SalesLink - Outlook Integration

Everything you need to know about integrating SalesLink with Microsoft Outlook.

In This Article

• Introduction
• How it Works
  
  • SalesLink Calendar
  • Outlook Categories
  • Synchronizing Activities
• Completing the Integration
• Part 1: Register SalesLink in Microsoft Azure
  
  • Step 1: Create a new Application
  • Step 2: Set Permissions
  • Step 3: Retrieve Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID
• Part 2: Provide Information to Texada
  
  • 1. Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID from Microsoft Azure
  • 2. Test User Account Credentials
  • 3. Test Assistant Contact Information
  • 4. Users and Roles for Which Synchronization Should be Enabled
  • 5. Synchronization of Past Events

Introduction

Microsoft Outlook is one of several third-party applications that can be integrated with Texada SalesLink. By integrating SalesLink and Outlook, users can synchronize their activity calendars between the two applications. This integration works with both SalesLink - Sales Rep and SalesLink - Executive, promoting visibility and giving users the freedom to manage activities in their application of choice.

The following article describes how the SalesLink - Outlook integration works, and lists the information the dealer needs to provide to Texada in order to complete the integration. 

How it Works

The SalesLink - Outlook integration is implemented by Texada using information provided by the dealer. Once the integration is complete, calendar activities will be synchronized regularly between the two systems. These synchronizations fall into three categories:

• Activity creation: Activities created in SalesLink will be created in Outlook and vice versa.
• Activity deletion: Activities deleted from SalesLink will be deleted from Outlook and vice versa.
• Activity modification: Changes made to an activity in SalesLink will be reflected in Outlook and vice versa.

This process is automatic and frequent – it should generally take no more than a few minutes for changes made in one platform to appear in the other.

SalesLink Calendar

Once the SalesLink - Outlook integration is set up, a new calendar named SalesLink Calendar will be automatically added to Outlook. This is the calendar under which all activities synchronized from SalesLink will appear. This allows users to view SalesLink events in Outlook without their primary calendar being affected.

Outlook Categories

In addition to the SalesLink Calendar, two new categories will be automatically added to Outlook: SL – Outstanding and SL – Completed. These categories are for outstanding and completed SalesLink events, respectively.

Synchronizing Activities

With regards to the synchronization process, please keep the following behaviors in mind: 

• If the user creates an activity with no category in Outlook, it will be given a category of “SalesLink Outstanding” when imported into SalesLink. This update will then be reflected in Outlook at the next sync.
• If the user creates an activity in Outlook, it will be assigned to a placeholder ‘Non-DBS’ customer in SalesLink. The user is then responsible for associating the activity with a customer in SalesLink.
• Managers are not able to view other users’ calendars in Outlook. The integration only synchronizes each user’s personal calendar.

Completing the Integration 

Completing the SalesLink - Outlook integration involves registering SalesLink as a Microsoft Azure application, then providing the necessary data for Texada to finalize the integration. 

Before you begin, ensure that you have administrator access to Microsoft Azure.

Part 1: Register SalesLink in Microsoft Azure

To register SalesLink as a Microsoft Azure application, follow the steps below. For more information, refer to the following help article from Microsoft: Register an application in Microsoft Entra ID.

Step 1: Create a new Application

1. Log into Microsoft Azure at portal.azure.com as an administrator.
2. Select Azure Active Directory → App registrations → New registration.
3. Enter a name for your application (e.g. “saleslink-collaboration”).
4. Click “Access Settings”, then ensure that “Supported account type” is set to “Single Tenant”.
5. Click “Register”.

Step 2: Set Permissions

1. While viewing your saleslink-collaboration application in Microsoft Azure, select API Permissions → Add a permission.
2. Under the APIs my organization uses tab, search for and select “Office 365 Exchange Online”.
3. Select “Applications permissions” → “full_access_as_app” → “Add Permissions” → “Grant admin consent for [your domain]".
4. Click “Yes”.

Step 3: Retrieve Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID

1. While viewing your saleslink-collaboration application in Microsoft Azure, select Certificates & Secrets → New Client Secret.
2. Select an expiration window (“Never” is recommended). Leave the description field blank.
3. Click “Add”. Your Client Secret will now appear. Copy and paste this value in a safe location, as this is the only time it will be displayed.
4. Select Overview, then copy the Application ID and Tenant ID to the same location as the Client Secret.

Once you have registered SalesLink as an Azure application and recorded your Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID, you are ready to proceed to the next step.

Part 2: Provide Information to Texada

In order to complete the SalesLink - Outlook integration, your organization must provide the following five pieces of information to Texada. Your Texada account representative will provide you with instructions for securely sharing this information.

1. Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID from Microsoft Azure

Provide the Client Secret, Application ID, and Tenant ID you recorded in Part 1, Step 3.

2. Test User Account Credentials

For testing purposes, please provide the usernames, email addresses, and passwords of two Microsoft Exchange accounts at your organization. These accounts will be used by Texada to verify that the integration is working correctly. 

The accounts you provide must be mail-enabled users.

 

3. Test Assistant Contact Information

Please provide the contact information of two users at your organization who can assist with testing after the integration is complete. These users will be asked to complete some basic Exchange-related tasks to ensure the integration is working properly.

4. Users and Roles for Which Synchronization Should be Enabled

By default, Outlook synchronization will be enabled for all SalesLink users at your organization. 

If you would like to enable or disable this feature for specific users or user roles, please inform Texada at the time of implementation. For example, you may want to enable Outlook synchronization for sales representatives, but not executives or management.

5. Synchronization of Past Events

By default, if the user creates an activity with a past date, it will not be synchronized between SalesLink and Outlook.

If you would like to change this behavior, please inform Texada at the time of implementation.