The frequency with which you synchronize Outlook and InterAction varies depending on the number of users, contacts, and appointments you have, the speed of your networks, and to some extent, the way you configure your processes for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync.
Depending on your organization’s Exchange environment, you should set up your configuration of Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync differently.
For more information, see the following sections:
- Choosing an Express or Complete Synchronization
- Select the Exchange Servers for Each Scheduled Synchronization
- Scheduling Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync in Coordination with User to Firm Contact Sync
- Using Server Groups
- How Do I Configure the Various Settings for My Multiple Exchange Server Environments?
- Managing Last Synchronization Information
What Should I Synchronize?
When configuring your Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync settings, you can specify whether to run contact sync and calendar sync together or separately. If you decide to run these separately, you need to create individual scheduled processes for each.
Choosing an Express or Complete Synchronization
Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync has two modes that you can choose when setting up synchronization.
Express Mode
Express mode simply detects the number of changes made in Outlook and the user contact list in InterAction for contact synchronizing. When processing each user contact list or calendar item, if a change or addition is found, the process switches to Complete synchronization mode for that user’s contact collection or calendar and synchronizes all changes, additions, or deletes. The process then switches back to Express mode again until it finds another user contact list or calendar that has a change.
This mode is faster than a Complete synchronization because it only does a contact-by-contact and calendar-by-calendar comparison if a change is detected. Use this mode to synchronize users’ contacts and calendar items throughout the day.
If only deletions or offline changes are made in a user’s Contact folder in Outlook, these changes are not recognized, and the process does not switch to Complete mode. However, if any other additions or edits are made in either Outlook or InterAction (for contact sync), the process switches. Because of this, it is recommended that you run a synchronization in Complete mode once a day.
Complete Mode
Complete mode reads each user's Contacts folder and Calendar in Outlook and his or her contact list and appointments in InterAction, comparing the two. This mode compares every contact and appointment, one by one, looking for differences.
This mode is slower than the Express synchronization, but it ensures that the two collections and calendars are identical. Run this mode once a day, preferably during non-business hours.
Select the Exchange Servers for Each Scheduled Synchronization
Depending on how your organization has set up your Exchange servers, choose a different method of setting up your synchronization between Outlook and InterAction.
Your Organization Has One Exchange Server or All Your Exchange Servers are in the Same Central Location
On one workstation, install InterAction Administrator - including Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync
This workstation should have the fastest possible connection to your Exchange Server. This workstation must also be able to connect to the InterAction database through your network.
When you schedule a process for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync, you only need to schedule one process to synchronize all Exchange Servers.
Your Organization Has Several Exchange Servers That Are Distributed Throughout Your Organization’s Offices (Not on the Same LAN)
If your organization has several Exchange Servers that are not on the same local area network, your configuration of Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync requires more steps.
For each office that has an Exchange Server, set up a Process Manager workstation with the following components:
- InterAction Administrator - including Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync
- Microsoft Outlook
You do not have to set up a separate synchronization workstation for each Exchange Server, however you may need to set one up for each location with an Exchange Server. For example, if you have two Exchange Servers in London and one in Chicago, you could set up one Process Manager workstation in London and one in Chicago.
Each workstation should have the fastest possible connection to your Exchange Servers to improve performance. For this reason, you should set up a workstation to run Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync from each office that contains an Exchange Server.
Instead of creating one schedule for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync that runs from one workstation and synchronizes all Exchange Servers, you must schedule a process for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync to run from each of the workstations you set up and to only synchronize one Exchange Server with InterAction.
For example, assume you have four Exchange Servers - one in Los Angeles, one in New York, and two in your London office. You set up three workstations for running Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync
- one in each office. You must define four processes for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync - one for each Exchange Server. These would be the following:
- New York workstation - synchronize New York Exchange Server with InterAction
- Los Angeles workstation - synchronize Los Angeles Exchange Server with InterAction
- London workstation - synchronize first London Exchange Server with InterAction
- London workstation - synchronize second London Exchange Server with InterAction
You can schedule these processes to occur at the same time or you can stagger the processes to happen at different times. Having several Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync processes running at the same time may affect Outlook performance for your users.
For more information about setting up Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync in a multiple Exchange Server environment like this, see How Do I Configure the Various Settings for My Multiple Exchange Server Environments?.
Scheduling Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync in Coordination with User to Firm Contact Sync
When you schedule syncs, you should schedule the following:
Sync Processes to Schedule
| Process | Settings | Reason |
| Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync | Synchronization Mode: Complete Purge old log files after 14 days | Run complete mode once a day. |
| Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync (contacts only) | Synchronization Mode: Express Purge old log files after 14 days | Step 1 of 4: Pull in changes from Outlook contacts. |
| User to Firm Contact Sync | Purge old log files after 14 days | Step 2 of 4: Transfer Outlook changes from User Contacts to Firm Contacts |
| User to Firm Contact Sync | Purge old log files after 14 days | Step 3 of 4: Transfer above changes from Firm Contacts to other users’ connected User Contacts |
| Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync (contacts and calendar items) | Synchronization Mode: Express Purge old log files after 14 days | Step 4 of 4: Push above User Contact changes to other users’ Outlook contacts in a timely manner |
The last four entries should be scheduled one to five minutes apart throughout the day. Based on the performance of your hardware and network environment, you can schedule this cycle to run from every 15 minutes to every four hours or more.
