Hi -

With just these two applications, Unity does not have a way to know the user's Outlook status or presence information.  For example, using Cisco's Presence Server and the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator 1.2 client offers single-party instant messaging between both Cisco Unified Personal Communicator users and Cisco IP Phone Messenger users which may offer some of the functionality you are looking for. It also introduces a new Microsoft Outlook toolbar that allows users to click to dial or send an instant message from within their Outlook contacts list or e-mail. In addition, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator 1.2 users can now display availability information based on their Outlook Exchange calendars. Additional usability and presence enhancements include persistent away states, alerts, and a message-waiting indicator. Scalability enhancements, up to 5,000 users per Cisco Unified Presence Server cluster, and support for Cisco Unified MeetingPlace for Web Conferencing and Cisco Unity voicemail are also included.

We trained our users to update their Unity absence greeting by using CiscoPCA at the same time they set up their out of office in Outlook.  Users can prerecord greetings, such as for users that have every Friday off and "Paste from File" into the Unity Assistant.  We also trained them how to set expiration dates for Unity absence greetings so that the greeting auto disabled the day the employee returns to the office.  A few sample screenshots on a customer self-help web page explaining the steps seem to work OK for most users.

Hope this helps, Ginger