Workplace Calendar Service for Exchange V3 FAQs

General

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Q:  Eptura Workplace (formally iOffice) is a SaaS for workplace management. What is the use-case for an integration with Nylas?  

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.  For customers who currently integrate their Microsoft Exchange instance with Workplace Reservations, the new calendar service built in partnership with Nylas will provide a stable and reliable user experience, a standardized authentication process, and calendar admin tools for connecting accounts and configuring linked spaces.  An update set of Calendar Tools will be available at GA, anticipated in the 2nd quarter of 2025. 

Q:  What personal data is used e.g. name, email etc.?

A:  Eptura’s calendar service 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:  I am a current V1 customer.  Do I need to modify permissions or roles in my existing Azure app registration?

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:  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:  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
• email
• offline_access
• openid
• profile
• User.Read.All 

These permissions are not configured within the customer's service account, but are accepted/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 here 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:  Will the Eptura Workplace Calendar Service V3 have access to 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:  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.

Early Access

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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:   Should I turn off email notification during the migration process?

A:  Yes, this is recommended best practice for existing customers with an active integration 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 3-4 day period. 

Q:  During Calendar Service V3 early access, after Microsoft removes impersonation rights, will future events automatically cancel or disappear?

A: No. Existing events will remain in place - those created in Outlook/Exchange or in Workplace. But we will lose the ability to sync any changes made by the user - cancellations or edits to the space, date or time - between the two applications. If the customer’s site site has been migrated to V3 prior to this action by Microsoft, we will retain the ability to sync events as we do now and booking will continue as it does now. If the customer’s site has not yet been migrated prior to Microsoft’s action, any changes the user makes in Outlook will not be reflected in Workplace and vice versa. For this reason we advise that the end user default to using Outlook to manage all events for managed spaces during this period. If a reservable space in Workplace does not have an associated room resource calendar and email address (not bookable in Outlook), there is no impact. For many customers, this refers to desk booking (me spaces) not conference rooms (we spaces).

Q:  Will you be able to still do desk bookings in the Hummingbird mobile app or via a Wayfinding kiosk? 

A:  Yes.  Any reservable space in Workplace that does not have an associated room resource calendar and email address (not bookable in Outlook) can be booked with no impact to functionality.  For most customers, this refers to desk booking (me spaces) not conference rooms (we spaces). 

Q:  Can you use the Hummingbird Outlook add-in for room bookings?   

A: Yes. However, based on the timing of Microsoft’s actions against the customer O365 tenant and the disruption of event syncing, any event created in Outlook using either the Outlook room finder or the Hummingbird plugin will not sync back to Workplace. After events are synced during your migration, events will be captured in Workplace as having originated from Outlook and will be reflected in all Workplace touch points - web, mobile, room panels or a wayfinding kiosk.

Q:  During V3 early access, 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 during the disruption period, 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.

Q:  When a customer migrates initially to the Calendar Service V3 during early access, they will not be able to edit space assignments for calendars. When do you estimate we will be able to do so?

A:  When the Calendar Service V3 services reaches GA status.  At that time, updated admin tools will be available in the UI under Admin > Calendar Integrations where all calendars can be managed. 

Q:  Will the Space Desktop or Hummingbird room panels experience a difference in functionality during this transition period?

A:  All event data and functionality for existing bookings will remain intact for reservable spaces that do not have an associated room calendar in Outlook.

For those that do have an associated room calendar, we will be unable to sync changes made to existing events between the two applications during the period after Microsoft deprecates the impersonation role and before the customer site is migrated to V3. During this period, it is recommended that end users book spaces that have an associated room calendar using Outlook only.  These events will not sync to or be reflected in Workplace - web, mobile, room panels or a wayfinding kiosk - until your migration is completed and all events are re-synced.

Q: Will the Hummingbird panels that we have outside of the rooms be disabled during early access 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 the deprecation are still known to us in Workplace and will still be reflected on the room panels. If the customer’s account is migrated prior to the MS deprecation of impersonation rights, then all continues to function as it does today. If the account has not been migrated prior to the MS deprecation, then we will lose communication with Exchange and any changes - cancel, add or update of an event in Outlook - will not be reflected on the room panels. During migration, all events will re re-synced and the panel data will be current once again.

Q:  Will reservation data exist during the disruption period?

A: For desks or spaces without an associated room calendar, data remains fully intact. These spaces are typically managed solely in Workplace.

For rooms managed in Outlook with an associated room calendar, some data loss may occur during the period after Microsoft deprecates the impersonation role and before the customer site is migrated to V3. All existing events including previously booked recurring series will remain intact. If the event was originally created in Workplace and is modified, we will be unable to push the change to Outlook. During the disruption Outlook should be used as the source of truth for all events related to integrated rooms. We will re-sync and restore this data during the migration.

Q:  When will migrations begin?  Can I select my preferred date and time?  How long will the migration take?

A:  Migrations are expected to commence on February 20th.  The Eptura support team will reach out to all customers to schedule your migration and review the process.  The availability of a particular date and time is subject to available migration time slots at that time.  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 step-by-step migration guide will be provided. 

Q: Will V3 of the Calendar Service address any syncing or double booking issues I was experiencing on either V1 or V2?

A: By moving your account to V3 of our calendar service during the early access period, we achieve two important goals:

1. Avoid Connectivity Loss: We ensure that your calendar connectivity remains uninterrupted despite Microsoft’s upcoming deprecation of impersonation rights.

2. Enhanced Security and Integration: We update our native code base to adopt the Nylas API v3, which leverages Microsoft Graph and admin consent for a more secure and efficient connection to your Exchange tenant.

Nylas provides the secure handshake that allows us to pass event data between Exchange and Workplace. The way we handle this event data within the Reservations module is managed by our native code. While we are still working to resolve the syncing and double booking issues within our native code base, our team is dedicated to addressing these issues before the General Availability (GA) release of V3. We appreciate your patience and are committed to providing a seamless and reliable calendar service.