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Initial Extract and Ongoing Extract

This topic describes the initial extract and ongoing extract processes 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 Microsoft Exchange folders and the Siebel database. SSSE analyzes the data to find any Microsoft 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 Microsoft Exchange folder and 20 completely different business contacts in the same user's My Contacts list in Siebel Business Applications. (In other words, none of the user's contacts in Microsoft Exchange are logically the same as 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 the initial extract is performed for that user, both the user's Microsoft Exchange Contact folder and the user's My Contacts list will contain 30 contact listings. As part of this process, for any contact records that SSSE imports from Microsoft 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 the 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.