Interview Manager Microsoft Outlook FAQs

Find answers to common questions about Outlook availability recommendations and Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications

This article answers frequently asked questions about Microsoft Outlook-related Interview Manager capabilities, including:

• The Interview Manager Microsoft Outlook integration
• Availability-based interview scheduling recommendations
• Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications

The following questions relate to Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications, which automatically generate Outlook calendar invitations after an interview is accepted.

General

What are Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications?

Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications automatically generate Outlook calendar invitations when an interview is accepted. The invitations help participants manage interview schedules directly from Outlook.

What's the difference between the Microsoft Outlook integration and Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications?

The Microsoft Outlook integration retrieves Outlook calendar availability and generates interview scheduling recommendations.

Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications create Outlook calendar invitations after an interview is accepted.

The two features are independent. Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications can be used without configuring the Microsoft Outlook integration.

Do we have to integrate Enterprise with Microsoft Outlook to use Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications?

No. However, your organization must:

• Use Microsoft Outlook.
• Use Interview Manager.
• Have the Interview Manager - Interview Accepted Advanced Notification Template enabled.

Can Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications be configured through self-service settings?

Yes. Administrators can enable and configure Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications through Interview Manager self-service settings. For more information, see Interview Manager Self-Service Configuration.

Can we use Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications with other email systems such as Gmail?

No. Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications are designed specifically for Microsoft Outlook.

Recipients and invite behavior

Who are notifications sent to?

Notifications are sent based on the Interview Accepted approval workflow and may include:

• Suppliers
• Hiring managers
• Interview attendees
• Program office users

What happens if some recipients do not use Outlook?

Recipients who do not use Outlook receive an .ics file that they can manually download and import into their calendar application.

Are the notifications different if some recipients are not using Outlook?

No. All recipients receive the same notification content. However, recipients who do not use Outlook receive an .ics file that must be manually imported into their calendar application.

What happens if none of the recipients use Outlook?

The interview invitation is not automatically added to recipients' calendars. Instead, recipients receive an .ics file that they can manually add to their calendar application.

Invitation content and updates

What information is included in the calendar invitation?

Administrators can configure the content of the Interview Manager - Interview Accepted Advanced Notification Template.

By default, the invitation includes information such as:

• Candidate name
• Interview type
• Submitted date
• Submitted by
• Request number
• Job title
• Location
• Contact information
• Interview comments
• Selected interview time

Will attachments on an interview invitation be automatically included in the Outlook Calendar Invite Notification?

No. Interview attachments are not automatically included in Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications.

Can candidate attachments be used with Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications?

No. Candidate attachments are not supported cannot be used with Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications. Candidate attachments must be turned off before the feature can be enabled.

Is a Microsoft Teams meeting link automatically included?

No. Interview Manager does not automatically generate or add Microsoft Teams meeting links to calendar invitations. If your organization uses a supported video conference interview method, meeting details can be included through Interview Manager configuration and notification templates.

Will invitations be updated or removed when an interview is updated or cancelled?

No. Calendar invitations are not automatically updated, removed, or cancelled when interviews are modified or cancelled.

Can calendar invitations include video conference links?

Yes. Administrators can configure video conference hyperlinks for supported interview types so that meeting links are included in interview notifications and calendar invitations.

What happens when an interview is accepted?

When an interview is accepted:

• Interview Manager generates the Interview Accepted notification.
• Outlook Calendar Invite Notifications generate calendar invitations for participants.
• Participants can accept, decline, or tentatively accept the invitation from Outlook.

The following questions relate to the Microsoft Outlook integration used to generate availability-based interview scheduling recommendations.

Configuration and setup

Can my organization support multiple Microsoft 365 domains?

Yes. Organizations that use multiple Microsoft 365 domains can configure separate subscription entries for each domain.

The integration uses the user's User Principal Name (UPN) as part of the subscription configuration. The domain portion of the UPN is used to associate users with the appropriate Outlook integration subscription.

Examples:

• johnsmith@zcompany_eu.com
• janejohnson@zcompany_asia.com

Each domain requires its own subscription entry.

Can the Outlook integration be enabled for specific geographies, industries, hiring managers, or users?

No. The Outlook integration is configured at the Microsoft 365 tenant level and applies across the organization.

How are users onboarded and offboarded for the integration?

Interview Manager uses application-level permissions, so you don't need to onboard or offboard users individually. Access is managed through your Microsoft 365 tenant.

Scheduling generation

How are schedule recommendations generated?

Interview Manager uses Microsoft Graph APIs to check attendee availability in real time and generate schedule recommendations based on client attendees' Outlook calendars. Recommendations prioritize times when all attendees are available and then times when most attendees are available.

How are schedule recommendations ranked?

Interview Manager generates up to three recommended interview times. Recommendations are prioritized based on:

• Earliest available interview times.
• Common attendee availability.
• Maximum attendee participation.

