Best practices when integrating with Microsoft 365

1.1 Manage incompatible bookings/events before mapping rooms

Certain Eptura Engage bookings and Microsoft calendar events are not compatible with the integration and must be removed or rectified before mapping the associated Exchange rooms and Eptura Engage resources. 

Eptura Engage: The following booking types are not compatible with the integration and must be removed:

• Bookings that have more than 450 instances (calculated by the number of recurrences multiplied by the number of resources)
• Bookings that include more than 8 resources
• Bookings created using the 'Specific' recurrence type
• Linked room bookings

Microsoft Exchange: The following calendar events are not compatible with the integration and must be removed:

• Events where the user's calendar is not subscribed (except single-day events in a single room, which are compatible regardless of whether the calendar is subscribed or not).
• Events that have more than 450 instances
• Events that include more than 8 rooms
• Recurring events with no end date
• All-day events are not supported by Eptura Engage
• Events that are over 3 years in the future
• Events that are past the advance booking period set for the Group in Eptura Engage
• Events that are created before the notice period set for the Group in Eptura Engage
• Events that are outside the business hours set for the Group in Eptura Engage
• Events where the organizer does not have permission to book a resource from the Group in Eptura Engage

1.2 Allow Eptura Engage to manage conflict resolution for recurring bookings

When associating Eptura Engage resources with Exchange rooms or equipment mailboxes, the resolution of conflicts in recurring bookings is best managed automatically by Eptura Engage, which uses its well-established 'Smart healing' technology to manage the conflict. To do so, you must ensure that Microsoft Exchange prevents the Exchange room from accepting conflicts for single-day bookings, and that an entire recurring series is accepted even when there are conflicting instances.

To achieve this, set the following parameters using the Set-CalendarProcessing cmdlet in PowerShell:

AllowConflicts set to False.
This prevents the Exchange room from accepting conflicts for single-day bookings.

ConflictPercentageAllowed set to 100.

MaximumConflictInstances set to 450.

This allows the entire series to be accepted even when there are conflicting instances, while only declining the specific instances that have conflicts.

1.3 Match Exchange booking rules and permissions with Eptura Engage

The booking rules and permissions for the Exchange room must align with the booking rules and permissions set for the Eptura Engage resource it will be mapped with.

Set the following parameters using the Set-CalendarProcessing and Set-MailboxCalendarConfiguration cmdlets in PowerShell:

1.4 User accounts

The user's primary email address in Microsoft Exchange must exactly match their email address in Eptura Engage. If two users exist in Eptura Engage with the same email address, the Single Sign-On (SSO) user will be preferred.

For the best experience, all users who have booked meetings in Exchange rooms must be added as active users in Eptura Engage before the rooms and resources are mapped. This helps ensure that the integration can successfully subscribe to users' Exchange calendars, providing a full two-way synchronization between Exchange and Eptura Engage.

1.5 Exchange room mailboxes

• The Exchange room User Principal Name (UPN) and primary email address must match.
• An Exchange room mailbox must only be associated with one Eptura Engage resource. This includes if it is mapped to an Eptura Engage resource or just added as an Equipment mailbox in the resource settings. 
• The name of the Exchange room mailbox and the Eptura Engage resource must be the same or similar, so that users can easily associate the two when booking the room from either Exchange or Engage workflows.
• The attributes of the Exchange room, for example, location and capacity, must match the Eptura Engage resource, to provide a better experience for users. Learn more at Microsoft: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...urce-mailboxes
• Exchange rooms must be visible in the Global Address List (GAL) for them to appear on the Exchange room mapping page in Eptura Engage. If you want to hide Exchange rooms from the GAL, for example - when you want rooms to be booked using Eptura Engage only, then you can hide them after mapping the room.

2.1 Unmapping and remapping Exchange rooms to Eptura Engage resources

Unmapping and remapping Exchange rooms with Eptura Engage resources might cause calendars to become out of sync. Contact Support if you need to unmap and remap an Exchange room with an Eptura Engage resource, even if you are remapping the same room and resource.

2.2 Do not update the email address of an existing mapped room

Updating the email address of an Exchange room that is already mapped to an Eptura Engage resource is not supported. Contact Support for further advice if you need to change the email address of a mapped room.

2.3 Communicate room mapping to users

If some of your Exchange rooms are not mapped (the Exchange equipment mailbox might be added to the Eptura Engage resource settings, or a room might not be associated with Eptura at all) then we recommend keeping users informed so they understand which rooms can be booked using Eptura Engage apps and which cannot be directly invited from a Microsoft calendar event.

2.4 Hide Exchange equipment mailboxes added to Resource settings (not mapped)

Mapping Exchange rooms to Eptura Engage resources is the preferred and recommended configuration for the Eptura Engage Microsoft 365 integration, however, if you have added Exchange equipment mailboxes to the Eptura Engage resource settings instead, then we recommend hiding these rooms from the Global Address List (GAL) to help prevent users from inviting the Exchange room manually.

2.5 Third-party devices connected to Exchange

If using third-party room screen devices connected to Microsoft Exchange, to start, check-in, end, and extend bookings, you must ensure that automatic meeting progression is disabled for the meeting space. Meeting progression is set in Group admin. Learn more: Configure a group for meeting spaces

3.1 Deleting an invited Exchange room from an event

When deleting an invited Exchange room from a Microsoft calendar event, users must ensure that the Exchange room mailbox is removed from both the attendees list and the location field in the event.

3.2 Do not extend or delete bookings in progress

Bookings that are in progress in Eptura Engage cannot be deleted or have their start time changed; they can only be shortened. Therefore, if an Outlook event is extended or deleted, it might cause the bookings to become out of sync.

3.3 Do not edit or decline events directly from an Exchange room calendar

Users (including admins and delegates) must not edit or decline any calendar invites directly from the Exchange room calendar.