It takes too long to install Office 2000 from the CD-ROM to multiple computers when you have to go to each computer to perform the installation. The problem is compounded when you need to install different features for different groups of users. To solve this problem, you need a way to automate the installation process. The automated process must allow you to customise installations and take advantage of advanced Office features such as self-healing applications. The solution lies in the Office Resource Kit (ORK). The ORK tools streamline the process of deploying Office to a large number of clients. They also help you customise your installations. You can find the ORK tools on the Office 2000 CD-ROM and at Microsoft's Office Resource Kit site. The most helpful tool -- the one I'll focus on in this article -- is the CustomInstallation Wizard (CIW). You can use the CIW to deploy the entire Office suite or an application or subset of applications in the suite. Since the most important application in the Office suite is Outlook 2000, I'll focus on how to deploy this application using the CIW. To use the CIW to deploy Outlook 2000 from the Office 2000 CD-ROM, you'll need to:

• Prepare the system for deployment.
• Understand how Windows Installer technology works.
• Create custom installations using the CIW.
• Launch a custom installation using a Transform file.

Preparing for deployment
Before you prepare your custom installations of Outlook 2000, you need to establish an installation share point, perform an administrative installation of Office 2000, and install the ORK tools. After completing these steps, you'll be ready to fire up the CIW and begin your deployment. Establishing an installation share point
Since you won't be carting the install CD-ROM around, you need to create an installation share point on a server or servers in your organisation. You can locate the share points on the hard disks of the distribution servers, or you can use a shared CD-ROM. Hard-disk access times are much shorter, so I recommend placing the installation files on a hard disk instead of on a CD-ROM. There are advantages to using multiple distribution servers. The CIW will allow you to configure multiple servers that can be used for failover in the event the original distribution server becomes unavailable. This is useful if you want to take advantage of Install On-Demand and the self-healing features of Office 2000. Performing an administrative installation of Office 2000
To create the installation share point, you'll need to perform an administrative installation of the distribution files. Click Start | Run. In the Run text box, type :\\SETUP.EXE /a, where drive_letter is the drive where the original Office 2000 source files are located, and setup_folder is the folder on the distribution medium that contains the Setup.exe file. Click OK to continue. You'll be presented with the Welcome page, as shown in Figure A. Type in your CD key and company name, and click Next.

Figure A