Handy customization options in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

In a very short span of time, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is has become one of the fastest growing CRMs in the market. CRM blogs are attributing this success to its strong framework offering extended functionalities and a superior features system.

In today’s blog we discuss some handy options to the pros and cons of five customization options – available directly through the web application itself – used to extend the functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

You can access these extensibility options directly through the CRM system as it does not require aby code, except for JavaScript. Most of these entities are available through any form. You can also go by following the path Settings > Customization > Default Solution. Users having System Administrator or System Customizer privileges will be able to see these options.

Business Rules in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

Business Rules can be accessed in Dynamics using any form for entities, and also by going to the entity in the Default Solution. Business Rules are displayed in a very simple form, using three sections – Condition, Action, and Descrip­tion. Each Business Rule may have multiple Conditions and Actions. Businesses can modify these as per their convenience. These rules need to be activated before they can be executed.

Pro of using and customizing Business Rules:

  • Business Rules, customized well can do small tasks that were often delegated to JS. Actions like data validation, setting field values, and changing the state of a field can be customized using Business Rules.
  • Business Rules can perform limited calculations.
  • Business Rules are easy to read, use and understand. They can also work on tablets.

Some of the cons of using and customizing Business Rules are that they cannot be re-used for different entities. They can only be run on form load and field changes. Moreover, BRs cannot be run on form save.

When customizing Business Rules, it is best to not use JavaScript. Though they can be applied to the same field, it is best avoided, as they don’t go well together.

Business Rules Flows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

Business Rules Flows can be accessed by going to the Processes feature in the Default Solution. You can follow the navigation by going to Settings > Processes. Business Rules Flows cannot be accessed from an entity form. Business Rules Flows have been designed to guide users through a sequence of questions, eliminating excessive pop-ups from occurring.

While BPFs, by themselves do not provide any conditional business logic, they become instrumental when combined with workflows, dialogs, and JavaScripts. These help to bridge the business logic gap.

BPFs exist in either draft or active mode. They can be simple or very complex. In draft mode they can be edited but will not be executed by Microsoft Dynamics. In active mode, BPFs cannot be edited and will be executed by Microsoft Dynamics.

Pro of using and customizing Business Rules Flows:

  • Business Rules Flows help to ensure that steps are completed in a specific order.
  • BPFs help to track the progress of completion on record.
  • BPFs can be used as a limited training tool for newer employees. It helps to guide them through all the steps needed to complete business processes.
  • BPFs can span multiple entities. A user may start with an Opportunity and follow a BPF all the way to the Quote, Order, and Invoice process.
  • BPFs can have multiple BPFs per entity for a var­ied user experiences. All these can be customized as per user’s needs.

Workflows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

Workflows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be accessed by going to the Processes tab in the Default Solution, or by following the navigation Settings > Processes.

Like Business Rules Flows Workflows also cannot be accessed from an entity form. And like BRFs Workflows have the same too forms of active and draft with similar properties.

Pro of using and customizing Workflows:

  • Microsoft Dynamics allows users to trigger or run automati­cally based on events such as record creation, status change, or field changes in Workflows.
  • Workflows can be used to create and delete records.
  • Workflows have access to read or change any entities that are related through lookup fields to the entity.
  • Workflows have access to all the fields of an entity, not just those shown on a form.
  • Workflows can perform limited calculations.
  • In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, workflows have now gained the ability to run as real-time processes. They can be fired while the record is being changed or after being saved.
  • Using code, developers can add customization “steps” to the workflow entity itself. This can further be used to increase its extensibility capacity.

Dialogs in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

Dialogs in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be accessed by going to the Processes tab in the Default Solution, or by following the navigation Settings > Processes.

Like Business Rules Flows and Workflows mentioned above, Dialogs also cannot be accessed from an entity form. And like BRFs Dialogs have the same too forms of active and draft with similar properties.

Pro of using and customizing Dialogs:

  • Dialogs allow for user input and decision making.
  • Dialogs can create and delete records.
  •  Dialogs can access and read and change any entities that are related through lookup fields to the entity for which the dialog has been executed.

JavaScript in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

JavaScript libraries in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be accessed from any entity form. They can also be accessed by going to Web Resources in the Default Solution.

JavaScript libraries must be added to each form using it.  It is not automatically added to every form for an entity just by adding it to one form. Once you have added the library to the form, JS is only applied if functions from the library are tied to events. These can be either main form events or on a per field basis. JavaScript is the bridge between UI options and Developer options.

Pro of using and customizing JavaScript:

  • JavaScript can literally affect anything on the form. These include methods available through the SDK, as well as the Document Object Model (DOM) itself. The direct access of the DOM is not a supported customization though.
  • JavaScript can affect any entity in the system.
  • JavaScript can be applied to any form, grid, and even the Ribbon Interface.
  • JavaScript has access to context data, such as dates, current user, and environment variables.
  • Java Scripts can perform back-end system changes or lookups through the use of AJAX.
  • Java Scripts don’t require a programming environ­ment beyond notepad or a similar text editor. Even this can be omitted by coding JS in the Web Reference screen.

Conclusion

 We can see that over the years, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform has been showing a clear initiative. They have given clients and developers a means to extend functionalities of the system both programmatical­ly and directly through web applications.

Using a little bit of the added knowledge of the tools available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, organizations can create a truly dynamic solution for their unique business needs. In case you need any help do drop us a line!

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