Using Siebel Server Sync for Microsoft Exchange Server

This chapter describes the common end-user tasks for using SSSE. It contains the following topics:

About Using SSSE

SSSE allows you to synchronize Siebel application data with Microsoft Exchange Server, the server for Microsoft Outlook client software. The types of Siebel data available for synchronization are My Calendar, My Activities, and My Contacts information.

The SSSE administrator defines who is able to synchronize between Microsoft Exchange and Siebel Business Applications, and what types of data users are able to synchronize. After the administrator sets the necessary synchronization settings, the synchronization of data between Siebel Business Applications and Microsoft Exchange is automatic.

Scenarios for Using SSSE

This topic gives the following examples of how SSSE might be used. You might use SSSE differently, depending on your business model:

Scheduling a Meeting Using the Calendar

A Siebel Business Applications user creates a new calendar appointment in Microsoft Outlook and invites three employees to this appointment using Microsoft Outlook scheduling capabilities. Upon saving the record, SSSE automatically creates the new appointment in the user’s Siebel calendar. In addition, the record is written to the Microsoft Outlook calendar of the meeting invitees. One of the invitees cannot attend the meeting and deletes the meeting from his or her Microsoft Outlook calendar. SSSE then removes that user from the list of employees associated with this calendar record in Siebel Business Applications.

Recording a Task or To Do Activity

A Siebel application user creates a new task in Microsoft Outlook. Upon saving the task, the task is written to the Siebel application server, and is visible as a to do activity record in the user's My Activities view. Later, the user changes the description of this activity in Siebel Business Applications. Upon saving the changes, the Siebel to Outlook Connector updates the task in the user's Outlook database on the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Storing Business Contact Information

A Siebel application user creates a My Contacts record in Siebel Business Applications and uses the Add To Sync List command to request that the contact record be synchronized. On the next synchronization, the Siebel to Exchange Connector writes the record to the user's Microsoft Outlook Contacts List and assigns it the Category value of Siebel Contact. The user then changes the spelling of the contact's last name in Microsoft Outlook. SSSE writes the change to Siebel Business Applications and all SSSE users who appear on the Sync List have the change propagated to their Microsoft Outlook Contacts List.

About Using SSSE with Calendar Records

TheSSSE administrator sets the synchronization level for the Calendar domain to either Full Sync, Export Only, or None. The administrator can also optionally implement one-way synchronization of calendar items from Microsoft Exchange to Siebel Business Applications if the Full Sync option is implemented for the Siebel Calendar domain. For additional information, see Implementing Import-Only Synchronization of Calendar Records. The synchronization level that the administrator sets applies to all users who have synchronization enabled.

The current version of SSSE offers administrators and end users some flexibility about whether or not Exchange calendar (and task) records are synchronized with the Siebel database when the Full Sync option is selected. The features described in the following topics provide this flexibility.

About Inbound Activity Filtering

By default, the inbound activity filtering feature is disabled and all of a sync-enabled user’s calendar (and task) records are synchronized. No user action is required.

However, if the administrator enables inbound activity filtering, sets the Calendar domain’s synchronization option to Full Sync, and sets field default values for the purpose of preventing indiscriminate synchronization, then inbound activity filtering directs SSSE to synchronize only the Exchange calendar records that have certain predefined values in a predefined field.

The Microsoft Exchange field that is examined for these values is whichever field is mapped to the Siebel field Activity Type. By default, the Category field in Microsoft Exchange is the field that is mapped to Activity Type, but an administrator can configure a different field to map to Activity Type if required. The predefined Microsoft Exchange field values that allow a record to be synchronized are all valid values for the Siebel Activity Type field. End users can specify which calendar records to synchronize by placing a valid value in the appropriate Exchange Calendar field.

If inbound activity filtering is enabled and the default value for the Type field is Not Set, then SSSE does not attempt to synchronize Exchange calendar records with blank Category fields. For more information about setting up inbound activity filtering, see Process of Enabling Inbound Activity Filtering.

About Using the Opt-in Feature

If the Full Sync option is implemented for the Calendar or Task domains, then the administrator can enable the Opt-in feature; this feature allows the user to choose which of the calendar or task records originating in Microsoft Outlook that SSSE synchronizes.

To designate a new Microsoft Outlook calendar or task record for synchronization, users must enter an appropriate value in the record’s Category field; this value must match the value defined in the PIM Category Value field for the domain. The default for the required value is Siebel Calendar (calendar records) or Siebel Task (task records). You can specify more than one value for the Category field in Microsoft Outlook, provided you include the required value.

After the initial synchronization of a Microsoft Outlook calendar or task record, subsequent synchronizations are automatic.

About the Ignore Private Records Feature

If the Full Sync option is implemented for the Calendar or Task domains, then the administrator can optionally enable the Ignore private records feature. When this feature is enabled, SSSE does not synchronize any calendar or task records originating in Microsoft Outlook that have the Private check box selected.

