Connector for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics AX Integration

Mark Smith, 24 April 2011

Microsoft has recently released the Feature Pack 5 of Connector for Microsoft Dynamics that makes integration between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics AX possible. It provides an integration between Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (minimum Update Rollup #5) or Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics AX2009 SP1.

It is intended to be used in an implementation where Microsoft Dynamics CRM is used to manage business contacts, track leads, enter sales orders, and perform other sales and marketing activities, and where Microsoft Dynamics AX is used to perform accounting functions, manage your company’s chart of accounts, and maintain customer, vendor, item, employee, and other records.

 The Connector for Microsoft Dynamics has elegant and simple data integration architecture. It contains separate adapters that are used to identify a source system (where data is read from) and a destination system (where data is written to). The source adapter reads data from the source system. The destination adapter writes the data to the destination system.

 The integration is a web service to web service integration – which means your AX and CRM can be located anywhere and will be able to talk with each other. It is comprised of an NT Service which binds together web services for both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics AX to read and write data. The integration service also leverages a transform engine to convert the data between the interfaces to ensure that the data moving between the two systems is compatible and in correct form. The connector uses the standard Dynamics AX and CRM APIs to do the integrations. For example with Microsoft Dynamics AX, the connector uses the Application Integration Framework (AIF) web services for the Dynamics AX source adaptor.

The Connector for Microsoft Dynamics provided a uni-directional or bi-directional depending on whether or not a single application should be a system of record. The illustration above shows the out-of-the-box entity mapping. The customer record in Microsoft Dynamics AX integrates in a bi-directional manner with the account record in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Therefore any changes made on either system will move over to the other system. Similarly, Contacts and Sales Orders are bi-directional. However, Microsoft Dynamics AX is the system of record for financial transactions and the financial setup, therefore Sales Invoice, Currency, Exchange rates and Items are uni-directional from Microsoft Dynamics AX to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

And lastly, the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics is free as long as you are current on your Microsoft Dynamics ERP Business Ready Enhancement Plan and have a Microsoft Dynamics CRM software assurance plan. So what are you waiting for? Improve your business now by integrating your AX and CRM systems.

Contact us or visit http://blog.msdn.com/b/dynamicsconnector/, for more information about the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics.