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Exchange Synchronization

AX 2012

Autor ................................ Pascal Gubler

Dokument ........................ Exchange Synchronization 2012 (EN)

Erstellungsdatum ............. 25. September 2012

Version ............................. 2 / 17.06.2013

Exchange Synchronisation / AX 2012

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Telefon 044 722 59 60 • www.axperience.ch

Content 1 PRODUKTBESCHREIBUNG ................................................................... FEHLER! TEXTMARKE NICHT DEFINIERT.

1.1 OVERVIEW............................................................................................................................................ 3

1.2 FEATURES ............................................................................................................................................. 3

2 SETTINGS ....................................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 EXCHANGE PARAMETERS ......................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 CATEGORIES.......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.3 EMPLOYEES .......................................................................................................................................... 5

3 USING EXCHANGE SYNCHRONIZATION IN AX 2012 ................................................................................. 6

3.1 CONTACTS ............................................................................................................................................ 6

3.1.1 Private contacts ............................................................................................................... 6

3.1.2 Public contacts ................................................................................................................. 7

3.1.3 Employee-Contacts .......................................................................................................... 7

3.1.4 Contacts and mobile devices ........................................................................................... 7

3.1.5 Photos .............................................................................................................................. 8

3.1.6 Deleting private contacts ................................................................................................. 8

3.1.7 Deleting public contacts ................................................................................................... 8

3.2 E-MAILS IMPORT ................................................................................................................................... 9

3.3 SEND E-MAILS .................................................................................................................................... 10

3.4 APPOINTMENTS ................................................................................................................................... 11

3.5 TASKS ................................................................................................................................................ 13

3.6 DELETED ACTIVITIES .............................................................................................................................. 14

4 ACTIVE DIRECTORY INTEGRATION IN AX 2012 ..................................................................................... 15

4.1 EMPLOYEE CONTACTS ........................................................................................................................... 15

5 INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................... 16

VERSIONEN

Version Datum Autor Änderung Status

1 25.09.2012 Pascal Gubler

2 17.06.2013 Pascal Gubler Mitarbeiter-Kontakte, Active Directory

3 24.06.2013 Martin Abrle Translation, more details




1 Product description

1.1 Overview

«AXP-Exchange Sync» Dynamics AX module supports a seemles integration between Exchange objects and their Dynamics AX counterparts.

One integration example could the usage of your tablet to input data (into the calendar and contacts) while on the go. There is no online requirement here – data will be automatically synchronized with Exchange and therefore also with Dynamics AX the next time you connect to the network.

Following AX and Exchange objects can be synchronized:

- Private contacts / AX Contacts - Contacts in public folders / AX Contacts - Contacts in public folders / AX Employees (Export only) - Appointments and meetings / AX Activities - Tasks / AX Activities - E-Mails / AX Activities (Import) - E-Mails distribution

Additionally, employee information can be synchronized into the active directory to keep AD objects up to date with HR Information.

1.2 Features

- Compatible with all recent AX versions (AX 4.0, AX 2009, AX 2012, AX 2012 R2) - Compatible all Exchange version from Exchange Server 2007SP1 (latest CU recommended) upwards - Compatible with Office 365, regardless of where the servers are hosted - E-Mail integration for CRM Activities allows for better Exchange and AX CRM Activities integration - Supports a centralised contact data management in AX - Supports a centralised contact and employee data management in AX - Organization of customer related activities (tasks, meetings) - Always up-to date info about your CRM activities in AX




2 Settings

2.1 Exchange Parameters

Exchange Parameters form is used to set general integration parameters.

- Exchange Server: Exchange Webservices URL – typically it’s https://yourservername/EWS/Exchange.asmx

- Admin E-Mail address: This is the mailbox address of the person with a full access to the public folder containing Contacts and Employee contacts. Typically this is the Exchange Administrator

- Domain, synchronization account and the password identify the user who will connect to the Exchange server to perform synchronization tasks. This account must have impersonation permissions to all user mailboxes you want to synchronize with.

- Exchange protocol – used to decide, whether Categories will be synchronized using Exchange. Exchange 2007 does not support the Category synchronization, all newer versions do. If you are using Exchange 2007, Categories will need to be deployed using GPOs.

