Workplace Calendar Service for Exchange V3 FAQs
Explore the Frequently Asked Questions for the Workplace Calendar Service for Exchange V3.
General FAQs
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 integration 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. 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.
Reservations FAQs
Q. Is Exchange the "source of truth" for reservations/bookings?
Yes, Exchange is now the single source of truth for all room booking validations and conflict handling.
Q. What does Exchange allow for double bookings?
- Exchange may allow double bookings
Exchange can permit overlapping reservations depending on how the resource is configured. Workplace will reflect what Exchange allows.
-
Check Your Exchange Resource Settings - To prevent double bookings, ensure the following settings are configured correctly in Exchange:
-
AllowConflicts = false -
AllRequestOutOfPolicy = false
-
User Actions Can Bypass Calendar Processing
If users have Full Access permissions and directly add or modify appointments on the room calendar (instead of sending a meeting request), the Exchange Calendar Attendant is bypassed. This can result in double bookings, as the system does not process the reservation through standard conflict-checking logic.
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Capacity Settings in Exchange Affect Booking Behavior
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If you set the capacity to 1, the resource mailbox behaves like a traditional meeting room: it allows only one booking at a time and automatically declines any conflicting requests.
-
If you set the capacity to a number greater than 1, such as for flexible workspaces or shared desks, the resource mailbox will accept multiple bookings simultaneously until the defined capacity limit is reached.
-
-
Workplace no longer prevents conflicts when events originate in Exchange
The previous logic that automatically canceled/prevented overlapping reservations that originate in Exchange has been removed. As a result, Eptura will no longer prevent double bookings if they originate in Exchange, since Exchange is now the system of record for booking validation.
Q. What room booking methods are supported?
| Status | Booking Method | Details |
|---|---|---|
|
✓ Supported
|
Create a booking from the user’s personal mailbox calendar and invite the room resource as an attendee. |
Create the event from the user’s calendar and add the room as an attendee. This ensures the booking is properly processed and visible in Workplace. |
|
✓ Supported
|
Create a booking from the user’s personal mailbox calendar and add the room to the event using Room Finder. |
Create the event from the user’s calendar and add a room using the Outlook room finder (room locator). The Outlook room finder allows the user to search for and add available rooms to the meeting invite. An Exchange administrator must enable this. |
|
✓ Supported
|
Create a booking using the Hummingbird add-in from the user’s personal mailbox calendar. |
Use the plug-in to select a room and send the invite from the user's personal mailbox calendar. This method is fully supported and integrates with Workplace. |
|
X Not Supported
|
Create a booking directly from the Exchange room resource calendar. |
By design, the Workplace Calendar Service V3 does not support this use case. Direct access to the room resource calendar to book an event requires elevated permissions in Exchange and is not considered a typical workflow for end users. Users must create the event from their personal calendar and invite the room as an attendee or by selecting the room resource from the Outlook room finder. This ensures the booking is recognized and managed correctly. |
Q. Why do I see "Customer Service" as the host in my event?
The event host will automatically be assigned as "Customer Service" in Eptura Workplace, in the following situations.
| When | Description |
|---|---|
|
The user booked an event directly from the room resource calendar. |
If a user creates an event directly on the room’s Exchange calendar, Eptura Workplace cannot identify the individual user and will assign the host as "Customer Service." |
|
The organizer email address used to book the event in Outlook does not match any known user record in Workplace. |
If the email address of the event organizer does not match any known user record in Workplace, the host will default to "Customer Service." |
|
The user booked an event using a large-format Wayfinder kiosk. |
Events booked through a Wayfinding device will automatically assign "Customer Service" as the host, as the booking is not tied to a specific user account. Wayfinding devices normally use a Service Account to execute available workflows. |