Contact Sync

Overview

Maximizer offers a straightforward solution for syncing contacts between Maximizer and Outlook, tailored for sales and marketing professionals using Microsoft accounts. By integrating your Outlook contacts directly with the Maximizer’s Address Book, the process of managing client data becomes efficient and error-free. This integration is designed exclusively for Microsoft Outlook 365, providing a specialized tool to ensure your contacts are always current, both in Maximizer and Outlook. Embrace the simplicity of automated synchronization and maintain your focus on delivering top-tier customer service with Maximizer.

Key Benefits:

• Contact Synchronization: Seamlessly syncs Outlook contacts in the “Maximizer” category with the favorite list of your choice in Maximizer’s Address Book.
• Up-to-date Information: Maintains your Maximizer and Outlook contacts current. The most recent changes are available in both systems.
• Data Consistency: Ensures that your important contacts always include “First Name”, “Last Name”, and “Email Address” as these fields are necessary for contacts to be synced.

Prerequisites

• You should be a Maximizer Base or SLE client.
• You should have a Microsoft Outlook 365 account.
• You should have “Read”, “Insert” and “Modify” permissions for the Address Book module, and “Allow Sync Contacts with External Clients” privilege[EZ1]  in Maximizer to be able to use the integration.
• All Outlook contacts you wish to synchronize with your preferred list in Maximizer must be assigned the “Maximizer” category in Outlook.

• You may want to create or review your Favorite List in Maximizer before enabling the sync. The Favorite List should only include Individual or Contact entry types.
• To achieve better results with the Outlook 365 Contact Sync integration we recommend ensuring the cleanness of your data before enabling the sync:
  • In both Maximizer’s Favorite List and Outlook’s “Maximizer” category, ensure that there are no duplicate entries or contacts missing critical information such as First Name, Last Name and Email.
  • In Maximizer, ensure that the favorite list you are going to use for syncing contacts doesn’t contain Company entries as companies can’t be synced to Outlook.

Installation

1. Navigate to the App Directory in Maximizer and select the "Microsoft Outlook 365 Sync for Maximizer" card.
2. On the "Microsoft Outlook 365 Sync for Maximizer" page click the "Get it now" button to enable the integration and start the process of connecting your accounts.  
3. A new screen will appear, requesting your Maximizer credentials. Please enter the credentials that you use daily to access Maximizer.
4. Once validated with Maximizer, you'll be prompted to connect to your Microsoft account. Note: The method of connection may vary based on your organization's security measures. For example, there could be a 2-factor authentication step using Microsoft Authenticator.
5. After connecting, a new page will be displayed. On this Configuration page open the Contact tab and specify what Favorite list in Maximizer you want to synchronize with Outlook.

• Choose the Maximizer Favorite List for Outlook contact synchronization. By default, the “Outlook sync” favorite list created by the integration will be selected, but you can also choose one of the existing lists you are allowed to update.
• The Outlook category is the fixed tag that Maximizer uses to synchronize your Outlook contacts and your chosen Maximizer favorite list. The integration will only synchronize the contacts in Outlook with the “Maximizer” category to the selected Maximizer Favorite list. If the “Maximizer” category is not present in your Outlook 365 account during the integration installation, it will be automatically created for you.
• Click the “Save Changes” button to queue the first sync sequence. This process may start within the next 15 minutes. Click “OK” on the confirmation dialog, then click the “Close” button to return to Maximizer. Note: The first sync may take up to an hour if you have a large number of contacts.

* To monitor the status of your sync, access synchronization details, and manage synchronization settings, click the “Configure” button on the “Microsoft Outlook 365 Sync for Maximizer” page in the App Directory.

Settings & Status

Once the integration is enabled it will run continuously with the specific frequency of sync runs. After every sync run a new record will be created for you in the “History” table on the “Configuration” page.

Note: You can access the “Configuration” page by clicking the “Configure” button on the “Microsoft Outlook 365 Sync for Maximizer” page in the App Directory.

