Integrating OPERA S&C with Microsoft Outlook®

Integrating OPERA S&C with Microsoft Outlook® allows you to exchange Contact and Activity information between the two applications. Activity and Contact information you designate is quickly synchronized when you select the Synch button from the Outlook Synch screen (select Customer Management > Outlook to access this screen).

Note: This feature requires that the application setting Activity > PIM Interface Type be set to Outlook to enable access from the S&C menu bar.

OPERA - Outlook integration is enabled through the separately available Microsoft Outlook Interface. The Outlook Interface currently supports Microsoft Outlook 2007 and higher versions.
OPERA - Outlook integration provides bidirectional communication between the Outlook and OPERA databases. The feature uses an Active-X control or a small executable file to move data between the OPERA and Outlook databases. This file is loaded to the user's local hard drive the first time the OPERA - Outlook synchronization feature is invoked, and any time thereafter that an updated file is detected. Downloading and configuration require no user intervention and take only a few minutes. For security, the user's permission is requested before files are written to their hard drive.
Note: If there is any discrepancy between the parallel information stored in the OPERA database and in the Outlook database, (for example, if conflicting changes are made to the parallel Outlook and OPERA Contact records) the OPERA data will take precedence.

Which Data Elements are Synchronized?

The following tables summarize the data elements that are synchronized by OPERA - Outlook integration:


Contacts	OPERA to Outlook	Outlook to OPERA
Last Name
First Name
Position
Department
Company
Note: When synchronizing Outlook to OPERA: OPERA creates the “Outlook Company Information” note-type, containing the information from the Outlook “Company” field. This note has the title "Company Information in S&C." When synchronizing from OPERA to Outlook, the OPERA Contact screen Relationship field is copied to the Outlook Company field. When the Company information is changed in Outlook for a contact that originated in OPERA, upon the next synchronization OPERA will create the Outlook Company Information note type, which will contain the changed Company information. To synchronize the Outlook Company information again with the Contact screen Relationship information, the Outlook Company Information note must be deleted.
Primary Street 1
Primary State
Primary Postal Code
Primary Country
Email address
Business Phone
Primary Home Phone
Web Address
Notes (Type = Outlook Notes)
Note: The Outlook Notes field will be written to OPERA as note-type “Outlook Notes”, with the title "Outlook Notes in S&C."

Activities and To Do Items	OPERA to Outlook	Outlook to OPERA
Add New Activity or To Do Item
Change Activity or To Do Item Details
Delete Activity or To Do Item
Mark an Activity or To Do Item as Private
Activity Notes

Note: A Contact, Activity, or To Do item that has been deleted in Outlook will re-appear in Outlook if the Contact, Activity, or To Do item details are later changed in OPERA. For completed Activities, the completion flag will be removed by the Outlook interface after synchronization because an appointment in Outlook cannot be flagged as completed. ONLY the following Activity Classes can be selected to sync with Outlook: APPOINTMENT, MEETING and TODO. As such, the Activity Search will limit you to searching for only these Activity Classes when calling it from the Outlook form.

Activity Time Zones with Outlook

When the Activity > Use Time Zones for Activities application parameter is set to Y, activity date and time information are stored in the OPERA database time zone and are converted into the logged-in user's time zone for display; if no time zone is specified for the logged-in user, the logged-in property time zone is assumed; if the logged-in property does not have a time zone assigned, the database time zone is assumed. Activities sent from OPERA to Outlook are converted into the logged-in user's time zone in the same way before they are synched —it is assumed that the user's Outlook time zone and the user's OPERA time zone are the same.

Similarly, activities coming from Outlook to OPERA are assumed to be in the logged-in user's time zone. When they are stored in the OPERA database, they are converted into the database time zone the same way activities manually created by the user in OPERA are handled. See Activity Time Zones for details.