Microsoft CRM Customization – if you give up – overview for consultant
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Microsoft CRM Customization – if you give up – overview for consultant
Author: Andrew Karasev
Date Added: Wednesday Jan 12th, 2005
Category: Tutorials
Microsoft CRM is designed
to be customizable. However this is new system and you could be not comfortable
to do it on your own. In this small article we’ll try to reassure you if you
cando it or point to the right direction if you would like to subcontract it to
professionals. Let’s begin
Microsoft CRM is CRM
answer from Microsoft Business Solutions to traditional CRM vendors, such as
Siebel, Onyx. Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and
based on the whole spectrum of recent Microsoft technologies. The main terms
you should know are: Microsoft CRM SDK 1.2 and Visual Studio.Net 2003. And of
course you should be familiar with all the legacy internet technologies, such as
HTML, XML, XSLT, JavaScript and be good C#/VB/Net developer.
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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- MS CRM
Customization tool – you can feel
free to use this – this is rather end-user 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 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577!
help@albaspectrum.com
Andrew Karasev is Chief
Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Microsoft CRM,
Microsoft Great Plains customization company, serving Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, New York, Atlanta, Miami,
Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Mexico (
http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports
and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.
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