Microsoft CRM ? Typical Customizations

Microsoft CRM was designed to be easily customizable. Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit (MS CRM SDK) which you can download from Microsoft website contains descriptions of the objects or classes, exposed for customization. It has sample code in C# and partially in VB.Net. In Visual Studio.Net you can analyze all the classes, used by Microsoft developers to create MS CRM - you will discover that most of them are not documented in MS CRM SDK. Microsoft will not support your customization if you use undocumented class or do direct SQL access to CRM database.

Let us describe you - programmer, software developer typical cases of MS CRM Customizations.

1. Integration with SQL Server application. If you have legacy system on MS SQL Server - let's say you are transportation company and have in-house developed cargo tracking database. Now in MS CRM you want lookup the shipments for the customer (or account in CRM). This is SDK programming and calling SQL stored proc to retrieve cargo info. Instead of SQL Server you can have other database (ORACLE, MS Access, PervasiveSQL to name a few) - you can access multiple Database platforms via ADO.Net connection from your .Net application, which is easily integrated into MS CRM Account screen.

2. Email capturing in MS CRM. You have customer with email Bill@customer.com. Now you want all the emails that you receive from customer.com domain to be attached to Bill who is account in CRM. This is more difficult customization - you have to create MS CRM SDK web service, that one will be creating email activity and call it from COM+ application - Microsoft Exchange event handler (ONSYNCSAVE database event sink). This example maybe complicated with the following requirement. Imagine that Bill, instead of answering to your email (sent from CRM and processed by CRM-Exchange connector) sends you new message from MS Outlook. Then this email will not follow into MS CRM (because it doesn't have GUID in the header and so is ignored by CRM Exchange connector). If you want to capture these emails - you have to do it in Microsoft Exchange event sink. There maybe scenario when you want to capture and analyze in the sink all the outgoing emails - this is even more complex - y!

ou have to place the sink on transport event.

3. ASP Application integration. You have legacy ASP application, where you capture orders from your customers and you want these orders be transferred to the CRM as activity. Here you understand that ASP doesn't deploy Active Directory security - and the best way is to create HTTP handler and call it from your ASP page. This HTTP handler in turn will call MS CRM SDK web service with predefined (web.config) Active Directory credentials.

Some cautions. Never create your custom SQL objects (like stored procedure, SQL view, table) in MS CRM database. Instead, create your own database and place your objects there. When you see the first caution - you will never try to alter existing CRM objects, like adding new field to the table.

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

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, Texas, New York, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Oregon, Arizona, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Microsoft CRM SDK, Great Plains Dexterity, SQL, C#/VB.Net and Crystal Reports developer; akarasev@albaspectrum.com

---

Most Dangerous Types of Spyware are on the Rise: How to Choose the Weapon

Bad News - the Threat is Bigger than it SeemedHow... Read More

History of Java

The java programming language is becoming more and more popular... Read More

IT Department Skills to Support Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM

Microsoft Great Plains as ERP and Microsoft CRM as... Read More

Blind CC (Bcc): Master Its Use When E-Mailing

If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More

Best Spyware Removers

Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More

Monitoring Software Can be Used for Spying as Well

We all already got used to computer monitoring both at... Read More

SSH (SCP) Send Files from Windows to Your Linux Box

Not all of us have the luxury of working both... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Dexterity vs. eConnect ? FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise... Read More

Device Driver Basics

Most people understand that the "hardware" part of their computer... Read More

Microsoft RMS ? Great Plains Integration ? Overview For IT Specialist

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS)... Read More

The XP Firewall Isnt Enough

You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More

Call Alert Notifications - Free Answering Machine Software for PCs

If you're online using a dialup Internet connection, you'll probably... Read More

Twelve Things You Should Know to Save on Computer Software

Do you want to get quality software at a reasonable... Read More

The Dirt on Screensavers

Remember back in the days where screensavers were the coolest... Read More

Software Piracy

SOFTWARE PIRACY We regularly hear reports... Read More

About Microsoft Sysprep (System Preparation) Utility (Windows 2000)

The Microsoft system preparation utility for Windows 2000 is a... Read More

Is Software Tester a Most Infamous Person in a Software Project Team?

The fact that a software tester is a most infamous... Read More

Microsoft CRM ? Consulting in the Post-Recession Time

New post-recession era has new features, which didn't exist in... Read More

Recovering Microsoft Great Plains Customization ? Tips for IT Director

Remember nice and prosperous Clinton era? When you implemented innovative... Read More

Put Some Pizazz in Your Software Arsenal

The software giants don't do everything and don't always produce... Read More

Off The Record - Tips For Picking Recording Software

Need software to record your voice, streaming audio or musical... Read More

Benefits of Shareware

Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for... Read More

Defining OLAP Solutions and Data Warehouse design

This tutorial covers OLAP solutions used by Data warehouses and... Read More

Spyware Statistics -- Whats New in May 2005?

Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins --... Read More

Microsoft CRM for Large Corporation ? Security

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM proved to be reliable solution in... Read More

Fast Car Knoppix

Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More

S is for Spying, Surveillance -- and for Software as Well

Words we choose to describe things and phenomena often show... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Furniture & Fixtures ? Implementation & Customization Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics / eEnterprise... Read More

5 Mac Security Tips You Can?t Live Without

So, you've bought a new Macintosh, and now you may... Read More

Snort for Network IDS

What is Snort?Snort is an open source network intrusion detection... Read More

Internet Faxing Service Review

The Internet is reshaping every form of communications medium, and... Read More

Performance Tuning of a Daffodil DB / One$DB -JDBC Application

This article illustrates the best practices to improve the performance... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft RMS Integration ? overview

Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Retail Management System (Microsoft RMS)... Read More