Created :
Written by Support InfoBridge
Background story
A customer with 4 employees using Outlook to manage email and appointments decides to purchase SuperOffice CRM for 2 employees. To simplify the story, the male users John and Mike don’t use SuperOffice and the female users Linda and Julie are the new SuperOffice CRM users who are using the SuperOffice Invite system. Linda has configured the email settings in SuperOffice, where Julie didn’t. Since Outlook is the main calendar system for this small company, all employees are used to look in Outlook to see the availability of colleagues.
User scenario 1
The following situation will occur when Linda creates an invite in SuperOffice with a known customer.
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Invite is created in SuperOffice and known customer is invited. |
SuperOffice | Appointment is created in the calendar and SuperOffice sends the invite |
Outlook | No appointment visible |
Known customer | |
Outlook | Receives the invite and the appointment is created tentatively |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | |
Known customer accepts the invite in Office 365 Web, Outlook sends acceptance email |
Appointment shows that known customer has accepted the meeting |
Is empty *) |
*) The acceptance mail is received in the Outlook/Google inbox, displaying information about the meeting, but Linda will not find the appointment in the Outlook/Google calendar. This can be confusing for Linda.
Impact for colleagues: When John looks in Linda’s Outlook calendar nothing is booked, so a possible double booking could occur.
User scenario 2
The following situation will occur when Linda creates an invite in SuperOffice with a known customer.
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Invite is created in SuperOffice and known customer is invited. |
SuperOffice | Appointment is created in the calendar and SuperOffice sends the invite |
Outlook | No appointment visible |
Known customer | |
Outlook | Receives the invite and the appointment is created tentatively |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | |
Known customer deletes the invite by using the right click functionality, no decline email is sent |
Appointment shows that known customer has accepted the meeting |
Is empty |
Note: This situation is out of the hand of SuperOffice and seems only be possible when using Office 365
web.
User scenario 3
Linda | |
Outlook | Invite is created in Outlook and known customer is invited. |
SuperOffice | No appointment visable |
Known customer | |
Outlook | Receives the invite and the appointment is created tentatively |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | |
Known customer accepts the invite in Outlook |
Is empty *) | Appointment has acceptance state |
*) The acceptance mail is received in the SuperOffice inbox, displaying information about the meeting, but Linda will not find the appointment in the SuperOffice calendar. This can be confusing for Linda
User scenario 4
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Julie.
Known customer | |
Outlook | Appointment is created in Outlook and Julie is invited |
Julie | |
SuperOffice | Nothing happens |
Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively |
Julie's SO calendar | Julie's Outlook calendar | |
Result | Is empty | Shows tentatively the appointment |
When Linda looks in Julie's SuperOffice calendar nothing is booked, so a possible double booking could
occur.
User scenario 5
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Linda, John and Mike
Known customer | |
Outlook | Invite is created in Outlook and known customer invites Linda, John and Mike. |
Julie | |
SuperOffice | The invite is received by the SuperOffice inbox |
SuperOffice | The appointment is created tentatively in the calendar with one participant |
Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively in the calendar with all participants |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | |
Result | Shows tentatively the appointment with only one participant (Linda) *) |
Shows tentatively the appointment with all participants |
*) Since the email addresses of John and Mike are not present in the SuperOffice database they are not added as participants to the SuperOffice meeting stored in Linda’s calendar.
Impact for Linda: Participant information in SuperOffice is not complete, only Outlook shows the correct
list of participants.
User scenario 6
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Linda with a recurring invite.
Known customer | |
Outlook | Recurring Invite is created in Outlook and known customer invites Linda |
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Receives the invite |
SuperOffice | Creates the appointments tentatively in the calendar (after clicking accepting all) |
Outlook | The appointments are created tentatively |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | known customer | |
Linda deletes one appointment from the recurrence pattern in Outlook |
Appointment visible | Appointment is removed | Shows in Outlook that Linda declined one appointment of the recurrence pattern |
Linda marks the invite private in Outlook |
Appointment is visible for everyone |
Appointment is marked private |
- |
Linda sets the alarm in Outlook |
Alarm is not set | Alarm is set | - |
Note: Visibility or alarm settings made in Outlook/Google are not in sync with the visibility or alarm settings in SuperOffice.
User scenario 7
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Linda and Julie.
Known customer | |
Outlook | Invite is created in Outlook and known customer invites Linda and Julie |
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Receives the invite |
SuperOffice | Creates the appointment tentatively in Linda’s calendar, but it also creates the appointment tentatively in Julie’s calendar |
Outlook | The appointments are created tentatively |
Julie | |
SuperOffice | Appointment created through the incoming invite from Linda |
Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively |
Depending on which actions are being done by Julie.
