How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles a Repeating Calendar Appointment

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

• If the Outlook pattern matches an existing Siebel CRM pattern, then Siebel CRM Desktop uses the corresponding repeating pattern to create a Siebel CRM activity.

• If the 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 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 repeating 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 changed as a separate calendar entry in Outlook data.

Siebel CRM Desktop does the following work to handle a repeating calendar entry:

• Maps a repeating Outlook calendar entry to a repeating Siebel calendar entry

• Maps a repeating Siebel calendar entry to a repeating Outlook calendar entry

The following describes the Siebel fields that Siebel CRM Desktop uses to create a repeating calendar entry.

Siebel Field	Description
ExceptionsList	Stores information about exceptions to instances in the repeating series. It is part of the Activity object.
RepeatingType	The frequency of the calendar entry.
RepeatingExpires	The date of occurrence of the last instance in the series.
Repeating	The flag that indicates a calendar entry is repeating.

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles a Single Instance of a Repeating Calendar Entry

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

How Siebel CRM Desktop Handles a Repeating Outlook Calendar Entry That Does Not Include an End Date

If a repeating Outlook Calendar entry that Siebel CRM Desktop shares with Siebel CRM does not include an end date, and if this repeating pattern:

• Matches a Siebel pattern, then it clears the value in the Repeat Until field of the Siebel CRM Calendar activity.

• Does not match a Siebel repeating pattern, then Siebel CRM Desktop limits this repeating pattern to a maximum duration. The following describes the duration that Siebel CRM Desktop sets. It does this when it saves the Siebel CRM Calendar activity in Outlook.

Repeating Pattern of the Outlook Calendar Entry	Maximum Duration of Occurrences That Siebel CRM Desktop Uses
Daily meetings	1 year
Weekly meetings	1 year
Monthly meetings	2 years
Yearly meetings	5 years