UX Room Search add-in for Outlook

To set the context, our foundation TRIRIGA reservation application enables you "to manage the reservations of shared rooms such as meeting spaces and workspaces, shared equipment such as projectors, and shared vehicles." Here's a basic diagram of the TRIRIGA reserve process flow.

So, in terms of the reserve process diagram, the Add Rooms, Equipment, or Vehicles box loosely represents our Perceptive app -- the Room Search add-in -- in our UX framework. Keep in mind that these boxes still also represent our foundation reservation application. But here, let's focus on the Perceptive app.

Similar to our UX Room Reservation app, our Room Search add-in for Microsoft Outlook is a user-friendly Perceptive app. But this app is displayed within the Outlook application as a side-panel interface. By using this Perceptive application on your laptop or desktop, you can easily search for rooms, add one or more rooms to your meeting invitation, and move on to the next invitation.

You can install the add-in in two ways: (1) Install it as an Outlook user, or (2) Deploy it as an Exchange administrator.

Here are the basic steps to install the add-in as an Outlook User:

1. Verify that the EXTERNAL_FRONT_END_SERVER property is set in your TRIRIGAWEB.properties file.
   • If this property is not yet set, then do so, and restart the server.
   • The provided URL must use the HTTPS protocol.
2. Save the URL address of the add-in manifest XML file.
   • Go to the URL: https://[hostname:port][/context_path]/p/web/outlook/manifest/roomSearch, where [hostname:port] and [/context_path] are the values for your TRIRIGA environment. The [hostname:port] comes from your EXTERNAL_FRONT_END_SERVER property, or any normally used TRIRIGA environment.
   • Copy the URL or save the XML file.
3. Open your Outlook calendar.
4. Add the custom add-in.
   • Click New event. Select ... > Get Add-ins.
   • Select My add-ins. Scroll down to the Custom add-ins section.
   • Select Add a custom add-in > Add from URL or Add from file.
   • Paste the URL or select the XML add-in manifest file. Click OK. Click Install.
5. Open the custom add-in.
   • Click New event. Select ....
   • The ... menu displays a new option for Room Search.
   • Click Room Search to open the add-in.

Here are the basic steps to deploy the add-in to multiple users as an Exchange Administrator:

1. Verify that the EXTERNAL_FRONT_END_SERVER property is set in your TRIRIGAWEB.properties file.
   • If this property is not yet set, then do so, and restart the server.
   • The provided URL must use the HTTPS protocol.
2. Save the URL address of the add-in manifest XML file.
   • Go to the URL: https://[hostname:port][/context_path]/p/web/outlook/manifest/roomSearch, where [hostname:port] and [/context_path] are the values for your TRIRIGA environment. The [hostname:port] comes from your EXTERNAL_FRONT_END_SERVER property, or any normally used TRIRIGA environment.
   • Copy the URL or save the XML file.
3. Open your Exchange Admin Center.
4. Add the custom add-in.
   • Select Settings > Services & add-ins.
   • Click Deploy Add-in. Click Next.
   • Click Upload custom apps. Select the URL or XML option.
   • Paste the URL or select the XML add-in manifest file. Click Upload.
   • Configure the assigned users and deployment method. Click Deploy.
5. Open the custom add-in as an Outlook User.
   • Click New event. Select ....
   • The ... menu displays a new option for Room Search.
   • Click Room Search to open the add-in.

Security Group and Access

• Request Central - Reserve: This group has full access the Room Search add-in.
• Request Central - Reserve - Fundamentals: This group has full access the Room Search add-in.
• Reservation Coordinator: This group has full access the Room Search add-in.
• Reservation Coordinator - Fundamentals: This group has full access the Room Search add-in.

Basic Steps

Here are the basic steps to use the Room Search add-in as an Outlook User:

1. Open your Outlook application.
2. Open or create a meeting invitation.
   • Enter the subject title and attendees.
   • Select the Start and End time.
3. Open the Room Search to look for one or more available meeting rooms.
   • Enter the Room Capacity.
   • Add one or more filters if needed.
   • Review the room details if needed.
   • Click Add room. The Location displays the room name.
4. Add, change, or review the invitation details.
   • Review the room details if needed.
   • Click Add room or Remove room if needed.
5. Send the invitation.