Note: How Do I Configure the Various Settings for My Multiple Exchange Server Environments?
First, if you have multiple servers, determine whether you need to schedule separate processes for each Exchange Server or if you can schedule one process to synchronize all servers. Essentially, if you have Exchange Servers that are spread throughout multiple office locations for your organization, you probably should schedule separate processes for each Exchange Server. For details, see Select the Exchange Servers for Each Scheduled Synchronization.
If you decide you need to schedule separate processes for each Exchange Server, then, for each Exchange server, schedule two versions of the Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync process local to that office - one version runs in Express mode and is scheduled to run throughout the day at regularly scheduled intervals. For example, you may choose to run Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync in Express mode every two hours. The other version runs in Complete mode and is scheduled to run once, preferably during non-work hours and should be scheduled local to that office.
Finally, schedule User to Firm Contact Sync to run after Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync. In multiple Exchange Server environments where servers are spread out (instead of located within the same office), this may not be possible. In this situation, you may opt to run Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync every two hours, starting at 8 A.M. and run User to Firm Contact Sync every two hours, starting at 8:30 A.M.
If the two processes somehow end up running at the same time (for example, User to Firm Contact Sync started before Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync finished), a user’s contact list may not be synchronized with the Firm List during that scheduled synchronization because it is currently being synchronized with Outlook. When the next scheduled synchronization takes place, the user’s contact list is synchronized correctly. No errors occur if the two processes run at the same time. However, you should not purposely schedule your processes to run at the same time.
Multiple processes can only run at the same time if they are scheduled on different Process Manager workstations. If processes are scheduled on the same workstation and one is scheduled to start before the previous process finishes, it is added to the queue of processes and is initiated immediately after the previous process finishes.
Using Server Groups
You can use server groups when scheduling the Outlook to InterAction Sync process. Server Groups are batches of user contact lists that you define in InterAction Administrator. By creating server groups, you have more flexibility in which contact lists to synchronize.
For example, you can create server groups like the following:
- A server group that only includes new user contact lists to synchronize
- Separate groups for users in your New York and London offices
- A group dedicated for troubleshooting purposes
Whatever the reason for creating server groups, there is no limit to the number of users you can include in a group or the number of groups you can create. However, when configuring an Outlook to InterAction Sync process, you can specify up to five server groups to synchronize.
By specifying server groups, you are only synchronizing user contact lists included in those groups. The Outlook to InterAction Sync process is only synchronizing user contact lists included in the Chicago and New York server groups.
Assign Users to Server Groups
Use the User Contact List entity in InterAction Administrator to assign user contact lists to server groups. This option lets you mark a set of users first so you can add several user contact lists to a server group at once.
Alternately, you can assign user contact lists to server groups individually by choosing Edit in the Manage User Contact List dialog box, then specifying a Server Group Name in the Synchronization tab.
To assign a set of user contact lists to a server group:
- Log on to InterAction Administrator.
- From the main window entity list, double-click User Contact List.
- On the Manage User Contact List dialog box, mark the user contact lists to add to a server group.
- Under Apply Setting to Marked Lists, choose Set Server Group Name in the Action drop-down list.
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In the Server Group Name field, choose the server group from the drop-down list or type a new server group.
The server groups available in the drop-down lists are all server groups currently assigned to user contact lists. You do not maintain a list of server groups.
- Choose Apply.
- When finished, choose Close.
Manage User Contact Lists - Setting User Groups
- A) Mark the user contact lists to add to a server group.
- B) Choose Set Server Group Name in the Action drop-down list.
- C) Type or choose a server group name. The server groups available in the drop-down lists are all server groups currently assigned to user contact lists. (You do not maintain a list of server groups.)
- D) Choose Apply.
- E) Each user contact list’s server group displays in the Server Group column.
Managing Last Synchronization Information
When you first synchronize Outlook with InterAction, a folder is added to each user’s Outlook mailbox. This folder contains a note item that identifies the last time Outlook contacts were synchronized with InterAction contacts and the last time Outlook calendar items were synchronized with InterAction.
Within the note, a hidden field contains a timestamp of the last time Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync was run. This timestamp is compared to the last synchronization date stored in the InterAction database. If the two dates do not match, synchronization does not take place to ensure that no information is lost. For more information, see Disaster Recovery for Microsoft Outlook to InterAction Sync.