What’s New in Dynamics CRM 2013: Business Processes, Workflows, No-Code Customization Richard Knudson Microsoft MVP since 2011 VP, CRM Magenium Solutions

Overview: What’s New in CRM 2013 For… Business Process Flows Business Rules Real-time Workflows Actions Workflows & Dialogs Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Process Flows Visual container at top of entity form, for stages and steps of processes; Steps = fields User must interact with BPF control to advance stage Can require a field (step) before exiting a stage: functions as a true stage gate Can span multiple entities (lead->opportunity, phone call->case…) Can have multiple processes for single entity What’s New in CRM 2013Private & Confidential Stages Steps (Fields)

Business Process Flows …but they don’t really DO anything: - Do not support conditional logic, branching… - Do not perform actions Trick is to use in conjunction with other process & customization techniques: - With workflows: Process Stage field changes when user changes stage; this can trigger a workflow process, which can update fields… - With business rules: Real-time workflow updates fields, business rule can respond Default security: “manager” security roles can modify and activate BPFs What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

BPF Database Design What’s New in CRM 2013 Get to know the BPF database design:  1:N from new Process Stage entity to every entity that supports BPFs  1:N from Process to Process Stage  Process entity stores stage name, stage category  Process entities are not customizable Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Why the Database Design Matters What’s New in CRM 2013 …but the Stage Name is only available from parent Process Stage entity! Workflow can be triggered by Process Stage change… Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Process Flows: Tips, Tricks, Traps Danger, danger Will Robinson! - Multiple-entity BPFs can be confusing; my experience suggests 2 is the practical maximum, and requires user training - Multiple BPFs per entity: security-role targeting doesn’t work the way you expect it to! Keep BPFs simple, for now What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Process Flows: Examples Using the BPF Designer Targeting BPFs with security roles…and the problem with multiple BPFs per entity Using BPFs with Real-Time Workflows; using the Process Stage trigger How do you have a stage gate for the last stage of a BPF? What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Rules Create dynamic forms experiences without code Conditionally, perform these actions: - Set field visibility - Lock/unlock field - Set field value - Custom alert/error message - Set field requirements Behavior identical to JavaScript (subject to limitations) Business rules are schema customizations; extensions of an entity Business rules are portable business logic: can run on mobile devices Default security: Require the same security privileges (System Administrator by default) What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Rules: Tips, Tricks & Traps Participating fields must be on form If not, business rules don’t fire (and you don’t get any alerts or errors!) Business rules can be scoped, to a single form or all forms Limitations: - Weak formula editor; no date math - Fields only - Current entity only What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Business Rules Examples: Calculate a field value Show/hide fields in sections Set field requirements What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Real-Time Workflows May be the single best new feature in CRM 2013 Run synchronously: good for dynamic user experience (no waiting) All actions run as a single transaction: you can conditionally cancel, and roll back Each instance completes before the next one starts: time- dependent processes (auto-numbering, round-robin assignments…) actually work! Have plug-in caliber event model for fields change, status changes, record is assigned triggers What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Real-Time Workflows: Tips, Tricks and Traps Event model is plug-in caliber Available actions are same as in CRM 2011 “Background” processes are well-named: use them for anything that can truly run in the background: - Processes with no UX: notifications, task assignments, auto- responders… - Bulk update workflow processes (Q: when is a real-time workflow slower than a background workflow?) What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Real-Time Workflows Examples Update child fields from a parent record Canceling a process with a custom error message: conditional error trapping on record resolution; roll-back Calculating aggregates: using Before and After options What’s New in CRM 2013 Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Example: Events and Registrations What’s New in CRM real-time workflows to calculate a running total on parent record Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Example: Events and Registrations What’s New in CRM 2013 Conditionally prevent deletes, with a custom error message Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Custom Actions No-code design experience: created with the Workflow Designer But can only be called from code Think: the opposite of custom workflow activities What’s New in CRM 2013 Process TypeDesign ItRun It Custom activity.NET codeWorkflow Designer Custom actionWorkflow Designer.NET code Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Custom Actions Use-cases: - Business processes that need to be changed by business users - Can be instantiated by background events, or by custom ribbon buttons - Low-cost entry point application integration Two big differences between traditional workflows and custom actions: 1. Can take input parameters and return output parameters 2. Can create a global action, not tied to specific entity What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Security Roles and Privileges More “things” that can be selectively exposed to users via security roles: - Dashboards (yay!) - Business Process Flows (…but be careful!) New security privileges - Activate Business Process Flows - Activate Business Rules - Activate Real-time Processes What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Extras: Customizing CRM 2013 Forms What’s New in CRM 2013

New Customizable Form Types New: Quick View form type - For display (read-only) in section on a child record - Can display fields from parent records and other sibling records - Example: - Account Card can include fields from Account, Contact, Case and Opportunity entities - Can be displayed on Contact, Case and Opportunity forms New: Quick Create form type - Accessed from Create button on site map - Can customize fields What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Customizing Quick Create Form What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

Customizing with New Form Controls What’s New in CRM 2013Private & Confidential An entity can have multiple Quick View forms Can only have one Notes control per form Notice that Composite Address control is out of the box, not customizable

Custom Entities Can have Quick View, Quick Create forms: What’s New in CRM 2013Presented by Richard Knudson, Magenium Solutions

New Entity Properties What’s New in CRM 2013Private & Confidential