VimBiz Exchange - Setup
The VimBiz - Exchange Interface is used to link VimBiz to an MS Exchange or Outlook 365 server.
NOTE: Any reference to MS Exchange also includes Outlook 365.
This section describes how to install or update the VimBiz Interface service. The VimBiz Interface Service existed in previous versions of the VimBiz solution. It has been updated to include functionality to interface between VimBiz and Exchange. Therefore, any existing installation of this service must be replaced.
Uninstalling Existing VimBiz Interface Windows Service
- Locate the windows server hosting the VimBiz Interface Service windows service.
- Navigate to Control Panel / Programs and Features.
- Locate the VimBiz Interface Service in the list of installed programs.
- If the VimBiz Interface Service exists, right-click on the item and choose Uninstall.
- Follow the prompts to complete the uninstallation.
- If the VimBiz Interface Service does not exist in the list of installed programs, ensure that is does not exist on another server. Once you have confirmed that this service is not installed within your enterprise, skip to the Install VimBiz Interface Service step.
Install VimBiz Interface Service
- Double-click the included setup.exe file to initiate the service installation.
- Follow the prompts and accept all defaults to install the VimBiz Interface Service.
- On the host server, navigate to local services window to confirm the service has been installed.
- Do NOT start the service at this time.
Configure the VimBiz Interface Service
- On the server hosting the VimBiz Interface Service, open Windows Explorer.
- Navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Vimsoft\VimBiz Interface Service folder.
- Right-click on theVimBizInterfaceConfig.exe file, and select Run As Administrator.
- Fill in the field in the configuration form to allow theVimBiz Interface Service to connect to the VimBiz database that will be interfaced to Exchange.
- Windows Authentication: Check this box if using integrated security with the Windows active directory. Ensure the user selected does NOT require periodic password resets.
- User Name / Password: Use the existing Interface Service account or create another account with sufficient permissions.
- Server: Enter the name of the SQL server / instance hosting the VimBiz database.
- VimBiz Database: Enter the name of the VimBiz database.
- Enter the value 30000 in the Time Interface text box.
- Click Save and Close to save the configuration information.
There are two versions of the VimBiz Interface Setup Guide. This guide is the Full version which describes in detail how to setup the service manually in VimBiz. A second Express version of this Setup Guide assumes that the ‘Exchange Interface Setup Query - Version [x].sql’ script has been run against the VimBiz database.
Configure Company Settings
- In VimBiz navigate to Start > Administer > Other > Company Settings
- In the Company Settings form, select the Interfacing tab on the left.
- In the Settings grid, locate the following two rows and ensure their Value column is set to ‘TRUE’:
- Click ‘x’ on the top right to close the Company Settings Form.
Add Employees to the Exchange Interface
- In VimBiz select Start > Administer > VimBiz > Interfacing > Interface Database Types.
- Double-click on the Microsoft Exchange Interface Database Type to open the Interface Database Type Details form.
- The goal of this form is to add employees whose VimBiz schedules are to be interfaced with their Exchange email account. In the Interface Database Type Details form, right-click and select Add Employee from the context menu.
- On the resulting Manage Database Type Employees form, use Search to populate the Active Employees tab. The results can then be dragged down into the Interface Database Type Employees grid.
NOTE: Employees added must have a valid email address and this address must be their primary email address. This information can be confirmed in the Employee Details form accessed from the Manage Employees form at Start > Human Resources > Manage Employees.
- Click Return to close the Manage Database Type Employees form.
- For each employee whose schedule you wish to interface, check both the Published Schedules and the Enabled column check boxes in the grid.
- Click Save to close the Interface Database Type Details form.
- Click the ‘x’ on the top right of the Interface Database Types form to close the form.
Create Exchange Interface Database
- In VimBiz select Start > Administer > VimBiz > Interfacing > Interface Databases.
- Click the New Interface Database button or right-click in the Interface Databases grid and select New Interface Database from the context menu.
- In the resulting New Interface Database form, fill in the fields as follows:
- Database Type: Select Microsoft Exchange from the drop down list.
- Server: Enter the URL of the Exchange server web service.
- Database Name: Create a name for the Exchange database.
- Description: Create a description for the Exchange database.
- Integrated Security: Leave the Integrated Security checkbox unchecked.
- Username: Enter the username of an account which has the necessary permissions on the Exchange web service. The account entered must have permission to impersonate the employees on Exchange.
- Password: Enter the password for the user account entered in the previous Username textbox.
- Click Save to close the New Interface Database form.
- Click the ‘x’ on the top right of the Interface Databases form to close the form.
Create VimBiz - Scheduling Interface Database
- In VimBiz select Start > Administer > VimBiz > Interfacing > Interface Databases.
- Click the New Interface Database button or right-click in the Interface Databases grid and select New Interface Database from the context menu.
- In the resulting New Interface Database form, fill in the fields as follows:
- Database Type: Select MS SQL Server from the dropdown list.
- Server: Enter the SQL Server instance/server name on which the VimBiz database is located.
- Database Name: Enter the name of the VimBiz database on the SQL Server instance.
- Description: Create a description of the VimBiz – Scheduling database.
- Integrated Security: Leave the Integrated Security checkbox unchecked.
- Username: Enter the username of a SQL Server account which has a DB Owner role membership on the VimBiz database. This role membership is managed outside of VimBiz in the SQL Server.
- Password: Enter the password for the user account entered in the previous Username textbox.
- Click Save to close the New Interface Database form.
- Click the ‘x’ on the top right of the Interface Databases form to close the form.