For more information about using SSSE with calendar records, see the following topics (the information in these topics assumes that the synchronization level for the Calendar domain is set to Full Sync):

Factors That Determine Calendar Synchronization

This topic describes the factors that determine calendar record synchronization. Assuming that the administrator has enabled synchronization for a relevant user, then whether or not a calendar record for the user is synchronized depends on the following factors:

The synchronization level that the administrator sets (Full Sync, Export Only, or None).
Whether or not the SSSE administrator has configured the InboundCalendarOnly parameter to implement one-way synchronization of calendar items from Microsoft Exchange to Siebel Business Applications. For information on the InboundCalendarOnly parameter, see Implementing Import-Only Synchronization of Calendar Records.
The value of the following configuration parameters, which the administrator also sets:
- ExtractStartDate (in MM/DD/YYYY format)
- ExtractStartDateFormat
  If a nonrepeating calendar item has a Planned Completion Date that is earlier than the value of the ExtractStartDate parameter, then that item is not synchronized. If a repeating calendar item has no ending date, or an ending date that is later than the value of the ExtractStartDate parameter, then that item is synchronized. For information on setting the extract start date, see Setting Extract Start Dates for Users.

Whether a calendar record that is created in Siebel Business Applications has a Planned Start and Completion date (a Siebel calendar record without these dates will not synchronize with Microsoft Exchange).
Whether a calendar record that is created in Siebel Business Applications has Display In set to Calendar and Activities (this Display In value is required for synchronization).
Whether an administrator has set the Enable Inbound Activity Filtering parameter to True, what translation mappings exist for Type, and the value of the Category field for any calendar record that is created in Microsoft Exchange. If Inbound Activity Filtering is enabled and the Category value is set to a value that matches a Type translation mapping, then the calendar record is synchronized with the Siebel database.
Whether or not the Opt-in feature or the Ignore private records feature is enabled for calendar records originating in Microsoft Outlook. For information on these features, see About Using the Opt-in Feature and About the Ignore Private Records Feature.
Whether the user archives his or her Exchange calendar records. The process of archiving an Exchange record, whether automatic or manual, stores the record externally and deletes the record from the active data store. SSSE treats this operation as a deletion in Microsoft Outlook, which can lead to the deletion of the corresponding Siebel record at the next synchronization unless your administrator has specified a value for the ArchiveGracePeriod parameter. For further information, see Configuring Support for Items Archived in Microsoft Outlook.

About Activities and Calendar Records

In Siebel Business Applications, task and calendar records are both types of activity records, that is, calendar records are a subset of activity records. When viewed in Siebel Business Applications, all activity records (including records classified as calendar items) appear in the Activities view. SSSE, however, allows you to synchronize calendar records and activity task records separately. Separate treatment is necessary for Microsoft Exchange which treats calendar records and task records as distinct record types.

The value in the Display In field determines how a new Siebel activity record is synchronized with Microsoft Exchange Server. Each Siebel activity record is treated in one of three ways—it is synchronized as a calendar record, it is synchronized as a Task, or it is excluded from synchronization. The following table summarizes how activities created in Siebel Business Applications are synchronized based on the value of the Display In field.

Siebel Display In Value	Microsoft Exchange Record Type	Record Synchronized as
Calendar and Activities	Calendar	Calendar
To Do and Activities	Task	Task
Activities Only Communications and Activities	Not applicable	Not synchronized

Siebel Display In Value

Microsoft Exchange Record Type

Record Synchronized as

Calendar and Activities

Calendar

To Do and Activities

Task

Activities Only

Communications and Activities

Not applicable

Not synchronized

Similarly, when users create items in Microsoft Outlook that SSSE synchronizes with a Siebel application, SSSE automatically sets the Display In field to the appropriate value depending on the PIM record type. The following table summarizes how the Display In field is set when a record that was created in Microsoft Outlook is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications.

Microsoft Exchange Record Type	Siebel Display In Value	Record Synchronized as
Task	To Do and Activities	To Do
Calendar	Calendar and Activities	Calendar

When synchronization adds a Microsoft Exchange task to Siebel Business Applications, SSSE sets the Display In field to a value of To Do and Activities. If a user subsequently changes the Siebel Display In field to Calendar and Activities, then the activity appears in the Siebel calendar. During the next synchronization, SSSE deletes this item from the Exchange Task list and adds it to the Exchange calendar.

For both calendar and task records created in Microsoft Exchange, the value of the Category field sometimes also affects whether the record is synchronized. This depends on whether or not the administrator has set up inbound activity filtering, either with or without translation mappings. For more information about inbound activity filtering, see Process of Enabling Inbound Activity Filtering.

For information on the synchronization behavior that occurs when the administrator disables Allow Record Deletions in the PIM Domain record for Exchange calendar, see About Allowing or Preventing Record Deletions for a Domain.

About Creating, Modifying, or Deleting an Appointment

You can add a new appointment, change an existing appointment, or remove an appointment in either Siebel Business Applications or Microsoft Outlook. Synchronization is automatic except in the instances described in Factors That Determine Calendar Synchronization.

In the specific case where the Owner adds or removes a contact attendee from an appointment in Siebel Business Applications, the change is synchronized with the participant lists of the corresponding Microsoft Exchange calendar items for all sync-enabled participants.

Note: If an Owner removes a participant from a recurring appointment in Microsoft Exchange, then the change is not synchronized with Siebel Business Applications, but neither does the older Siebel data overwrite the change in Microsoft Exchange. If the Owner changes appointment header information (such as Start Date, End Date, and Description) in Exchange, then these header changes are synchronized with Siebel Business Applications.

Modifying Recurring Appointments

Siebel Business Applications do not support the same recurrence options as Microsoft Outlook, for example, appointments that occur every other week are supported by Microsoft Outlook, but not by Siebel Business Applications. Siebel Business Applications support a Meeting Repeat frequency of every day, week, month, quarter, and year.

