Workplace Calendar Service for Exchange V3 FAQs
Early Access Migration
This will ensure the connectivity with Exchange in anticipation of Microsoft's deprecation of impersonation roles in February 2025. Learn more in Application Impersonation RBAC Role Deprecation in Exchange Online | Microsoft.
Explore the Frequently Asked Questions for the Workplace Calendar Service for Exchange V3.
General
Q: Eptura Workplace is a SaaS solution for workplace management. What is the use case for an integration with Microsoft Outlook/Exchange?
A: The primary use case for customers is to sync calendar events between the customer’s email service provider and the Eptura Workplace Reservations module. This allows the customer’s employees to manage their work meetings using multiple touchpoints - Outlook, the Workplace Reservations web page, the Workplace Hummingbird mobile app or the Hummingbird add-in for Outlook.
The Workplace Calendar Service V3, built in partnership with Nylas, provides a handshake allowing us to pass event data securely between Exchange and Workplace ensuring a stable and reliable user experience and a standardized authentication process. Our native code base has been updated to adopt the Nylas API v3, which leverages Microsoft Graph and admin consent for a more secure and efficient connection to your Exchange tenant. We also provide calendar admin tools for connecting accounts and configuring linked spaces.
Q: What personal data is used e.g. name, email etc.?
A: The Workplace Calendar Service V3 authenticates through the use of a service account with the the room resource calendar’s SMTP address/mailbox, not the individual user’s calendar mailbox. We do, by syncing events between Eptura Workplace and the customer’s email service provider via Nylas. We store the user’s email address as an attribute of the created event to allow us to send booking notifications. Eptura Workplace stores emails for all person records created by the admin in our application for the purpose of conducting operational transactions. We do not store PII data beyond those values needed to use the application - name, email, phone number (optional). We do not have permissions to the user’s calendar.
Q: What data elements are needed for this integration?
A: A Microsoft service account, a room resource SMTP address and the Workplace room ID of the space that will be linked to the room resource calendar.
Q: What do you use to connect to Exchange?
A: We connect to the customer’s Office365 Exchange tenant using app permissions.
Q: What permissions does the Eptura Workplace Calendar Service require?
A: The Eptura Workplace Calendar Service app is configured with the following permission set
- Calendars.ReadWrite
- offline_access
- openid
- profile
- User.Read.All
These permissions are not configured within the customer's service account, but are accepted and granted to our app during the authorization process as shown on the screen below.
Q: Can Application Access policies be used to restrict visible rooms or do we need access to the full room resource calendar? Why do we need to grant User.Read.All permission?
A: Yes, application access policies can be used to restrict access. User.Read.All permissions are used by our Azure application to read the user profile information for the room resource calendar.
Q: Does the Workplace Calendar Service V3 support more than one Microsoft tenant (instance)?
A: Yes. To authenticate more than one tenant you will need a service account as described above per tenant. Follow the instructions outlined in Authorization of the Workplace Calendar Service for each tenant.
Q: What type of data from my Exchange/Outlook instance is being stored by Eptura vs Nylas? How is the data stored?
A: We both store resource IDs, event IDs, and calendar items. Eptura streams the data through Kafka and stores it in Azure. All transmission of that data is encrypted. Storage in Azure is also encrypted. Details for Nylas can be found here: https://trust.nylas.com/
Q: Will the Eptura Workplace calendar service have access to my user’s personal Outlook mailbox or contents?
A: We will have read only access for the purpose of syncing calendar events and sending email notifications. We cannot write to the user’s calendar account.
Q: Do you support OAuth2.0 for this integration?
A: Yes via Office365 SSO.
Q: Where is the Calendar Service V3 hosted?
A: The service is currently hosted in the US. Our hosting site in France is expected to be added in the second half of 2025.
Q: How is metadata like attachments from meeting room bookings being stored? Can meta data be stripped from the bookings details?
A: Workplace stores metadata about the event itself, such as an eventID and iCalID, but we do not store attachments. All meta data can be stripped using the Exchange Admin Center. For information about how Nylas stores data reference this website - https://trust.nylas.com/
Q: Will the Calendar Service V3 calendar service support Google Calendar?