The following capabilities and information are provided on the Configuration page:

• Microsoft and Maximizer accounts that are being synced.
  • To connect integration to a different Microsoft Outlook 365 account you should reinstall the integration proving the desired account details at the Microsoft authentication step of the installation.
• Sync status.
  • You can switch the “Contact Sync” toggle to the left to disable the sync.
  • History statuses:
    • Enqueued: sync engine enqueues user to sync.
    • Syncing: data for the user is currently in syncing process.
    • Complete: Sync has completed
    • Warning: Sync has failed with minor issue and is going to try again on next run, i.e. Outlook API is down.
    • Problem: Sync has encountered a major issue and will attempt to retry. This could be due to authentication failure or the user lacking mandatory permissions, or a different reason. Typically, the user needs to take specific actions to resolve the issue.
• Your Favorite List in Maximizer that is being synced with the “Maximizer” category in Outlook.
  • Open the dropdown list with the complete list of your Favorite Lists in Maximizer to find and pick a different Favorite List if needed.
• Sync History. Every record in the sync history includes the following information:
  • State of the most recent syncs, indicating if it was completed successfully.
  • Number of contacts that were successfully synced
  • Number of contacts that were ignored
    • You can click on the number of the ignored contacts in the last sync run to access a complete list of ignored contacts. From the “Ignored contacts” list you can open any Maximizer entry for editing. It will be opened for you in a new tab.
    • To edit Outlook contacts that were ignored, you should locate corresponding contacts in Outlook under the “Maximizer” category and click “Edit” button.
  • Start date and time of the sync run
  • End date and time of the sync run
  • Duration of the sync run
  • Note which may include additional details about the specific sync run.

Handling Conflicts

"Last Name, First Name, or Email is not provided”:

Maximizer entry:

• We highly recommend to maintain your data clean and consistent and ensure all of the three mandatory fields – First Name, Last Name and Email Address – have valid and actual data but in the situation when some of the contacts you desire to keep in sync have missing data for mandatory fields, you can fill the gaps with the dummy data. For that you can use the mass update feature in Maximizer’s Address Book.
  • Mass update records with no email with a dummy Email Address, i.e. missing@email.com
  • Mass update records with no last name with a dummy Last Name, i.e. “_”
  • Mass update records with no first name with a dummy First Name, i.e. “_”
  • Mass update records with invalid exchange email address with a dummy Email Address, i.e. missing@email.com.
• After applying global edits to your Favorite List in Maximizer we advise refreshing the list and sorting it again by Email, First Name, and Last Name ensuring that there are no records with blanks in those fields.

Outlook contact:

• • If you have multiple contacts in Outlook that miss either of the critical data – First Name, Last Name and Email Address – you may want to leverage the export / import capability in Outlook to apply mass editing to your contacts. Otherwise, we can move them to a category other than “Maximizer” to exclude them from the sync.
    • To export or import your Outlook contacts in a CSV file select the “Manage contacts” option while in the “People” interface in Outlook 365.

“Duplicate: Last Name, First Name, or Email”:

• You may need to review your contact list (in either Maximizer or Outlook, or both) and merge or remove duplicating entries that have identical First Name, Last Name and Email Address. Note: You can leverage different tools, like Microsoft Excel, to speed up the editing process. Export your Favorite List in Maximizer or Contact List in Outlook to edit it externally. Then import the edited version.

⚠️ Note: The Sync only checks for duplicate entries when the initial sync happens. During subsequent syncs, the system doesn't search for duplicate contacts. If a contact is added in Outlook, the system assumes it's brand new and doesn't verify if that same contact already exists in Maximizer based on their first name, last name, or email. Thus, during the next sync, it assumes all new contacts in Outlook aren't in Maximizer (or vice versa).