If you set a recurrence pattern that is not supported by Siebel Business Applications, then when the appointment is synchronized, SSSE creates individual read-only appointments in Siebel Business Applications to represent individual instances of the recurring appointment. However, there is a limit to the number of individual read-only appointments that can be created by synchronizing an appointment with an unsupported recurrence pattern. This limit is determined by the value of the Max Recurring Instances setting for the Siebel Calendar domain. For information on specifying a value for the Max Recurring Instances setting and on configuring recurring appointments, see About Configuring Recurring Appointments.

If you modify a particular instance of a recurring appointment in Microsoft Outlook, then you cannot modify that appointment in Siebel Business Applications after it is synchronized. However, you can continue to modify the appointment in Microsoft Outlook. If you modify all instances of a recurring appointment in Microsoft Outlook, then you can continue to modify the appointment in either Microsoft Outlook or Siebel Business Applications.

All-Day Appointments

The Siebel calendar does not have a field corresponding to the All Day Event check box in Microsoft Outlook. To allow synchronization of Microsoft Outlook All Day appointments, SSSE uses the following conventions:

When SSSE synchronizes an appointment from Microsoft Outlook with the Siebel calendar, SSSE checks starting and ending dates and times and Microsoft Outlook time zone settings to determine whether or not it is an all day appointment. If it is, then SSSE records the event as having a starting date and time and an ending date and time that correspond to the values that are displayed in the Microsoft Outlook Active Appointments view. The end date that Microsoft Outlook displays in the Active Appointments view is one day greater than the end date that Microsoft Outlook displays in an open appointment window with the All day event check box selected.
If Siebel Business Applications and Microsoft Outlook display the same time zone, then both applications show a start time of 12:00 AM and an end time 12:00 AM for an all day appointment. If the two applications display different time zones, then the Siebel application shows different start and end time values based on the time zone configured for the Siebel user. For example, an all day appointment might show starting and ending times of 3:00 AM instead of 12:00 AM, if the Siebel application were using a time zone 3 hours away from the time zone used by Microsoft Outlook.

An appointment that originates in a Siebel application displays as a Microsoft Outlook All Day Event after synchronization only if all of the following conditions are met:
- The Siebel appointment must have a start date and time and an end date and time that span exactly one or more 24 hour periods. For example, start date-time is 12:00 AM Jan 1, 2011 and end date-time is 12:00 AM Jan 3, 2011.
- The end date must be greater than the start date. An end date that is the same as the start date does not display in Microsoft Outlook as an All Day Event because it spans less than a 24 hour period. An All Day Event must span at least one 24 hour period.
- The start and end time values that appear in the Microsoft Outlook Active Appointments view must both be 12:00 AM. The display values for the Microsoft Outlook appointment date and time fields are dependant on the time zone configured for Microsoft Outlook. Therefore, the start and end time values might display as 12:00 AM in one time zone but other time values in other time zones. If Microsoft Outlook and Siebel Business Applications are both configured to the same time zone then 12:00 AM start and end times in one application display as 12:00 AM start and end times in the other.

A single All Day Event appointment can extend over one or more days whether it originated in a Siebel application or in Microsoft Outlook.

About Adding an Attachment to an Appointment

If you add an attachment to a Microsoft Outlook calendar appointment, then the attachment is not synchronized with Siebel Business Applications becauseSSSE does not currently support synchronization of calendar attachments.

The attachment remains attached to your Microsoft Outlook appointment even if you change appointment details in Siebel Business Applications and resynchronize with Microsoft Outlook.

Calendar Appointments with Multiple Attendees

This topic describes how SSSE handles calendar appointments that have multiple attendees in Microsoft Exchange or multiple participants in Siebel Business Applications. The way in which appointments are synchronized can vary depending on whether the appointment was created in Microsoft Exchange or in Siebel Business Applications, and whether or not the appointment owner is enabled to use SSSE. Each of these scenarios is described in the following topics:

Calendar Items Created in Siebel Business Applications

If an SSSE user who is enabled for synchronization creates a calendar item in a Siebel application, then that user is listed in the Owner field of the Calendar Detail form for the item.

If the calendar item has multiple participants, then all the participants who are employees are listed in the Employees field in the Calendar Detail form. If any participants are contacts, rather than employees, then they are listed in the Contacts field in the Calendar Detail form. Employee participants can view the original calendar item in their Siebel calendars.

When SSSE synchronizes a calendar record that was created in a Siebel application with Microsoft Exchange, SSSE maps the value of the Siebel Owner field to the Exchange Organizer field. SSSE maps the values listed as Employees and Contacts in the Siebel Calendar Detail Form to Exchange Attendees.

Note: Only the employees and contacts who have email addresses are synchronized with Microsoft Exchange as attendees for the appointment.

SSSE writes the Siebel calendar appointment directly to the Exchange calendar folders of the sync-enabled participants.

