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Setting Siebel Domain-Level Synchronization

Domain-level synchronization establishes the highest allowable synchronization setting for all users and groups on the domain. You must set user-level and group-level synchronization to values that are equal to or lower than the domain-level synchronization.

This task is a step in Process of Configuring Siebel and PIM Domain Characteristics.

The following procedure describes how to set domain synchronization.

To set domain synchronization

1. Navigate to the Administration - PIM Server Integration screen, then the Siebel Domains view.
2. In the Siebel Domains list, select a record.
3. In the Domain Sync Support field, select a synchronization level for the domain.

   Table 2 describes the synchronization levels available for Siebel domains and Table 3 lists the default synchronization levels for each domain.

   NOTE:  Do not choose Full Sync for the Employee domain, where the maximum supported level of synchronization is Export Only. Choosing Full Sync for the Employee domain will result in data corruption.

4. Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 for each Siebel domain.

About the Limitation Against Import Only Synchronization Level

You can configure SSSE to allow one-way synchronization of calendar records, from Microsoft Exchange to Siebel Business Applications. For information on configuring import-only synchronization for calendar items, see Implementing Import-Only Synchronization of Calendar Records.

The Import Only synchronization level is not supported for any of the other Siebel domains. The reason for this limitation is that there are potential data integrity problems if data is imported only from Microsoft Exchange to your Siebel application.

This hazard to data integrity arises from the different methods the two systems use to store data. Siebel Business Applications use a relational database, but Exchange Servers maintain data using an individual data store for each Microsoft Exchange user.

As an example of the kind of issue that could arise, a business contact record in a Siebel application can be shared between multiple people in a team. Any update that one user makes to the business contact record in Siebel Business Applications is immediately visible to other users, because all users are accessing a single record in the relational database. However, in Microsoft Exchange, each user has his or her own set of contact records. An update made to one user's contact record is not reflected in other users' contact information. If data was only imported from Microsoft Exchange into your Siebel application, an update made by one user could be lost when another user makes a conflicting update. The following paragraphs describe in more detail how an example business contact record would be handled for different synchronization levels:

• When the synchronization level is set to Full Sync, if someone changes synchronized data in either Siebel Business Applications or Microsoft Exchange, that change is reflected for other users in both applications. For example, one member of a sales team might learn that a business contact's phone number has changed. All members of the team would soon see the new phone number in both Siebel Business Applications and Microsoft Exchange, regardless of where the change was made. Within a short period of time after a data change occurs, all users are working from the same updated data.
• When the synchronization level is set to Export Only, a Siebel data change is reflected for other users in both Siebel Business Applications and Microsoft Exchange, but changes made in Microsoft Exchange are visible only to the user who made the change, until such time as a later data change in Siebel Business Applications overwrites the data in Microsoft Exchange. So, a business contact phone number changed in Siebel Business Applications is visible to all team members, in both applications. However, a phone number changed in Microsoft Exchange is visible only to the team member who changed it, and only until the next synchronization overwrites it with the value from the Siebel database. Again, within a short period of time after a data change occurs, all users are working from the same updated data.