Problem

In Outlook, users can push the 'Track in CRM' button on the Appointment screen in Outlook. When they track an appointment and the user is the organizer of the Outlook appointments, the appointment gets lost from the Outlook calendar on the next CRM synchronization. The workaround is to add the user as an attendee, which is not the default function of Outlook.

Microsoft Response:

This is actually the way this feature was designed. The concern was for the Scheduling Manager scenario, where one person schedules appointments for a company's services. This individual would then have all the appointments they organized added to their own Outlook calendar.

If you are the organizer of the appointment and it is ' Tracked in CRM' then you can view the appointments in the CRM Workplace | My Work | Activities folder.

What is Going on Here?

There is a subtle, but important, difference between an Appointment and a Meeting in Outlook. If you look at the CRM tool bar in CRM you see an icon for setting up an Appointment and also an icon for setting up a Service Activity - which is not a Meeting Request. The Service Activity needs you to invite users via the Resources field.

If you create an Outlook Appointment (you are the organizer and the only attendee) and click the 'Track In CRM' button, the Outlook Appointment is represented in CRM as a CRM Appointment. The Appointment will be tracked in both Outlook and CRM. Updates in either location should synchronize without additional user input. That works just fine.

In order to set up a meeting with invited attendees, you need to set up a Service Activity and not an appointment. You have to open the Service Activity and assign your invitees to the activity as a resource. This “meeting” will then show up on everyone’s calendar because they are in as resources for the service activity - and so it will not disappear from everyone's Outlook calendar.

However , if you create an Outlook Meeting (you are the organizer and an attendee) and click the 'Track In CRM' button, the Outlook Appointment is actually represented in CRM as a CRM Service Activity.  And because the meeting request does not have the attendees in as resources, the meeting ends up falling off your Outlook appointment in 15 minutes when Outlook and CRM synchronize. This is because if you drill through to CRM, you will see that on the Service Activity, the CRM Meeting did not book the meeting invitees as resources. Even you, as the meeting organizer, are not listed as a resource. So the system works, as designed, by removing the Meeting from your Outlook calendar.

Bottom line... we suggest that you do not track meeting requests in CRM, just appointments.

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