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Initial Extract and Ongoing Extract

This topic describes the Initial Extract process and the Ongoing Extract process which synchronize Siebel data and Microsoft Exchange Server data.

For each enabled user, SSSE periodically extracts changes from both the Siebel database and the Microsoft Exchange data store, and then applies the changes from each data store to the other. The SSSE administrator can configure the time period between extractions to suit your business requirements. For each user, the first iteration of this periodic extraction process is called the Initial Extract, and the following extractions are called Ongoing Extracts.

During an Initial Extract, SSSE takes data from the user's Exchange folders and the Siebel database. SSSE analyzes the data to find any Exchange records that match Siebel records, and then synchronizes all of the applicable data.

For example, suppose that there are 10 Contacts in a user's Exchange folder and 20 completely different Business Contacts in the same user's My Contacts list in the Siebel Application. (In other words, none of the user's Contacts in Exchange match any of that user's Business Contacts in the Siebel database.) If the user has synchronization enabled and has used the Add To Sync List command to request synchronization of all 20 Siebel Business Contacts, then, after Initial Extract is performed for that user, both the user's Exchange Contact folder and the user's My Contacts list will contain 30 contact listings. As part of this process, for any contacts that SSSE imports from Exchange to the Siebel database, SSSE automatically adds the user to the record's Sync List for future synchronizations. The Sync List for the record is a multi-value group (MVG) field that lists the employees who synchronize that record.

The Initial Extract process prepares the user's data for Ongoing Extract synchronizations. More detailed information about the Initial Extract process is provided later in this topic.

The Ongoing Extract process repeatedly inspects a user's data for changes. Ordinarily, it synchronizes just the data that has changed since SSSE performed the most recent successful synchronization. However, in some circumstances, such as changes in the synchronization level of a domain, all of the user's data within that domain is reextracted.

For more details about how extractions work, see PIMSI Engine Data Flow.

About Synchronizing Records during Initial Extract

During the Initial Extract process for a particular user, for each domain that the user can synchronize, the Initial Extract process compares that user's Exchange records in that domain with that user's Siebel records in the corresponding Siebel domain.

The actions that follow this comparison depend on the following factors:

• Synchronization level for the current domain and user. The synchronization level determines whether SSSE will synchronize a domain. For a domain that SSSE can synchronize, the synchronization level determines whether information can flow in both directions between the Exchange Server and the Siebel Database, or whether information must always flow in one direction.
• Existence or absence of a matching record. SSSE compares Exchange records and Siebel records to determine when corresponding records need to be modified and when new records need to be created.
• Data values in key fields. When SSSE compares Exchange records and Siebel records, SSSE only checks the values in certain key fields to determine whether the records match. For information about setting key fields, see Setting Key Fields.
• PIM Category Value. Depending on how your SSSE implementation is configured, SSSE may or may not synchronize Exchange Contact records depending on whether the Category field in the Exchange record has a value that matches the PIM Category value setting in your Siebel implementation, as described later in this topic.
• Sync List Status. SSSE may or may not synchronize Siebel Contact records depending on whether the Sync List flag is set for the record and user in question.
• Status of case sensitivity settings for your Siebel implementation. Siebel implementations can be set for case-sensitivity or case insensitivity at the application level, at the AOM (application object manager) level, or at the field level. The status of these settings affects whether or not SSSE detects differences between two field values that differ only in capitalization. By default, Siebel applications are set to be case-sensitive. For example, the default settings cause SSSE to detect no match between a value of ABC Corp on the PIM and a value of ABC CORP in the Siebel database. In such a case, SSSE synchronizes the records separately, resulting in both forms of the record being present on the PIM and in the Siebel database. However, if your Siebel application is case-insensitive in the context where SSSE checks for matching records, then SSSE would treat these two values as a match. For information about setting applications, AOMs, and fields to be case-insensitive, see Applications Administration Guide.

For information about how SSSE handles Exchange Task and Calendar records during Initial Extract, see Table 5.

SSSE has a configurable parameter called OnlySyncCategorizedContacts that can be set to TRUE or FALSE to suit your business requirements. This Boolean parameter setting determines whether or not Initial Extract operations synchronize Exchange Contact records that have the Category field set to a specified value.

If the OnlySyncCategorizedContacts parameter is set to FALSE, all the user's Exchange Contact records are considered for synchronization. By default, this parameter is set to FALSE. For more information about how SSSE handles Exchange Contact records during an Initial Extract when the OnlySyncCategorizedContacts parameter is set to FALSE, see Table 6.

If the OnlySyncCategorizedContacts parameter is set to TRUE, then, in order to be synchronized during an Initial Extract operation, Exchange Contact records must have the Category field set to a value that matches the Siebel setting called PIM Category Value. (The default value for the PIM Category Value setting is Siebel Contact). For more information about how SSSE handles Exchange Contact records during an Initial Extract when the OnlySyncCategorizedContacts parameter is set to TRUE, see Table 7.

About Synchronizing Records during Ongoing Extract

The Ongoing Extract process is similar to the Initial Extract process but differs in the following respects:

• The only record changes that Ongoing Extract evaluates are the changes that have taken place since the last time the user was successfully synchronized.
• If a Siebel record and an Exchange record were associated with each other in a previous synchronization, key fields are not used to determine what action to take. Instead, record IDs are used when determining whether a Siebel record or Exchange record has changed. This allows users to change values in key fields while preserving the association between a Siebel record and an Exchange record.
• If a record changes in both the Siebel environment and the Exchange environment between synchronizations, SSSE treats the situation as an update conflict. The changes in the Siebel environment are preserved and the Exchange environment inherits these changes through synchronization.
• In general, if a record is modified in one environment but is deleted in the other, then the record is deleted in the remaining environment at the next synchronization. However, the behavior differs slightly depending on which domain is involved, where the deletion occurs, and when the deletion occurs, as follows:
  • If a Siebel Contact, Task, or Calendar record is synchronized to Exchange and the user deletes it in Exchange before that user's next synchronization occurs, then the next synchronization does not delete or otherwise affect the Siebel record. This is a known technical limitation.

    If, instead, the user's data is synchronized successfully at least once between the initial synchronization to Exchange and the deletion of the record in Exchange, then the results are as described in the following paragraphs.

  • If a user deletes a Contact record in Outlook that has the Private check box selected, then SSSE deletes the corresponding Siebel Personal Contact record.
  • If a user deletes a Task in Outlook, then SSSE deletes the corresponding Siebel Task record.
  • If a user deletes a To Do record in Outlook, then SSSE deletes the corresponding Siebel To Do record.
  • If a user deletes a Contact record in Outlook that does not have the Private check box selected, then SSSE removes the user from the Sync List for the corresponding Siebel Business Contact record.
  • If a user deletes a Contact record in Outlook that has the Category field set to Employee (or PIM Category Value for the Employee domain), or if the Category field is cleared, SSSE makes no changes to the corresponding Siebel record, because the Employee domain is configured for one-way synchronization, from the Siebel record to the Exchange record.
• The Category field for an Exchange Contact record must contain an appropriate value in order for the record to be synchronized to the Siebel database. Depending on the values in the Category field and whether or not the Private check box is selected, the Siebel record that corresponds to a synchronized Exchange Contact record can be any of the following Siebel record types:
  • Siebel Business Contact record
  • Siebel Personal Contact record
  • Siebel Employee record

    For more information about how Exchange Category field values and Private check box status affect corresponding Siebel record types, and vice versa, see Table 8.

For more information about how SSSE handles Exchange Contact records during an Ongoing Extract, see Table 9.