Microsoft Exchange Online - Calendar synchronization

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Microsoft Exchange Online - Calendar synchronization

    The Workplace Calendar Synchronization application enables seamless synchronization of reservations between Microsoft Outlook calendars and the Workplace Reservation Management application. This integration allows reservations made in the Workplace portal to appear in Outlook calendars and vice versa, ensuring that room bookings and event details are consistently updated across both platforms.

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    Synchronization relies on the Microsoft Graph API, which provides access to Microsoft 365 data, and requires establishing a connection using the Microsoft Exchange Online Spoke.

    Key Features

    • Bidirectional synchronization: Reservations created in Workplace Reservation Management are reflected in Microsoft Outlook calendars, and Outlook events can be synchronized back to Workplace.
    • Subscription-based updates: Active reservable sync configurations automatically create subscriptions to track changes in room calendars, ensuring real-time updates.
    • Connection modes: Supports normal mode, strict mode, and personal authentication mode connections to Microsoft Exchange Online, allowing flexibility in how events are synchronized and managed.
    • Strict mode: Events are sent to a general email address rather than directly to employee calendars; employees are invited as attendees and can only modify bookings through Workplace Reservation Management.
    • Synchronization of past reservations: Administrators can specify date ranges to sync historical reservations between systems.
    • Multi-provider support: Configure multiple calendar providers and credentials for Microsoft Exchange Online to support complex organizational needs (note this is distinct from Exchange hybrid setups).
    • 'No request' handling: Allows validation of event payloads without making actual API calls to calendar providers, useful for testing and ensuring correct event data formation.
    • Instance scan: Diagnostic tool to validate and troubleshoot synchronization configurations with Microsoft Exchange Online.
    • Webhook registry configuration: Sets up callback URLs to facilitate communication and event notifications between Workplace and Microsoft Exchange Online.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    • To enable calendar synchronization, admins must create a connection with Microsoft Exchange Online using one of the supported modes (normal, strict, or personal authentication).
    • Subscriptions are automatically created for active sync configurations to monitor room mailbox events and notify Workplace upon changes.
    • Admins can configure synchronization to include past reservations by specifying start and end date/time ranges.
    • Approval workflows integrate with Microsoft Outlook, allowing delegates to approve or reject reservation requests and track their status directly in Outlook.
    • Multi-provider setups allow organizations to manage multiple Exchange Online tenants or credential sets within the same Workplace environment.
    • Using 'No request' mode helps admins validate event creation payloads without affecting live calendars, improving configuration accuracy and reducing errors.
    • Performing instance scans is recommended to periodically verify the health of synchronization configurations and quickly identify issues.

    Next Steps

    • Set up the Microsoft Exchange Online Spoke and related credentials.
    • Create and configure connections in the desired mode (normal, strict, or personal authentication).
    • Configure webhook registry to enable callback communication.
    • Define reservable sync configurations and activate subscriptions.
    • Optionally configure synchronization of past reservations and multi-provider setups as needed.
    • Use instance scans and 'No request' functionality to validate and troubleshoot your synchronization setup.

    Synchronize reservations between Microsoft Outlook and Workplace Reservation Management.

    The Workplace Calendar Synchronization application provides a medium to establish a connection between your Microsoft Outlook calendar and the Workplace Reservation Management application. You can synchronize reservations made in the Reservation portal to the Microsoft Outlook calendar and block the date and time. Similarly, you can also synchronize the events made in the Microsoft Outlook calendar with the Workplace Reservation Management application and track the reservations and its details.

    Microsoft Graph API

    The Microsoft Graph API provides access to data stored across Microsoft 365 services. So, to synchronize reservations, the Microsoft Graph connection plays a crucial role. When you install Microsoft Exchange Online Spoke, the following credentials are installed:
    • MS Graph 1
    • MS Graph 2
    To install the Microsoft Exchange Online Spoke, refer to Create a connection with Microsoft Exchange Online spoke.

    Subscriptions

    When you activate a reservable sync configuration to synchronize reservations with Microsoft Exchange Online, a subscription is created automatically. The application notifies if a subscription renewal fails. The notification is sent to the users with the Workplace Calendar Synchronization admin [sn_wsd_rsvsync.admin] role. Subscriptions are created only for active reservable sync configurations. A subscription notifies you about the changes to events on the room mailbox. For more information about subscriptions, refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/subscription-post-subscriptions?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http.

    A webhook registry contains the subscription-related details to perform a call-back. To configure a webhook registry, refer to Configure the webhook registry of Microsoft Exchange Online spoke.

    Synchronization from Workplace Service Delivery to Microsoft Exchange Online

    To synchronize reservations made using the Workplace Reservation Management application to the Microsoft Outlook calendar, you must first create a connection with Microsoft Exchange Online. Depending on how you want to establish the connections, refer to the respective topics:

    Synchronization from Microsoft Exchange Online to Workplace Reservation Management

    The process of synchronizing reservations made in an Microsoft Outlook calendar to the Workplace Reservation Management is performed with the help of subscriptions. A subscription is created in the calendar provider for the room (reservable sync record). The application is notified by the subscription whenever an action is performed on the room. For more information about subscriptions, refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/subscription-post-subscriptions?view=graph-rest-1.0&tabs=http.

    Strict mode

    The Workplace Calendar Synchronization application enables you to configure your connections and configurations with Microsoft Exchange Online in strict mode as well. In strict mode, events are not directly created in an employee's calendar, instead, they are sent to a general email address. Employees are invited to the event. You can specify a strict mode email id through which you want to sync reservations. Employees can only make changes using the Workplace Reservation Management application.

    To configure strict mode, enable the Strict mode option while configuring the Microsoft Exchange Online as calendar provider. The requesters are considered as invitees.

    Sync past reservations

    The Workplace Calendar Synchronization application enables you to sync reservations that were made in the past. You can specify the duration in date and time to get those past reservations to sync with Microsoft Exchange Online or Workplace Reservation Management. You can configure the setting using the Synchronize past reservations. Specify the Sync start date time manually from the subscription record of the reservable sync record for which you are synchronizing the past reservations. In the Sync end date time, you can specify the end time as you want.

    Multi-provider setup

    The Workplace Calendar Synchronization enables you to configure a multi-provider setup with Microsoft Exchange Online. That is, configure multiple connections and credentials with Microsoft Exchange Online. For more information on how to set up a multiprovider, refer to Create single or multiple calendar providers with Microsoft Exchange Online.
    Important:
    Multi-provider is not supported or is not the same as Exchange hybrid configurations.

    'No request' handling

    No request is a mechanism to validate the generated syntax of a payload of an event created for the calendar. But, instead of sending the event to the calendar provider, it is only created. The admin can validate the payload content of the event (JSON) to ensure that is generated as expected. 'No request' ensures that the application does not make any API calls to the calendar provider when you create, update, or cancel a reservation in the Workplace Reservation Management application.

    Run instance scan

    Execute an Instance scan on your Workplace Calendar Synchronization configurations with Microsoft Exchange Online. The Instance Scan application diagnoses the configurations with the calendar provider by running a series of checks using suites.

    Refer to Run Instance scan to check Microsoft Exchange Online synchronization configuration.