M365 Resources: Integration Guide

Bi-directional synchronization between YAROOMS spaces and Microsoft 365 resources.

Jump to: 

1. Applicability

2. How it works

3. Activating the Microsoft 365 integration

4. Resource mapping

5. Limitations

1. Applicability

The Microsoft 365 calendar integration, helps keep the Microsoft 365 resource calendars synced with YAROOMS.
A common use case is syncing all the room bookings from YAROOMS to Microsoft 365 resources to consume those events in other software that already supports Microsoft 365 resources.

2. How it works

After activating this integration, YAROOMS will have the ability to write event data to your Microsoft 365 resources. Mapping the spaces in YAROOMS to resources in Microsoft 365 will allow us to keep the calendars in sync. So the steps to a successful setup are:
  • Setup the Microsoft 365 integration
  • Map the resources in M365 to spaces in YAROOMS
  • We're keeping Microsoft 365 resources in sync

3. Activating the Microsoft 365 integration

3.1. Setup the Azure portal app and access rights

In the Azure Portal go to Azure Active Directory → App registrations and press the "+ New registration" button.
Give the app a name, leave the Redirect URI empty and press Register. You should then be redirected to the app details page.
From the app details page you will need to extract the following details which are needed later in the setup in YAROOMS:
  •  Application (client) ID → we'll call this Client ID.
  •  Directory (tenant) ID → we'll call this Tenant ID.
Go to "Certificates & secrets" in the left menu and press "New client secret". Give it an expiration date far in the future (for as long as you need the integration to work) and press "Generate". Extract the generated secret to use it later, we'll call it Client secret (its VALUE, not ID).
Go to "API permissions" in the left menu and configure the new permissions as per this table:
 Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 16.06.21
After adding the permissions press the "Grant admin consent for " button above the permissions table.

3.2. Setup the Microsoft 365 integration in YAROOMS

In your YAROOMS account go to Settings → Integrations and choose the "Microsoft 365" integration. Switch the "Integration active" field to YES and fill in the details obtained at previous steps in the Azure portal:
  • Tenant ID
  • Client ID
  • Client secret
 

4. Resource mapping 

Once the Microsoft 365 integration settings are saved, a new Resource Mapping tab will appear (if your company is using the YAROOMS spaces module).
Go to: Settings → Integrations → Microsoft 365 → Resource Mapping (tab)
By default, Microsoft 365 sync is not enabled. Activate it by pressing “Yes”.
If the “Suppress notification” option is activated, we won’t be sending notifications from YAROOMS when a user books a space that has a mapped resource to it.
Conflict resolution settings determine which booking have a priority:
  •  YAROOMS priority - In case of a booking conflict between YAROOMS and Outlook resources, the YAROOMS booking will override the Outlook booking. This means that the Outlook booking will be deleted and replaced with the YAROOMS booking.
  •  Outlook priority - In case of a booking conflict between YAROOMS and Outlook resources, the Outlook booking will override the YAROOMS booking. This means that the YAROOMS booking will be deleted and replaced with the Outlook booking.
To map Microsoft 365 (external) resources to YAROOMS, select an external resource from the drop-down list, and assign a YAROOMS space to it. To keep everything in sync, a connection between the two must be established. It can be done in 2 ways:
  • Automatically, without use input
  • Manually, by clicking the “+Connect” button. The appearance of the “Refresh” button signalizes a successful connection.

Note: We recommend setting the Booking Options to Custom (Settings → Space Types → [click on type] → Groups → Booking Options) and set the granularity to 5 minutes.

 

It is possible to install an Outlook add-in at the Microsoft 365 tenant level. For more information about it, read this article

5. Limitations

Attendees

  •  When a meeting with attendees is created in Outlook, the YAROOMS booking will not send invitations.
  •  When a meeting with attendees is created in YAROOMS, it will be synced to Outlook (including the attendees).

Recurrent meetings

  •  If you want to create a recurring meeting in Outlook, know that only the first occurrence will show up in YAROOMS. It is recommended that you only create individual bookings from Outlook.

 

For more details regarding Rules and Limitations, please visit this article.