Using Scribe Online Replication Services (RS) to replicate Dynamics CE Data

Scribe Online provides Replication Services that makes it extremely easy to replicate the data, schedule it and also includes auto-detection of changes.

Follow previous posts to create a free trial of scribe online and create a connection for SQL Server On-Premise and Dynamics 365.

Here we will be creating a Solution of type Replication.

https://app.scribesoft.com

In the Dashboard, select create new Replication option for the Solution.

Here for simplicity, we will be replicating Lead data to our SQL On-Premise database.

Specify CRM Connection for Source Connection and SQL On-Premise Database for the Target Connection

In Select Entities dialog box, we will be selecting the Lead entity.

This is how our replication solution looks like

Click on RUN to start the execution

Once it completes successfully, we can see the records processed, the duration it took and records inserted per seconds in the execution history.

Back in our Database, we can see the table created and all the leads record inserted

Here for option set and status fields we can see the _displayname field added that holds the corresponding display name for the option set’s value. This is governed through the connection properties.

Now let us run the solution again immediately.

We’d see no records processed.

Now let us create a new lead inside CRM and run the solution again.

We can see that record processed.

Now let us delete records from CRM and run it again. Here we have deleted 250 records.

We will see the 250 records processed and deleted from our table in the database as well.

Now let us update one of the lead records and run the solution again. On successful completion we can see 1 record updated by the solution.

Thus the replication services makes very efficiently manages the replication of the data considering all the scenario like create, update, delete.

Hope it helps..

Scribe Online – Create Integration Solution from SQL On-Premise to Dynamics 365 CE Online

In the previous posts, we saw how to create a connection for Dynamics 365 and then how to use the connection to create an integration solution for deleting Dynamics 365 records.

In the post, we’d see how we can connect to SQL On-Premise and create records in Dynamics 365 CE

https://app.scribesoft.com/

For connecting to On-Premise SQL Server we would need to first configure the On-Premise Agent.

Go to Dashboard à Add a new Agent

Click on + install On-Premise Agent

Copy the Agent key presented in the next screen this will used while running the setup for the Scribe On-Premise agent.

After successful installation, we can see the agent running within the Dashboard.

From the Marketplace Install the SQL Server connector.

Now let us create a new SQL connection, to connect to our SQL Express database.

Make sure we have selected the On-Premise Agent. Click on TEST to test the connection.

Next, we will create/ use the existing Dynamics 365 CE connection that reads data from the SQL On-Premise database and creates contact records in Dynamics 365 CE.

Go to the Dashboard and click on + to add a new solution in the Solutions section.

Create a new integration map

Add the SQL Connection and CRM Connection created.

We have dragged the Query block from SQL Connection and selected the Contact table as the entity. Next, we add the For Each Result block and added the Create block from CRM Connection and selected the Contact entity for which we want to create records.

Double click on the Create Contact block for mapping.

In the fields tab, drag the fields of the table to the corresponding fields in the Target CRM Connection.

Let us close the map and the solution and click on RUN to run the solution.

We have the following 2 records in our source SQL On-Premise table.

We can see the details in the Execution History on successful completion.

Back in our Dynamics 365 CE, we can see the contact records created.

In the next posts of the series, we’d explore some more features of the Scribe Online.

Hope it helps..

Scribe Online – Creating your first integration solution for Dynamics 365 CE

In the last post, we created the connection for Dynamics 365 CE

https://nishantrana.me/2019/01/08/getting-started-with-scribe-online-connecting-to-dynamics-365-ce/

Here we will create the integration solution that would consume that connection.

We will take the following simple scenario to understand the basics.

“Delete all the leads with Status = Disqualified”

Let us get started à

https://app.scribesoft.com

Go to Solution Tab and click on + to create a new solution of type Integration

The solution screen provides the option to define the trigger for the Solution, it could be either on demand or can be scheduled to run once or on recurring basis.

The interface for defining the recurrence

For our example, we are keeping it as on demand.

Next, we need to define the MAPS that holds the processing logic of our Solution. Click on the Create Integration Map option to create the map.

