Microsoft Dynamics 365 Virtual Entity

Hi Everyone,

Today i am going to share views on the Virtual Entity which is added to Dynamics 365 in October 2017 release.

When the Virtual Entity might be useful?

Scenario's:

1) You have data in another system that only needs to be viewed in Dynamics 365.

2)  Highly sensitive data in an external system that you don't want to be stored in Dynamics 365.

Virtual entities are made up of three main components, a data provider, a data source record, and a virtual entity.


 Virtual Entities are an alternative to client-side and server-side approaches for connecting external data with Dynamics 365 with a solution that is significantly easier to configure and manage.

As the name itself states the "Virtual", which is not physically exists.

The Virtual entity is quite useful in integrations scenario's like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration with a third party system.

Where the data from third party system will not be stored physically on Dynamics 365  database  to avoid data replication.

The data will be "read only" with the first release of this new feature.

User can not update the data on the virtual entity but can be used in dashboard, viewed in advanced finds, views, query purposes only.

Can not run the workflows or business process flows on the virtual entity. Hopefully in next releases more functionality will be added to virtual entity.

Image from Microsoft 

Virtual entity creation and mapping

Initially, defining a virtual entity is the same as defining a custom entity: you specify the entity, attributes, and relationships for the new virtual entity type. However, additionally, you then connect the virtual entity to a data provider to manage data retrieval. 

The custom entity type and its fields must be mapped to the corresponding data in the external data source. For example, a virtual entity might be represented as a row in an external relational database, and each of its fields might correspond to a column in that row. 

(Note that these external data names are often different than their corresponding virtual entity names.) 

A specific, required mapping occurs for the entity ID field: the data provider must be able to provide this GUID and associate it to the external record that represents this entity instance. 

The most direct way to achieve this is to actually use GUIDs as primary keys in the external data source.

Limitations of Virtual Entities

 There are some limitations to virtual entities that you need to be aware of when evaluating whether you can use virtual entities with your external data.

Data is read-only. The virtual entity feature doesn’t support pushing changes made in Dynamics 365 back to the external system.

Only organization-owned entities are supported. The security filtering applied to user-owned entities is not supported. Access to the virtual entity data can be turned on or off for individual users based on their security role. Field-level security is not supported.

It must be possible to model the external data as a Dynamics 365 entity. This means:

> All entities in the external data source must have an associated GUID primary key.

> All entity properties must be represented as Dynamics 365 attributes. You can use simple types     representing text, numbers, optionsets, dates, images, and lookups.

> You must be able to model any entity relationships in Dynamics 365.

> An attribute on a virtual entity cannot be calculated or rollup. Any desired calculations must be     done on the external side, possibly within or directed by the data provider.

> Auditing and change tracking is not supported. These may be implemented within the external data store.

Virtual entities cannot be enabled for queues.

Offline caching of values is not supported for virtual entities.

A virtual entity cannot represent an activity and do not support business process flows.

Once created, a virtual entity cannot be changed to be a standard (non-virtual) entity. The reverse is also true: a standard entity cannot be converted into a virtual entity.

Virtual Entity and OData 4

If you need Azure Cosmos DB (formerly Microsoft Document DB), a virtual entity provider is available from AppSource. And for everything else you have two options:

Using the Dynamics 365 Data SDK, .NET Developers have the option of creating custom virtual entity data providers to help integrate external data source types that are not supported by an existing data provider.

You can see on the custom virtual entity data providers page, is to create an OData v4 interface to your external data source, so that you can directly access it with the supplied standard OData v4 Data Provider.

I hope this helps.

For consultation/Training Visit  www.gmritsolutions.co.uk or reach out to us at admin@gmritsolutions.co.uk

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Global vs Service vs System Administrator

Hi Everyone,

Today i am going to explain the difference between the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Global Administrator vs Service Administrator vs System Administrator.

Global Administrator: When do you assign the Global Administrator to the Tenant(Office 365 + all the tenants under of the Office 365).

Global Administrator can access the instances without restrictions, GA have full admin rights on the Whole Tenant, user can Add users to the tenant, add the licenses to the user,
So the GA have full access on the below sections on the Office 365:
Users, Groups, Resources, Billing, Support, Settings, Setup, Reports, Health,
Admin centers:
Exchange
Teams & Skype
Sharepoint
Onedrive
Dynamics 365
Yammer
Social Engagement
PowerApps
Flow
Security & Compliance
Azure Active Directory

Just a touch base with Dynamics 365, Global Administrator have limited access to the Dynamics 365, like GA can not configure the Customer Engagement application
for example : Can not approve the mailbox  but GA can approve mailbox provided he/she have Dynamics 365 License have been assigned.