Special Handling When Siebel Owner Is Not Enabled to Use SSSE

If a Siebel user who does not have SSSE synchronization enabled creates a Siebel calendar item that includes SSSE-enabled participants, then the following facts are true:

The Siebel calendar item is synchronized with Microsoft Exchange for all Siebel employee participants who have synchronization enabled. If the owner modifies the item in Siebel Business Applications, then the changes are synchronized for these same participants.
The Siebel calendar item is not synchronized with Microsoft Exchange for nonemployee contacts, because synchronization cannot be enabled for contacts.
Provided that email addresses are correctly configured, the Owner for the Siebel calendar item is synchronized to be the Exchange Organizer for the sync-enabled participants’ Exchange calendar items, even if the Siebel Owner does not have synchronization enabled.
If any sync-enabled attendee modifies the calendar item in Microsoft Exchange (for example, to change the Start Date or Subject), then the change is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications, where it is visible to all Siebel participants, including the item Owner.

Calendar Items Created in Microsoft Exchange

If an SSSE user who is enabled for synchronization creates a calendar appointment in Microsoft Outlook, then that user is listed in Microsoft Outlook as the Organizer of the appointment. Additional participants are listed as Required Attendees or Optional Attendees, regardless of whether the attendees are employees or contacts.

A copy of the original calendar appointment is stored for each attendee who is using Microsoft Exchange client software. From this point on, any attendee can modify his or her own copy of the appointment. The attendee can choose whether or not to notify other attendees (including the organizer) of the change to his or her copy of the appointment. If other attendees are notified of a change to a calendar item, then the notifications provide information about the change that one attendee has made, but the notification has no effect on the data stored in other attendees' copies of the appointment.

Synchronization of Calendar Items

SSSE performs synchronization of Microsoft Outlook calendar appointments with Siebel CRM through the appointment Organizer’s calendar only, provided that the Organizer is enabled to use SSSE. This means that appointments created in Microsoft Outlook, or changes or updates to appointments made in Microsoft Outlook, are only synchronized to Siebel CRM when the Organizer’s records are synchronized, and not when appointment attendee records are synchronized.

Changes made by attendees to calendar appointments in Microsoft Outlook, for example, accepting or deleting meeting invitations, are propagated within Microsoft Outlook to the Organizer and other attendees. When SSSE synchronizes the Organizer, any changes made to the appointment in Microsoft Outlook by the Organizer or attendees since the last synchronization cycle are reflected in the Organizer’s calendar and are synchronized with Siebel CRM.

At synchronization, the value of the Exchange Organizer field is mapped to the value of the Siebel Owner field, provided that the Organizer has a corresponding employee record in Siebel Business Applications. The values listed as Exchange Attendees are mapped to the Employees or Contacts fields in the Siebel Calendar Detail form, depending on whether or not each Attendee’s Microsoft Exchange email address matches the email address for a Siebel employee record.

Employee participants can view the calendar item in their Siebel calendars. The calendar appointment is created regardless of each participant’s Accept/Decline status.

Note: Exchange Attendees must be specified on the Scheduling tab of the Microsoft Outlook calendar item. SSSE does not support entering attendees using the Contacts field on the Appointment tab of the calendar item.

Provided that the Organizer is sync-enabled, the data that appears in the Siebel calendar item is updated if the Organizer modifies the appointment in Microsoft Exchange, and subsequent synchronizations propagate the modifications to the attendees' copies of the appointment in Microsoft Exchange. If any attendee modifies the Siebel calendar item, then subsequent synchronizations propagate the modifications to attendees' copies of the appointment in Microsoft Exchange.

Note: It is recommended that changes to calendar items created in Microsoft Exchange are made in Microsoft Exchange, not in Siebel Business Applications.

If the meeting Organizer does not have synchronization enabled, then the calendar item is synchronized with Siebel CRM for all attendees who have synchronization enabled, and a calendar (activity) record is created in Siebel CRM with the Siebel administrator as the owner. For additional information, see Special Handling When the Exchange Organizer Is Not Mapped or Enabled to Use SSSE.

About Contact Distribution Lists

If you specify a contacts distribution list as an attendee on the Scheduling tab of a Microsoft Outlook calendar item, thenSSSE resolves the distribution list into its individual members when synchronizing the calendar item to the Siebel application. SSSE does not preserve the distribution list name during this operation. If the calendar item is modified in Siebel Business Applications, then the individual attendee names replace the original distribution list when the item is synchronized back to Microsoft Exchange. This functionality applies to distribution lists created in individual users’ Contacts folders, and to distribution lists created in Active Directory at the domain local, global or universal levels.

If a calendar event such as a recurring meeting has a distribution list specified as an attendee, and if the distribution list is modified after the creation of the event, then newer members of the distribution list might see past instances of the event in their calendars, even though they were not originally invited to those instances.

Special Handling When the Exchange Organizer Is Not Mapped or Enabled to Use SSSE

If the Organizer who creates an Exchange calendar appointment in Microsoft Outlook is not enabled to use SSSE, and is not an employee recognized by the Siebel application, then SSSEuses the value of the Generic Siebel Organizer setting as the Organizer when synchronizing the appointment with the Siebel application. If the administrator has not configured a value for the Generic Siebel Organizer setting, thenSSSE does not synchronize the calendar appointment.

Note: If the Organizer who creates an Exchange calendar appointment in Microsoft Outlook is not enabled to use SSSE, then Siebel users cannot use their Siebel calendars to update the Siebel calendar item that is produced by synchronization of the appointment. Users are also unable to update the item in Microsoft Exchange; only the meeting organizer can do that.

