Troubleshooting Office SharePoint integration

Sametime and Office SharePoint user directories

In some enterprises, the Office SharePoint integration may function immediately with no additional configuration updates other than the JavaScript™ library changes described in Setting up the Office SharePoint Server. The most likely scenario to encounter this immediate functionality is one where Sametime and Office SharePoint have both been configured to use the same Active Directory, sharing this one LDAP for their backend directory. However, sharing a common LDAP is not a prerequisite for success with the Sametime SharePoint integration.

Enterprises where the Sametime server uses a different directory server are workable, even in cases where Sametime is configured to use IBM Domino® and Office SharePoint is configured to use Active Directory. The key to the functionality is the concept of Sametime "resolving" a phrase to match a Sametime user. The Office SharePoint Server creates and delivers web pages to the local browser, and the live names on the page include JavaScript code that initializes names with presence controls.

Ensuring that Sametime can resolve an Office SharePoint server phrase

In Office SharePoint 2007, the function that provides a Sametime user name with a presence icon is called IMNRC. This function will appear in the page source wherever Office SharePoint intends to place a presence icon. For each user name in SharePoint, an identifier phrase (typically an SMTP-format email address for the user) is passed to the IMNRC function. In turn, the IMNRC function generates a presence initialized ID and passes it to the Sametime control within the browser; Sametime then presents the status icon for that user. For example, for the SharePoint user Alice Jones, the identifier phrase is ajones@example.com and the ID passed to Sametime is IMNRC("ajones@example.com"). Sametime then uses this information to retrieve status information for Alice Jones.

The identifier phrase must be resolvable and unique within Sametime, which is why email addresses are used by default. If you do not use an email address as the identifier phrase, you must configure Sametime to recognize the attribute that you use by modifying the Search filter for resolving person names field in the Sametime Administration Tool.

To test your configuration, determine the ID for a particular user and paste it into the User name field in the "Add Sametime Contact" dialog box within the Sametime Connect Client. If your identifier phrase is configured correctly, the search resolves to a single user.