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What is the calendar integration?

Updated

The calendar integration is a feature that connects external calendars with d.vinci. This means you can link third-party calendars to your d.vinci system to send scheduled appointments from d.vinci to your calendars or retrieve your availability from your calendars to offer appointments in d.vinci.

Configuration

Depending on which version you are using, you can find the configuration instructions here:

Benefits

The calendar integration offers several benefits, for d.vinci users and, in the Plus version, also for applicants:

  • Stay on top of personal availability
    You can view your personal company calendar directly from d.vinci to check your availability when scheduling appointments. You can receive appointments from d.vinci in your calendars or forward them to your colleagues.
  • Easy scheduling with colleagues
    You can access other users' calendars to check their availability. The same applies the other way around. This makes scheduling meetings with colleagues much easier and eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails to find a time that works for everyone, especially when more than two participants are involved.
  • Self-scheduling for applicants
    The Plus version allows your applicants to independently select appointments. Provide applicants with a list of available slots when all participants are free. The system automatically generates the list based on the availability of all participants, including selected rooms. This ensures that everyone is available and that a room is booked. It also spares applicants the awkwardness of declining proposed appointments.

Integration

For calendar integration, d.vinci partners with Cronofy, a UK-based tech company specializing in calendar integration for software systems. Cronofy offers the Unified Calendar API, an interface for connecting software systems with the five major calendar services:

  • Google Calendar
  • Apple Calendar
  • Microsoft Office 365
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Exchange

The advantage of this interface is that we only need to maintain one connection to communicate with all of the above services. This keeps the system efficient and less prone to errors.

Versions/Features

We offer the calendar integration in two versions:

Basic

The Basic version is free and is activated by default in every system.

  • Users can individually connect their calendars
  • Users are notified if the connection breaks
  • When scheduling or rescheduling appointments, the participants' availability is checked for connected calendars
  • Appointment invitations are sent via the calendar of the organizer
  • The participation status of attendees can be seen

Plus

The Plus version is a paid upgrade.

  • Includes all the functions of the Basic version
  • Organization-wide, centrally controlled connection and monitoring of calendar connections
  • Users can set availability windows to define when an appointment can be booked
  • Applicants can independently book appointments by selecting from available time slots
  • Rooms can be added in d.vinci and selected during appointment scheduling
  • d.vinci supports you in setting up calendar integration for your organization

Our Video on Calendar Integration Plus

Data Protection and Information Security

This is covered in a separate article. Read more here: Calendar Integration: Data Protection and Information Security

System behavior

  • Use calendar integration
    The Basic version is enabled by default. The Plus version is a paid upgrade. 
    You can check which version you are using in the basic settings under the tab License. 
  • Technical requirements (Exchange/Outlook)
    If you use Outlook and your company operates its own calendar servers, it is very likely that you use Microsoft Exchange for this purpose. In this case, specific minimum requirements must be met. You can read them here: Redirect to Cronofy documentation
  • Requirements for appointment booking (Calendar Integration Plus)
    • Correspondence template
      For appointment booking by applicants (Calendar Integration Plus), you need a template with the placeholder “Appointment booking – Link to booking page ({APPOINTMENT_BOOKING:LINK})”.
    • Application status
      Create the status “Appointment booking failed” and link it to automated status changes (e.g., from first interview/second interview/phone interview) as well as a task definition for notifications.
  • Service Account 
    In Calendar Integration Plus, the Service Account enables central management and connection of your calendars.
  • Rooms
    With Calendar Integration Plus, you can also book rooms for your appointments - provided you do not use limited calendar availability (Free/Busy Access). You can create up to 20 rooms per location. 
    Learn more here: 
  • Permissions and roles
    • Connect calendars centrally (Calendar Integration Plus)
      To connect calendars centrally, the user performing this action needs the permission User | view/edit/create/delete.
    • Locations/Rooms
      To manage appointment locations and create rooms, you need the permission 
      Master data | view/edit/create.
  • Calendar connection and status

    • Access Mode
      When setting up calendar integration, you can choose through Access Mode which data we can access. Calendar integrations set up before 03/03/2026 use full access by default. You can change this at any time by reconnecting the calendar.
      More information in the docu of cronofy here: (external website)

      Question Read-Write Access (Full Access) Free/Busy Access (Availability Access)
      Which calendar data is visible? Cronofy can see all details of calendar entries (title, participants, times, etc.). Cronofy can only see when time slots are free or booked.
      Does the app know when I am available for appointments? Yes, Cronofy can automatically check availability. Yes, Cronofy can automatically check availability.
      How do new appointments appear in my calendar? Appointments are automatically entered into the calendars of participants. Participants receive a calendar invitation to the appointment via email (.ics file).
      How are changes to appointments handled? Changes are automatically updated in the calendar. Changes must be made manually.
      • Read-Write Access
        If you choose full access via the Read-Write Access option, you will have the most seamless experience: Cronofy directly enters appointments into the calendars of participants on behalf of d.vinci. 
        Note: If you use Calendar Integration Plus and choose Read-Write Access, you will no longer have the option to book rooms. 
      • Free/Busy Access
        Appointments created by d.vinci are sent to participants as calendar invitations (.ics file) via email. Cronofy only has access to your current free/busy status and not the contents of appointments. Titles, participants, and contents remain private. This option is available for calendars from Google and Microsoft 365 in Calendar Integration Basic and Calendar Integration Plus.
    • Basic
      Users connect their calendars themselves (My User). The option is only displayed if calendar integration is enabled.
    • Plus 
      Connection by authorized persons via user management. Status shows “Connecting (centrally managed)” and then “Connected (centrally managed)”; the email of the connected calendar is displayed.
    • Show/filter connection status
      Do you want to know which users have connected their calendars? Check the Users page. In this user list, you can identify users with connected calendars by the calendar icon. Additionally, you can use the filter to sort by connection status: 
      • Connected (Individual)
      • Connected (centrally managed)
      • Connecting (centrally managed)
      • Connection failed
      • Not connected
    • Connection loss
      In case of loss, the user receives an email “d.vinci – Reconnect calendar” with a link to reconnect.

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System behavior

  • Use calendar integration
    The Basic version is enabled by default. The Plus version is a paid upgrade. 
    You can check which version you are using in the basic settings under the tab License. 
  • Technical requirements (Exchange/Outlook)
    If you use Outlook and your company operates its own calendar servers, it is very likely that you use Microsoft Exchange for this purpose. In this case, specific minimum requirements must be met. You can read them here: Redirect to Cronofy documentation
  • Requirements for appointment booking (Calendar Integration Plus)
    • Correspondence template
      For appointment booking by applicants (Calendar Integration Plus), you need a template with the placeholder “Appointment booking – Link to booking page ({APPOINTMENT_BOOKING:LINK})”.
    • Application status
      Create the status “Appointment booking failed” and link it to automated status changes (e.g., from first interview/second interview/phone interview) as well as a task definition for notifications.
  • Service Account 
    In Calendar Integration Plus, the Service Account enables central management and connection of your calendars.
  • Rooms
    With Calendar Integration Plus, you can also book rooms for your appointments - provided you do not use limited calendar availability (Free/Busy Access). You can create up to 20 rooms per location. 
    Learn more here: 
  • Permissions and roles
    • Connect calendars centrally (Calendar Integration Plus)
      To connect calendars centrally, the user performing this action needs the permission User | view/edit/create/delete.
    • Locations/Rooms
      To manage appointment locations and create rooms, you need the permission 
      Master data | view/edit/create.
  • Calendar connection and status

    • Access Mode
      When setting up calendar integration, you can choose through Access Mode which data we can access. Calendar integrations set up before 03/03/2026 use full access by default. You can change this at any time by reconnecting the calendar.

