Note: This article pertains to iCIMS Applicant Tracking (ATS) legacy interview management and legacy interview scheduling. If you are using Interview Scheduling, that feature has a separate calendar integration process outlined in the following Knowledge Base article: Configuring Interview Scheduling. If you are not sure which interview tool(s) you are using, ask your user admin, review the Understanding Interviews in iCIMS Applicant Tracking article, or complete the following tests: Select Library from the main menu bar. If the Interview Scheduling Center option displays, you are using Interview Scheduling. Locate a test candidate via a Recruiting Workflow search and select the Schedule Interview button. If a window displays with four interview types (video interview, phone screen, onsite interview, and custom interview), you are using legacy interview management; if a window displays with Schedule Interview - [Candidate Name] or Schedule Appointment - [Candidate Name] as the heading, you are using legacy interview scheduling.

Overview

iCIMS Applicant Tracking (ATS) offers a one-way Calendar Availability View with Microsoft Outlook. Users with Calendar Availability View configured will be able to schedule meetings while viewing attendees’ free/busy times within legacy interview management and legacy interview scheduling.

Note: Third-party resources included throughout this article are not maintained by iCIMS and are subject to change.

Understanding Microsoft Prerequisites

Before setting up Calendar Availability View with Microsoft Exchange 2010, 2013, 2016, or Office 365 the user admin will first need your internal IT resource to take the following steps:

1. Confirm whether your organization's account is configured to support Microsoft Basic authentication or Microsoft Graph API authentication.
   • For more information on authentications, review Microsoft's documentation. 
2. Confirm that exchange Web Services (EWS) are enabled on your organization's server. Calendar Availability View will not work if EWS are disabled.
   • To ensure the account is set up for the proper level of API access, run all the Microsoft-provided connectivity tests. Passing all the tests is required to confirm proper EWS availability for the service account.

     • Office 365 Connectivity Test 

     • Microsoft Exchange Connectivity Test 

   • If opting to use a service account, also confirm the Microsoft-provided test.

     • Office 365 Service Account Test 

     • Microsoft Exchange Service Account Test 

   • A failed Microsoft Connectivity test indicates that EWS is unavailable. Configure your organization's EWS to make it available for the web.

Note: iCIMS Technical Support cannot consult with your organization's IT staff regarding issues with Microsoft authentication, EWS API access, or failed connectivity tests. iCIMS encourages your organization's IT staff to contact your mail server vendor for support with any issues regarding the above steps before proceeding to setup Calendar Availability View.

Additional information on setting up Calendar Availability View is available in the Configuring Legacy Calendar Availability View for Microsoft Exchange (2010, 2013, & 2016) and Office 365 article.

Exchange Web Services (EWS)

Microsoft Exchange is a server that hosts the email and calendar services for an organization. Users within that organization can typically access all of the mail, calendar, task, etc., functions that are made available to them.

Exchange Web Services (EWS) is a feature of the Microsoft Exchange Server that allows certain functions to be accessible to clients that are not part of the exchange network.

iCIMS ATS makes use of standard EWS operations to retrieve individuals free/busy time, and also to get room information.

Authorization

iCIMS ATS offers two options for authorization:

1. Authorization using an Exchange service account set up by the user admin in conjunction with the organization's IT team.

• When using this option, the iCIMS system supports storage of a username and password for the Exchange service account. User admins are able to start configuring this option with an existing Microsoft Exchange username or email address that is already in use with the organization, which the iCIMS system will then append a "suffix" of numbers to create a new username or email address (if using an email address, the suffix of numbers will be appended before the "@" symbol). By doing so, the iCIMS system maintains the security of the existing username or email address and the account associated with it. Furthermore, internal iCIMS system users do not have access to the Service account password field. Once the user admin inputs the password into this field, the password is stored encrypted in the system and can only be edited or deleted by the organization's user admin.
• It is the responsibility of the organization's IT team to create and account for the Exchange service that only has low-level access in Exchange (e.g. can only access users' free/busy times and room information at the company). For more information about setting up the Exchange service account, review the Configuring Calendar Availability View for Microsoft Exchange (2010, 2013, & 2016) and Office 365 article.

2. Authorization on an individual basis where a system user enters their personal Exchange credentials when they first attempt to use Calendar Availability View. 

• When using this option, the user's credentials are not stored in any way by the iCIMS system and are not printed in any logs. The user can continue to use the integration for as long as the authorization is active in the browser session. Once the session has ended, the user will have to re-enter their credentials to view free/busy and room information.

Free/Busy Time

The free/busy time is retrieved using the EWS GetUserAvailability operation as described here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/web-service-reference/getuseravailability-operation

The iCIMS system will make a request through EWS, which provides some basic information about the time/date of the appointment and the email addresses of all attendees. The Exchange Server will return a list of all of the associated calendar events for those users during that period.

Room Import

The Room Import Tool will retrieve information about rooms through EWS and will create records in the iCIMS system that correspond to these rooms. The information is retrieved using the EWS GetRoomLists and GetRooms operations, described in the following resources:

• GetRoomLists: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/web-service-reference/getroomlists-operation
• GetRooms: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/web-service-reference/getrooms-operation

Note: Although users can view a room's free/busy time and the room is listed on the calendar invitation when using Calendar Availability View, it is not booked on the room's calendar and displays as free. To ensure the room is not overbooked, a user must access the room's mailbox to manually accept the invitation on the room's behalf. 

Office 365

User admins for iCIMS ATS or iCIMS Technical Support can configure Calendar Availability View for Office 365. Detailed information on setting up Calendar Availability View is available in the Microsoft Office 365 section of the Configuring Legacy Calendar Availability View for Microsoft Exchange (2010, 2013, & 2016) and Office 365 article.