Microsoft Dynamics Connector (Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter) in Master Data Management Scenario

Microsoft Dynamics Connector (Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter) in Master Data Management Scenario

 

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to explain what Master Data Management capabilities are provided by Microsoft Dynamics Connector in particular related to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter. Please note that in the previous articles I described how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services.

 

Challenge: There is number of options available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 which have Master Data Management capabilities. The challenge is to understand usage scenarios and how to apply them properly. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter allows you to synchronize data between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations.

 

Solution: The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter, an additional adapter for use with Connector for Microsoft Dynamics, allows you to synchronize data between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations. The adapter supports communication between two endpoints that exist on any authentication/hosting environment (on-premise, online, IFD, etc.) This means that you can leverage this new adapter to move Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 data between test and production servers or from on-premises to the cloud.

 

Scenario

Microsoft Dynamics Connector with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter can be used in some Master Data Management scenarios when Microsoft Dynamics CRM business data has to be synchronized between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations. For the sake of simplicity in this document I’ll consider usual Master Data Management entities such as Customers and Products.

 

Walkthrough

 

For the purposes of this walkthrough I installed Microsoft Dynamics Connector with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter. In this scenario I’ll be using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, so I also subscribed to free trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-free-trial-overview.aspx

 

Now let’s review Adapter Settings required for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter

 

Adapter Settings – Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Destination

 

 

Please note that after you install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter you will see the following adapters available:

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Source

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Destination

 

Adapter Settings – Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Source

 

 

Please note that you have to provide Integration account credentials which is different from Administrator account credentials, that’s why I created brand-new integration@usmf.onmicrosoft.com user in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

 

Please also note that Online trial allows you to create one organization, that’s why for the sake of demo I’ll set up both Destination and Source to point to the same organization “Microsoft”. But obviously for real synchronization you would set up 2 different organizations, for example, Source = “Microsoft1” and Destination = “Microsoft2”  

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter Configuration – Get Organizations

 

 

Here’s a quick diagram which explains how the business data is synchronized between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations  

 

<![if !vml]><![endif]>

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Configuration – Entities

 

 

Now we have to select and configure entities which will be enabled for synchronization. In this instance I’ll select Account and Product entities

 

Please see the full list of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 entities available for configuration below  

 

Entity	Description
Account
Activity
Address
Appointment
Article
Article Template
Business Unit
Campaign
Campaign Activity
Campaign Response
Case
Case Resolution
Competitor
Competitor Address
Connection
Connection Role
Contact
Contract
Contract Line
Contract Template
Currency
Data Map
Dialog Session
Discount
Discount List
Document Location
Duplicate Detection Rule
Duplicate Rule Condition
E-mail
E-mail Attachment
E-mail Template
ERP System User
Facility/Equipment
Fax
Field Permission
Field Security Profile
Goal
Goal Metric
Internal Address
Invoice
Invoice Product
Lead
Lead Address
Letter
Mail Merge Template
Marketing List
Note
Opportunity
Opportunity Close
Opportunity Product
Opportunity Relationship
Order
Order Close
Order Product
Organization
Phone Call
Price List
Price List Item
Process
Product
Publisher
Queue
Queue Item
Quick Campaign
Quote
Quote Close
Quote Product
Recurring Appointment
Report
Report Related Category
Resource
Resource Expansion
Rollup Field
Rollup Query
Sales Literature
Saved View
Scheduling Group
Security Role
Service
Service Activity
SharePoint Site
Site
Solution
Subject
System Chart
Task
Team
Territory
Unit
Unit Group
User
User Chart
View

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Adapter Configuration – Progress  

 

 

Then the system will go ahead and configure selected entities for Microsoft Dynamics Connector

 

Now let’s set up an integration between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations in Microsoft Dynamics Connector

 

New Integration

 

 

And again I use the same Source and Destination just for the sake of demo

 

As the result new integration will be created

 

Connector for Microsoft Dynamics

 

 

The next step will be to add Maps for Accounts and Products synchronization

 

New Map

 

 

Please note that Accounts and Product entities are available in the list because we configured them earlier. Let’s create and review the details of Account to Account map

 

Account (Source) to Account (Destination) map

 

 

Please note that you will have access to all fields for Account entity in order to set them up for synchronization

 

Map destination field – How do you want to map to Account

 

 

You can map fields directly by “Mapping to source field” or you can apply any kind of data transformation by “Using a function” if necessary

 

Map destination field – Map a source field to Account

 

 

In case you want to map a source field to Account you will select the field from the dialog or type the name of the field in

 

Account (Source) to Account (Destination) map – Result

 

 

As the result, for example, Account field in Destination will be mapped to Account field in Source

 

As you can see Microsoft Dynamics Connector with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter standard can be effectively used to synchronize master data between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations

 

Summary: This document describes how to use Microsoft Dynamics Connector with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter in Master Data Management scenarios for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. In particular I explained how to configure synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics Connector for two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations as well as define a map for particular types of business data which includes Customers and Products. Microsoft Dynamics Connector provides a robust and extensible platform for data synchronization in Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 which allows us to synchronize records, do any kinds of data transformations, etc. as required. Please note that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter is designed to synchronize business data between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 organizations and it doesn’t provide full-fledged Master Data Management capabilities (Content, Relationship, Access, Change, Process), that’s why please review my other articles on how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using SQL Server Master Data Services.   

 

Tags: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Dynamics Connector, Instance Adapter, Source, Destination, Master Data Management, Accounts, Products.

 

Note: This document is intended for information purposes only, presented as it is with no warranties from the author. This document may be updated with more content to better outline the issues and describe the solutions.

