Dynamics CRM 2011 and Yammer Integration Step by Step

Gayan Perera, 11 March 2013

Finally! The Yammer integration is here. If you’re a Microsoft Online customer you’ll be able to take full advantage of this integration. Here is a step by step guide to integrating Yammer with Dynamics CRM.

It is very important to keep in mind that the initial hoop you have to jump through will be ironed out, although frustrating it is understandable that Yammer is going through the acquisition transition and that Dynamics CRM Online is being updated at a very rapid pace.

Step 1 – Signing up for a Yammer enterprise account

This is the hardest part of the process, luckily we managed to get a hold of a helpful Yammer contact who got us setup, explained why things are the way they are and also allowed us to publish his contact details for anyone who wants a Yammer enterprise account.

If you’re having trouble contacting Yammer to get an enterprise account please contact Aaron Zukoski (email: azukoski@yammer-inc.com, phone:  +61 040 999 8169) and he’ll get you setup.

Step 2 – Configuring Dynamics CRM 2011 (Polaris)

If you’ve signed up after 25^th Feb 2013 your organization will have the latest updates from Microsoft. If you signed up for an organization/trial before the 25^th, go into Settings > Administration > Click on Product Updates and install the updates.

Optionally you can migrate to the new forms (we recommend you don’t do this if you have heavily customized CRM).

Next you into Settings > Administration > Yammer Configuration

Agree to its terms & conditions

Once the disclaimer is accepted you’ll be asked to authorize your Yammer account. Click on ‘Authorize Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to connect to Yammer’

If you’re already logged into Yammer you’ll see your enterprise Yammer network along with the groups. Otherwise you’ll be asked to login to Yammer.

Select your Yammer group and the security level. We’ve selected a specific group to ensure all the system posts & user posts go into a single group rather than cluttering up the ‘all company’ activity stream.

Now that the connection is setup you can configure rules. These rules will allow you to instruct the system to post to Yammer upon specific system events.

Click on ‘Edit message rules’ or go into Settings > Administration > Post Rule Configurations. Locate the rule you’d like to enable and click on ‘Enable for Yammer’

In the example above, we’ve enabled the system to post to Yammer when a new lead is created. To test, create a new lead, wait a few seconds, login to Yammer, you’ll see the activity in the Yammer activity feed ticker on the top right hand corner.