Special Handling When an Exchange Attendee Is Not Enabled to Use SSSE

As long as at least one Microsoft Exchange participant is enabled to use SSSE, the calendar item is synchronized with the Siebel calendars of all valid employee attendees, even if some of those attendees do not have synchronization enabled.

Similarly, valid employee attendees are listed in the Employee field of the Calendar Detail form for the item.

A contact who is an Attendee for an Exchange calendar appointment is listed in the Contacts field of the Calendar Detail form for the synchronized item, provided thatSSSE finds the contact already listed in the Siebel database. An unknown contact attendee is not listed in the Contacts field of the Calendar Detail form.

Note: If an Exchange calendar appointment has any Attendees who are not enabled to use SSSE, whether those users are Siebel Users or contacts, then the Siebel user interface treats the record as read-only. The Organizer must make any updates to the item in Microsoft Exchange, and then SSSE must synchronize the changes in Siebel Business Applications.

Special Handling When an Exchange Attendee Deletes or Declines an Exchange Meeting

The results of deleting or declining a Microsoft Exchange meeting depend on whether or not the attendee has SSSE synchronization enabled:

If the attendee has synchronization enabled, then declining or deleting a Microsoft Exchange meeting causes SSSE to remove that attendee from the Siebel calendar item.
If the attendee does not have synchronization enabled, then declining or deleting an Exchange meeting does not cause any change in the Siebel calendar item’s list of attendees, regardless of whether the change in Microsoft Exchange is made in the attendee’s folder or in the Organizer’s folder.

About Using SSSE with Task Records

Siebel to do activities are called tasks in Microsoft Outlook. The SSSE administrator sets task synchronization levels to either Full Sync, Export Only, or None. The synchronization level that the administrator sets applies to all users who have synchronization enabled.

The current version of SSSE offers administrators and end users some flexibility about whether or not Exchange task records are synchronized with the Siebel database when the Full Sync option is selected. In general, however, onceSSSE initiates synchronization for any user, all task record synchronization for that user is automatic. No user action is required, and all of that user’s task records are synchronized.

For more information about using SSSE with task records, see:

The information in these topics assumes that task synchronization is set to Full Sync.

Factors That Determine Task Record Synchronization

This topic outlines the factors that determine whether or not a task record is synchronized. Assuming that the administrator has enabled synchronization for a relevant user, then whether or not a task record for the user is synchronized depends on the following factors:

The synchronization level that the administrator sets (Full Sync, Export Only, or None).
The value of the following configuration parameters, which the administrator also sets:
- ExtractStartDate (in MM/DD/YYYY format)
- ExtractStartDateFormat
  If a task item has a Due date that is earlier than the value of the ExtractStartDate parameter, then that item is not synchronized. For additional information on setting the extract start date, see Setting Extract Start Dates for Users.

Whether or not the administrator has enabled the Full Sync Opt-in feature or the Ignore private records feature for Microsoft Outlook task records. For information on these features, see About Using the Opt-in Feature and About the Ignore Private Records Feature.
Whether or not the administrator has enabled the Inbound Activity Filtering option. For additional information, see About Inbound Activity Filtering.
The value of the Display In field for each individual task record. (SSSE synchronizes task records for which the value of the Display In field is To Do and Activities.)

The following section describes the synchronization behavior that occurs when the administrator has disabled Allow Record Deletions in the PIM Domains list record for the Exchange Task domain.

Allow Record Deletions Is Not Selected

If the administrator has cleared the Allow Record Deletions check box in the PIM Domains record for Exchange Task, then the following situation can occur:

A task item is created in Microsoft Outlook. Provided that Inbound Activity Filtering is disabled or the record contains a value that Inbound Activity Filtering accepts as valid for synchronization, SSSE synchronizes the task to the Siebel database. A user deletes the task in the Siebel To Do list. On subsequent synchronizations, no change occurs to the Microsoft Outlook task, but the task is not re-synchronized with the Siebel database. However, if a user makes a change to the Microsoft Outlook task (or if Microsoft Exchange detects a possible change resulting from accessing the task), then that task will be re-synchronized with the Siebel database (again, provided that Inbound Activity Filtering is disabled or provided that the task record contains a value that Inbound Activity Filtering recognizes as valid for synchronization). For more information about the Allow Record Deletions setting, see About Allowing or Preventing Record Deletions for a Domain.

About Creating, Modifying, or Deleting a Task Record

You can add a new task record, change an existing task record, or remove a task record in either Siebel Business Applications or in Microsoft Outlook. Synchronization is automatic for task (to do activity) records that are created in Siebel Business Applications. For task records that are created in Microsoft Outlook, whether or not synchronization is automatic depends on the following:

If your administrator has enabled inbound activity filtering or the Opt-in feature, then you must enter a valid value in the Category field to indicate that the task is to be synchronized. For additional information, see About Inbound Activity Filtering and About Using the Opt-in Feature.
If you select the Private check box for the record, and if the administrator has enabled the Ignore private records option for the Task domain, then the record is not synchronized. For additional information, see About the Ignore Private Records Feature.

About Creating or Modifying a Recurring Task Record

Siebel Business Applications do not support recurring activities except for the calendar domain, but Microsoft Outlook and Exchange do. If you set a task recurrence in Microsoft Outlook, then when that task is synchronized, a single, one-time activity record with a Display In value of To Do and Activities is created in Siebel Business Applications.

About Adding an Attachment to a Task Record

It is possible to add attachments to both Microsoft Outlook task items and Siebel to do activity items. However, when SSSE synchronizes these items, the attachments are not synchronized.

By default, the current version of SSSE preserves both Microsoft Outlook and Siebel attachments during synchronization. That is, if a Microsoft Outlook task item has attachments, and the corresponding Siebel to do activity record is updated, then the next synchronization updates the Microsoft Outlook task without affecting the attachment. Similarly, if a Siebel to do activity record has attachments, and the corresponding Microsoft Outlook task item is updated, then the next synchronization updates the Siebel to do record without affecting the attachment.

An administrator can configure SSSE to discard Microsoft Outlook attachments when a noncalendar Microsoft Outlook item is updated. For information about this configuration option, see Modifying Enterprise and Server Component Parameters.

Assigning Tasks to Other Users

You can assign tasks to other users in either Siebel Business Applications or in Microsoft Outlook. During synchronization, SSSE makes the appropriate changes in Siebel Business Applications or Microsoft Exchange Server.

In Microsoft Outlook, you assign a task by clicking Assign Task and then filling in the To field. If you select the Keep an updated copy of this task on my task list check box, then the task appears on both your own and the assignee’s task list.

In Siebel Business Applications, you assign a to do activity by changing the Owner to another person. If you change the owner of an activity in the Siebel application, then the activity appears in your My Delegated Activities view and the assignee’s My Activities view.

If you assign a task to more than one person in Microsoft Outlook, when synchronized, SSSE creates multiple to do activities in the Siebel application because Siebel Business Applications do not support more than one owner for each task.

How Priorities and Status Values Are Set for a Task Record

This topic describes how priorities and status values are set for task records that are synchronized from Siebel Business Applications to Microsoft Exchange Server.

The Priority level assigned to a Siebel to do activity when the item is synchronized to Microsoft Exchange Server is shown in the following (these are default values). For information on changing these values, see Creating Field Mappings.

Siebel Priority Value	Exchange Priority Value
1-ASAP	High
2-High	High
3-Medium	Normal
4-Low	Low

The following table indicates how a to do activity’s status is set when the record is synchronized between Siebel Business Applications and the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Siebel Status Value	Exchange Status Value
Acknowledged	0
Not Started	0
In Progress	1
Done	2
On Hold	3
Cancelled	4
Declined	4

About Using SSSE with Contact Records

The SSSE administrator sets the synchronization level for contact records to either Full Sync, Export Only, or None. The SSSE administrator sets business contacts synchronization levels.

Contacts in Outlook are presumed to be business contacts unless the Private Flag is checked. A user can change a contact from personal to business in Outlook by clearing the Private Flag. It is not possible to change a contact from business to personal in the Siebel application.

Contacts are synchronized from the Siebel application to Microsoft Exchange only if the user uses the Add To Sync List command to request that the contact record is synchronized. The Add To Sync List command adds the current user to the Sync List MVG field for the selected record. For additional information, see Enabling and Disabling Contact Records for Synchronization. For business contacts, if Visibility is set to Sales Rep, contact records to be synchronized must also be visible in the user’s My Contacts list.

SSSE applies the following rules when synchronizing contact records:

For successful synchronization of business contact records that have either account information or Business Address information, when synchronizing from Microsoft Exchange to a Siebel application, the contact information must include both an Account Name and an Account Location.
If an SSSE user has multiple positions in the Siebel application, then contacts are synchronized with the user’s primary position.
If a new account is added to a business contact in Microsoft Outlook, then that account is made the primary account for that contact when the record is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications. Any accounts previously associated with that contact remain associated but are not primary.
If a new business address is added to a business contact record in Microsoft Outlook, then that business address is made the primary business address for that contact when the record is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications. Any business addresses previously associated with that contact remain associated but are not primary.
If a new personal address is added to a business contact record in Microsoft Outlook, then that personal address is made the primary personal address for that contact when the record is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications. Any personal addresses previously associated with that contact remain associated but are not primary.

Note: SSSE does not support the synchronization of Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange Server distribution lists. SSSEcan synchronize only individual contacts.

For more information about using SSSE with contacts records, see the following topics. These topics are applicable to the My Contacts view, and they assume that synchronization for the Contacts domain is set to Full Sync.

Enabling and Disabling Contact Records for Synchronization

This topic describes how to designate contact records for synchronization and how to disable contact records from synchronizing.

Contacts in Siebel Business Applications are synchronized with Microsoft Exchange Server only if your user name appears in the Sync List MVG field for the individual contact records. The following procedure describes how to designate a contact record for synchronization in this way.

To designate a contact record for synchronization

Navigate to Contacts, then the Contacts list.
In the My Contacts list, select one or more records.
In the My Contacts list, click Menu, and then choose Add To Sync List.

The following procedure describes how to stop synchronizing one or more contact records that you have previously synchronized.

To stop synchronizing selected contact records

Navigate to Contacts, then the Contacts list.
In the My Contacts list, select a contact record that you no longer want to synchronize with Microsoft Exchange.
Click Menu, and then choose Remove from Sync List.

Note: When you choose Remove from Sync List, you remove yourself from the Sync List for the selected contact record. On your next synchronization, SSSE removes the corresponding contact record from your Microsoft Exchange mailbox.

About Creating, Modifying, or Deleting a Contact

You can add a new contact, modify an existing contact, or delete a contact in either Siebel Business Applications or in Microsoft Outlook.

