If Outlook Integration is made available at your site, then the information from your personal Tasks (Tasks that are owned by your User ID's constituent id number) can be exchanged back and forth with your Microsoft Outlook Tasks or Calendar functions. Once Task and Calendar items have been created in Abila Millennium, they can then be integrated into Outlook. This integration can be one way or two, depending on the User Options that you select. And, if your system administrator has chosen to use a real time level of integration at your site, this integration can even occur at the moment when you create new or update existing Abila Millennium Tasks.
Abila Millennium Tasks and Outlook integration can occur only when all of the following conditions are met:
The Level of Integration with Outlook must be set to Manual or to Real Time. This is a system-wide option, set on the System Options page by a system administrator at your site.
A Type can be assigned to a Task. Typical Task Types might include visits, conference calls, attending functions, and assortments of "things to do". Some task types, such as appointments, visits, and phone calls can be considered Outlook Calendar-type functions. Others, such as items on a to-do list, are Outlook Tasks functions. The Task Type is a lookup table driven field, controlled by the Tasks Type lookup table.
When an entry in the Tasks Type table is created, a decision must be made to either allow or prevent Tasks that are assigned this type to be integrated into Outlook. And, if Tasks that are assigned this Type are allowed to be integrated into Outlook, it must be decided whether they should be integrated into Outlook's Calendar or into Outlook's Tasks List. Once these decisions are made, set up the entries in the Tasks Type lookup table as follows:
The user must be a constituent . If the user is not yet set up as a constituent, review the Create a New Constituent and the User Maintenance topics.
Allow integration at the user level, and set the options that the system will use when integrating Tasks and Outlook on the User Options Data Entry page.
To synch Abila Millennium with Outlook when logging on to Abila Millennium, select the During login check box.
To synch Abila Millennium with Outlook when logging out of Abila Millennium, select the Before log out check box.
To synch Abila Millennium with Outlook whenever the user navigates to the My Tasks page by using , or My Tasks on the Home Page, select the When opening My Tasks check box.
To synch Abila Millennium with Outlook at a specific time interval, check the Every X minutes check box, and then select the desired interval from the drop list box.
To restrict the integration to one way only, select the Always use Abila Millennium data Synchronization rule. This option is intended for the user who always maintains his or her Tasks and Calendar items in Abila Millennium.
To allow for two way integration, select the Use data with the most recent timestamp Synchronization rule. The data will the later change date will overwrite the data with the earlier change date, whether that data is in Abila Millennium or in Outlook.
Important! If Outlook's auto-archive feature is enabled, then the cut off day that is specified here must allow only those Tasks with End Dates that are after the auto-archive date that is specified in Outlook to be integrated. If this recommendation is not followed, then Abila Millennium will re-create the Tasks and Calendar items have already been auto-archived by Outlook.
Abila Millennium Tasks and Outlook integration will occur when you log on, log off, navigate to My Tasks, and/or at a specified time limit, depending on the Integration User Options that you select. However, you can also manually integrate Abila Millennium Tasks and Outlook on demand - whenever you want.
The My Tasks Synch with Outlook menu item will be available only if the Outlook Integration system setting is set to Manual or Real-time, and only if the user has selected the Enable task integration check box on the User Options page.
It may be necessary for you to allow the use of ActiveX components each time you synch with Outlook.
Point to the Link menu item. Click Task.
Or
Point to or click the Actions
Tasks header Edit button .
Click the Insert menu item.
If the level of integration is set to Real-time, then Abila Millennium will immediately send the newly created Task to either Outlook Tasks or Calendar, depending on the Task Type that you chose.
If the level of integration is set to Manual,
when Abila Millennium will create the Task in Outlook depends on what Integration
User Options that are selected. Integration can also be forced at any
time by using the My Tasks Synch
with Outlook
menu item.
If the level of integration is set to Real-time, then Abila Millennium will immediately update the corresponding Outlook Tasks or Calendar item with your changes.
If the level of integration is set to Manual,
when Abila Millennium will send the changes to Outlook depends on what
Integration User Options that are selected. Integration can also be forced
at any time by using the My Tasks Synch with Outlook
menu item.
If the level of integration is set to Real-time, then Abila Millennium will immediately delete the corresponding Outlook Tasks or Calendar item.
If the level of integration is set to Manual,
when Abila Millennium will delete the item in Outlook depends on what Integration
User Options that are selected. Integration can also be forced at any
time by using the My Tasks Synch
with Outlook
menu item.