Interview Manager first identifies times when all client attendees are available. If no suitable times are found, it attempts to identify recommendations that accommodate the greatest number of participants.

Do schedule recommendations consider supplier availability?

No. Supplier availability isn't considered when generating schedule recommendations.

Schedule recommendations are based only on the availability of client attendees reflected in their Outlook calendars. Only client attendees included in the interview and mapped through the appropriate Interview Calendaring Subscription Entry are considered.

Are time zone differences considered when generating recommendations?

Yes. Time zones are automatically considered when schedule recommendations are generated. When scheduling an interview, recommended times are displayed in the current user's local time zone. Meeting invitations are then sent using each attendee's local time zone.

How are available working hours determined?

Attendee availability is based on the hours an individual configures as Working Hours in Outlook. Find out how to set Working Hours from Microsoft’s Support Site. Interview Manager uses those working hours when generating schedule recommendations.

Are participant working hours considered when recommendations are generated?

Yes. Outlook calendar availability and working-hours information are included when Interview Manager evaluates participant availability and generates recommendations.

Recommendation limits

How far into the future can recommendations be generated?

Interview Manager generates recommendations up to two weeks into the future. This timeframe cannot be configured.

Can the recommendation window be extended?

No. The two-week recommendation window is not configurable.

What happens if no recommended times are available?

When a suitable schedule recommendation can’t be found, a message prompts the user to manually add a timeslot. Here are the criteria used to generate the top three best schedule recommendations.

1. Availability of all client attendees in the next two weeks, beginning the day after the current day.
2. Availability of the majority of client attendees in the next two weeks, beginning the day after the current day.

Permissions, security, and data access

Does the Outlook integration use delegated permissions or application permissions?

The integration uses application-level (app-only) permissions. Individual user consent is not required.

How is user consent captured?

Individual user consent is not required. The Outlook integration uses application-level permissions. A Microsoft 365 administrator grants application-level permissions on behalf of the organization.

What Microsoft Graph permissions are required?

The integration uses the Calendars.ReadBasic.All application permission through the Microsoft Graph getSchedule endpoint.

For information about the data returned and how it is used, see:

• What data is exchanged with Microsoft Graph?
• What calendar information can Interview Manager access?

Are permissions limited to free/busy information?

No. The Calendars.ReadBasic.All permission allows access to additional scheduling-related information, such as working hours and limited event metadata. However, Interview Manager uses only the availability information required to generate schedule recommendations.

What personal information (PII) is processed?

The Outlook integration exchanges only the user's email address to support scheduling and calendar availability checks. No other personally identifiable information (PII) is processed by the integration.

What calendar information can Interview Manager access?

The required permission allows access to:

• Free/busy status
• Event start and end times
• Working hours
• Limited details such as event subject and location

Interview Manager uses only the information needed to determine availability and generate scheduling recommendations. It does not use meeting content, attendee lists, organizer details, or other non-scheduling information.

Is access restricted to specific mailboxes?

No. By default, app-level permissions grant access to all mailboxes within the client tenant.

Organizations can implement Microsoft-supported controls to limit application access to specific Exchange Online mailboxes if additional restrictions are required.

Can we add additional security controls?

Yes. Organizations can implement additional Microsoft-supported controls, including:

• Restricting application access to specific mailboxes.
• Limiting permissions to only those required.
• Managing administrator consent.
• Revoking application access when it is no longer needed.

What authentication method is used?

The integration authenticates to the client's Microsoft Entra ID app registration using OAuth 2.0 with a client secret.

How does Interview Manager securely connect to Microsoft 365?

Interview Manager connects to Microsoft 365 through Microsoft Graph APIs using OAuth 2.0 application authentication.

Access is controlled through application identity and administrator-approved permissions rather than individual user authentication. Interview Manager uses a dedicated application identity for each customer and does not rely on shared-user access.  For more information about the security model, see About the Interview Manager Microsoft Outlook Integration.

How are secrets/certificates stored and rotated?

Your organization provides the client secret. Beeline stores it using AES encryption. If the secret expires in Microsoft Entra ID, your administrator must provide a new secret before the current one expires.

Are Microsoft Conditional Access policies applied?

No. Access is controlled through Microsoft Graph permissions and your organization's Microsoft 365 configuration.

How is data encrypted in transit?

All communication between Interview Manager and Microsoft Graph occurs over HTTPS.

Is access limited to a single Microsoft 365 tenant?

Yes. Each Outlook integration subscription is associated with a specific Microsoft 365 tenant. Authentication tokens are valid only for the tenant associated with the subscription and cannot be used to access other Microsoft 365 tenants.

Network requirements

Is allowlisting required?

