MS CRM is very close to document workflow automation including Microsoft Office documents – Words, Excel, etc. Document workflow was perfectly automated about 10 years ago in Lotus Notes Domino. In this short article we describe the solution based on the integration of MS CRM with MS SharePoint.
Microsoft CRM is a new player in the CRM application market and is gaining its market share. Have a different paradigm in its design (it bets on the Microsoft operating system and technologies and completely discards the alternative platform, such as UNIX, Linux, Oracle, etc.). The Microsoft CRM market is highly diversified: from small (5 users) to large (several hundred MS CRM user licenses) and serves a variety of industries: transportation, logistics, law, pension funds, hi-tech, and many other industries. others. The implementation of technologies, such as Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Biztalk, Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Great Plains and Navision in the near future, makes CRM a system appreciated by the Microsoft-oriented IT departments.
Let’s get straight to the point.
The main problem with storing documents in MS CRM in the form of Activity attachments is the inability to work on these attachments in cooperation with other colleagues, who do not have to use CRM. When multiple service people are handling requests from the same customer, this is required. Currently, you can use an alternative way when you store office documents in your file system folders and when you modify the document, save it and re-attach it to CRM. This is inconvenient, because it first requires all editing users to have CRM licenses, which delays CRM implementation.
It seems that we are increasing the popularity of document storage systems, such as Microsoft SharePoint, Oracle Files, etc. Such systems, when implemented, provide you with time savings, related to document revisions and versions, approval cycles and workflows, web access through web portal systems and the like.
The goal of our product is the integration of Microsoft SharePoint with MS CRM for document storage. Let’s take a look at the high-level technical realization details:
oThe main modification on the MS CRM side is a change to the standard behavior of the system when you open an attachment in Activity. Unmodified Standard CRM suggests that you store documents in the file system. The modified version saves the document in the SharePoint document library (the required library is subject to configuration by the MS CRM system administrator) or is kept in MS CRM as is (for less important documents). From the moment the document is saved in the SharePoint Document Library, it is not stored in MS CRM; CRM will now store only the link or reference to the document. You also have the ability to open and modify the document at the place of opening, which substantially speeds up the performance of the MS CRM user.
oTable, the storage of the links to the documents is in a separate database and does not deal with the MS CRM tables (you know that you are prohibited from making structure changes in the MS CRM database)
oThe process of saving documents in MS SharePoint occurs in MS CRM and with its assistance – the SharePoint bridge, which adds and updates the existing document in the destination document library with calls to MS SharePoint web services.
oAfter adding to the document library, MS CRM – SharePoint bridge registers the document in the special table for future data extraction or notification mechanism registration.
Interested users can then work with the documents simply using MS Office 2003 or other editing programs/tools, assuming these tools have access to MS SharePoint.
oFeedback is provided by the MS SharePoint Event Handler component. This is a special controller, which inspects the document change status, is transferred from MS CRM to the document store (SharePoint), and informs the owner of the activity about the changes with notifications from the home page (user home page in MS CRM). The user, in turn, can review the editing history of the document: who, when and where the change is
oOpen Activity, where the document is “attached” and actually placed in the MS SharePoint Document Library, and by pressing the open button, the MS CRM user gets a live version of the data
oThis approach allows you to seamlessly work with MS CRM documents throughout your company’s information space
oAdditional enhancements to this product may be document library management directly from MS CRM (web interface, i.e. remotely), administrative interface for MS Sharepoint document review, ability to create reports on the document storage status, access/rights management (Author, Reader, Contributor etc.) of MS CRM, integration of portal pages in MS CRM, to name a few.
Happy programming, implementation, customization and modification! If you want us to do the work, call 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577. [email protected]