Conflict management

How a conflict emerges

A conflict can be caused, for example, when a staff member repeatedly saves an appointment while writing an extensive report in the CRM as a follow up to a visit. Every time the appointment is saved, the Connector notices a change to the appointment and synchronizes it with the Groupware. Internal staff members associated with the appointment receive a notification of the update. When the attendees accept the change, the Groupware recognizes that the appointment was modified. This also applies, for example, to appointments that send out invitations. When such an appointment is processed further, and the Groupware receives confirmations from the attendees, the appointment is considered modified.

The Groupware Connector checks whether an appointment has been changed in both systems since it was last synchronized. If this applies, the synchronization status is set to "Conflict". This status needs to be reset manually. For this purpose, the Export/Solve conflict function is available in the appoint­ment form and in the lists. Only after the status has been reset, the appointment will be synchronized again.

Synchronization status and conflict status

If a synchronization conflict has occurred, it is visualized in the status bar of the appointment by a conflict symbol. The conflict can be dealt with after clicking on this warning symbol.

The synchronization status can be seen directly in the appointment in the Sync. status field on the Additional data tab as a string, or in the Groupware list of the Entry Portals (view Groupware) as an icon. The status can be one of the following listed below. Every status is represented by a symbol.

Symbol

Synchronization status

Not yet exported

Conflict handling

Export from the CRM to Exchange

Import from Exchange to the CRM

Conflict

The appointment is excluded from synchronization, automatic mes­sage to the responsible, action: Execute Export/Solve conflict function in the context menu.

Error

The appointment is excluded from synchronization, automatic mes­sage to the responsible, action: Edit and save the appointment once again, or use the Export/Solve conflict function in the context menu.

Synchronization conflict

Is displayed as a conflict in the status bar (hyperlink).

Automatic conflict handling

The system is able to automatically solve synchronization conflicts, if this feature has been enabled.

Info

Admin: You can switch this feature on via the "Conflict treatment" option in the global Groupware configuration (Administration/Data exchange/Groupware/Global Groupware configuration). Automatic conflict handling solves timing conflicts (approx. 80% of the emerging conflicts, e.g., if an appointment is still edited in the CRM during a synchronization cycle, and an attendee confirms their participation in the groupware) as well as live conflicts (e.g., changes to the comment field in the CRM and Exchange during a synchronization cycle).

Note: This option requires you to specify which side has priority in the event of a conflict. The setting only affects real conflicts. The automatic handling of real conflicts causes changes on the lower priority side to be lost. Please also bear this in mind if you resolve conflicts manually.

Resolving conflicts manually

In the appointment, you will see in the status bar whether a synchronization conflict exists.

  • Click the icon and synchronize the appointment again. Alternatively you can use the Export/Resolve conflict function. The synchronization is reset.
Attention

Attention: The most recent appointment modification always wins, regardless of whether changes were made in the CRM or in the Groupware. Previous modifications are lost. Please note that executing this function itself represents a modification in the CRM, meaning that the CRM appointment prevails as long as no other changes are made in the Groupware after performing the Resolve conflict function, and before the next synchronization.

If a conflict or error occurs, a message is sent automatically to the person responsible for the appointment.

Info

Admin: For administrators, a conflict resolving list is available via Administration/Data exchange/Groupware/Activities (synchronization status). In the lists, filters can be selected to find appointments with errors or conflicts, among other things.

Avoiding conflicts

You may want to follow the recommendations below to avoid conflicts when working with appointments:

  • Change the status of the appointment to "Taken place" and save the appointment before writing your report. Completed appointments are no longer synchronized.
  • When creating a new appointment or copying an existing one, make sure to enter the most important basic data, e.g. the correct start and end time, before saving the appointment. This prevents appointments with incorrect data from being synchronized, and incorrect invitations from being sent to the attendees.
  • For internal attendees, leave the Groupware flag disabled while an appointment is being set up. This way, no invitation will be sent in case of a synchronization. Do not set the groupware flag for external attendees until the appointment preparations have been completed!
  • When creating a follow-up appointment, please make sure to enter the correct point in time before saving the appointment for the first time.

Unnecessary Groupware synchronizations

Unnecessary Groupware synchronizations are prevented.

To prevent appointments with non-visible changes from being synchronized (e.g., changed access due to inheritance from an associated case), the following mechanism comes into force: Before an appointment is synchronized, a so called MD5 value (Message-Digest Algorithm 5) of all visible data is formed and com­pared to the MD5 value of the previous synchronization. If the value has not changed, the synchronization is canceled.

Note: It is an advantage and not spam to be automatically informed about the visible changes to an appointment, e.g., after changes to the appointment period, the location, the note field (your colleague has added infor­mation about the booked flight or the rental car, or to the attachment).

Appointment updates that are sent by MS Outlook, for example, don’t need to be replied to if this has already been done. In MS Outlook, such updates can be recognized by the info icon in the inbox and the info text under the toolbar: "You do not need to reply to this update. Your calendar was automatically updated...".