Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter – Part 4 – Configure and Run a Simple Integration

Colin Maitland, 07 April 2013

In this blog I will describe how to create and run a simple integration between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM organisations for a custom entity called Country. 

1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics Connector.

2. Open the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics. The New Integration screen will be displayed. If required, click New Integration to display it.

 

 

3. For Application 1 select Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Source and the source Microsoft Dynamics CRM organisation. In my example this is Acme New Zealand.

 

 

4. For Application 2 select Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Destination and the destination Microsoft Dynamics CRM organisation. In my example this is Acme New Zealand – CHC.

 

5. Click Create.

 

 

The new integration will now be displayed. 

 

The next step is to create a new Map as follows: 

6. Click New Map.
 

 

7. Select the Source Entity and then the Destination Entity and then click Create. In this example I have selected Country.
 

 

The new map will now be displayed. 

• The left-hand side of the screen will display the new map in the tree view.

 

• The right-hand side of the screen will display map related Status, Filter and Mapping sections.

 

 

8. Optionally: You may map all fields at once by entering a back-slash, \, character into the first row of the mapping section.

 

 

9. Alternatively: You may map selected individual fields by selecting Click here to map and then clicking the related Edit icon to open the Destination Field Mapping screen. From here you may choose Map to source field, Use a constant or Use a function.
 

In my example I have chosen to map all fields. Some fields, however, such as Modified On, Record Created On, Created By, Created By (Delegate), Modified By and Modified By (Delegate) cannot be overridden in the destination organisation, even when the Override Created on or Created by for Records during Data Import privilege is selected in the security role(s) assigned to the destination organisation’s Integration user.  

10. Optionally: From the Filter section, configure any filter conditions to limit which records are to be included in the integration. In this example I have chosen to integrate Country records where Status\Name equals Active.

 

 

11. From the Status section you can configure the frequency, start date and time and status of the integration.

By default, Check for changes is set to Every 300 seconds beginning 1/01/1900 1:00:00 p.m. and Check for modified data after is set to 1/01/1900 1:00:00 p.m. 

I have found that the integration does not run when activated unless these dates are changed and so…


 

• I have changed the Check for changes … beginning date to 1/01/2013 1:00:00 p.m.

 

• And, I have changed the Check for data modified after date to 1/01/2013 1:00:00 p.m.

 

12. Click Activate.

 

 

13. Click Save.
 

14. From Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services locate and Stop and then Start the Connector for Dynamics CRM Service. I have found that after creating a new map, the integration does not run unless this service is first stopped and then restarted.
 

 

The Status bar at the bottom of the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics screen shows the status of the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics Service. This service should be Running. 


 

The integration will now run within the specified time frame. The status will be displayed as follows:




 

Clicking View log for this map will display a log containing Information and/or Errors.


 

In conclusion, the process of mapping the integration of two entities is straight forward. However, there are some areas where special consideration is required such as the following: 

• Certain fields cannot be overridden in the destination organisation, even if mapped. E.g. Created By, Modified On and Modified By etc.

• An integration where the records being integrated must be associated with related parent records that may or may not exist in the destination organisation. E.g. Accounts that must be matched to a parent Account, Owner, Price List or Territory etc. 

• The customisations in the source and destination systems should be the same; especially with respect to field types, field properties and option set items. E.g. An Account entity that has a custom Account Type option set should have the same Account Type option set and option set items in both the source and destination organisations.
 

• The number of records to be integrated each time the integration is run. In my example, using two Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online organisations, it took approximately 3 seconds for each record to be processed by the Connector installed on my New Zealand based workstation.