      Question Read-Write Access (Full Access) Free/Busy Access (Availability Access)
      Which calendar data is visible? Cronofy can see all details of calendar entries (title, participants, times, etc.). Cronofy can only see when time slots are free or booked.
      Does the app know when I am available for appointments? Yes, Cronofy can automatically check availability. Yes, Cronofy can automatically check availability.
      How do new appointments appear in my calendar? Appointments are automatically entered into the calendars of participants. Participants receive a calendar invitation to the appointment via email (.ics file).
      How are changes to appointments handled? Changes are automatically updated in the calendar. Changes must be made manually.
      • Read-Write Access
        If you choose full access via the Read-Write Access option, you will have the most seamless experience: Cronofy directly enters appointments into the calendars of participants on behalf of d.vinci. 
        Note: If you use Calendar Integration Plus and choose Read-Write Access, you will no longer have the option to book rooms. 
      • Free/Busy Access
        Appointments created by d.vinci are sent to participants as calendar invitations (.ics file) via email. Cronofy only has access to your current free/busy status and not the contents of appointments. Titles, participants, and contents remain private. This option is available for calendars from Google and Microsoft 365 in Calendar Integration Basic and Calendar Integration Plus.
    • Basic
      Users connect their calendars themselves (My User). The option is only displayed if calendar integration is enabled.
    • Plus 
      Connection by authorized persons via user management. Status shows “Connecting (centrally managed)” and then “Connected (centrally managed)”; the email of the connected calendar is displayed.
    • Show/filter connection status
      Do you want to know which users have connected their calendars? Check the Users page. In this user list, you can identify users with connected calendars by the calendar icon. Additionally, you can use the filter to sort by connection status: 
      • Connected (Individual)
      • Connected (centrally managed)
      • Connecting (centrally managed)
      • Connection failed
      • Not connected
    • Connection loss
      In case of loss, the user receives an email “d.vinci – Reconnect calendar” with a link to reconnect.
  • Centrally managed connection (Calendar Integration Plus)
    • Tenant condition
      Only users in the same Microsoft tenant as the Service Account can be centrally connected. Users from another tenant must connect their calendars manually. 
    • Separation of the Service Account
      Disconnecting the Service Account disables central management. Existing user connections remain intact and can be reconnected later.
    • Option “Participate in own appointments”
      If you select this option, the appointment organizer is automatically preselected as a participant when creating the appointment. This can be removed at any time.
  • Appointment organization and invitations
    • Appointment dispatch
      Appointment invitations are sent via the organizer’s calendar. Participant statuses are visible in the application under the tab Activities (Basic/Plus).
    • Organizer calendar entry
      Organizers always receive a calendar entry. If they are not participating, it is recommended to set the appointment to “free” in the organizer’s calendar to avoid blocking time slots. If the organizer cancels or deletes the appointment, it will be canceled for all participants.
    • Automatic calendar entry
      If Read-Write Access is selected, the appointment automatically appears in all participants’ calendars. No separate confirmation/email is needed in addition to the invitation from d.vinci.
      If Free/Busy Access is selected, participants receive an email with a calendar file (.ics file).
    • Changes to appointments
      You will be informed in the appointment text that d.vinci is the leading system. This means: If you manually change something in the appointment in the calendar, these changes will not be transmitted to d.vinci and will not change the contents for other participants. If you want a change, we recommend canceling the appointment and rescheduling it with the correct information. 
  • Recognizing availability and working hours
    • Colors
      In Basic/Plus, free slots are displayed in white and booked slots in gray; times outside usual working hours and weekends are also bookable, as availability is displayed, not working hours.
    • Individual availability 
      With Calendar Integration Plus, users can define individual availability on the page My User - accessible via the user menu. By default, 9–17, Mon–Fri is preset.
    • Special calendar states
      Appointments with the statuses “Working at another location,” “Tentative,” and “Out of office” are considered “booked” (not available); “Tentative” remains classified as unavailable until the person confirms or declines.
  • Rooms (Calendar Integration Plus)
    • Functionality
      Rooms can be created in the system and are treated like participants with their own calendar to check availability.
    • Synchronize & Assign
      Load rooms in the basic settings and mark appointment locations as “Appointment location” and assign rooms.
    • Auto-booking
      For appointments booked by applicants, the first available room at the appointment location can be automatically booked.
    • System limits
      Room lists cannot be combined from different calendar systems (e.g., O365 and Exchange simultaneously). Additionally, no more than 20 rooms per appointment location are possible. 
    • Conflicts
      If a room is booked in parallel, the booking may fail. Open the appointment booking under Activities in the application, edit it, and search for another available room. No new email dispatch is necessary.
  • Appointment booking by applicants (Calendar Integration Plus)
    • Real-time
      The availability of participants is retrieved live when the booking link is opened.
      The status of the appointment is visible live in the application.
    • No suitable appointment
      Applicants can indicate during appointment booking that no suitable appointment is available.
      We recommend setting up automatic status changes that automatically set the application status to “Appointment booking failed” in such cases. You can then contact the person again and arrange an appointment verbally. 
    • Booking period
      If the defined booking period expires, the link is deactivated, and an automatic status change to “Appointment booking failed” is triggered (if configured accordingly).
    • Cancellations
      Applicants cannot cancel appointments at the click of a button but can reply to the confirmation email. We recommend adding a note to the email template for this purpose.
  • Deactivation and effects
    • System-wide
      Calendar integration can only be deactivated by us. Feel free to contact us for this. It will then be deactivated for all users of the system - once deactivated, it cannot be activated/deactivated for individual users. 
    • Personal
      Each user can deactivate calendar integration for themselves on the page My User. This results in immediate deactivation - without confirmation. An existing connection will then be disconnected. Reactivation is possible at any time. During deactivation, available times are not visible for appointment booking (neither own for others nor vice versa).
  • Deletion/Change: Effects
    • Deletion of application
      Existing calendar entries remain intact; they are not automatically deleted. 
    • Changes in calendars
      The leading system is d.vinci. Manual calendar changes do not flow back and may be overwritten.
  • Error scenarios – typical causes
    • No common slot/no free room
      If no common appointment time or room is found, the appointment booking fails. The appointment must then be edited under the tab Activities in the application, and times/participants/room adjusted and possibly reoffered.
    • Connection disconnected
      If the message appears that the connection is disconnected, the calendar must be reconnected before appointment booking can proceed. It is advisable to filter the user list for users whose calendars are not connected. 

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