Question: How can AHS Outlook 365 calendar schedules be viewed in external calendar applications?
Context: Alberta Health Services (AHS) has recently upgraded its email infrastructure and now uses Microsoft Outlook (Office 365), which is accessible through the Outlook Web Portal at outlook.office.com and from personal mobile devices that are enrolled in the AHS "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) program. A desktop version of Outlook will be available for personal devices enrolled in BYOD.
Many physicians relate to more than one organization (e.g., AHS, University, Professional Group) and so use communications services hosted by more than one organization. Appointment coordination, among other tasks, is facilitated by access to more than one calendar.
Previously, it was possible to view AHS mail and calendars alongside other mail and events using popular communication managers (e.g., Outlook, Apple Mail, Google Mail, Thunderbird, Spark). The AHS Office 365 configuration no longer interacts directly with non-Microsoft communication managers. Physicians can still provide read-only information from their AHS calendar via indirect means.
Answer: Sharing of a personal calendar in Office 365 is only available between individuals using the AHS version of Outlook. Publishing a calendar allows anyone with the link to have a read-only view of your AHS calendar. Subscribing to a calendar allows a user to view someone else’s Outlook calendar from a third-party calendar program.