Advanced Steps for Recurring Meetings

Here are more-advanced steps to use the Room Search add-in for recurring meetings that have exceptions:

1. Open your Outlook application.
2. Open or create a meeting invitation.
   • Enter the subject title and attendees.
   • Select the Start and End time.
   • Select the Recurrence pattern.
3. Open the Room Search to look for one or more available meeting rooms.
   • Enter the Room Capacity.
   • Add one or more filters if needed.
   • Review the room details if needed.
   • Click Add room. The Location displays the room name.
   Tip: If you selected a Recurrence pattern, where some occurrences are unavailable (for example, 11 of 15 matches), then after you click Add room, you can open the Scheduling Assistant to view the unavailable occurrences. After you Send the invitation below, you can select an alternate room for the declined occurrences.
4. Add, change, or review the invitation details.
   • Review the room details if needed.
   • Click Add room or Remove room if needed.
5. Send the invitation.
   Tip: If you selected a Recurrence pattern, where some occurrences are unavailable (for example, 11 of 15 matches), then after you Send the invitation, you can open the Calendar to select an alternate room for the declined occurrences.
   Tip: In the Calendar, you can open each declined occurrence, click Edit > This event, open the Room Search, click Remove room for the unavailable room, click Add room for an available room, and Send the edited invitation. Repeat for each declined occurrence.

Q. By default, from which locations are my meeting rooms displayed?

Q. Which of my meeting rooms are displayed?

A. The Room Search add-in allows you to search for reservable TRIRIGA meeting rooms that are integrated with Microsoft Exchange. The add-in does not search for TRIRIGA workspaces nor reservable TRIRIGA meeting rooms that are not integrated with Exchange.

Q. How do I see all of my favorite meeting rooms?

A. The Room Search add-in displays all of your favorite meeting rooms when no search filters are added.

Q. How do I edit a reservation to add a food or equipment service order?

A. When you create and send an Outlook meeting invitation with TRIRIGA rooms, a room reservation is created in TRIRIGA and the meeting organizer is set as the reservation requester. However, your TRIRIGA user must have an email address that is set as the same email as your Microsoft Exchange account email. This way, when you create an Outlook meeting invitation, TRIRIGA can find your user through the meeting organizer email, and associate your user as the reservation requester.

Open your Outlook Calendar and edit an existing meeting invitation. Open the Room Search add-in. If a reservation exists on TRIRIGA that is associated to this meeting invitation and your TRIRIGA user is associated to the TRIRIGA reservation as the requester, then the add-in will display an Edit reservation button at the bottom of the panel.

Click the Edit reservation button to open the associated reservation in the UX Room Reservation app. From here, you can add food or equipment service orders to your reservation.

Due to an Outlook JavaScript API limitation on Apple Mac desktops, the Edit reservation button will behave differently if you use the Outlook Desktop Client on a Mac. In this case, the Edit reservation button will always be visible in the Room Search panel. Also, when you click the button, this action will open your list of reservations in the UX Room Reservation app. The action will not bring you to the specific reservation that is associated to the meeting invitation. You must find the reservation in your list, open it, and edit it.

Q. Can the Room Search add-in perform a one-time authentication into TRIRIGA?

A. Yes, the Room Search add-in can perform a one-time authentication into TRIRIGA, so that you only need to authenticate for the first time that you open the add-in. If the first authentication is successful, then the Microsoft Exchange user will be bound to the TRIRIGA user from the first login. The next time that you open the add-in, it will automatically authenticate into TRIRIGA and will not request your user name and password again.

To establish this one-time authentication into TRIRIGA, the Room Search add-in uses Microsoft Exchange user identity tokens that are validated and accepted by TRIRIGA when you login for the first time. But if the add-in continues to request the user name and password for every time that it is opened, then you must verify the following:

1. Verify that the SSL certificate that is used by Exchange is trusted by the application server where TRIRIGA is hosted. TRIRIGA validates the Exchange user identity token that is sent by the add-in, and to do so, TRIRIGA needs to call an Exchange REST service. If the SSL certificate that is used by Exchange is not trusted by the application server where TRIRIGA is hosted, then TRIRIGA cannot validate the token and the one-time authentication is never completed.
2. Verify that the date and time is accurate on the system that hosts TRIRIGA. The Exchange user identity token is valid for a short period of time. If the date and time for TRIRIGA are not accurate, then TRIRIGA may still reject a token that is otherwise valid.
3. Verify that the Exchange server names can be resolved by the system that hosts TRIRIGA. TRIRIGA needs to make a call to Exchange to validate the token. The URL to which TRIRIGA sends the request, comes inside the token. If the system cannot resolve the Exchange address that is contained in the URL, then TRIRIGA cannot validate the token and the one-time authentication is never completed.

Q. How do I delete the association between my Microsoft Exchange and TRIRIGA users?

A. If you want to delete the association between your Microsoft Exchange and TRIRIGA users, you can log into TRIRIGA and navigate to Portfolio > People > My Profile. In the My Profile form, open the My Profile tab. Scroll to the My Profile Extension section, select the token with an Extension Type of "Outlook 365", and remove the token. By doing this, the one-time authentication into TRIRIGA from the Room Search add-in will be reset. The next time that you open the add-in, it will request for your TRIRIGA user name and password.