No. The Microsoft Outlook integration does not require IP allowlisting because Microsoft Graph uses Microsoft's cloud-based infrastructure and authenticated application access. Organizations may implement additional controls based on their security requirements.

What IP addresses are available for organizations that choose to allowlist traffic?

Depending on your organization's network configuration and security requirements, your Microsoft 365 administrator may choose to allowlist the Interview Calendaring application IP addresses to support authentication with Microsoft Entra ID and access to Microsoft Graph services. Work with your organization's network and Microsoft 365 administrators to determine whether allowlisting is necessary for your environment.

Organizations that choose to implement allowlisting may use the following addresses:

Data handling and compliance

Is calendar data stored in Interview Manager?

No. Free/busy calendar data is not stored. The only calendar-related information retained is the interview time slot selected by the scheduler.

What calendar data is used to generate schedule recommendations?

Interview Manager uses only the following scheduling-related information. This information is used only to identify available interview times.

• Schedule ID
• Availability status
• Start and end times of busy periods
• Availability indicators, such as free, busy, tentative, or out of office

What calendar data is not used?

Interview Manager does not use:

• Meeting subjects
• Attendee information
• Meeting content
• Organizer details
• Other non-scheduling information

What data is exchanged with Microsoft Graph?

Interview Manager sends:

• Participant email addresses.
• The requested scheduling window.
• Scheduling request information required to evaluate availability.

Microsoft Graph returns scheduling-related information such as:

• Availability status.
• Busy time blocks.
• Working hours information.

Interview Manager uses this information only to generate interview scheduling recommendations and does not use email content, attachments, organizer details, or other non-scheduling information.

Is calendar data encrypted at rest?

Calendar availability data is processed in memory only to generate schedule recommendations and is discarded immediately afterward. Because the data is not stored, it is not considered data at rest.

Where is data stored?

Enterprise data is stored in U.S.-based data centers.

Is data shared outside the interview scheduling workflow?

No. Data used by the Outlook integration is not shared outside the interview scheduling workflow.

Does the integration align with Microsoft best practices?

Yes. The integration is designed to align with Microsoft's recommended practices for application authentication and Microsoft Graph connectivity.

How are tokens revoked in emergencies?

Access tokens are short-lived and are not cached or reused. As a result, tokens expire quickly and generally do not require explicit revocation.

API usage, logging and reliability

What APIs or services does the Outlook integration use?

The integration uses Microsoft Graph APIs and REST APIs to retrieve Outlook calendar availability and scheduling information.

How does Interview Manager check real-time availability?

Interview Manager uses Microsoft Graph APIs to query calendar availability and identify open times for interview scheduling.

How is API rate limiting handled?

The integration makes on-demand API calls only when schedule recommendations are requested. No retry logic is implemented for rate-limited requests.

How are webhooks secured?

Webhooks use HMAC validation, validation tokens, and OAuth 2.0 authentication where applicable.

What events are logged?

The integration logs operational service events related to subscription validation and availability retrieval processes. The integration logs service events such as:

• ValidateSubscription
• GetAllSubscriptionsByClientSiteId
• ListUsersCalendarAvailableTimeBlocks

Are logs sanitized to avoid PII leakage?

Email addresses may be recorded in operational logs used for troubleshooting and service monitoring. Email addresses are not exposed through customer-facing reporting.

What alerting exists for anomalies?

No anomaly-specific alerting is implemented for the Outlook integration.

What failover or retry mechanisms exist?

No retry logic is implemented because the service is invoked only when a user requests schedule recommendations.

Has a penetration test been performed on the integration?

The Interview Manager Microsoft Outlook integration uses Microsoft Graph APIs, Microsoft Entra ID authentication, and Microsoft Azure platform services. The integration does not introduce a separate customer-facing application or network endpoint. Security controls are provided through the Microsoft platform components used by the integration.

Is SAST/DAST performed for integration components?

The Outlook integration uses Microsoft platform services, including Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Entra ID, and Microsoft Azure. Security validation of those services is managed through Microsoft's software development and security processes.

Scheduling logic

What does the Microsoft Graph getSchedule endpoint do?

The getSchedule endpoint returns calendar availability information, including free and busy time blocks, which Interview Manager uses to generate interview scheduling recommendations.

Which getSchedule properties are used?

Interview Manager uses only the following scheduling-related properties:

• scheduleId: Identifies the user or calendar being queried.
• availabilityView: Indicates availability for each time slot.
• scheduleItems.start: The start time of a busy block.
• scheduleItems.end: The end time of a busy block.
• scheduleItems.status: The attendee's availability status, such as busy, tentative, or out of office.

Support

What support and uptime service level agreements (SLAs) apply?

The Outlook integration is covered by standard Beeline Enterprise support and SLA commitments.

Learn more...

• Interview Manager overview
• Learn about the Outlook integration
• Discover how to set up
• Find out how to manage interviews