If you add a new contact in Siebel Business Applications, then you must also add yourself to the contact record’s Sync List in order for the contact record to be synchronized with Microsoft Exchange. For information about adding yourself to a contact record’s Sync List, see Enabling and Disabling Contact Records for Synchronization.

If you add a new contact in Microsoft Outlook, then you must place an appropriate value in the Category field in order for the contact record to be synchronized with Siebel Business Applications. One value in the Category field for the contact in Microsoft Outlook must match the value defined in the PIM Category Value field for the contact domain. (You can specify more than one value for the Category, as long as you include the required value.) The default for the required value is Siebel Contact.

After the initial synchronization of a contact record, subsequent synchronizations are automatic.

If you delete a business contact in Microsoft Outlook, then synchronization removes you from the Sync List for the corresponding Siebel contact record, but the contact record itself continues to exist in the Siebel database.

If any Siebel user is removed from the Sync List of a business contact record in Siebel Business Applications, then synchronization deletes that user’s corresponding contact record in Microsoft Outlook.

If multiple sync-enabled Siebel users are added to the Sync List of a contact record in Siebel Business Applications, thenSSSE synchronizes the contact record with the Microsoft Exchange mailboxes of all the users who are on the Sync List.

If the Allow MVG Creation check box is not selected for a particular user in the User Level Access Control list, and if the administrator has set default values for the Account, Personal Address, and Business Address fields in the Siebel Domains, then if a new address or account is added to one of the user's contact records in Microsoft Outlook, SSSE uses the administrator-supplied default value when the record is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications.

About Adding an Attachment to a Contact

You can add attachments to contact records in both Microsoft Outlook and Siebel Business Applications. However, when the contact record is synchronized, attachments are not synchronized.

By default, the current version of SSSE preserves both Microsoft Outlook and Siebel attachments during synchronization. That is, if a Microsoft Outlook contact record has attachments, and the corresponding Siebel record is updated, then the next synchronization will update the Microsoft Outlook contact without affecting the attachment. Similarly, if a Siebel contact record has attachments, and the corresponding Microsoft Outlook item is updated, then the next synchronization will update the Siebel record without affecting the attachment.

An administrator can configure SSSE to discard Microsoft Outlook attachments when a noncalendar Microsoft Outlook item is updated. For information about this configuration option, see Modifying Enterprise and Server Component Parameters.

Creating a Personal Contact

In Microsoft Outlook, the Private check box determines if a contact is a business or personal contact. If the Private check box is selected, then the contact is considered a personal contact and will not be synced to Siebel. If the Private check box is not selected, then the contact is considered a business contact and appears in the My Contacts view in Siebel Business Applications.

The following procedure describes how to create a personal contact in Microsoft Outlook.

To create a personal contact in Microsoft Outlook

In Microsoft Outlook, open or create a contact record.
Select the Private check box.

Account-to-Contact Relationships

In a Siebel application, a contact can have multiple associated accounts, but in Microsoft Outlook this is not the case. When synchronizing contact information, only the primary account in Siebel Business Applications is exported or synchronized with Microsoft Exchange Server.

If a new account is added to a business contact record in Microsoft Outlook, then that account is made the primary account for that contact when it is synchronized with Siebel Business Applications. Any accounts previously associated with that contact remain associated but are not primary.

Users must not delete the association between an account and a contact in Microsoft Outlook. Users must delete the association in the Siebel application. The limitation is due to the fact that when you delete the association in Microsoft Outlook, the delete operation causes the next account in line to become the Primary Account for the contact.

Consider a case where a contact C1 is associated with 10 accounts A1…A10 with A1 being the primary. When this contact is synchronized with Microsoft Exchange, the account A1 becomes the value for the Company field for the contact in Microsoft Outlook. If the user clears the Company field in Microsoft Outlook, then during the next synchronization cycle, SSSE deletes A1 from the account MVG for the contact. In the process, A2 (next account record) becomes primary and this change is synchronized with Microsoft Exchange. The end-result is that the user who cleared A1 now sees A2 in its place. This has the potential for confusion and data loss.

Contact Access

For a business contact in Siebel Business Applications to be accessible to SSSE during the outbound synchronization process, the Siebel user must have designated the individual contact record for synchronization by adding it to his or her Sync List.

During the inbound synchronization process for a user, a business contact is accessible to SSSE if either of the following conditions apply:

On the user’s User Map record, the Visibility Type specified for the user for the Siebel Business Contact domain is All.
If Visibility Type is set to Sales Rep, then contact records to be synchronized must be visible in the user’s My Contacts list.

About Changing Contact Domains

You can change a personal contact to a business contact in either Siebel Business Applications or Microsoft Outlook, by clearing the Private check box for the record. After you make this change, the record disappears from your Siebel Personal Contacts List and appears in your Siebel Contacts List.

Because personal contacts are never synchronized, a personal contact exists in one application only. After you convert a personal contact to a business contact in either application, that contact becomes eligible for synchronization using the same rules as for all business contacts.

You can also change business contacts to personal contacts in Microsoft Outlook by checking the Private checkbox. Then synchronization occurs as follows:

If the business contact has already been synchronized between the two systems, then the current user is removed from the Sync List for this Contact, but the contact is not deleted in the Siebel application. Contacts are never deleted in the Siebel application, because they could be tied to other records.
If the business contact exists in Microsoft Outlook but has never been synchronized to the Siebel application, nothing occurs after the user marks it as private in Microsoft Outlook. It is not synchronized during future synchronizations.

