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How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles an Appointment

This topic describes how Siebel CRM Desktop handles an appointment.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Correlates a Siebel CRM Activity with PIM Data in Microsoft Outlook

When Siebel CRM Desktop synchronizes a Siebel CRM activity to Microsoft Outlook, it attempts to find the PIM data that resides in Microsoft Outlook that corresponds the activity. PIM data is a calendar event, appointment, task or email. If it finds this item, then it shares it and correlates it with the Siebel CRM activity. Siebel CRM Desktop performs this correlation for the following items:

• An Outlook calendar item for a Siebel CRM record where the Display In value of the Siebel CRM activity is Calendar and Activities.
• An Outlook task item where the Display In value of the Siebel CRM activity is To Do and Activities.
• Each Outlook activity where the Display In value of the Siebel CRM activity is Activities Only.

For example, to perform a correlation for an Outlook calendar event, it uses the following keys:

1. Key 1:
   1. The CRMD Integration Id equals the GlobalObjectId of the calendar event.
   2. The owner is the meeting organizer of the calendar event.
2. Key 2:
   1. The owner is the meeting organizer of the calendar event.
   2. The description is the subject of the calendar event subject.
   3. The value in the Planned field in the Siebel database equals the start time of the calendar event. This Planned value maps to the value the Start field in Microsoft Outlook.

If the user creates an activity in Siebel CRM Desktop from a Microsoft Outlook calendar event, and if the user shares this activity with Siebel CRM, then the CRMD Integration Id field in the activity record in the Siebel database contains a value.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Correlates Data If Siebel CRM Desktop Is Installed

The following sequence describes how Siebel CRM Desktop uses key 1:

1. User 1 does the following work:
   1. Creates a meeting in Microsoft Outlook
   2. Shares this meeting with Siebel CRM
   3. Sends the meeting request to User 2

      In this situation, Siebel CRM Desktop creates a Siebel CRM activity. To populate the value in the CRMD Integration Id field in this activity record, it uses the value from the GlobalObjectId field of the meeting. This value is a unique for this meeting. Siebel CRM Desktop uses the corresponding values in the Outlook meeting to identify the meeting organizer and the meeting participants.

2. User 1 synchronizes this activity and Siebel CRM adds it to the Siebel database.
3. Assume user 2 sets the user preference to not automatically create a PIM item that Siebel CRM Desktop shares with Siebel CRM. If user 2 receives the meeting invitation from user 1, then Siebel CRM Desktop does not share the meeting for this user in the calendar and does not create a Siebel CRM activity.
4. When User 2 synchronizes, Siebel CRM Desktop synchronizes the activity that it added in Step 2 to Microsoft Outlook. It uses the find_ol_item function to find the Microsoft Outlook item that corresponds to this activity. It finds the unshared meeting because the following situations are true:
   • This meeting contains the same GlobalObjectId field that the CRMD Integration Id field of the Siebel CRM activity contains
   • This meeting contains the same meeting organizer that the Activity Owner field of the Siebel CRM activity contains

If the meeting attendee synchronized the activity from the Siebel Server before this attendee receives an invitation, and if this attendee sets the preference in the Options dialog box to not share new PIM items, then Siebel CRM Desktop uses the find_proxy_item function to find the Siebel CRM activity. If Siebel CRM Desktop finds this activity, then it shares the meeting with Siebel CRM.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Correlates Data If Siebel CRM Desktop Is Not Installed

Assume the following situation is true:

• To track activities, a user uses a Siebel CRM application, such as Siebel Call Center, and Microsoft Outlook.
• This user has not installed Siebel CRM Desktop.
• This user enters activities in Siebel CRM and Microsoft Outlook.
• The user has an activity in Siebel CRM. The user also has an appointment in the Microsoft Outlook calendar that matches this activity. This activity and this appointment each include the same subject, start date, and activity owner.
• Assume this user installs Siebel CRM Desktop and then synchronizes.

In this situation, Siebel CRM Desktop cannot use Key 1 because the Siebel CRM activity does not include a value in the CRMD Integration Id field. If this field does not contain a value, then Siebel CRM Desktop uses key 2. The following sequence describes how Siebel CRM Desktop uses key 2:

1. Because the CRMD Integration Id field is empty, it skips key 1.
2. Correlates the activity:
   1. If the activity is a task, then it uses Key 2 with the following differences:
      • The owner is the meeting organizer of the task.
      • The description is the subject of the task subject.

        For more information, see Step 2.

   2. If the activity is an email message, then it uses the following keys:
   • Key 2.2:
     • CRMD Integration Id is the first twenty-two bytes of the PR_CONVERSATION_INDEX email message
     • Owner is the current user
   • Key 2.3
     • CRMD Integration Id is the first twenty-two bytes of the PR_CONVERSATION_INDEX email message
     • Owner is the current user
     • Planned is the date the email is sent or received. The value in the Planned field in the Siebel database equals the start time of the calendar event. This Planned value maps to the value the Start field in Microsoft Outlook.