Synchronization Logic

1. The integration maintains in sync Maximizer contacts or individuals that have all three required fields — First Name, Last Name, and Email Address – to Outlook contacts under the “Maximizer” category that have the same critical data available and valid (First Name, Last Name, and Email).
   • Any contact/individual missing one or more of the mandatory fields is ignored.
   • The Sync creates "Individual” entries in Maximizer from contacts in Outlook “Maximizer” category and places them in the selected Favorite List.
   • The Sync creates Outlook contacts in “Maximizer” category if there is a new entry in the selected Favorite List in Maximizer.
   • “Company” type records in the Maximizer favorite list are not processed by integration. They are also not included in the list of Ignored contacts.
2. The integration can keep in sync up to 20k contacts.
3. The sync runs every 10 minutes. Note: Maximizer reserves the right to adjust the frequency of the sync runs.
4. The most recent changes to Maximizer or Outlook contacts that are in sync affect the sync result.
5. The synchronization between Maximizer and Outlook contacts happens in two steps – initial sync and subsequent sync. The initial sync runs just once, after it, only subsequent sync applies, unless the user changes the settings.
   • First sync – the sync retrieves contacts from two sources:
     • Contacts assigned to the chosen category in Outlook.
     • Contacts in the user's Favorite List within Maximizer.
     • Next, it processes both lists to exclude duplicate contacts and contacts missing mandatory properties, those are added to the Ignored List.
     • It then compares the remaining contacts from both lists to find matching contacts. Please refer to the Contact Mapping Schema for a detailed understanding of how matching contacts are identified.
   • The sync process then performs a two-way matching for unmatched contacts:
     • For unmatched Outlook contacts, it searches Maximizer using the Octopus API. Identified matches are paired and added to the user's Favorite List.
     • On the other hand, for unmatched Maximizer contacts, it searches Outlook using the Graph API. Matches are paired and assigned to the chosen category.
   • Finally, the process creates contacts without matches in Maximizer and Outlook, categorizes them, and adds them to the Favorite List.
   • Subsequent sync – the sync retrieves newly created, modified or deleted contacts from Outlook and from Maximizer using the date and time from the last run. The sync also checks whether the newly created contacts have matching records in another system.
6. The contacts are considered the same if the first name, last name and at least one email address matches.
7. The Sync replaces the primary address of the contact in Maximizer or the Business address in Outlook with the most recent version. If the address is empty, it will be pulled as empty and will clear the one in a different system.
8. The Sync synchronizes 2 business phone numbers, 1 home number and 1 mobile number from Outlook to the phone types that match Main, Fax, Home, Mobile or Cell phone types in Maximizer. Note: The Sync doesn't overwrite phone numbers if there is a value in both Maximizer and Outlook.
9. The Sync doesn’t create custom labels for phone numbers in either Outlook or Maximizer. New contacts created in Maximizer have labels Main, Fax, Cell (or Mobile), Home, and are mapped to their Outlook counterparts.
10. The Sync doesn’t delete contacts from Outlook or Maximizer if they were deleted in either of the systems.
    • If the contact that is in sync is deleted in Outlook, it will be removed from the selected Favorite list in Maximizer but the entry itself will still be available in the Address Book.
    • If a contact synced with Maximizer is deleted in Maximizer, the "Maximizer" category will be removed from that contact in Outlook, but the contact itself will remain in your contact list.
11. Users can customize Contacts Sync settings, including the Favorite List and connected Microsoft account. Updating any of these settings or disabling and re-enabling the sync will trigger a fresh synchronization of contacts.
12. The Sync removes invalid email addresses from the contacts during the sync as Outlook doesn’t allow invalid emails.

Contact Mapping Schema

* File As is filled as follows when mapping from Maximizer to Outlook:

• The contact is a new contact in Maximizer that must be created in Outlook, then the FileAs will be created as "FirstName LastName", i.e. "John Smith".
• The contact exists in Outlook and needs to pull updates from Maximizer:
  • If the FirstName or LastName were updated in Maximizer, the FileAs will be updated as "FirstName LastName", otherwise the current FileAs is kept.

Please reach out to our dedicated support team at support@maximizer.com if you experience any issues or have feedback.

Stay on top of your game with your contacts always being up-to-date!