Only items that are created in Abila Millennium can be integrated with Outlook. All Tasks and Calendar Items that originate in Outlook will be ignored during the integration process.
Real Time Integration can only go one way - from Abila Millennium to Outlook. Updates made in Outlook are not immediately reflected in Abila Millennium Tasks. However, Manual integration can be configured by each user to go two ways by using the Use data with the most recent timestamp Synchronization rule. Then, when either the user or the system initiates the integration, the Abila Millennium Tasks will be updated with the changes that are were made in Outlook.
Note: Abila MillenniumTasks and Outlook integration does not support setting Outlook Tasks and Calendar items to recurring. If a user sets an item to recurring in Outlook, the extra, recurring Task or Calendar items will not be created in Abila Millennium.
Deleting an item in Outlook will not delete the corresponding Abila Millennium Task no matter the integration level option. For an Outlook Task, the best practice is to mark it as Complete in Outlook. If an item must be removed from Outlook, then delete it from Abila Millennium.
The Integration process will delete orphaned Outlook Tasks and Calendar items. When Abila Millennium creates items in Outlook, it uses Outlook User Properties to store User's constituent ID number and the primary key of the Abila Millennium Task. During integration, the ID number and the primary key are checked. If the ID number in Outlook no longer matches the ID number of the Task in Abila Millennium, the Outlook item is considered orphaned and therefore it is deleted. Or, if the primary key value in Outlook is not found in the Abila Millennium Tasks table, the Outlook item is considered orphaned and therefore it is deleted.
If two users have different user ID numbers and different Abila Millennium ID numbers, and both access the same workstation and both access the same Outlook account, then, when one user logs off and the other user logs on, and synchronization with Outlook occurs while this other user is logged on, the process will delete the Outlook Tasks and Calendar items for the logged off user. This is a feature that allows Outlook items to be cleaned up if they were added in error and also allows a user (such as a system administrator) to remove another user's Tasks and Calendar items from Outlook if that user is no longer employed at your site. If it is the intention at your site to have two users with different Abila Millennium ID numbers share the same workstation and the same Outlook account, then select the During login User Option for each user to force Abila Millennium to synch with Outlook when each user logs on. This will restore the logged off user's Abila Millennium Tasks to Outlook's Tasks and Calendar items when he or she logs back on.
This table provides the Abila Millennium-Outlook mapping details, valid codes and values, and validation rules that this functionality will follow when integrating Abila Millennium Tasks with Outlook Tasks items.
Important! Invalid data will not be saved to Outlook, but users will not be prevented by the system from entering invalid data.
Abila Millennium Fields | Outlook Tasks Fields | Tasks Table Field Name |
Valid Codes/Values
|
Validations and More Information |
---|---|---|---|---|
Subject | Subject | tasksubjct | ||
Priority | Priority | taskprior |
0 - Low 1 - Normal 2 - High |
|
Status | Status | taskstatus |
0 - Not Started 1 - In Progress 2 - Complete 3 - Waiting 4 - Deferred |
|
Start Date | Start Date | taskstrtdt |
|
|
Due/End Date | Due Date | taskduedat |
|
|
Remind On/Remind Time | Reminder | taskremdat/taskremtim |
|
|
Completed On | Date Completed | taskcompdt |
If the taskstatus is set to Complete (code = 2), then the Abila Millennium Completed On date must be specified. |
|
Comment | Body | taskcomm |
This field is not available for two-way integration. Changes to the Body that are made in Outlook will not be brought back into Abila Millennium. |
This table provides the Abila Millennium-Outlook mapping details, valid codes and values, and validation rules that this functionality will follow when integrating Abila Millennium Tasks with Outlook Calendar items.
Important! Invalid data will not be saved to Outlook, but users will not be prevented by the system from entering invalid data.
Abila Millennium Fields |
Outlook Calendar Fields |
Tasks Table Field Name |
Validations and More Information |
---|---|---|---|
Subject |
Subject |
tasksubjct |
|
Start Date + Start Time |
Start Time |
taskstrtdt/taskstrttm |
|
Due/End Date + Due/End Time |
End Time |
taskduedat/taskduetim |
|
Remind On/Remind Time |
Reminder |
taskremdat/taskremtim |
|
Location |
Location |
tasklocatn |
|
Comment |
Body |
taskcomm |
This field is not available for two-way integration. Changes to the Body that are made in Outlook will not be brought back into Abila Millennium. |