Planning the infrastructure for your Dynamics 365 environment is a critical step in the deployment process, especially when the software is mission critical to business needs and day-to-day operations. In scenarios like these, it is imperative to have high availability and even disaster recovery plans in place. So the question is: What options do you have when it comes to Dynamics 365 on premise? In this article, I will break it down from both an application (Dynamics 365) and database (SQL Server) perspective. High Availability – Dynamics 365 For most companies, having high availability for their Dynamics 365 deployment is a must and the setup for this is similar to that of other web-based applications. Keep in mind that through this section we are strictly referring to Dynamcis 365 servers with the “Front End” or “Full” role – in other words, the servers that host the website in IIS. Having multiple “Back End”-only servers (those with the Async and Sandbox services) is also a g

I am here writing some Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Consultant Interview Questions and Answers to help anyone readying for a dynamics interview . What is the difference between Role Based and Object Based Security Model in MSCRM? Code based security is entirely coded in the application itself. Role based security uses one of the authentication/authorisation mechanisms of the application server. The fundamental concept in role-based security is that of privilege, defined at design time, on a system-wide basis. Each user has a set of privileges (there are well over a hundred privileges) that are enabled for that user. However, Policies and Roles grant privileges and simplify the process. The other form of security applies to individual instances of objects. There is a fundamental difference between an access right and a privilege: an access right is a right granted to a user on an object), but a privilege is a right granted to a user on a class of objects. Access rights apply onl

One of the biggest changes for organisations, when GDPR comes into place, is the double opt-in.  All leads, prospects, suspects, AND customers must be double opted-in.  AND the double opt-in must be provable. How Do you prove? Start warming up your leads asking for consent using double opt-in. Any leads that have consented to receive marketing material using soft opt-in will no longer be viable.  They all need to be double opted-in. Get in touch with your customers asking for consent – ensure it’s provable. Ensure your invoices and contracts include the double opt-in and a link to your privacy policy. Set in place a process of how new contacts visiting your website will be captured with double opt-in for further marketing communications. The contact form will need to take them to a confirmation page where they can give their consent and then you will need to prove who they are as well by sending a further email with the consent.  Hinge it to the email address. Pull together a st

As most of you are aware the EU has created a new data protection law The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This law is intended to provide one data protection law across the EU, this will mean that organisations are required to demonstrate consistent data protection compliance.The UK Parliament has already said that Brexit will not affect the GDPR non-compliance. In short what this means is when the UK leaves the EU, we will still need to demonstrate compliance to GDPR.I wanted to give any business/organisation a guide to GDPR. For those regarding GDPR and Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft has offered great resources which can help you on your GDPR journey unfortunately this is only provided for cloud solutions only. Key Actions: 1. Ensure your data is correct – this is broad but needs huge consideration. 2 Standardise records as much as possible, ensure the spelling is correct, dropdowns are used when possible. 3. Duplicates – de-duplication and merging. Duplicatio

Microsoft has introduced some really nice features with Dynamics 365 (CRM v8.2), but also a bug for business process flows of existing customers created before the December 2016 update. This causes an error message on switching to another business process flow or the completely disappearance of the business process flows from the form. In separate post l have already blogged on a method to identify and resolve the issue, but from my point of view it is not cloud suitable and not supported for cloud solutions,because these are changes made directly on the database which you wont access to on a cloud solution. Cause With the new features came also new fields in the system. Unfortunately they haven’t been filled during the update for already existing business process flows. One of them is the required field “unique name” of the “workflow” entity. You can even see it when open the details pane of the new business process flow editor. Identification You can use a simple quer

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is now part of Microsoft Dynamics 365 business solution. For on-premise customers, your CRM will be rebranded with December Update. December Update also brought some new cool function which will improve users and administrators productivity (like an editable grid). As a part of these changes, Microsoft created a completely new editor for Business Process Flows. I really appreciate two things: 1.It is much easier to edit complicated Business Process Flows. 2.You can run specific Workflow for each flow stage. However, we experienced an error after an update of our development environment. Some of our flows were somehow damaged during the update. After the update, the flows were not visible on entities forms. When I run the “Switch Process” command, I saw an error. I dug in logs to get more information about the error, but I found only Unexpected Exception messages. It was also impossible to deactivate the flows or to export them as a part of a solution. Final

I am of the view that we should all be aware that the following is a list of features that Microsoft are in a process of deprecating in the new releases of Dynamics 365.  What does Microsoft mean when they say ‘deprecated’? It means they will continue to work and be fully supported. Until that, thats when it is removed from a future releases. It won’t be done over night but a phased removal. It can take years for this to take place. What should you do? Start thinking how you will replace them during an upgrade. 1. Dynamics 365 for Outlook (Outlook client) – switch to the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook 2. Service scheduling in Dynamics 365 for Customer Service – use service scheduling in the new Unified Resource Scheduling solution which is included in Dynamics 365 for Field Service. 3. Dialogs – will be replaced by mobile task flows and business process flows. 4. Project Service Finder app – you will use a feature coming out in a future release of the Dynamics 365 for Proje

5 benefits of integrating Dynamics 365 with Outlook include: 1.A smarter way to work and easier way for users to update CRM with increased efficiency across your organization. 2.Offline access to Dynamics 365 data for people who may not have access to internet connectivity and need to access data anytime and anywhere. Information can be stored locally on the device until it can be synchronized back to Dynamics 365. 3.Ability to view information about Dynamics 365 contacts and leads while you’re working in Outlook. You can view this info in the context of an email message, meeting, or appointment.Integrating Dynamics 365 with Outlook 4.Create a new Dynamics 365 record for any entity (record type), as long as the entity has been enabled for mobile and for multi-entity search. 5.Easily track emails using Outlook across virtually any device. You can use the Outlook Web App to easily track sent and received emails in CRM using a web browser or mobile app. There are 2 ways of integr

I recently installed update 8.2.2 to our Dynamics CRM 2016 on-premise. I am looking to take advantage of the new Dynamics 365 App for Outlook, but I was having trouble authenticating the app in Outlook. I currently have CRM configured with claims-authentication, IFD using ADFS 3.0 and Oauth. I have set up server synchronization for test accounts and this works successfully. I have deployed the App for Outlook to my Outlook 2016 application. When I attempt to use the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook, it attempts to authenticate. I enter my domain email address and password and then IE opens up with a 404 - File or directory not found message. The URL that it's trying to go to is: "https://[CRM ORG URL]/CrmMailApp/undefined?client_id=1bef97ab-72ae-e511-80db-005056bd0caf&redirect_uri=https://[CRM ORG URL]/crmmailapp/code_auth.aspx&resource=https://[CRM ORG URL]&response_type=code&state=undefined?client_id=1bef97ab-72ae-e511-80db-005056bd0caf-dc2db2b5b7f40166c1de

Issue While trying to run the OAuth provider setup in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, to configure the outlook app for Dynamics365 today 11/12/2017. I encountered this frustrating problem spent 4 hours following the instructions and failing before eventually finding a solution: Configure the OAuth provider for Dynamics Outlook APP Follow these steps to configure the OAuth provider in Microsoft Dynamics 365. 1.Log on to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 server as an administrator. 2.In a Windows PowerShell console window, run the following script. $ClaimsSettings = Get-CrmSetting -SettingType OAuthClaimsSettings $ClaimsSettings .Enabled = $true Set-CrmSetting -Setting $ClaimsSettings Found on this Microsoft page: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699726.aspx#BKMK_WS2012R2  I was getting in the Power Shell: PS C:\Users\administrator.serverxxx> $ClaimsSettings = Get-CrmSetting -SettingType OAuthClaimsSettings Get-CrmSetting : T he term ‘Get-CrmSetting’ is not recognized

While Working with the Outlook plug-in for CRM there are cases the plug-in interferes with other plug-ins running within outlook and this sometimes causes the outlook to freeze. Below are the steps which resolve your issue: 1.Delete the cache and cookies : Tools→ Internet option → General  →delete →check all the check-boxes →delete 2.Delete Internet temp files : Tools→ Internet option → General →settings →  View files →delete 3.Clear the CRM credentials by going to control panel  → Credential manager → (delete all credential starting with Microsoft) 4.Check the Time Zone and Time as per the Location 5. Add the trusted sites : Tools→ Internet option → Security →Trusted sites →sites → https://*.dynamics.com  , https://*.login.microsoftonlline.com ,https://*.microsoft.com 6.Go to Internet Explorer - Tools - Internet options - Connections Tab - Lan Settings – select Automatic detect settings and removed tick mark from Use Proxy Server from your lan – ok 7.Can go to Start