Interview Manager: Microsoft Outlook Integration FAQs

Beeline Enterprise offers an integration between Interview Manager and Microsoft Outlook 365® that helps interview coordinators identify available interview times and streamline scheduling. This FAQ answers common questions about setup, scheduling recommendations, calendar invitations, security, and data handling.

Setup and Configuration

Can I use this feature with other email systems, such as Gmail?

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

Can my organization support multiple domains?

Yes. You can support multiple domains by creating separate subscription entries for each domain.

Can the Outlook integration be limited to specific regions, industries, or hiring managers?

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

How are users onboarded/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 and Availability

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 far into the future can recommendations be generated?

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

What happens if no recommended times are available?

If Interview Manager cannot find a suitable recommendation, you can manually enter one or more interview time slots.

Calendar Invitations and Notifications

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

No. However, you must be using Microsoft Outlook, Interview Manager, and the Interview Manager - Interview Accepted Advanced Notification Template.

Who are notifications sent to?

Notifications are sent based on the Interview Accepted approval workflow and typically include the supplier, hiring manager, interview attendees, and 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.

What interview information is included in an Outlook Calendar Invite Notification?
Your system administrator can configure which fields are included in the Interview Manager - Interview Accepted Advanced Notification Template via self-service. By default, these fields are included:

• Candidate name
• Candidate interview type
• Submitted date
• Submitted by username
• Request number
• Job title
• Location
• Contact name
• 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.

Are calendar invitations automatically updated when an interview changes or is canceled?

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

Is a Microsoft Teams meeting link automatically included?

No. Interview Manager does not automatically add a Teams meeting link to calendar invitations.

Security and 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 that are granted by a Microsoft 365 administrator. Once administrator consent is provided, the integration can access the approved resources within the tenant without requiring consent from individual users.

What Microsoft Graph permissions are required?

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

Are permissions limited to free/busy?

No. The Calendars.ReadBasic.All permission allows Interview Manager to access:

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

However, Beeline only uses free/busy time blocks. The permission cannot access event bodies, attachments, or extensions.

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

However, 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.

However, organizations can use Microsoft-supported controls to limit application access to specific Exchange Online mailboxes if additional restrictions are required.

Can we add additional security controls?

Yes. Your organization can use Microsoft-supported controls to restrict application access to specific Exchange Online mailboxes when additional security controls are needed. Follow the recommendations in this Microsoft article: Limiting application permissions to specific Exchange Online mailboxes.

What authentication method is used?

The integration authenticates to the client's Azure App Registration using OAuth 2.0 with a client secret.

How are secrets/certificates stored & 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 Conditional Access policies applied?

No. Interview Manager does not apply Microsoft Conditional Access policies as part of the Outlook integration. Access is controlled through the application's Microsoft Graph permissions and the customer's Microsoft 365 configuration. Users should work with their Microsoft 365 administrators to understand any Conditional Access policies that may exist within their own environment.

How is data encrypted in transit?

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

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

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 service events such as:

• ValidateSubscription
• GetAllSubscriptionsByClientSiteId
• ListUsersCalendarAvailableTimeBlocks
• Are logs sanitized to avoid PII leakage?
• Email addresses may be logged for operational purposes but are not displayed in 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?

Not applicable. The integration relies on Microsoft Graph and the customer's Azure security controls.

Is SAST/DAST performed for integration components?

Not applicable. The integration relies on Microsoft Graph and the customer's Azure security posture.

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.

What data is not used when generating schedule recommendations?

Interview Manager does not use:

• Meeting subjects
• Attendee lists
• Meeting locations
• Meeting content
• Organizer details

Only availability information needed for scheduling recommendations is used.

Do schedule recommendations consider supplier availability?

No. Schedule recommendations are based only on the availability of client attendees reflected in their Outlook calendars.

Are time zone differences considered when generating recommendations?

Yes. Time zones are automatically considered when schedule recommendations are generated. Invitations are sent using each attendee's local time zone.

How are available working hours determined?

Attendee availability is based on the hours an individual designates as Working Hours in Outlook. Find out how to set Working Hours from Microsoft’s Support Site.

Do recommendations include future dates?

Yes, up to two weeks. Schedule recommendations are based only on the availability of client attendees as reflected in their calendars. When a schedule recommendation can’t be found based on the preceding criteria, 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.

Can the recommendation window be extended?

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

Support

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

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

Explore more...

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