The rest oft he parameters is used to set a recipient of batch processing errors, synchronization window for meetings and appointments and E-Mail import details (what type of CRM activity should be created when importing emails).

https://yourservername/EWS/Exchange.asmx




2.2 Categories

«ExchangeSync > Setup > Categories» Form is where Exchange categories are centrally managed. These categories will be automatically deployed to all mailboxes which are synchronized and can be chosen to classify AX CRM activities, AX Employees and AX Contacts. Categories are also used to decide which objects can be synchronized – in case of E-Mails, Appointments, Meetings Tasks and private contacts. You can also use this form to export categories to selected mailboxes. This is being done automatically, but «Export categories» can serve as a troubleshooting tool to prove that Connection settings and impersonation rights are setup correctly.

Note: Please restart the AX Client each time you modify categories, as they are cached in clients memory for performance reasons.

2.3 Employees

Employee’s mailbox is defined here. There is also a setup for each Exchange object type which is going to be synchronized. Settings here are overriding the setup in categories – for example, Tasks will not be synchronized unless it’s explicitelly allowed here. This feature can be used to limit synchronization with sensitive mailboxes (CEO, HR). To disable the synchronization with sensitive mailboxes completely, do not give the impersonation permission for these mailboxes to the synchronization account.




3 Using Exchange Synchronization in AX 2012

3.1 Contacts

There are two approaches to contact synchronization – one is to synchronize AX contacts with Exchange (Outlook) Private contacts and the other one is to synchronize AX contacts with contacts in an Exchange’s public folder.

In order to make both approaches to work, communication types need to be configured first in «Exchange Synch > Setup > Communication methods ». Typically, all Exchange Email-Types (1..3), address types (Business, Private, Other) and phone number types need to be covered.

3.1.1 Private contacts

Private contacts are managed using the «Exchange Sync > Common > Private contacts» form.

User can choose, which contacts to synchronize with his mailbox using the the «Choose contacts » button, import contacts using the import button (based on categories assigned to his contacts) and export modified contacts. Contacts, which have been imported, can be assigned to a vendor, customer or prospect if the exchange contact’s company name was not unique (e.g. there is only one global address book company entry with this name).

First time the user starts this form, he can change the contact directory if there is a need to use a different contacts sub-directory. Some users might want to use this feature to separate their own contacts and company contacts.




3.1.2 Public contacts

Public folders to synchronize contacts with can be setup using the form «Exchange Sync > Setup > Public contacts folders». Here you define the Exchange path, separated using the „/“ sign as a delimiter (for example „Axperience/Global Contacts”. Assigned to each Exchange path is a query, selecting a set of contacts which are going to be synchronized (based for example on a region). Query selection is the selection and filtering mechanism here – not the Category as is the case with private contacts.

Export and import can be started using «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Export > Contacts > Exchange public contacts» and «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Import > Contacts > Exchange public contacts». AX Contacts, linked to exchange public folder contacts, can be maintained using the form «Exchange Sync > Common > Public contacts»

Export is exporting only recently modified contacts. Recently modified objects can be viewed using the form «Exchange Sync > Inquiries > Synchronization log»

3.1.3 Employee-Contacts

Employee contacts work the same way as public contacts – with the only difference, that there is no import functionality. Public folder setup is to be found under «Exchange Sync > Setup > Public employee contacts folders». Links between exchange public contacts and AX employees can be viewed using the «Exchange Sync > Common > Employee contacts» form.

Export batch job is located under «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Export > Export employee contacts».

3.1.4 Contacts and mobile devices

Public contacts are not usually directly available from mobile device email clients (iPhone, iPad, Android). However, there are dedicated applications, which allow you to browse and modify (and cache) public folders. One example is the Public Folders application for iPhone we’re using.

Private contacts are directly synchronized with all mobile devices, which can connect to Exchange. Many email clients also allow for an extra search/verification of contacts against the active directory (often called global contacts or global address book in mobile email clients).




3.1.5 Photos

Photos can be assigned (in Microsoft Dynamics AX standard) to employees; «AXP-Exchange Sync» extends this functionality to AX contacts as well. Employee and contact photos will be then synchronized with Exchange.

3.1.6 Deleting private contacts

When deleting an AX contact, Exchange contact will not get deleted automatically; only the link between these two (in «Exchange Sync > Common > Private contacts») will be removed.

When an Exchange (private) contact gets deleted, the link between AX and exchange contacts gets removed as well.

3.1.7 Deleting public contacts

When deleting an AX contact, the link between these two (in «Exchange Sync > Common > Public contacts») will be removed and the Exchange contact will be removed during the next synchronization.