Inside the Map designer, click on Add Connection to add the connection that we created earlier to connect to our Dynamics 365 CE.

Here we have added our CRM Connection created earlier.

This adds the block for our CRM Connection for various operations that can be performed.

Here we will first add the Query block to retrieve all the leads in the state disqualified, followed by For Each Result block to loop through all the records and Delete block to delete those records.

Drag the Query Block, double click on it

Select Lead as Entity and click on Filter to define the filter condition i.e. statecode equals “Disqualified'”

Next drag For Each Result block below the Query lead block.

Followed by dragging the Delete block inside the For Each Result and double click it.

Specify lead as the entity and click on Matching Criteria tab

Specify leadid as the field to be used for delete and for Value click on the formula icon

Select the lead as the source and leadid as the field that we would be using from the source Query Block and click on Validate to verify the condition.

Close the Map dialog boxes back in our home pages’ Solutions tab, we will see the status as preparing.

Once prepared we can click on RUN to execute the solution. The execution history will show the details of the run.

After successful completion à

Back in CRM, we can see all the disqualified lead records deleted.

In the next posts, we will try covering other features of the Scribe Online with regards to Dynamics 365 CE

https://nishantrana.me/2019/01/09/scribe-online-create-integration-solution-from-sql-on-premise-to-dynamics-365-ce-online/

Hope it helps..

Getting started with Scribe Online – Connecting to Dynamics 365 CE

In the series of posts – we would see how to quickly get started with Scribe Online and Dynamics 365 integration.

https://info.scribesoft.com/trl_scribe-online.html#trial-form

With the Scribe Online Dashboard, Go to the Marketplace and add the Dynamics 365/ CRM connector

With the connector added, now let us create a new connection.

Go to More à Connections

Click on plus sign to add a new connection

Select the connector type as Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM and add the required details and click on Ok to create the connection.

Deployment – Online, On-Premise, IFD, Azure AD.

For Organization – we need to use the unique name from Customizations à Developer Resources or click on Browse and select the organization.

For Maximum Batch Size and Maximum Batch Threads refer

https://success.scribesoft.com/s/article/Dynamics-365-performance-optimization

Also check the below post for SSIS Integration toolkit of KingswaySoft

https://nishantrana.me/2018/06/04/optimum-batch-size-while-using-ssis-integration-toolkit-for-microsoft-dynamics-365/

https://nishantrana.me/2018/12/19/optimum-batch-size-and-thread-while-deleting-records-using-ssis-integration-toolkit-for-microsoft-dynamics-365/

Click on Test to check the connection, on the successful connection, we get the Connection Test Completed message.

This adds the connection

Here we are done with the connection creation. In the next post, we will see how to create solutions for various data integration scenarios that uses this connection.

Hope it helps..

Dynamics 365 CE Update changed the form’s layout

Yesterday one of our users reported that they are getting JavaScript error and the Marketing List’s form was looking a bit different.

On analysis, we found that the field that was moved to a different tab resulting in JavaScript error and also the Member sub grid (unique to Marketing List) was moved to the bottom of the form in the new tab.

We check the version of the product

So, looks like it was updated that resulted in this issue. And this had affected all our other sandboxes instances. We then manually updated the form in all our instances to fix this. And also it impacted the default OOB form of the Marketing List and the other new custom forms were untouched.

Has anyone else also faced the same recently?

Badges earned last year in https://community.dynamics.com/

Badges earned last year in

Dynamics 365 Community

https://nishantrana.me/2018/10/03/earned-top-10-in-september-2018-blog-leaderboard-badge-in-dynamics-365-community/

Thanks KingswaySoft

Thanks KingswaySoft for coming up with one of the best tools for Data Integration and especially the SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics 365..

https://www.kingswaysoft.com/partners/MVPs MVP_SSIS

Implementing Multi-level approval using PowerApproval in Dynamics 365 CE

We recently had a requirement of multi-level approval in our Project. We thought of evaluating the PowerApproval add-on from Power Objects.

The add-on is powerful, feature-rich and allows us to easily configure our Approval logic and to track it as well.

Let us quickly see the steps to configure it and start using it.