Create Interface Database Table
- In VimBiz select Start > Administer > VimBiz > Interfacing > Interface Database.
- Under the Tables tab on the left, locate the VimBiz – Scheduling database create earlier.
- Right-click on the database name and select New Interface Database Table from the context menu.
- Type the table name ‘Published_Schedule_Empl_Days’ in the resulting sub item.
- Right click on the newly created Published_Schedule_Empl_Days item and select Edit Interface Database Table from the context menu.
- This will open the Interface Database Table Details form. Fill in the fields in this form as follows:
- Database Name: Your VimBiz database should already be selected.
- Name: ‘Published_Scheduled_Empl_Days’ should already be entered.
- Order Num: leave this field as ‘0’.
- PK Field Name: Enter ‘Published_Schedule_Empl_Day_ID’
- Processed Criteria:
Copy and paste the following text into the field:
DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, Day), 0) >= DATEADD(dd, DATEDIFF(dd, 0, dbo.GetUDate()), 0) AND Interfaced_With_Exchange = 0 AND Employee_ID IN (SELECT Employee_ID FROM Interface_Database_Type_Employees WHERE Interface_Database_Type_ID = 10 AND Published_Schedules = 1 AND Enabled = 1) - Monitor: Leave unchecked.
- Click Save to close the Interface Database Table Details form.
- Click ‘x’ on the top right to close the Interface Database form.
Create VimBiz to Exchange Interface
- In VimBiz select Start > Administer > VimBiz > Interfacing > Interfaces.
- Click the New Interface button or right-click on Interfaces grid and select New Interface from the context menu.
- In the resulting New Interface form, fill in the fields as follows:
- Name: Create a descriptive name for the Interface indicating the direction of the interface. E.g. VimBiz to Microsoft Exchange Server
- From Database: Select the VimBiz database.
- To Database: Select Exchange Server database.
- Last Triggered: This is a read-only field that will be populated once the interface has been run.
- Next Trigger: Leave as default. Alternately you can select the next date you want to schedule the interface. After selecting the date, the specific time can be set by typing directly in the box.
- Frequency: In conjunction with the subsequent Frequency Type dropdown, select the interval between subsequent interface runs. (Recommended is 30 – 120 seconds)
- Frequency Type: In conjunction with the preceding Frequency textbox, select the interval between subsequent interface runs. (Recommended is 30 – 120 seconds)
- Enabled: Leave the interfaced disabled initially.
- Stop Interface On Error: Leave this box unchecked.
- Click Save to close the New Interface form.
- Click ‘x’ on the top right to close the Interfaces form.
If the steps above have been completed, the VimBiz installation is now configured. The remaining steps below describe how to start the interface between VimBiz and Exchange.
- On the server hosting the VimBiz Interface Service, navigate to the Local Services window and start the service.
- In VimBiz, navigate to the Manage Interfaces form at Start / Administer / VimBiz / Interfacing / Interfaces.
- Locate the VimBiz to Exchange Interface in the Interfaces grid and check the Enabled column to enable the interface.
Once the VimBiz Interface Service has been started, the following are methods of viewing the details of what the service as well as possible exception that occur within the service.
Service Text File
This is the most important source of information regarding what is occurring in the VimBiz Interface Service. It is located in a Logs subfolder of the service installation folder. This will normally be located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Vimsoft\VimBiz Interface Service\Logs. In the event that the VimBiz Interface Service will not start, there may still be information logged to this file which could assist with troubleshooting the service. Each day the log file is archived and a new date specific one is created. E.g. VimBizInterfaceServiceLog20140303.txt.
The log has been designed in an easy to read format that should be immediately understandable.
Performance Statistics
In addition to knowing what’s occurring in the interface, it’s important to understand how the interfacing of specific items is affecting performance. VimBiz allows you to see this information in the Performance Events form accessed at Start > VimDev > Performance > Performance Events. Once on the form, select the Interface Results item from the left Performance Events tab. Once selected, view the details on the Performance Event Points tab on the right. This form allows administrator to monitor performance metrics as users are added to the interface and the usage of the interface is scaled up.
The following columns are available in the Performance Event Points tab:
- Name: Description of the Performance Event Point
- Time: The time (in milliseconds) from the beginning of the Performance Event to the end of this Performance Event Point
- Duration: The duration (in milliseconds) of this specific Performance Event Point
- Duration Percent: The duration of this Performance Event Point in relation to the Performance Event. I.e. (Performance Event Point duration / Performance Event duration)
Interface Results Form
This Interface Results form displays the detailed results of all interfaces that are run as part of the VimBiz Interface Service. Navigate to the form at Start / Administer / Interfacing / Interface Results.
The following columns are displayed in this form:
- Name: Name of the Interface related to this result
- Interface Time: The time of the result
- Notes: Description of the Interface event
- Records: Count of the records that were interfaced
- Result: Success or Failure of the interface event
VimBiz Interface Service Error Log
Any exceptions occurring in the VimBiz Interface Service are logged to the VimBiz Interface Service Error Log. This error log is normally located in the root of the VimBiz Interface Service installation folder i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Vimsoft\VimBiz Interface Service\VimBizServiceErrorLog.txt. This log can be sent to VimBiz when problems are encountered with the VimBiz Interface Service.
VimBiz Error Table
VimBiz records all exceptions that occur from the service or the application within its database. These are viewable by navigating to the All Database Messages form at Start > Administer > VimBiz > All Database Manages. The following columns are viewable on the All Issues form: