Same Contact needed in Multiple Public Folders without duplication

[Anthony Gray]

I am currently running Microsoft Exchange and Office 2003 and would like
to configure the same contact to appear in multiple Public Folders or groups,
so that if it is edited in one location it is changed everywhere else. Here
is more detail of the scenario.
I am working with an Architectural firm that has several project
managers. A project manager manages the communication between company,
colleagues, design consultants and sub-contractors for a construction project
via phone, postal mail, fax and email. The project manager may work on
several projects simultaneously and would like to have contacts grouped based
on the project he is working on to simplify communication if sending an email
to everyone in the group, or finding a required contact.
Through Public Folders we are currently able to create groups of contacts
based on project to fit this need. However, many times the same
sub-contractor, i.e. electrical company, may be working on several of our
projects, potentially with another project manager. As a result we have to
create a duplicate of this electrical company contact(s) so that it appears
in another Public Folder for a different project. When information changes
for the contact, it is impossible to update it for all instances where it may
appear, as there is no link between the duplicates.
We have tried Distribution Lists and although useful, this can only
handle the email part of the communication.
Ultimately, a Custom View, Synchronized Public Folder, or Categories are
possible options, but I have not yet found something that works to show the
Project Manager, a project selection list that then displays all the contacts
associated with that project.
Your help would be appreciated.

 

[Feda]

Add a category with project number or description to each contact.
For example:

Job 3456

Now when another PM uses a contac they can add their Job number category as
well.
When you do a search for contacts for a particular project you can search
the specific job number and get all your contacts.

I prefer just keeping an excell sheet with my imediate contacts for specific
projects (One worksheet per project) and using Outlook as a general contact
list for contacts that I don't use frequently.

 

[Judy Gleeson \(MVP Outlook\)]

I have seen large project management firms use Categories in a single
central Public Folder very effectively. You just add the Category to each
person as they join a project and remove them from it (if you wish to) when
the project is over.

The ability to Group By Category means that each project category will show
who's working in it and people doing more than 1 project will show in more
than 1 group.

Regards

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Trainer and Consultant www.pragmatix.com.au
My suggested settings for Outlook 2003 are FREE on my website.

..