Travis Chen Senior Developer10 Nov 2011

MS Dynamics CRM 2011 Integration with SharePoint

SharePoint and CRM are complementary

Document Integration

How about bring CRM data to SharePoint?

SharePoint and CRM integration features

Expensive

Reusability and Maintenance

Limited Features

CRM 2011 is built on .Net 4 and SharePoint 2010 is .Net 3.5

Why not build SharePoint Web Part for CRM

BCS Architecture

• Familiar User Interface e.g. Data/List View, BDC Web Parts

• Read or Write to External System

• No-Code Connectivity to External System (Built-in Connectors)

• Offline Access to External Data

• Discovery Through Search

Benefits of integrating CRM to SharePoint via BCS

BCS Support

SQL connector

WCF connector

.net assembly connector

Custom connector

BCS Connectors

Connect to CRM 2011 database, Use SQL View to retrieve data

Pros

• 100% out of box

• No code required

• Best Performance

Cons

• Read only

• Does not support CRM Online

SQL BCS Connector

WCF Connector requires WCF proxy service to have following methods:

• Read, Read Multiple, Add, Update, Delete

Pros

• Read/Write

• Support CRM Online

Cons

• Custom development required for CRM Proxy Service

WCF BCS Connector

SharePoint 2010

CRM Proxy

ServiceCRM 2011

WCF BCS Connector

WCF Connector is good but not flexible

New WCF Service/Web Methods have to be developed for each CRM entity to be published to SharePoint

Custom BCS Connector -1

Pros

• Read/Write

• No Code required for extending integration

• Dynamic Filter

Cons

• Development required for custom BCS Connector and CRM Proxy Service

Custom BCS Connector -2

SharePoint 2010

CRM Proxy

ServiceCRM 2011

Custom BCS

Connector

SharePoint On Premise to CRM On Premise – Full support for all connectors

SharePoint On Premise to CRM On Line – Full Support except SQL Connector

SharePoint On Line to CRM On Premise – SQL and WCF Connector

SharePoint On Line to CRM On Line – WCF Connector

How about office 365 and CRM online 2011

Girish Raja’s Blog – Custom BCS Connector

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/girishr/archive/2011/06/16/teched-na-2011-session-recording-crm-and-sharepoint.aspx

Build Custom BCS Connector

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff953161.aspx

BCS Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee518675

Reference

Q & A

Business Connectivity Service Architecture