Over the years, the various methods available for customising and deploying Microsoft Office have advanced considerably and so here are a few notes on customising and deploying the 2007 Microsoft Office System using the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007:

• The first step is to create a network distribution point.  This is easily achieved using the BDD 2007 workbench (Distribution Share, Applications, New), with the additional advantage of integrating the Office 2007 files into the BDD distribution folder structure (e.g. D:\Distribution\Applications\Office2007).
• The BDD workbench will also enable the application (by default) and allow the entry of additional information on the General tab.  The Dependencies tab can be used to control the order of application deployment within the BDD logic.  There is also a tab for Office Products which can be used to configure the deployment of Microsoft Office.
• To save disk space, additional Office System components may be added to an existing distribution point.  Multiple languages may be integrated in the same manner – i.e. by adding the files to the application within BDD Workbench.
• Office 2007 is always installed via setup.exe rather than with individual Windows Installer (.MSI) packages.
• The Office Customization Tool (OCT) is used to create or edit Windows Installed Patch (.MSP) files to customise Office installations:
  • It may be launched from the command line using setup.exe /admin or within the BDD Workbench using the Office Customization Tool button in the application properties.  The OCT replaces the Custom Installation Wizard and Custom Maintenance Wizard tools in previous Office versions.
  • The OCT language interface will match the regional setting for the application (rather than the operating system language).
  • OCT allows the specification of multiple network sources (in case the primary is not available). By default, all necessary files are copied locally first and setup is launched from this cache – the local installation source (LIS).  If the installation is modified later then setup with use the LIS before attempting to locate network sources.
  • By default, .MSP files are saved in the Updates folder on the application distribution point.  Setup scans this location when it runs and will retrieve application settings from .MSP files.  If multiple .MSP files exist then the first one (in alphabetical order) will be used.
  • When editing .MSP files with the OCT, those areas that have changed from the defaults are highlighted in bold.
• Microsoft Office updates and service packs can be copied to the Updates folder on the application distribution point for automatic application during installation.
• Settings may be specified within a config.xml file (via the application properties in BDD Workbench) or using a .MSP file:
  • Sensitive values such as product keys should be stored within an .MSP file rather than as clear text in config.xml.
  • The command line to use a config.xml file is setup.exe /config applicationsubfolder\config.xml.
  • Settings in config.xml will take precedence over duplicate settings in a .MSP file.
• Office setup writes a log file to %temp% on the destination machine.  The filename for this log will be prefixed with setupexe.
• Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 can also be used to deploy Microsoft Office 2007:
  1. Create a package using the source files from the BDD distribution point.
  2. Create a program for Office 2007:
     • Within the package, create a new program and edit the properties to include the program name (e.g. Office 2007) and the appropriate command line (setup.exe /config applicationsubfolder\config.xml).
     • If the program is hidden (on the General tab) and the installation requires user input then it will never complete.  Similarly if the option to allow users to interact with this program option (on the Requirements tab) is not selected then installation will fail, unless the package has been created for silent installation.
     • If users have local administrator rights on their workstations then he program may be configured to run with user rights; however this is generally not desirable and a run mode of run with administrative rights should normally be selected.
     • The Windows Installer tab can be used to define a .MSI file that is used when clients with the package installed make updates to the Office installation (e.g. install on first use or repair).
  3. Create a distribution point (within SMS – not to be confused with the BDD distribution point) and copy the package to the distribution point.
  4. Check the distribution process using the SMS report for the distribution status of a specific package.
  5. Define a collection to receive the package based on membership rules and specific resource attributes.
  6. Create an advertisement for the package/program and schedule accordingly.
  7. If clients are taking a long time to receive an advertisement, check the schedule and also try initiating both machine and user policy actions within the systems management applet in control panel (installed by the SMS client).