E-Training: Calendar Sync

This article covers installing and configuring your calendar synchronization.

Selecting this option will continually sync appointments between Prevail and Microsoft Exchange Server. Each user will need to have their Exchange settings entered in the Employee Setup section of Prevail. Prevail is not responsible for setting up or supporting syncing between Microsoft Exchange Server and the end user's mobile device(s). For client using Microsoft Outlook, but not using Microsoft Exchange Server, there is a local sync option in Prevail User Settings to allow a user to sync their Prevail calendar with their Outlook calendar.

There are many technical requirements for calendar sync. These include…

For the Microsoft Exchange Server-based sync, you will need Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, or 2013. It can be a local Exchange server (i.e., on the local network) or hosted (in the cloud), but administrative access to Microsoft Exchange (including access to the Exchange Management Console) is required for the initial setup and ongoing user account maintenance.
Your IT consultant (or cloud vendor support department) will have to be involved with this process.
You will need domain administrator level access, as well as permission to active directory. We will need a Prevail Service domain account created; we prefer the name "pvservice," but you can name it as you wish. You can set the password, but please don't forget it!
The Prevail Server Tools must be installed on the Prevail data server (the server where PostgreSQL has been installed).

Other things to consider before starting the calendar sync process…

You will need a full list of user names that will be synchronizing their Outlook calendar with Prevail.
Each user needs an account within Prevail.
Each user needs a mailbox within your Microsoft Exchange configuration.
Each user should be made aware in advance that their Outlook calendar will be synchronizing in a bidirectional fashion. All appointments they currently have in their Outlook calendar will be posted to Prevail, and may be accessible to other employees.

Instructions

Log into the Prevail server as the “Prevail Service” account.
Download and run the Microsoft MAPI CDO communication layer.
1. http://userfiles.prevail.net/Prevail%20User%20Files/7.x/Outlook-Server-SideSync/Dependencies/ExchangeMapiCdo.EXE
2. This installation can be done without a server reboot.
3. The MAPI CDO layer is NOT required if you have Microsoft Outlook (32-bit) installed on your Windows server.
Log into your Microsoft Exchange server with a domain administrator account. If you have a hosted Exchange solution you will need to contact your service provider to perform the following tasks.
Launch the Exchange Management Console.
1. Note: Directions listed are for Microsoft Exchange 2010, and may vary slightly depending on the version of Exchange installed.
Under Recipient Configuration, Click Mailbox.
For each exchange account, right click each required user in turn.
Click ‘Manage Full Access Permission’.
Click ‘Add’
In the “Select user or group” window, locate the ‘pvservice’ (Prevail Service) account.
Click ‘OK’.
Click ‘Manage' to apply and Click ‘Finish’ to exit.
Repeat this process for each Exchange user account that will be synced.
1. *Note: If you are familiar with the Exchange Command Shell, you can grant the 'pvservice' account global mailbox access using one simple command:
  - Get-Mailbox|Add-MailboxPermission -User pvservice -AccessRights Fullaccess - InheritanceType all
Go back to the Prevail server (if different than the Exchange server) and make sure you are logged in as the pvservice account.
Download the mfcmapi.exe utility from the Prevail file repository. We recommend downloading this utility to your desktop.
1. http://userfiles.prevail.net/Prevail%20User%20Files/7.x/Outlook-Server-SideSync/Dependencies/mfcmapi.exe
For each employee that you need to synchronize with Prevail, you will need to follow these steps.
1. Open the mfcmapi.exe utility. Select Session > Logon.
2. The next screen should prompt you to create or choose an email profile. If it does not, then the mapi layer is inaccessible on your Prevail server. Make sure that the MAPI CDO object layer has been installed and that you have rebooted your server.
3. Create a new email profile. The Outlook Setup Wizard window should display.
4. Select "Manually configure information services".
5. Click 'Next'. Title the profile name exactly as it appears in the Exchange address book . Make sure capitalization matches!
6. Configure the details accordingly (Exchange user name, mailbox name, etc.).
7. After the user email profile has been created, you should be able to log on to the email profile (via mfcmapi). It should display a default store (the user's mailbox) with a display name:
8. Note the Display Name.
9. You should be able to double-click the mailbox to view mailbox objects.
Repeat steps 15a-15j for each mailbox account.
You should now have multiple email profiles, one for each synchronized user.
Locate the Prevail Control Panel.
1. C:/PREVAIL_CLIENT/ControlPanel.exe
You will need to run the Prevail Control Panel as administrator by right-clicking on it and selecting ‘Run as administrator’
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS PROCESS, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR IT CONSULTANT FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE.