Setting up a small communicating network for my company

Hello, I would like to receive some information and the possibilities about the following:

My wife and I run a training school where people can get their drivers license.

We would like to use smart-phones and / or PDA's to update (and thereby communicate with each other) some several things:

• progress for each student
• the timetable for each student
• some notes for each student
• etc.

These data should be accessible easy, and at any given time.
And by the both of us. Also, since my wife will be using it a lot, I need it to be user-friendly.

We are wondering how this could be achieved? What software, and what hardware we need to purchase and set up. Just some general information about the possibilities will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

PS - I just purchased a Nokia N8, would that be any good?

 

You are looking for some database management software where you can
sync upstream and downstream from main PC to smartphones. so you can
update and keep all your business info uptodate.

The following link might be a good starting point:
DDH Software - HanDBase Database Manager for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Classic, Standard and Professional, Symbian S60, BlackBerry and Apple iPhone iPod touch and iPad (Coming Soon)

 

Thank you sir, that does sound promising indeed. I hope its userfriendly enough for the wifey. I have downloaded the demo, thank you.

Any other suggestions maybe?

 

For Windows Mobile, I might suggest looking at MS Mobile Office and using OneNote, a simple notetaking program.

 

though it sounds like he want a system that goes beyond note taking.

If budget allows, this is a special written system in which case I would write a web based one.

Otherwise, an Excel based system may work too or the mentioned database system.

It really depends on budget.

 

This thread isn't really Windows-centric, so I moved it to the Networking section.

 

Thank you guys for responding.

I recently discovered something called "Hosted Exchange".
It gets offered by my Internet Service Provider.

Sounds like everything I was looking for, but am wondering if anyone has any experiences with the software?

It works with:

 

My company has its own Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and 95% of it is used as an email system (Outlook, etc.); the rest is control over calendars, contacts, file transfers, notifications, instant messaging, tasks, etc. with smartphone support (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, WebOS, etc.).

Hosted Exchange is basically the same thing except you have no control over the server itself because it is hosted by someone else. However, you'll be paying a month or annual fee per user for this.

Outlook Web Access is basically using an Internet Browser (IE, Google Chrome, Firefox, etc.) to access your email.

However, the tasks you listed might require more than just Hosted Exchange.
•progress for each student - Not exactly sure what you mean by this. Progress charts/graphs will require a specialize software and I'm not sure which Microsoft software can do this. Note taking or planning you can use OneNote.
•the timetable for each student - I guess you can try OfficeCalendar for appointments or Microsoft Project for timetables. You have to be more specific on this.
•some notes for each student - You can use OneNote or Outlook Notes for this.
•etc.

 

I suddenly remember one thing, SharePoint Workspace.

SharePoint Workspace 2010 features and benefits - SharePoint Workspace - Microsoft Office

Groove(originally what it is) should be very good at handling this kind of semi-structured application and its sync feature is excellent.