When a system problem occurs, start here...

Since I mostly deal with the technical side of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 implementations, including planning, deployment, development (JScript, plug-ins, workflow .NET assemblies, systems integration, etc.), I am often the person to whom system problems get escalated. One of the practices that I've found beneficial is to save all MSCRM information I can get my hands on including product documentation, KB articles, blogs, code samples, newsgroups, etc. and
index all of it with dtSearch. With a product as widely sold and used as CRM 4.0, there's likely a solution (or a solid clue) out there in the cloud and having that information indexed into a single source makes for rapid problem resolution.

Another practice I've followed is being consistent with how I record and track system problems. By recording the precise problem and/or error message(s), the status of the issue, the fixes attempted, screenshots, etc. the result is typically an organized and thoughtful approach to system diagnosis and resolution. The side benefit is that I then have documentation that may help me or others in the future. Of course, if the client I'm working with has a defect tracking system then that's where this information will go, but it's good to have a separate copy, too, so that the information is easier to locate in the future.

Below is the basic template I use when faced with a system issue. After resolving the issue, I update my personal kb in dtSearch and if I ever face the same problem in the future the solution will be easy to find.

[Client] - [Project] - Issue - [Brief Problem Description]

Date Reported: [Date]
Reported By: [Person who identified the problem]
Owner: [Tim Dutcher]
Priority: [One of the following: Urgent, High, Medium, Low]
Status: [One of the following: Open, In Progress, Resolved, Reopened, Closed]
Environment: [One of the following: Dev, UAT, Production]
Keywords: [Enter keywords that will help find this document via full-text search.]

Other details to record at the top might include: Requirement # or name, total time invested, and due date.

Table of Contents

Insert TOC here.

Issue Description

Enter full description of the issue here.

Error messages

Includes errors logged to Windows Event Log, CRM log files, IIS log, Custom log

Screenshots

How to Reproduce

Preconditions

Steps

Resolution Actions and Results

Note: Before taking any actions to resolve the issue, make backups of the CRM customizations and system files (server\bin, ISV, and wwwroot), config files, databases, and other files/settings as necessary.

[Date/Time] - [Person's initials] - Action taken and results. Also list open questions (highlight in red).

Check the following resources for information. If helpful information is found then record the URL and copy the key points from the content.

• Online search
• Dynamics CRM 4.0 Implementation Guide
• Dynamics CRM newsgroups
• Dynamics CRM SDK
• Local knowledge base (indexed documents, e-mail, web content, etc.)
• Windows Event Log
• Dynamics CRM log files (\Program Files\Microsoft CRM\Trace\)
• IIS log files (\Windows\System32\Logs\)
• Fiddler
• SQL Profiler
• SysInternals Process Monitor
• CRMDiagTool4

Resolution Options

List the pros and cons of each resolution option.

Final Resolution

Provide thorough, step-by-step details to resolve the problem. List the name of all files changed in source control.

Other Details

• If debugging code, capture details of classes visited, variables, location of exception(s), commentary about code (possible areas of fault). Also record areas where additional logging would be beneficial.