the organization. If you do a quick inventory of all macros across users, you can easily find common ones and store them in central templates. Once stored in templates, these can be shared and standardized like any other template.
One related and important aspect of macros is that all useful macros should be digitally signed. Using Group Policy, you should set the security in such a way that only signed macros are run, and the rest are disabled. This way macro virus threats are instantly eliminated.

3. Custom dictionaries: Most individuals use the ‘Add to Dictionary’ feature while performing spelling check. But again, custom dictionaries are used locally. There is absolutely no sharing of these dictionaries. Like templates, custom dictionaries can also be stored centrally. Office applications can have multiple custom dictionaries mapped, including those from server locations. This setting again can be managed using Group Policy.

4. Reference documents: Often users require reference documents such as policies, price lists, SKU lists, service center lists, etc. Typically, these documents are scattered all over different desktops. As there are multiple copies of such documents, you cannot ensure that everyone is using the latest copy of these reference documents.

The correct way of using such documents is to create either a file share or better still a SharePoint document library and store such documents in a Read-Only format there. This way, everyone knows that there is a single, predictable, always updated location for referring to these documents.
The problem with the SharePoint approach seems to be that users have to use a browser and navigate to the desired document library. This is a multi-step process and hence it puts off users. The solution is simple. Using Group Policy, it is possible to map even SharePoint locations to File Favorites in File Open dialog.

5. Autocorrect entries: Commonly used abbreviations or small snippets of reusable text are often stored in AutoCorrect entries. These entries are user specific. But like templates, these can also be centralized. In fact, these entries are stored in the default template. If you map the default template to a server-based location, you automatically achieve standardization and centralization.

6. Building Blocks: Office 2007 introduced a more powerful concept which takes AutoCorrect to a new level. It is called Building Blocks. This is also a repository of reusable snippets like standard headers, table styles, page numbering styles, custom text boxes, cover pages etc. These are stored in a separate file (not inside the base template). Thus, this file can be stored centrally to provide standardized building blocks for all users. This way you can increase the productivity of all users across the organization very quickly.

7. Themes: This is another very powerful feature which is used to standardize the look and feel of documents across document types. Let me explain.
Templates are stored for each document type. For example, a Word template would typically have some reusable text and formatting. When you create a new document from the template, instead of a blank document, the base content is automatically inserted. This saves time and promotes standardization. But how do you standardize the look and feel of documents of spreadsheets, documents and presentations? How do you make sure that a table created in Word, Excel and PowerPoint has the same, standard, professional look and feel? 
 

This is where Themes come into picture. Themes do not provide any content. That is best done using Templates. But Themes provide three things—colors, fonts, and shape effects.
You can create a theme using Theme Builder (free download) and use these with Office 2007. The Corporate Communication department usually defines the guidelines for the font, color and graphics usage for an organization. They can now use Themes to enforce these guidelines.
Each document uses the default theme called ‘Office.’ But you can change the theme of the document to instantly change its look and feel.
What’s more, the same Theme can be used to control the look and feel of all Office documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

8. File Dialogs: Finally, the File Open and Save Dialogs can also be standardized. What can be customized here? If you are using Windows XP, you can add specific server folder shortcuts to the left pane of the dialog called My Places. In Vista, the left pane is called File Favorites. You can use Group Policy to configure the links in these dialogs.
Templates, departmental file storage locations and SharePoint libraries can be mapped to these locations to provide an easy to use way of standardizing storage locations. This can be done for all users or customized further for each department.

Summary
There are many ways in which end-user productivity can be standardized by using available features. Using these features effectively can minimize errors, increase efficiency and maximize the benefits from technology investments.