Julie's SO calendar | Julie's Outlook calendar | Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | known customer | |
Julie accepts the invite in Outlook |
Appointment has tentative state |
Appointment has acceptance state |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Julie accepted the invite |
Shows in Outlook that Julie accepted the invite |
Julie accepts the invite in SuperOffice |
Appointment has acceptance state |
Appointment has tentative state |
Shows that Julie accepted the invite |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Julie declines the invite in Outlook |
Appointment visible in SUO has tentative state |
Appointment is removed |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Julie declined the invite |
Shows in Outlook that Julie declined the invite |
Julie declines the invite in SuperOffice |
Appointment is removed |
Appointment visible in Outlook with tentative state |
Shows that Julie declined the meeting |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Julie did not respond to the invite |
Depending on which actions are being done by Linda
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | Julie's SO calendar | Julie's Outlook calendar | known customer | |
Linda accepts the invite in Outlook |
Appointment has tentative state |
Appointment has acceptance state |
Shows that Linda did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Linda accepted the invite |
Shows in Outlook that Linda accepted the invite |
Linda accepts the invite in SuperOffice |
Appointment has acceptance state |
Appointment has tentative state |
Shows that Linda accepted the invite |
Shows that Linda accepted the invite |
Shows that Linda accepted the invite |
Linda declines the invite in Outlook |
Appointment visible in SUO has tentative state |
Appointment is removed |
Shows that Linda did not respond to the invite |
Shows that Linda declined the invite |
Shows in Outlook that Linda declined the invite |
Linda declines the invite in SuperOffice |
Appointment is removed |
Appointment visible in Outlook with tentative state |
Shows that Linda declined the meeting |
Shows that Linda declined the invite |
Shows that Linda did not respond to the invite |
Depending which actions are done, including in which order they are done will effect the functionality. For
example if Linda declines the appointment in SuperOffice, the following flow is in effect:
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | Julie's SO calendar | Julie's Outlook calendar | known customer | |
Linda declines the invite in SuperOffice |
Appointment is removed |
Appointment visible in Outlook with tentative state |
Shows that Linda declined the meeting |
Shows that Linda declined the invite |
Shows in Outlook that Linda declined the invite |
Known customer changes the time of the invite |
- | - | Shows the appointment on the old time |
Appointment is changed to the new time |
- |
Known customer deletes the invite |
- | - | Appointment visible in SUO has tentative state |
Appointment is removed |
- |
To summarise: For SuperOffice users and non-SuperOffice users this will be a confusing situation, in some cases when users are invited to a meeting it will show up in SuperOffice and in some cases, the meeting will also be visible in Outlook. This is besides the situation where the acceptance state and deletions are showing different information between Outlook/Google and SuperOffice.
User scenario 8
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Linda and changes are being made by
Linda.
Known customer | |
Outlook | Invite is created in Outlook and known customer invites Linda. |
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Receives the invite |
SuperOffice | Creates the appointment tentatively in Linda’s calendar. |
Outlook | The appointments is created tentatively |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | known customer | |
Linda accepts the invite in Outlook |
Appointment has tentative state |
Appointment has acceptance state |
Shows in Outlook that Linda accepted the invite |
Linda marks the invite private in Outlook |
Appointment is visible for everyone |
Appointment is marked private |
- |
Linda sets the alarm in Outlook |
Alarm is not set | Alarm is set | - |
User scenario 9
The following situation will occur when a known customer invites Linda for a recurring project meeting
with no end-date.
Known customer | |
Outlook | Invite with no end date is created in Outlook and known customer invites Linda. |
Linda | |
SuperOffice | The appointments are created tentatively in the calendar with a max of 100 appointments |
Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively exactly how it is specified by the sender |
Linda's SO calendar | Linda's Outlook calendar | |
Result | Shows partially tentatively the appointments (max 100 appointments) |
Shows tentatively the appointments correctly |
Impact for Linda and Julie: The SuperOffice calendar shows only partially the invite, when Linda books an appointment in the distant future, the SuperOffice calendar is empty.
User scenario 10
The following situation will occur when an unknown customer invites Linda and Julie.
Unknown customer | |
Outlook | Invite is created in Outlook and unknown customer invites Linda and Julie. |
Linda | |
SuperOffice | Receives the invite |
SuperOffice | Nothing happens, however within the Inbox you have the possibility to add the unknown user to SuperOffice. |
In Linda's Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively |
Julie | |
SuperOffice | Nothing happens. |
In Julie's Outlook | The appointment is created tentatively |
Depending on which actions are being done by Julie.
Julie's/Linda's SO calendar | Julie's/Linda's Outlook calendar | Unknown customer | |
Julie or Linda accepts the invite in Outlook |
Appointment not visible | Appointment has acceptance state |
Shows in Outlook that Julie or Linda accepted the invite |
Julie or Linda declines the invite in Outlook |
- | Appointment is removed | Shows in Outlook that Julie or Linda declined the invite |
Impact for Linda and Julie: It can be confusing since sometimes appointments are created in SuperOffice but not always. This depends if the person who sends the invite is known or unknown in SuperOffice.