A: No. Support for Google Calendars and Google Service Accounts is not supported.
Q: Does the Calendar Service V3 calendar service have an API?
A: Yes. However, it is not exposed to customers. Workplace calls this API via Kafka or scheduled calls to update events within our application. Customer will use the existing Workplace Reservations API for any external integrations needs. Documentation can be found here: REST API
Q: Does the Calendar Service V3 calendar service support multi-factor authentication?
A: Yes. The service uses OAuth to authenticate the service account can have multi-factor authentication enabled. We will receive a token and refresh token, and use those to further access the account.
Q: How are inbound calls handled? (will Nylas be pulling data from Outlook? What data?)
A: There are no inbound calls to Outlook. All communications is with Office365 through API calls for the data granted through approved permissions.
Q: Will the Calendar Service V3 service support future integrations with Microsoft Teams?
A: Yes. The scope and availability of integrations with MS Teams is subject to future approval and prioritization of additional feature sets by the Eptura.
Q: Does the Calendar Service V3 update allow for 'edit everywhere'? In other words, events created in Outlook can be edited in Workplace and vice versa?
A: No. Edit everywhere is not available in V3. Users are advised to edit an event in the application it was created in - Outlook or Workplace.
Q: Is the application ID changing for the Workplace Calendar Service V3?
A: Yes. V2 and V3 of our calendar service use separate Azure applications.
Q: If the customer makes changes to the room resource email address, will the connection and sync be lost?
A: Yes, the room will lose connection to the service. The address itself should not be modified nor should the room resource be removed or recreated.
Q: If the customer changes permissions or restrictions of the room resource calendar, will the connection and sync be lost? For example, we grant a distribution list access to reserve this room calendar on the Exchange side or the admin adds/removes users from the distribution list?
A: No. The connection and sync will not be lost. As long as the email address is not removed, recreated or modified.
Migrating Customers
Q: I am a former V1 customer. Do I need to modify permissions or roles in my existing Azure app registration for V3?
A: No. The Workplace Calendar Service V3 no longer uses app registration in Azure to authenticate as it did for V1. A service account will be used instead. The service (user) account will need a product license - Microsoft Business Basic, Microsoft Business Standard or Microsoft Business Premium - which gives access to calendars and an email address.
Q: When migrating to the new calendar service from V1 to V3, do I need to wipe the existing calendar service credentials configured in Admin > Reservations > Preferences?
A: Yes. Leaving these credentials in place would impact our ability to cleanly connect your Exchange instance to the new service. The support team will assist with this step as part of the migration process.
Q: I am a current V2 customer. Do I need a new service account for V3?
A: No. If preferred, customers may use an existing service account. The service (user) account will need a product license - Microsoft Business Basic, Microsoft Business Standard or Microsoft Business Premium - which gives access to calendars and an email address.
Q: Should I turn off email notification during the migration process?
A: Yes, this is recommended best practice for existing customers with event data already in place. The old service will stop listening to and syncing with your email provider service account and begin listening to the new service. This will result in a series of canceled events from the old service and newly created events from the new service to replace them. Turning off email notifications will reduce the ‘noise’ experienced by your end users. Email notifications triggered by the migration should reduce significantly after a 1-2 day period.
Q: Will the Hummingbird panels that we have outside of the rooms be disabled during the migration period?
A: Room panels by their nature tend to be assigned to managed rooms - those we integrate with via Exchange/Outlook. Existing events made prior to a migration are still known to us in Workplace and will still be reflected on the room panels. During migration, all events will re re-synced and the panel data will be made current.
Q: When will my migration take place? Can I select my preferred date and time? How long will the migration take?
A: The Eptura support team will assist with scheduling and reviewing the migration process. The availability of a particular date and time is subject to available migration time slots. Daytime and evening hours are available. The length of time for the migration varies by customer based on the number of room resource calendars to be moved, but generally speaking allow for 2-3 hours of downtime. A migration guide will be provided.