When an Exchange (public) contact gets deleted, the ling (to be found in «Exchange Sync > Common > Public contacts») gets the flag «Skip synchronization» set. Later, the AX contact can be either manually deleted, or the Skip synchronization flag can be removed using the butting «Activate synchronization».




3.2 E-Mails import

Die E-Mails aus Outlook, resp. Exchange, werden in Microsoft Dynamics AX als Aktivität importiert. Es können empfangene oder gesendete E-Mails importiert werden. Dies wird in den Parametern (Absatz 2.1) festgelegt.

To import an email into Dynamics AX, the email should have the right category set, e.g. a category, for which the email import has been activated (see 2.2)

Email import can be started from «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Import > Import Emails» and it will search mailboxes defined in the import batch job’s query. E-Mails found will be used to create AX activities; AX Activity will be assigned to the contact, with the sender’s E-Mail address (in case of incoming E-Mails) or recipient’s E-Mail address (in case of outgoing E-Mails) . If the contact with this E-Mail address doesn’t exist, E-Mail will not be imported.

On the following picture, you can see the link between the contact (sender/recipient) and the imported activity.




E-Mail attachements are imported into document management (Attachments, see below). Document types for attachments have to be defined in «Sales and Marketing > Setup > Sale and marketing parameters > Documents ».

3.3 Send E-Mails

«AXP-Exchange Sync» can be used to ditribute emails through Exchange. The advantage (compared to using the SMTP) is, that the user can see sent emails in his mailbox.

Exchange E-Mail distribution ist o be found under «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Export > Send emails»; source for the query are the AX standard outgoing emails «System administration > Periodic > E-mail processing > E-mail sending status».




3.4 Appointments

Import

In order for an Exchange appointment or a meeting, it needs to be created by a mailbox owner, which is an AX employee with enabled appointment synchronization. Appropriate category needs to be assigned, as discussed in 2.2.

The import is performed by the «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Import > Import appointments » job. Import job will then create an activity of the category „Appointment“. All exchange data are mapped to AX data; most important data for thy synchronization can be found in the «Exchange Synchronization» tab.




Meeting attendees (if they exist) will be imported into AX and can be viewed or modified using the Button «Attendees» in AX activities.

Export

In order to export an AX appointment, this AX activity of category „Appointment“ should have the appropriate category assigned and the responsible worker needs to have the appointment synchronization enabled. When the activity gets saved, an entry in the „synchronization log“ is created.

Export is performed using the «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Export > Export appointments » batch job. If you want to export all, and not only modified AX apointments, select the checkbox «Export all appointmentd ».

If you assign attendees to an AX appointment, these will be created as attendees in for the Exchange appointment and they will be invited to this (newly created) meeting.




3.5 Tasks

Import

Task import works similar to E-Mail and calendar apointments/meetings import. Task needs to have a synchronizable category (see 2.2).

After starting the job «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Import > Import tasks», Tasks will be imported into AX as and activitiy with the category Task.




Export

To export an activity with the category Task into AX, Um eine Aktivität aus AX an Exchange zu exportieren, wird eine Aktivität mit der Kategorie „Aufgabe“ und der entsprechenden Exchange Kategorie angelegt. Beim Speichern der Aktivität wird dieser im Exchange Synchronizationsprotokoll vermerkt.

Der Export wird über die Funktion «Exchange Sync > Periodisch > Export > Aufgaben exportieren» gestartet. Sollen alle Aufgaben und nicht nur die geänderten exportiert werden, kann der Parameter „Alle Aufgaben exportieren“ gewählt werden.

3.6 Deleted activities

When the user deletes an activity, a backup of of all relevant information (the activity itself, attendees,..) is made. «Exchange Sync > Periodic > Deleted activities» form can be then used to view these activities and restore them if needed.




4 Active Directory Integration in AX 2012

4.1 Employee contacts

«AXP-Exchange Sync» can be used to synchronize employee information into the active directory using the «Exchange Sync > Periodisch > Export > Kontakte > Mitarbeiter-Kontakte» nach Active Directory exportieren» batch job. Employees, which are assigned to a a user in AX, can be (based on a query) searched for and updated in an OU, described with the parameter «LDAP Path users». «LDAP Path contacts» is an optional parameter. If used, employees which do not have an AX user, will be exported as contacts into this group.




5 Installation

Installation is described in the install.txt file in the installation archive.