Note the following:

• If the Display In value of the Siebel CRM activity is To Do and Activities, then the activity is a task.
• If the Display In value of the Siebel CRM activity is Activities Only, then the activity is an email message.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Uses Natural Keys to Identify a Duplicate Activity

Siebel CRM Desktop uses natural keys to detect a duplicate between Microsoft Outlook data and Siebel CRM data. Siebel CRM Desktop defines the following natural keys for an activity:

• Activity Owner and CRMD Integration Id, which matches the GlobalId of an appointment
• Activity Owner and Description, which matches the subject of the appointment and Start Date

Siebel CRM Desktop uses these keys to query the Siebel database. This query determines if a duplicate exists for this activity in the Siebel database. The following is an example of the natural keys that Siebel CRM Desktop might define in the connector_configuration.xml file:

<natural_keys>

<natural_key>

<field>CRMD Integration Id</field>

<field>Primary Owner Id</field>

</natural_key>

<natural_key>

<field>Description</field>

<field>Planned</field>

<field>Primary Owner Id</field>

</natural_key>

</natural_keys>

For more information, see About Files in the Customization Package.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles Repeat Appointments

Microsoft Outlook includes more recurrence patterns than the Siebel calendar. Siebel CRM Desktop establishes a correlation between Microsoft Outlook and a Siebel CRM recurrent pattern in the following way:

• If the Microsoft Outlook pattern matches an existing Siebel CRM pattern, then Siebel CRM Desktop uses the corresponding recurrence pattern to create a Siebel CRM activity.
• If the Microsoft Outlook pattern does not match an existing Siebel CRM pattern, then Siebel CRM Desktop uses a Siebel CRM pattern that occurs more frequently. It also uses more exceptions for an excess occurrence.

For example, assume the user creates a meeting in Microsoft Outlook that occurs every two weeks for two months for a total of four meeting instances. If Siebel CRM Desktop attempts to synchronize this meeting with the Siebel Server, then it cannot directly support the recurrence patterns that are available in Siebel CRM. Instead, it does the following work:

• Creates a weekly meeting that lasts for two months for a total of eight meeting instances.
• Creates four exceptions that cancel the intervening weeks.

To remain compatible with Siebel CRM data, Siebel CRM Desktop represents each occurrence that has changed as a separate appointment in Microsoft Outlook data.

To handle a repeating appointment, Siebel CRM Desktop does the following work:

• Maps a recurrent Microsoft Outlook appointment to a recurrent Siebel appointment
• Maps a recurrent Siebel appointment to a recurrent Microsoft Outlook appointment

Table 4 describes the Siebel fields that Siebel CRM Desktop uses to create a repeating appointment.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles a Single Instance of a Repeating Appointment

Siebel CRM Desktop handles an exception to a recurrent appointment as separate records in Siebel CRM data. For example, to change the time of an instance of a recurrent meeting, Siebel CRM Desktop creates a separate appointment. Siebel CRM Desktop follows standard handling practices for the Siebel calendar so that it handles the appointment series and exceptions in Siebel CRM appropriately.

About Invitee List Handling for an Appointment

The list of invitees in an appointment can contain contacts and employees. To process the email addresses that are specified in the list, Siebel CRM Desktop intercepts the call to the EAI Siebel Adapter business service. If the user creates a shared appointment in Microsoft Outlook, then the client attempts to resolve the meeting attendees and categorize the attendees as related contacts or employees when the user saves the appointment item.

Because the user might not possess all the contact or employee data that Siebel CRM Desktop requires to parse all attendees, Siebel CRM Desktop repeats this process during synchronization. If Siebel CRM Desktop makes an insert or update request for an appointment record, then the Siebel Server validates the meeting attendees. If the server detects any changes in the attendee list, then the server returns the updated list to the client and the server updates the contact and employee lists that are associated with the appointment.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles an Invitee List for the Update Operation

To handle an invitee list for the update operation, Siebel CRM Desktop does the following work:

1. Updates the input to the EAI Siebel Adapter business service to reflect changes in the invitee list. This update occurs when Siebel CRM Desktop passes the List of Invitees in the Siebel message in the Email To Line field.
2. Marks the contacts and employees that Siebel CRM Desktop removes from the updated appointment in Microsoft Outlook, and then updates these records in the message.
3. Marks and updates the contacts and employees that Siebel CRM Desktop newly added as insert records, and then updates these records in the message.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles an Invitee List for the Query Operation

To handle an invitee list for the query operation, Siebel CRM Desktop does the following work:

1. To return the invitee list in the To line of the email, it queries the appointment. To handle this query, Siebel CRM Desktop processes the output Siebel messages that the EAI Siebel Adapter business service returns.
2. Processes the output from a call to the Query method or the QueryByTemplate method of the EAI Siebel Adapter business service.
3. If the returned record is an activity record with the type as Appointment, then Siebel CRM Desktop modifies it in order to add the email addresses of the employees and contacts in the activity to the email To line. Siebel CRM Desktop uses a semicolon to separate each email address. Siebel CRM Desktop retains the employee list and the contact list.