Outlook Calendar Sync (RMPANL)

Outlook Calendar Sync is used to sync data between an Outlook calendar and IFS Applications. IFS Customer and Supplier Relationship Management Panel is used to create and link business activities in CRM/SRM to appointments and meetings in Outlook. Updates and deletions in Outlook will be synchronized to linked Business Activities.

It is possible to transfer new Business Activities to Outlook, but updates can be done only from Outlook side related to sync fields. Ex: for fields like description, start, end dates, contacts and representatives. This solution is included in RMPANL component. The purpose of this page is to provide information about installation steps for the Outlook Calendar Sync.

Note: This solution will be available from UPD8 onwards.

Contents

Register the app in the Azure AD portal

Following steps should be handled by an Admin user.

  1. Register an app in Azure AD portal (This registration app info will be used by the sync).

    Note: Multi-tenant option is not applicable in this context.

  2. Create a client secret for that app and copy and keep the values of Tenant ID, Application ID and Client Secret which need to be used in Calendar Sync Configuration page in Aurena.
  3. Add permission for this app and use Microsoft Graph API with application permission.
  4. Give Calendars.ReadWrite, Users.AllRead, MailBoxSettings.ReadWrite as permissions with admin consent.

    Note: MailBoxSettings.ReadWrite permission will be needed only for creating master categories in user’s outlook. If this is not set, then still user can manually create those categories.

Calendar Sync Configuration (Aurena)

  1. This page should only be accessed by a super user or an admin. Correct permission to access this page should be set before entering values on this page.
  2. Create a new record and copy and paste the Tenant ID, Application ID and Client Secret copied from Azure AD.
  3. Specify other information and set up sync active for sales representatives who want to use the sync.

    Note: These users should have been granted with proper permissions to use the sync. Refer next section.

  4. After configuration is completed, you can select “Start Sync” in configuration page in order to execute the sync.

Permissions and sync user

All Business Representatives who will synchronize need to have the permission set EXCHANGE_SYNC_USER granted.
Representative who can sync are listed in Calendar Sync Configuration page as Representatives. When Sync Active is set to True those user’s calendars will be synced.

Sync Master user (SYNC_MASTER)

A special user is created to carry out sync updates of outlook appointments to business activities. In a new installation SYNC_MASTER is created as a locked user. It is necessary to unlock SYNC_MASTER before able to sync. To unlock this user, execute the manual script Rmpanl\manualdeploy\UpdateSyncMasterUser.sql. Also it is necessary to activate SYNC_MASTER in Solution Manager\Security\Users\Create User window.

Note: If SYNC_MASTER is not unlocked and activated, there will be error message in Calender Sync Log page.

Restarting the Sync service

The final step is to re-start the sync service from the IFS Middleware Server Admin console after Activating the SYNC_MASTER. To Restart the service log in to the Admin console and find the application called “rmsync” and stop the service first. Then, using the same window start the service again. (IFS Middleware Server Admin Console\Integration Cluster\Deployments\rmsync)

Troubleshooting

Logging

For troubleshooting purposes, it is possible to check Calendar sync log page and sync log files (text files)

  1. Calendar sync log page
    You can see sync related logging messages directly in this page. By default, this will contain INFO and ERROR messages only. You also can check DEBUG messages if you enable debug messages in Calendar Sync configuration page. It is possible to search by different fields here. For example, you can search errors for a specific user. You can use “Truncate Log” command in order to clear the log entries.
  2. New database task schedule
    If you want to truncate log in a regular manner, add the database task “Cleanup of Calendar Synchronization Log” and configure it.
  3. Sync log files
    These are text files which will be located in IFS Home instance folder (IFS_HOME\instance\instance_name\logs\rmsync).
    By default, this will contain INFO and ERROR messages only. You can check DEBUG messages if you also enable debug messages in Calendar Sync configuration page.

IFS Middleware Server Admin Console

If the sync service is not working or down, you can re-start the whole service using page IFS Middleware Server Admin Console. Find the application called “rmsync” and start or stop the service. (IFS Middleware Server Admin Console\Integration Cluster\Deployments\rmsync)

Initial Sync

If some updates from outlook appointments are missed for most users, then better to execute “Initial Sync for all” by clicking on the command in Calendar Sync Configuration page header. This will make sure to sync again the previous missing changes to IFS.
Or you can select “Initial Sync” command for specific users in Representatives list in case you want to handle this for specific users.

Limitations

  1. Since IFS Customer and Supplier Relationship Management Panel is only available for Outlook, the synchronization will only work for Outlook.
  2. It will only sync calendar events, i.e. contacts or tasks are not included in the sync.
  3. It is not possible to update the sync related fields in a linked Business Activity in IFS Applications (ex: description, start, end dates, contacts and representatives). These fields must be changed from Outlook if needed.
  4. Offline is not supported for create sync activity since IFS Customer and Supplier Relationship Management Panel works online only. But once you created the sync activity, the changes done for appointments in offline will be available once the user gets online later.
  5. This solution will work for exchange online (Office 365). Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) should be used in order to use this solution.