Download the Solution and import it in the organization.

https://www.powerobjects.com/powerpacks/powerapproval/

After successful import, open the configuration page of the PowerApproval Solution and click Try or Subscribe, provide the required details to start using it.

The solution adds the following PowerPack area in the interface and the entities that we would be working with.

Suppose we want to enable the Approval process for Contract entity of Dynamics 365 CE, so we would open the Approval Entity Lists and create a new record as shown below using the schema name.

Save the record and click on REGISTER to enable the approval on the contract entity.

Next, we define the Approval Process by creating the record of that entity and defining it within the Approval Process Step related records.

Here we have created the Approval Process record named My Contract Approval and inside the Approval Process Steps sub-grid, we have added a new record named the First Step.

Step Number as 1 as it is the first step.

Approver type can be either user, team or the manager.

Here we have selected team for the first step.

For the second step, we have defined User – Test User as the approver.

This is how our approval process looks like

The users need to have the PowerApproval Admin
and PowerApproval User roles (part of PowerApproval solution), to design and work with the Approval process.

Next, we will customize the Contract form to add the PowerApproval web resource. (Insert a tab, and insert the web resource with 20 rows)

After publishing the changes, let us now create a contract record to see the approval process in action.

In the contract record, select the Approval Process and click on Submit for Approval. (The approval can also be triggered using workflow)

We can see the following update after submission, the field grayed out and status reflecting the current status highlighted in color.

Now let us login with the user who is the part of Test Team.

The user gets the option of Approving and Rejecting it and also to put his comments.

Let us select Approve and click on Submit. This updates the steps with appropriate status.

Now let us login with the Test User who is the final approval. As we can see the field is enabled again for this user and had grayed out for the previous step user.

Again, let us select Approve and click on Submit. The web resource refreshes automatically with the current status.

Similarly, we can have a situation where it is rejected in the first step by the approval and it being submitted again by the initiating user and then approved by the user and then in the final step of the approval again rejected. This is properly reflected in the web resource within our contract record.

When the final user rejects it in the last step, it cannot be submitted again by the user who initiated it.

Thus we saw how easy it is to configure and start using the approval solution PowerApproval in matter of few minutues.

The user guide à

https://www.powerobjects.com/guides/powerapproval

Pricing à

https://www.powerobjects.com/powerpacks/powerapproval/

The other options of implementing it could be by using the Approval Flows (although it won’t be as feature rich)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/flow/modern-approvals

Hope it helps..

The new model-driven form designer (WYSISYG) in PowerApps for Model-driven apps (Dynamics 365 CE) Preview

The new model-driven form designer (Preview) has some nice features added to it like

Searching for fields in the form

Tree View showing visual hierarchy of the controls for quick view and navigation inside the form.

The icon also makes it easy to identify the data type of the field.

We can also check and configure how the UI would render for different type of client application

Property Pane for the type of control selected which allows us to quickly update the properties unlike selecting the field and then clicking on Change Properties which will open the dialog box.

Few things that we could not found are

Ability to select and position fields and sections.
Sub Grid control are not available on the form for configuration.
No Header.
Footer is available but we cannot add fields to it.
No Business Rules or Form Properties dialog box.
No Enable Security Roles option

No field explorer or Relationship explorer so cannot create new fields or relationships.

Get more details here

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-the-new-wysiwyg-model-driven-form-designer-public-preview/

As Microsoft mentions it is just a start and they’d keep adding the remaining functionality, let us wait.

Hope it helps..

Embedding Canvas App on a Model-Driven App’s Form (Preview) – Passing list of related records as context

Similarly to passing the current record as context to the embedded canvas app, we can pass the list of related records as context.

Let us see how it works step by step.

Open the form for customization and insert\edit an existing Sub-Grid control and select Canvas App for the Add Control option.

Select the option Web for the canvas app. Here clicking on Customize will open the PowerApps studio for creating\editing the app.

Here View Name shows All Accounts the Default View selected in the Data Source section of the Display tab of the properties dialog box.

Clicking on Customize opens the PowerApps Studio as shown below. Here ModelDrivenFormIntegration is the special control which provides us the contextual data from our form.