 

Author: Alex Anikiev, PhD, MCP 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Intelligent Data Management Framework in Master Data Management Scenario

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Intelligent Data Management Framework in Master Data Management Scenario

 

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to explain what Master Data Management capabilities are provided by Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Intelligent Data Management Framework. Please note that in the previous articles I described how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services.

 

Challenge: There is number of tools and services available for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 which have Master Data Management capabilities. The challenge is to understand usage scenarios and how to apply them properly. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Intelligent Data Management Framework also has a notion of master data and it allows to replicate master data between production database and archive database. In this walkthrough we will explore how this correlates with Master Data Management scenario.

 

Solution: Intelligent Data Management Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX lets system administrators optimize the performance of Microsoft Dynamics AX installations. The Data Management Framework assesses the health of the Microsoft Dynamics AX application, analyzes current usage patterns, and helps reduce database size. 

 

Scenario

 

Intelligent Data Management Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX provides means for master data synchronization between production database and archive database. Using Intelligent Data Management Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX you can’t truly implement Master Data Management scenario because Intelligent Data Management Framework operates with database tables and not business entities such as Customers and Products, however you can perform some critical administrative tasks related to master data

 

Please find more info about Intelligent Data Management Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh378082.aspx

 

Please also note that Intelligent Data Management Framework currently doesn’t support Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. This support will be added shortly

 

Walkthrough

 

Let’s provide some core definitions for Intelligent Data Management Framework

 

Master data synchronization is the process of replicating master data tables from the production database to the archive database. This process copies the master data tables from the production database to the archive database to keep them synchronized. These tables are not archived, meaning they retain their data in the production database after the records are copied to the archive database

 

Intelligent Data Management Framework considers all tables which belong to table group Group, Main, Reference or Parameter as master data. Please note that CustTable (Customer data) and EcoResProduct (Product definitions) tables have table group Main

 

Now we can install Intelligent Data Management Framework. And as soon as Intelligent Data Management Framework currently doesn’t support Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 (the error during Post-installation tasks execution prevents you from completing the installation) I installed Intelligent Data Management Framework on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 FPK Demo VM (AX2012-A)

 

There’re couple of nuances during the installation which I highlight below

 

Welcome to IDMF (Beta) Setup Wizard

 

 

Checking prerequisites

 

 

Please note that the installer is asking for MSDTC to be installed which can be done by Adding Role Services in Server Manager in Windows Server OS

 

Select Role Services

 

 

Please note that I selected “Distributed Transaction” Role Services for installation

 

Choose a Server Authentication Certificate for SSL Encryption

 

 

For the sake of simplicity I selected “Choose a certificate for SSL encryption later”

 

Confirm Installation Selections

 

 

Installation Results

 

 

Now we can install Intelligent Data Management Framework itself

 

Microsoft Software License Terms

 

 

Setup components

 

 

Select Microsoft Dynamics AX version

 

 

Create new management database

 

 

Please note that brand-new database with name “IDMF” will be created by installer

 

Specify Microsoft Dynamics AX production database

 

 

Specify Microsoft Dynamics AX production replica database

 

 

In this instance in SQL Server Management Studio I simply copied (Copy database function) production database to create a replica of production database with a different name

 

Create new archive database

 

 

Specify e-mail settings

 

 

For the sake of simplicity I left them blank

 

Specify service account

 

 

Ready to install

 

 

Completing DMF (Beta) Setup Wizard

 

 

After installation is complete you will also need to run Post-installation tasks

 

Post-installation tasks

 

 

Post-installation tasks – Error

 

 

Please note that you may face with “XPO import completed with error. Contact the administrator” error. In this instance I had to manually fix compilation error in Classes\DMTVirtualSummaryTrans\Methods\updateVirtuelTransferClosing method due to wrong number of arguments (Catch Weight qty argument specific to FPK build was not provided)

 

Now we can launch Intelligent Data Management Framework

 

Framework checklist

 

 

In the menu bar you will notice number of places where “Master data” is mentioned

 

Schedule – Synchronize Master data

 

 

On Schedule tab Synchronize Master data function will allow you to synchronize Master data between production database and archive database

 

Administer – Configure Master data tables

 

 

On Administer tab you can click Configure Master data tables to decide which tables will be selected as Master tables for Synchronization of master data. By default, all tables in the master data tables list are selected. At run time, the master data synchronization schedule synchronizes all selected tables in this list, using the production database as the source database and the archive database as the target database. Clear the check box for a table to deselect the table. A deselected table is not considered a master data table and is not synchronized when the master data table synchronization schedule runs

 

On Analysis tab you will have access to statistical data for production database which provides important performance-related information about size of tables, fragmentation of indexes, etc.

 

Analysis – Analysis dashboard

 

 

Please note that before you will have access to Analysis dashboard you will have to generate Analysis snapshot of production database

 

On Administer tab when you click on Configure Master data tables you will get access to Data replicator section which lists all Master tables with extended details 

 

Data replicator

 

 

Please note that CustTable and EcoResProduct tables are also listed in Data replicator section

As the result based on information provided by Intelligent Data Management Framework you will be able to analyze the health of the database, prevent performance degradation, do performance optimization, etc.

 

Summary: This document describes how to use Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Intelligent Data Management Framework for database administrative tasks. Intelligent Data Management Framework can’t be used for implementing Master Data Management scenarios per say, however the information provided by Intelligent Data Management Framework about master data tables will definitely help you to fine-tune performance of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 installation. Please review my other articles on how to implement full-fledged Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using SQL Server Master Data Services.   

 

Tags: Dynamics AX 2012, Intelligent Data Management Framework, Master Data Management, Customers, Products.

 

Note: This document is intended for information purposes only, presented as it is with no warranties from the author. This document may be updated with more content to better outline the issues and describe the solutions.

 

Author: Alex Anikiev, PhD, MCP