How Riva Syncs Your CRM and Exchange Data

To understand Riva's basic sync features, watch the videos and read the summary descriptions for each type of data that Riva does sync.

Contents:

• How does Riva sync your contacts and leads?
• How does Riva sync your calendar events and tasks?
• How does Riva sync your email to the CRM?
• How does Riva work with tablets and smartphones?
• Other training videos.

How Does Riva Sync Your Contacts and Leads?

Watch the following videos on contact and lead sync.

Syncing contact and lead data

First Time Sync: Once a user has been added to a sync policy and Riva runs a first time sync against that user, Riva syncs a filtered list of contacts and leads from the CRM and creates those as contact records in Exchange. Those contact records appear in the user's Outlook (Exchange) Address Book.

Normal Data Sync: Riva can support bidirectional or unidirectional data syncing between the CRM and Exchange. When bidirectional syncing is enabled, Riva, by default, syncs contacts and leads as follows:

• Riva syncs created, modified, and deleted contacts and leads from the CRM to Exchange.
• Riva syncs created and modified contact records from Exchange to the CRM. By default, Riva does not sync deleted Exchange contacts to the CRM, because Riva considers the CRM contact, lead, and account records as authoritative over email records.
• Riva automatically syncs contact and lead changes from the CRM to Exchange.
• Riva can be configured to require a Riva category to be applied to an Exchange contact record item before Riva syncs that item to the CRM.
• Riva can support de-duping Exchange contact records against existing CRM contacts for on-boarding and creation purposes.
• All contacts records in Exchange that Riva has synced with the CRM are categorized in Exchange with a Riva-created category that is in the Master category list. Note: OWA 2013 does not display categories against contact records in the Address Book (People) lists.
• Riva can filter contact sync based on visibility in the CRM or ownership of the contact record in the CRM, creation or modification dates of contact records, maximum record counts, and custom filters that can be designed by Riva professional services.

How Does Riva Sync Your Calendar Events and Tasks?

Syncing calendar events

First Time Sync: Once a user has been added to a sync policy and Riva runs a first time sync against that user, Riva syncs calendar items from the CRM and creates those as calendar items in the user's primary calendar in Exchange. Those contact records appear in the user's Outlook (Exchange) primary calendar and are colour-coded by using the Riva synced category added to the Exchange Master Category List.

Normal Data Sync: Riva supports bidirectional and unidirectional data syncing between the CRM and Exchange.

When bidirectional syncing is enabled, Riva, by default, syncs the calendar as follows:

• Riva syncs created, modified, and deleted appointments, events (meetings), phone calls, and service calls (for Microsoft Dynamics CRM only) from the CRM to Exchange.
• Riva syncs created, modified, and deleted appointments and meetings from Exchange to the CRM.
• Riva does delegate tracking, that is, it syncs calendar appointments created or modified by an individual user (like an assistant) with delegated access to an account.
• Riva syncs recurring appointments from the CRM to Exchange (if supported by the CRM).
• Riva syncs Exchange recurring appointments and meetings to the CRM and creates individual calendar items in the CRM.

Riva can be configured to

• Require a Riva category to be applied to an Exchange calendar item before Riva syncs that item to the CRM.
• Ignore private appointments.
• Treat CRM deletions as cancellations in Exchange. For example, if a user deletes a calendar item in CRM, Riva syncs it to Exchange and modifies the title of the calendar item to show "Deleted in CRM".

Note: Although by default Riva does not sync marking CRM calendar items as "completed" to Exchange, a similar workflow can be customized for you by our Client Engagement Team.

Syncing tasks

First Time Sync: Once a user has been added to a sync policy and Riva runs a first time sync against that user, Riva will sync task items from the CRM and create those as tasks items in the user's primary to-do list in Exchange. Those task items will appear in the user's Outlook (Exchange) primary to-do list and be colour-coded by using the Riva synced category added to the Exchange Master Category List.

Normal Data Sync: Riva supports bidirectional and unidirectional data syncing between the CRM and Exchange. When bidirectional syncing is enabled, Riva, by default, syncs tasks as follows:

• Riva syncs created, modified, status-updated, and deleted tasks from the CRM to Exchange and from Exchange to the CRM.
• If a task is marked as "completed", Riva syncs it as an update and changes the status to "completed" in the corresponding system. Once marked as "completed", Riva stops syncing any changes to the task item.
• Riva automatically syncs task changes from the CRM to Exchange.
• Riva can be configured to require a Riva category to be applied to an Exchange task item before Riva syncs that item to the CRM.

How Does Riva Sync Your Email to the CRM?

Riva supports archiving emails into the CRM. Emails will be related to email recipients that can be matched to CRM users, contacts, and leads. Riva does not sync emails created in the CRM into Exchange. Emails can be used as a source item to create opportunities, cases, or other module items in the CRM, depending on the CRM. Learn more about how Riva can sync emails.

