Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Administration Guide > How Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Handles Oracle CRM On Demand Data > How Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Handles Microsoft Outlook Calendar >

How Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Correlates an Oracle CRM On Demand Activity with PIM Data in Microsoft Outlook

When Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop synchronizes an Oracle CRM On Demand activity with Microsoft Outlook, it attempts to find the personal information manager (PIM) data that resides in Microsoft Outlook, which corresponds to the activity. PIM data is a calendar event, appointment, task or email. If Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop finds this item, then it shares it and correlates it with the Oracle CRM On Demand activity. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop performs this correlation for each meeting where the Activities value of the Oracle CRM On Demand activity is Calendar and Activities. To perform the correlation, it uses the following keys:

1. Key 1:
   • The iCRMId equals the ConversationId of the calendar event.
   • The owner is the meeting organizer of the calendar event.
2. Key 2:
   • The owner is the meeting organizer of the calendar event.
   • The subject is the calendar event subject.
   • The StartTime equals the start time of the calendar event.

If the user creates an activity in Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop from a Microsoft Outlook calendar event, and if the user shares this activity with Oracle CRM On Demand, then the iCRMId field in the activity record in the Oracle CRM On Demand database contains a value.

How Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Correlates Data If Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Is Installed

The following sequence describes how Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop uses key 1:

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

      In this situation, Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop creates an Oracle CRM On Demand activity. To populate the value in the iCRMId field in this activity record, it uses the value from the ConversationId field of the meeting. This value is unique for this meeting. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop uses this same value to identify the meeting organizer and all the participants for this meeting.

2. User 1 synchronizes this activity, and Oracle CRM On Demand adds it to the Oracle CRM On Demand database.
3. User 2 sets the user preference to not create a PIM item automatically, which Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop will share with Oracle CRM On Demand. If user 2 receives the meeting invitation from user 1, then Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop does not share the meeting for this user in the calendar and does not create an Oracle CRM On Demand activity.
4. When User 2 synchronizes, Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop synchronizes the activity that it added in Step 2 with 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 ConversationId field that the iCRMId field of the Oracle CRM On Demand activity contains.
   • This meeting contains the same meeting organizer that the Activity Owner field of the Oracle CRM On Demand activity contains.

     If the meeting attendee synchronized the activity from the Oracle CRM On Demand 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 Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop uses the find_proxy_item function to find the Oracle CRM On Demand activity. If Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop finds this activity, then it shares the meeting with Oracle CRM On Demand.

How Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Correlates Data If Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Is Not Installed

Assume the following situation is true:

• To track activities, a user uses Oracle CRM On Demand and Microsoft Outlook.
• This user has not installed Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop.
• This user enters activities in Oracle CRM On Demand and Microsoft Outlook.
• The user has an activity in Oracle CRM On Demand. 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.
• The user installs Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop and then synchronizes.

In this situation, Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop cannot use Key 1, described in Step 1, because the Oracle CRM On Demand activity does not include a value in the iCRMId field.