iMIS Power Suite - Outlook Integration

iMIS Outlook Integration troubleshooting

Use this page to diagnose and resolve common issues with iMIS Outlook Integration. Issues are grouped by category so administrators and support staff can more quickly identify the cause of a problem.

Reviewing the diagnostic checklist

Most iMIS Outlook Integration issues are related to setup, permissions, API access, or Outlook configuration. Reviewing the diagnostic checklist first and then working through the issue categories can help you resolve problems more efficiently.

Before troubleshooting a specific issue, review the following items:

  1. Verify the user has the correct iMIS roles.
  2. Confirm the Cloud ID is configured correctly.
  3. Verify the user can access the Cloud Dashboard.
  4. Ensure the Outlook add-in is installed and enabled.
  5. Confirm the user can sign in to the iMIS Staff site.
  6. Verify required API access is enabled for any queries or panel sources used by the integration.

Important! Many issues are caused by missing roles, incorrect Cloud configuration, disabled API access, or an add-in that is not enabled in Outlook.

Resolving login issues

Unable to validate background account

An Unable to validate background account error might occur when a user attempts to log in.

To resolve this error, do the following:

  1. In a browser window, go to cloud.csiinc.com.
  2. Log in with your credentials.
  3. From General, select My Account.
  4. From Account Info, select Update My Account Info.
  5. In the Background Account section, enter the iMIS Username and iMIS Password for a Cloud admin account with system administrator rights.
  6. Click Save Changes.

Your account is missing the iMIS RemoteService role

A Your account is missing the iMIS RemoteService role error might occur when a user logs in.

To correct this issue, contact your iMIS system administrator and request that the RemoteService role be added to your security profile.

Important! The RemoteService role is required for iMIS 2017. iMIS EMS does not require the RemoteService role.

Incorrect username or password when credentials are known to be correct

When logging in to iMIS Outlook Integration, a user might receive an error indicating that the username or password is incorrect even though the same credentials work in the iMIS Staff site.

To resolve this error, do the following:

  1. Log in to the iMIS Staff site with a user who has SysAdmin privileges.
  2. Go to Community > Security > Users.
  3. Search for the user and verify that the RemoteService role has been added.
  4. If not, add the role and click OK.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Go to Settings > About iMIS.
  7. Click Purge System Cache.

The user should now be able to successfully log in to iMIS Outlook Integration.

Resolving installation and setup issues

Unable to view add-ins

If users are unable to view the Outlook add-in, see Users don't see add-ins for more information.

Also verify the following:

  • The add-in has been deployed to the correct users.
  • The user is signed in to the expected Microsoft 365 account.
  • Outlook has been restarted after deployment or configuration changes.

Resolving email saving issues

Save as Interaction or Save as Activity button not visible

An issue might occur where the Save as Activity or Save as Interaction buttons are not visible. This usually happens because the buttons are not configured with the proper permissions. Out of the box, iMIS Outlook Integration is configured so that system administrators can see those buttons, but not all users can.

Update the Options in iMIS Outlook Integration to make the buttons visible. See Updating the roles for Save as Interaction or Save as Activity to resolve this issue.

Saving Activities or Interactions shows the background account instead of the user

When saving an Activity or Interaction, the Updated By or Owner fields might display the Cloud Background Credentials instead of the user who saved the item.

This is caused by a limitation in the iMIS REST API. For a user to write the transaction directly, that user would need elevated rights to call the iMIS REST API. A normal user would not typically have these elevated rights, so the Cloud Background Credentials display instead.

Resolving attachment issues

Attachment error

An Outlook's attachments cannot be retrieved from Exchange. Please click here for additional support error might occur when saving an email with attachments.

To resolve this error, your IT administrator must complete the required attachment setup for iMIS Outlook Integration. See the iMIS Outlook Integration attachment configuration instructions for more information. Completing those setup steps resolves this error and allows attachments to function correctly.

Note: This warning only applies to emails with attachments. You can still save emails that do not include attachments.

Error when downloading attachments on Interactions

There is a known issue with downloading attachments from iMIS interactions in the Staff site.

If the interaction has an attachment, clicking Download may display an error message.

A user can still download the attachments by scrolling to the bottom of the interaction window and clicking each attachment individually.

Resolving query issues

An unhandled error occurred while trying to retrieve IQA parameters

An An unhandled error occurred while trying to retrieve IQA parameters error might occur when working with IQA queries.

To resolve this error, do the following:

  1. Go to the Staff site, then go to RiSE > Intelligent Query Architect.
  2. Find and select the IQA query.
  3. Select the Security tab.
  4. Ensure that Access mode is set to Authenticated Users Full Control or higher.
  5. Ensure that the Available via the REST API checkbox is enabled.

  1. Click Save.

Note: If the query is not available through the REST API or the security settings are too restrictive, iMIS Outlook Integration will not be able to retrieve the query results.

Resolving search and recipient issues

Outlook Desktop issue with contacts replacing recipients

An issue might occur when selecting recipients from the results of a search in iMIS Outlook Integration, where the email address is replaced by an entry from an Outlook Contacts list.

Example: A Contacts list in Outlook contains an entry for Peter Baker with an email address of pb@noemail.com:

The search results in iMIS Outlook Integration contain a member with the exact same name, Peter Baker, but a different email address: pbaker@mailinator.com.

When Peter Baker is selected from the search results, Outlook finds the matching contact and replaces the recipient with the Outlook contact:

To resolve this issue, do the following:

  1. In the Outlook Contacts pane, create a new empty folder, for example, Empty Folder.
  2. Open the Address Book.
  3. Under the Tools menu, click Options. The Addressing window appears.
  4. Select Custom, remove all existing entries, then click Add to add the previously created Empty Folder.

  1. Click OK.

This causes Outlook to search only the Empty Folder for matching names, where it will not find anything to replace.

Reviewing logs and diagnostic details

Where to check for issues

When troubleshooting iMIS Outlook Integration, review the following locations:

  • Outlook add-in interface for user-facing error messages.
  • Cloud Dashboard for account and configuration settings.
  • iMIS Staff site for role assignments, security settings, and IQA configuration.

Capturing information for troubleshooting

When reporting an issue to your administrator or support team, gather the following:

  • The exact error message text.
  • A screenshot of the error.
  • The steps used to reproduce the issue.
  • The affected user's role information.
  • The name of the IQA query, if the issue is query-related.
  • Whether the issue occurs for one user or multiple users.

Note: Testing the same configuration in both Outlook and the iMIS Staff site can help determine whether the issue is related to integration setup, security, or source data.