Create and track emails to the CRM

Syncing emails to the CRM

First Time Sync: During the first sync, Riva creates and manages a set of folders in each user’s mailbox. This folder contains “smart” folders that Riva uses to allow users to interact with Riva. These folders are used as “drop” folders or “display” folders for the different CRM object types. By default, the default “drop” folders include "- Create New Email", "- Create New Opportunity", "- Create New Case", and AssignTo folders for each of the objects that have been enabled on your sync policy. The default “display” folders display relevant opportunities, cases, quotes, projects, and custom objects based on the sync policy that applies to each user. Not all users will see all folders. Keep in mind that the folders might have different names based on how Riva was configured for your company’s implementation.

Normal Data Sync: By default, Riva archives emails and matches the email recipients to the CRM user first, then to CRM contacts, and then to CRM leads (if enabled in the sync policy). Riva can be configured to sync emails and create module items in the CRM, typically new opportunities, cases, projects, or quotes. Riva also supports custom objects for some CRMs. For each email placed in a "drop folder", Riva archives it to the CRM as follows:

1. Riva attempts to match each email recipient and the sender to CRM users. If no match is found, Riva attempts to match to CRM contacts. If no match is found, Riva checks against leads (if configured to do so).
2. If a match is not found, Riva attempts to create a contact (or lead if configured to do so). For a new contact, Riva tries to match the new contact to an existing CRM account by matching the Company field to CRM account names, then by email domain name (for example, @example.com) to the website field or email address field of CRM account records. If a match is found, the new contact is created and related to the existing CRM account. If no match is found, Riva creates a new account by using the Company name field or email domain name, depending on how the sync policy is configured.
3. For most CRMs, Riva creates an email item. For some, like Salesforce, Riva creates an activity item that appears as a completed task if matched to a CRM contact or lead, or as an uncompleted task if matched to a system user.
4. Riva moves the email from the drop folder back to either the Inbox or the Sent Items folder and assigns the Processing Complete! category to the email.

Sync CRM module info to email

Use summary emails to quickly look up Items in the CRM

Normal Data Sync: Riva creates summary emails in the Exchange mailbox in the module folders of the drop folder structure, for example the Opportunities folder. Those emails contain summary information about each active module item (for example, an opportunity). Each email also includes a button or website link to open the module item in the CRM in either Edit or View mode.

Convert email to create a CRM opportunity, case, project, or custom object

First Time Sync: During the first sync, Riva builds, in the user's mailbox, a new folder structure that contains "drop folders". Drop folders (for example, "- Create New Opportunity") are added for each module that is enabled on the Other page of the sync policy.

Normal Data Sync: When a user places an email in a "- Create New [module]" folder, Riva processes that email as follows:

1. Riva attempts to match recipients to CRM users, contacts, and leads. The matching process is the same as when syncing emails to the CRM.
2. Riva creates a module item (for example, a new opportunity) in the CRM and assigns it to the user that Riva is syncing.
3. Riva adds the email to the Activity History of the new module item and of the matched contacts and leads.
4. Riva syncs a new summary email to the parent module folder; for example, Riva syncs a summary email to the Opportunities folder.
5. If AssignTo is enabled (see Use AssignTo to archive email against existing opportunities and cases), Riva syncs a new email drop folder for the new item. For example, Riva creates a new opportunity drop folder under the \Opportunities\Assign To\ folder.
6. Riva moves the email back to the Inbox or Sent Items folder and assigns the Processing Complete! category to the email.

Use AssignTo to create and track email against existing opportunities and cases

Create and track emails against opportunities and cases

First Time Sync: During the first sync, Riva adds an \Assign To\ folder under the parent module folder for each module enabled on the Other page of the sync policy. Riva adds a drop folder for each active module item that is either visible to or owned by the user. The folder name is based on the module item:

• Opportunity folder names include an index number, the title of the opportunity, and the value of the opportunity.
  
  Example: \Opportunities\Assign To\[1] 3000 Widgets for Acme Corp ($120,000)
   
• Case folder names include an index number, the case number, and the title of the case.
  
  Example: \Cases\Assign To\[1] [12934] Widget control not activating automatically on restart

Normal Data Sync: When a user places an email in an AssignTo drop folder, Riva processes that email as follows:

1. Riva attempts to match recipients to CRM users, contacts, and leads. The matching process is the same as when syncing emails to the CRM.
2. Riva adds the email to the Activity History of the existing module item and of the matched contacts and leads.
3. Riva syncs an update to the summary email to the parent module folder. For example, Riva syncs a summary email to the Opportunities folder.
4. Riva moves the email back to the Inbox or Sent Items folder and assigns the Processing Complete! category to the email.

How Does Riva Work with Tablets and Smartphones?

See our Knowledge Base articles about syncing CRM data with mobile devices:

• How to sync my CRM data with my iPhone.
• How to sync my CRM data with my iPad.
• How to sync my CRM data with my Android phone.

Other Training Videos

Watch our How-to videos on our Resource Center:

• User training videos