Microsoft CRM Programming Techniques – overview fo

Microsoft CRM Programming Techniques – overview for developer

by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft CRM is the CRM answer from Microsoft and it will have all the Microsoft Business Solutions muscles behind.

If you are developer who is asked: how do we customize Microsoft CRM – read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.

1. Microsoft CRM SDK – this is software development kit with C# and partly VB.net examples – it is supported by Microsoft Business Solutions technical support. It is all web services based calls, if you are C# .NET developer – you are excellently positioned to do this type of customizations. This is the preferred customization scenarios and this should be easily upgradeable customization.

2. Legacy SQL Data integration. This is also easy and safe. If you have SQL database, sitting on the same or linked SQL Server – you can create ASPX .Net application and simply integrate it into CRM. You can place it on the navigation bar or menu in isv.config – please refer to MS CRM SDK

3. Legacy ASP integration – this is somewhat more sophisticated. You have to deploy HTTP handler to be a middle party between CRM which is .Net based and ASP which is legacy IIS. The trick is – you have to have INI file with security settings to penetrate into MS CRM with proper credentials, calling web service.

4. Microsoft Exchange Programming. Microsoft CRM has Exchange connector – which moves CRM incoming email to MS if it has GUID in its subject. You can alter this logic (for instance move email to CRM if it doesn’t have GUID but it is from the sender who is contact or account in MS CRM). Refer to MS Exchange SDK onsyncsave event handling. Then simply apply some MS CRM SDK programming

5. Direct SQL touch – in #4 above I described you the scenario with MS Exchange handlers – this would be ideal world if MS CRM SDK does the job. But – in real world this is not always true – you have to do direct flags correction in CRM database (like making Activity closed, moving email attachments/octet streams, etc). This is not supported by MBS technical support – but you can rescue to this technique if you have to make job done.

6. MS CRM Customization tool – you can feel free to use this – this is rather enduser tool and we don’t describe it here – read the manual. We’ve described above the options to use when this tool doesn’t do the job

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job give us a call 18665280577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, California, Colorado, Texas, New York, Georgia and Florida, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 11, 2004

by Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions Customization options

Microsoft Business Solutions Customization options Overview for Programmer

by: Andrew Karasev

Several years ago Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software, then Navision (Denmark based software development company). At this time Great Plains Software already was active ERP applications consolidation player it already acquired Solomon Software couple of years prior. Then in 2002 Microsoft released Microsoft CRM (Client Relation Management system). Also Microsoft decided to attack retail marked and acquired QuickSell (now Microsoft Retail Management System/ Microsoft RMS). At this time Microsoft had robust package to automate business processes for small, midsize and large company and it formed socalled Microsoft Business Solutions (at the earlier stage the official name was Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions later Great Plains words were dropped)

We would like to make brief review of customization options for such products as Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft CRM and Microsoft RMS

Technology overview. Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft CRM and Microsoft RMS have similar database platform Microsoft SQL Server. There are differences in the tables design between three due to the fact that they were originally developed by three different companies. Great Plains has Great Plains Dexterity core (this is Great Plains Software proprietary clanguage based technology and development environment), and as it was primarily targeted to be platform independence Great Plains has oldfashioned UNIX style of tables names: RM00101 stays for customer master file, GL00100 account master file, etc. At the same time Microsoft RMS and Microsoft CRM have more natural language based names: Microsoft CRM: Account, Activity, Contact, Lead; Microsoft RMS: Customer, Transaction, Tender, Register we believe that these structures are self explanatory.

Now to the Customization Options:

Great Plains Dexterity please install Dexterity from CD #2 and take a look at its manuals this is again legacy and proprietary Great Plains technology. We have described it in this article: http://www.albaspectrum.com/Customizations_Whitepapers/Dexterity_SQL_VBA_Crystal/DexterityCustomizationOptions.htm

Microsoft CRM Customization this is the whole topic we would like to reference you to our posting: http://www.albaspectrum.com/Customizations_Whitepapers/Dexterity_SQL_VBA_Crystal/MSCRMCustomizationOptions.htm

Microsoft RMS. Please review this article: http://www.albaspectrum.com/Customizations_Whitepapers/Dexterity_SQL_VBA_Crystal/GPRMSIntegrationOptions.htm

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job give us a call 18665280577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Colorado, DC, New Jersey, Washington, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New York and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 29, 2004

by Andrew Karasev