Note: It is not possible to change a business contact to a personal contact in Siebel Business Applications.

Synchronization of Contact Phone Numbers

This topic describes how contact phone numbers are formatted and displayed when SSSE synchronizes business contacts between Microsoft Outlook and Siebel Business Applications.

Inbound Synchronization

When SSSE synchronizes a Microsoft Outlook contact, the contact phone numbers are displayed in Siebel Business Applications as follows:

If the Microsoft Outlook contact number does not contain a country code, then the default country code is used and an informational message is logged. The default country code is the country code of the system locale in which the SSSE Engine is running.
If the Microsoft Outlook contact number contains a country code, then the number is formatted using that country code.
If a PHONE_FORMAT LOV is configured for the country code, then the phone number is formatted using the configured value. If a PHONE_FORMAT LOV is not configured, the phone number is formatted as a custom phone number. For information on specifying phone-number formats, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.

If a formatted contact number plus any format string is larger than the maximum length defined for the field, then the number is trimmed and a message is logged.
If the country code is null and the contact phone number starts with 0, then a country code is not added to the number.
Phone numbers that are not formatted and that are less than 10 characters in length are padded with x characters. SSSE attempts to reformat such numbers.

Outbound Synchronization

Phone numbers that are exported from Siebel Business Applications to Microsoft Outlook are formatted as international numbers containing the + country code indicator and the country code.

If the country code cannot be determined, then the number is exported with just the + country code indicator character preceding the phone number. In cases where the country code can be determined, it is included and is space-delimited from the rest of the number.

Synchronization Error Messages

When SSSE synchronizes a particular user’s data, the synchronization can succeed completely, succeed partially, or fail completely. This topic lists some of the validation error messages that indicate partially successful synchronization. These error messages, shown in the following, generally indicate a problem with an individual record—other records for the same user might synchronize successfully.

When a validation (or other record-level) synchronization error occurs, whether or not the user’s sync state for a session is saved depends on how the administrator has configured the Always Save Syncstate parameter. For additional information, see Skipping Records That Generate Synchronization Errors.

Your administrator can configure SSSE so that the administrator is notified by email when a synchronization error is generated. For further information on configuring email notification of synchronization errors, see Process of Configuring Email Notification of Synchronization Errors.

Note: Validation errors are not generated for outbound (Siebel application to Microsoft Outlook) synchronization attempts. If an error occurs in a record during an outbound synchronization attempt, then it indicates a serious error has occurred, for example, the Microsoft Exchange Server is not responding. In these cases, the user’s sync state is not saved.

The following table contains a listing of some of the error messages that indicate partially successful synchronization.

Logged Message	Error Code	Cause and Result of Error
Failed to process the unresolved attendees for Siebel Row: row_ID, Siebel Domain: domain_name.	None	SSSE cannot save the unresolved attendees for the appointment in the row indicated.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.SSSE also saves the attendee data in a special table, so that if the Siebel record changes and is synchronized with Microsoft Exchange, then the Microsoft Exchange record retains the unresolved attendees.
One or more records with the same key already exists.	IDS_ERR_EAI_SA_MULTIPLE_MATCH IDS_ERR_EAI_SA_DUP_ CONFLICT SSASqlErrDupConflict2 SSASqlErrDupConflict	SSSE found a duplicate record in the Siebel database.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.
One or more required fields of this record are empty.	IDS_ERR_EAI_SA_MISSING_REQ_FIELD IDS_WRN_EAI_SA_DML SSASqlErrReqField	One of the required fields for this record is empty and there was no default configured.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.
This record cannot be deleted because it does not exist.	IDS_ERR_EAI_SA_BC_NO_ DATA SSASqlErrRecordDeleted	SSSE cannot delete a record because it is not in the Siebel database (it was probably deleted earlier).
Value entered for one or more fields of this record is not compatible with its declared Data Type.	SSASqlErrValidation	The value for one of the fields in this record is not of the correct data type for the field.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.
Number of characters entered for one or more fields of this record exceeds the declared Data Length.	SSAOMErrDataTooLong SSASqlErrBindVarOverflow1	A text field for this record has more characters than the corresponding Siebel database field can handle.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.
One or more fields of this record has characters that are not compatible with this DB Code Page.	SSASqlErrUnicodeToCodePage SSASqlErrUnicodeConversion	At least one of the fields in this record is not compatible with the code page database. This condition typically affects multiple users.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues attempting to synchronize the user’s other records. You might be able to correct this condition by inspecting the indicated record and changing any special characters to standard characters.
Alarm flag is checked for past appointment.	SSAOMErrAlarmTriggerTime Passed	The appointment being synchronized is scheduled in the past and has an alarm flag checked in the PIM record.SSSE synchronizes the record but does not synchronize the outdated alarm flag. No user or administrator action is required.
One or more picklist fields of this record have a value that is not part of the bounded picklist of values.	SSAOMErrBoundedPick IDS_ERR_EAI_SA_PICK_ VALIDATE	A value thatSSSE is trying to use for a picklist field is not available in the picklist for the field.SSSE does not synchronize the record that had the error, but continues synchronizing the user’s other records.