Let's jump on to the Service Administrator:

Service Administrator is an Administrator the user can manage the Dynamics 365 tenant only no control over the Office 365 Admin Center

Use this new role to assign users to manage Dynamics 365 at the tenant level without having to assign the more powerful Office 365 global admin privileges. A Dynamics 365 service admin can sign in to the Dynamics 365 admin center to manage instances. A person with this role cannot do functions restricted to the Office 365 global admin such as manage user accounts, manage subscriptions, access settings for Office 365 apps like Exchange or SharePoint.

Finally Let's discuss about the System Administrator:

System Administrator role is the security role which will be assigned to the Service Administrator inside Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Application.

In order to assign the security role inside the Dynamics 365 :
Go to System Settings > Security > Users >
select the user and  click on the manage user on the ribbon then we can assign the system administrator / system customizer  role to the service administrator.

So in confusion regarding the Global Administrator/ Service Administrator/System Administrator..

I hope this helps.

For consultation/Training Visit www.gmritsolutions.co.uk or reach out to us at admin@gmritsolutions.co.uk

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing vs Click Dimensions

Hi Everyone,

I quite often here a question about which Marketing tool is better for Sales and Marketing perspective.

Customers already using Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM Application for their day to day sales and marketing ask the above question.

So i thought i can do a blog post and refer to customers which needs clarification on these two applications, i.e Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing and Click Dimensions:

so let's gets started:

Click dimensions

Click Dimension can be integrated with Dynamics 365 by deploying the click dimensions solution.

Specially built  for  Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM  Application users worldwide bring together sales and marketing for bigger business wins. Click Dimensions marketing automation solution includes essential marketing tools like email marketing, campaign automation, web intelligence, surveys, web forms and landing pages, social marketing and more to help our customers attract more leads, close more sales and more effectively engage customers. Explore our full feature set below.

Campaign Automation: Put your campaigns on auto-pilot

Email Marketing: Easily create compelling email campaigns

Web Forms: Capture and identify new prospects with web forms.

Event Management: Integrate with event and webinar solutions.

Reporting : Evaluate the success of your sales and Marketing efforts.

Surveys: Gather insights through surveys

Web Intelligence : Discover interested prospects through web intelligence

Lead Scoring: Quickly and easily determine which leads to pursue.

Landing Pages: Create landing pages without knowing HTML

SMS Messaging: Reach Prospects with SMS

Social Marketing: Connect with your customers and leads on social media

Pricing:

Basic Price starts at $499/month.

Which includes unlimited contacts and unlimited users, no license required, users whi have access to dynamics can access click dimensions.

Email Volume- starts at 50,000 per year

Excluded features for basic price are – Campaign Automation, Landing pages, Lead scoring,

SMS Messaging, event management, surveys.

Products supported are CRM Online

Advanced social marketing / social engagement requires additional investment.

Business Price $ 699/month:

Unlimited users and contacts, email volume starting at 200,000 per year and includes all features, CRM Online, Partner Hosted or On-Premise Deployment, Advanced features cost additional investment.

Advanced Features:

Powerful and efficient B2B Social Media Tools for Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Click Dimensions Social Engagement Platform:

ClickDimensions social engagement is a complete social media marketing platform for Dynamics 365 users. Powered by Oktopost, the B2B social media industry leaders, ClickDimensions social engagement is designed for B2B marketers who need smart, time-saving solutions that maximize social media ROI.

With social engagement, you can manage all your social media activity -- including scheduling, publishing, analytics and reporting, content curation, listening, campaign tracking and advocacy programs – in one convenient platform.

So Customers Who are interested in limited functionality which click dimensions offers then they can purchase the license of click dimensions.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing: 

This Marketing App is newly introduced and with enhanced features of the Marketing Module from earlier versions.

It's Microsoft Product and no need of managed solution deployment, if you have Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement then its quite nicely embed with it. Without any restriction as customer can purchase one license with subscription and 

Create and nurture leads: Run Multiple marketing campaigns.

