MS encourages teamwork

Microsoft (MSFT) plans to announce next Monday a new standalone application that will help workers keep track of shared activities.

Team Manager will let work teams consolidate task scheduling, progress updates, and project evaluations over a shared network or email system. It can also present custom views of work in progress.

The software will come with two installation options: full read-write privileges for group leaders who want to assign tasks, and read-only access for other users.

Despite its numerical indicator, Team Manager 97 is not a part of the upcoming Office 97 application suite. It will have, however, the Office 97 "look and feel" and will work in conjunction with Office's Outlook information manager.

Team Manager will run on Microsoft Exchange, MAPI, or VIM servers. Microsoft recommends Microsoft Mail, Lotus's cc:Mail or Notes Mail as the email system.

The product is expected to ship at the end of the year for $109 for a single license.