5. Automated Status Updates
Presence is a great indicator of a user’s
willingness to communicate, but if left to the users to manually
manage, it tends to be inaccurate. A user cannot always remember to
change his presence to Busy when walking into a meeting or back to
Available when returning to his desk, so Lync Server leverages a user’s
calendar and manages these kinds of updates on his behalf. If a user
has an appointment on the calendar, his presence automatically changes
to Busy during the appointment and then goes back to Available when the
appointment concludes.
Endpoints also differentiate between personal
calendar entries considered appointments and meetings with multiple
attendees. In the preceding example, if the calendar entry is a meeting
instead of an appointment, the status changes to In a Meeting instead
of Busy, indicating that the user is most likely in the company of
others and probably is engaged in conversation.
This calendar integration can be performed
from Microsoft Office Outlook if installed, or if the user’s mailbox is
hosted by a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 or later, endpoints can use
Exchange Web Services to log in and pull the calendar data directly
from the mailbox using Lync Server credentials.
In addition to the calendar integration, Lync
Server keeps track of a user’s activity at an endpoint and can
automatically mark an endpoint as Inactive or Away after a certain
period. This ensures that if a user has walked away from an endpoint
without changing his presence, subscribers can see the last presence
state with an Inactive designation as part of the status. Even though
the user is still signed in, subscribers can tell they probably won’t
get a response when trying to initiate a conversation.
Tip
The integration points mentioned previously
provide a way to keep presence information up to date automatically.
However, the user has the option to manually override her presence to
any state.
6. Multiple Points of Presence
Lync Server presence has the added
flexibility of being read from multiple endpoints simultaneously. This
enables a user to be signed in at multiple locations or endpoints that
publish presence independently. The server then aggregates these
endpoints and forms a single presence class that is published to
subscribers.
For instance, a user can be signed in to Lync
on a desktop, again on a roaming laptop, at home on a Mac, and also on
a mobile device. Each of these endpoints publishes presence
independently, and the server then forms the user’s presence
appropriately.
Having multiple clients signed in is
generally considered a problem because how does a user know which
endpoint to send a message to? Without multiple points of presence,
there is a problem. However, when a user sends another user a message,
the Lync Server determines which endpoint is currently most active for
that user. For example, a user might be Away at three of the four
endpoints, so the server sends the message only to the endpoint where
the user is available.
If the server is unable to determine which
state is most active, it sends the message to the endpoint it
determines most likely active and waits to see whether the user
acknowledges the toast at any location. If the user opens the toast at
an endpoint, the server removes the message from the other endpoints.
If an endpoint doesn’t acknowledge the message, the server leaves the
message at only one location, the most likely endpoint.
MPOP might not be perfect at all
times, but it does enable a user to publish presence from multiple
locations and still receive conversations at the most likely endpoint.
7. Extensible Presence
The built-in presence states provide an
excellent array of options for users; but the Lync Server platform is
extensible, and businesses can build on these choices using custom
presence states. These custom presence states enable the user to select
one of the standard presence classes and colors, but customizes the
text displayed with the status. Although a subscriber might still see a
green icon synonymous with availability, the user’s presence can read
“Catching Up on Email,” which gives subscribers an additional piece of
information to consider before initiating a conversation.
Some applications use the
extensibility features to provide more information about an endpoint’s
capabilities. Mobile clients generally append a Mobile indicator to the
presence status. This gives subscribers information that the user might
be slow to respond because he is likely without a full keyboard or
computer. Subscribers are aware that they likely won’t be able to have
a lengthy conversation but can have a short conversation. This
designation might also give users an idea that calling the user’s
mobile at that time is probably the quickest way to initiate a
conversation.
8. Application Integration
Another component of Enhanced Presence is the
automatic availability of presence in other Microsoft products. This
means that although a Lync client runs in the background, users are
able to see presence for those contacts in Outlook right next to their
names. This presence can be seen directly in the context of the mail
message, so there is no need to switch between applications to view a
user’s presence. Right from the email message or contact card, the user
can see the presence and initiate an IM, email, or phone conversation
with only one or two clicks of the mouse.
Lync Server can also integrate with Microsoft
Exchange Server 2010 and 2013 Outlook Web App to provide presence and
IM capabilities directly within the Outlook Web App interface. This
allows users to see presence information within the context of email
either from the full Outlook client or while using a web browser.
The same rich presence information is also
available in Microsoft Office SharePoint, where users can view presence
in the context of documents and files. The contact card displayed in
other applications is the exact same card and interface displayed
within Lync, ensuring that users have a consistent view of contacts and
presence across any application.
With Lync any kind of telephone number
displayed on a web page in Internet Explorer suddenly becomes a
hyperlink and can be clicked to initiate a phone call. All of these
integration points are not overwhelming by themselves, but collectively
create an improved, unique end-user experience.
Note
The presence integration discussed
previously is provided out-of-the-box with applications such as Outlook
and SharePoint. However, presence can also be extended to other
applications through the use of the published APIs. Companies can use
these APIs to integrate presence into any existing applications or
workflows of their own. Microsoft provides a software development kit
with tools and documentation of the APIs to help businesses develop
Lync and application integration.
9. Location
Another component of presence is the concept
of publishing a user’s physical location, which can be as vague as
whether they are in the office or at home, or as exact as being on a
particular floor of a building. Administrators can configure a Location
Information Service (LIS) to integrate with Lync Server, which allows
Lync Server endpoints to automatically identify what physical location
they are connecting from and then publish that information with the
user’s presence. If the Location Information Service cannot identify
the user’s location, the user is prompted to enter one; the endpoint
retains that information if the user returns to that location at any
time so a user never has enter a location twice.
Tip
A user always has the option to block the publication of location if desired.
