The new Dynamics 365 release of CRM or as I like to call it 8.2, as that makes it a bit simpler. Dynamics 365 is a bit ambigious, it can mean AX and NAV as well and at the same time I want to discuss the platform and not just an app… so it becomes trick. I hope Microsoft figures some decent naming for the xRM part of the platform so we all have something to call it. (hint… xRM is a decent word)
Well, one of the cool new features of the 8.2 release is the revamp of the Business Process Flows (BPF) which now have gotten a couple of different facelifts, of which some are:
A new editor which looks identical to the Business rules editor. However, the Workflow editor is still very old-style… I wonder if this might be next. 🙂
BPF:s final stage can now be closed/or you actually close the entire BPF. This was not the case previously where the last stage simply sat there.
If you have multiple BPF:s and you switch between them, D365 will remember where you are in each of the BPF:s. This was not the case in earlier versions when it always restarted when you changed.
In order to handle the last point, the underlying architecture of the BPFs have been changed. Previously when you had an entity that was BPF enabled by a lookup called “Process stage” and when this changed you knew that the record had changed stage in the workflow.
Alas, in comes 8.2 on its white horse, and “Process stage” lookup falls dead to the ground like knight before a modern day tank. In other words, it simply isn’t triggered.
The new BPF architecture is based on the principle that a new shadow entity is created for each BPF that you create. And yes, they are removed when you remove your BPF.
So, when is this typically a problem? The most common uses for triggering on stage changes in BPF is using a Workflow to trigger on changes in an Opportunity to set the probability. This is then later used in calculated fields like Weighted Estimated Revenue (not a standard field) and similar fields.
The effect upgrading to 8.2, which is just a minor upgrade from an upgrade perspective, is hence that these customizations that you might have done to set the probability, stop working and the opportunities get the wrong, 0 or no probability making any calculation based on this number incorrect.
So, how are you supposed to fix this? There is a new WF triggering mechanism built in to the BPF designer. You simply create a workflow that can be manually triggered, and drag a workflow compontent into the appropriate step in the BPF designer.
Do note that you can choose if you want it to trigger when the stage is started or completed.
BPF Editor with a workflow added with the Stage Entry trigger selected as highlighted
And this is how the workflows needs to look
This is the workflow that was selected in the BPF Editor above. Note the highlighted checkbox. This needs to be checked in order for the workflow to show up in the BPF editor lookup
A final comment. Even though the BPFs can now be completed, that does not mean that the final stage’s Stage Exit is triggered. As far as I have understood it, it is still in this phase even though the BPF in it self is considered closed. I would call semantics on that. I hope Microsoft fixes that bug or enhances that lack of feature if they rather call it that.
Was this original workflow supported? Was it ignorant of your partner, you might ask, to create a workflow that triggered as described in the old manner and this has now stopped working and you are faced with additional costs for fixing this? Shouln’t they have known? Well, frankly no, your partner, if they followed what I described above, did make what are called “supported customizations” which according to the documentation from Microsoft is supposed to be upgradable. At least one major version, often 2 or 3 major versions This time it was not even a minor, from 8.1 to 8.2. Hence it is a regrettable situation but if you want to complain somewhere, I do suggest you complain to Microsoft.
Gustaf Westerlund MVP, Founder and Principal Consultant at CRM-konsulterna AB www.crmkonsulterna.se
Using queues is in D365/CRM for managing functional email addresses is the the only way to go as far as I know, unless you want to set it up as a full user, which I don’t really see the point of.
I recently ran into an interesting issue with a customer pertaining to queues and that is when you want to be able to forward mails internally to users that are registered in D365/CRM. What happens is that with the standard setting you will get two emails. Hence, you might think that going into System settings and the email tab and unchecking the “Track emails sent between CRM users as two activities”. However, this will have the unpleasant effect of disabling internal emails to queues, or in other words, if an internal user sends an email to a queue, to a system with this setting unchecked, D365/CRM will simply ignore the mail and not pull it into the D365/CRM.
There is a setting here called: DoNotIgnoreInternalEmailToQueues which by default is set to False. So, if you uncheck the “Track email sent between to activities” and then set this to True, the system will not ignore your internal emails.
A small word of caution, OrgDBOrg settings are fringe (but still supported) settings which hence are probable not as tested as normal settings in D365. I would hence recommend that you only use OrgDBOrg setting in the case you need very specifically them.
George Doubinski is coming to Stockholm and he is going to be holding a very rare level 300 (= advanced) Dynamics 365 developer training.
George is an MVP and a good friend of mine and one of the bright beacons in the D365 community, co-founder of both http://crmtipoftheday.com/ and http://crm.audio/ . He is an excellent developer who told me that he is always striving to learning something new. Last he said his goal was to learn a new programming language every year. And to top that off, he is a great presentor and teacher as he is a lot of fun to listen to and almost none can match his skills when it comes to coding in Dynamics 365.
We at CRM-Konsulterna were very happy when we were able to convince him to come to Sweden and Stockholm and teach us some of what he knows! He lives in Australia so this doesn’t happen often.
During the CRM UG Summit I was approached in the Medic booth by two nice guys from Microsoft who asked me if they could show me and get my opinion on a new feature of Dynamics 365. It was the AppDesigner. There had been so much hype around a lot of the other stuff (editable grids, editable grids, editable grids) that I hadn’t noticed this and when they showed it and I had time to think about it I recognized that it is really a cool and useful feature that I think can do a lot of good in the system.
One of the things I try to evangelize about is to slim the system down, not “dumb it down” but make it slim, and efficient to what you are trying to do. Hence not include a lot of unnecessary stuff. The AppDesigner is excellent for this, it creates subsets of Dynamics 365 (not operations/financials) into what are called apps. With their own sitemaps, view sets, form sets, business process flow sets, chart sets.
I made another film about this, on how to enable and get going with it. Why not watch it?
So, time to try something new. I recorded a small screencast with SnagIt to show how easy it is to enable the awsome new feature Editable grids in Dynamics 365. So, please have a look and let me know what you think!
And yes, I know I keep saying CRM, and Dynamics CRM. I have been working with this product for more than 11 years now. It’s going to take some time for this old dog to sit.
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