> Run multichannel marketing campaigns

Attract the right prospects and nurture leads from email marketing, web landing pages, webinars, phone calls, and events using the Dynamics 365 Connector for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.

Personalise experiences

>Use configurable templates and designer tools to set up your buyer’s journey and personalise experiences based upon customer engagement.

Simplify event management

>Execute in-person and virtual events with ease by managing registrations, speakers, venue logistics, and attendance data in partnership with industry leading webinar provider ON24.

Engage customers across social channels:

Aligns sales and marketing

Track prospect throughout their journey

Hand off sales ready leads

Increase productivity

Make better decisions:

Focus on top priorities

Measure results in real time

Identify customer needs

Improve social engagement.

Innovate with a modern and adaptable marketing and sales software platform:

Adapt quickly

Accelerate time to market and adapt the application to your needs with no-code visual editors and tools that make it easy to build and deploy web and mobile apps.

Extend and connect

Invest with confidence

Drive innovation.

Pricing:

Customer Engagement Plan:

Get full use of applications that help build and support customer relationship

£86.70/month

with Marketing App with 2000 contacts included and with 10 or more customer engagement user licenses.

Dynamics 365 for Marketing only

£1131.10 per month for 10,000 contacts, additional contacts from £188.50 per month for 5,000 contacts

With any customer engagement application or customer engagement plan with fewer than 10 users from £565.60 per month for 10,000 contacts, Additional contacts from £188.50 per month for 5,000 contacts.

With Customer Engagement plan with 10 or more users Included and Additional contacts from £452.40 per month for first 8,000 contacts, From £188.50 per month for £5,000 additional contacts.

As I am Microsoft Dynamics die hard fan and live and breath Dynamics, so i would like to recommend Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing. 

Because Microsoft as heavy investing on Dynamics and it's evolving every release and customers who are interested in getting new features to reach there customers according to the marketing trends then why wait for anything else..

Contact us and we can help.

Visit our website: www.gmritsolutions.co.uk

Email: admin@gmritsolutions.co.uk

I hope this helps for SMB's and Enterprise Customers.

TOP 20 BLOG ON THE WEB FOR 2018

Hi Everyone,

I would like to share my happy moments with the community:

Recently my blog has been awarded "top 20 Dynamics 365/CRM blogs in the world 2018".

From Feedspot:

https://blog.feedspot.com/microsoft_dynamics_crm_blogs/

Many thanks for Feedspot team for recognizing my efforts in helping the Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM Community in the form of blogging and other social medium channels.

Once again i am very happy that this is the second year i am receiving the " top blogger award" from "Feedspot".

Looking forward to helping  the  Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM Community throughout my career.

All SMB's and Enterprise Customers:
Development/Training/Support/Project specific/Licensing
Contact:
www.gmritsolutions.co.uk
Email: admin@gmritsolutions.co.uk

Create an Power App using Data from Excel

Hi Everyone,

I would like to show how to create a simple App using a Excel Data.

First create the excel file

In the above excel file there two excel files Purchase sheet  and Supplier sheet.

Save the file on the "onedrive for business" 

As you can see from above image, onedrive for business,select that and save the file.

Open the powerapps website: https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/

You should have an account to sign in otherwise you can sign up for free.

Once you are on the landing page click on the "create an app"..

Then you will be landed on the below web page:

Select the "OneDrive for Business Phone Layout" tile from the web page:

As you can see the excel file "supplierspending.xlsx" , select the file>

You will be prompted another web page, chose the table "Purchases"  and click "connect":

Here you go the new app is been building on the fly:-)

Skip the "Welcome to PowerApps Studio" pop up>

As you can see the new app is ready on the power app design page and click on the preview the power app on the upper right hand side play symbol or F5.

The above image is the preview mode of the app. you can edit by clicking the view the item details and make changes click save.

 Also you can add new data into the table and it is automatically saved on the OneDrive for Business".

Note on the excel  the auto save functionality will only work once the record is saved initially.

Once the new data entered on to the file and name the App, save the App,

As soon as you save the App, you will land on another web page 

As you can share the app with your team and restrict or give full access to the app, 

then the user who is being shared this app can see the App on the phone, can edit or view based on the access rights.

So finally the user can see or edit according on their mobile phone by clicking on the "Power App" icon..

I hope this helps.

SMB's customers who needs Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM Support/Development/Integrations/one of project work 

contact:

www.gmritsolutions.co.uk

admin@gmritsolutions.co.uk