Time flies when you're having fun

Hey there fellow Dynamics CRM enthusiast, thanks for stopping by. It's been a while since I've posted but here's what I've been up to on various projects here at Altriva:

Siebel to CRM 2011 Data Migration

• Early last year, we helped a client migrate their data (and configuration/functionality) from a Siebel 2000 system to Dynamics CRM 2011 (on-premises). Given the dozens of migrations I've done in the past, I was up for this challenge and am proud to say that it went very well.
• Our custom data migration application migrated 6.5 million rows across 42 entities. This includes 1.2 million attachments (into SharePoint, encrypted).
• The application scales to an unlimited number of loading machines and instances. On go-live weekend, we used 6 VMs and 3 app instances on each to get all of the data in on time.
• The application is driven by migration steps in SQL Server. It handled the entire migration with very few hiccups. When there were hiccups (network glitches leading to loss of connectivity) the application was able to wait and continue where it left off... and that allowed me to even get some sleep during the weekend.

Correspondence Generation in Dynamics CRM using SSRS

• One Altriva client needed to generate Word and PDF correspondence (e-mails, letters, faxes, government forms) from CRM, both on-demand and after an event occurred in CRM (e.g., an appointment was scheduled or canceled). The correspondence needed to include data across 5 to 10 entities, so the usual mail merge and template features in CRM would not suffice. Our client had in-house experience with SQL Server Reporting Services so we built the custom correspondence around SSRS and a custom WCF service. The design in a nutshell:
• Create custom Correspondence Template entity in CRM. This stores the path to the SSRS report and sets various parameters/options for each piece of correspondence, such as the type of document to produce, where to attach the generated document, etc.
• Create custom Correspondence Request entity in CRM. A user or an automated process creates a Correspondence Request record. This entity data (correspondence template, "regarding" entities, etc.) is sent to a custom WCF application via plug-in.
• The custom WCF application calls SSRS via web services to generate the Word or PDF document. It then proceeds to display the document in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat or it creates an e-mail record in CRM and sends the e-mail.
• All in all, SSRS worked out well for correspondence. We did find the need to purchase a license to the Aspose PDF product in order to generate the government forms -- the formatting for those was too much for SSRS to handle.

Several CRM 4.0 and 2011 Upgrades to 2013

• As you can imagine, Microsoft partners like Altriva were (are) kept very busy helping Dynamics CRM 4.0 and 2011 clients upgrade to CRM 2013. We've helped clients in a wide range of industries upgrade their CRM and it's been fun helping to implement the new features depending on the business's need. We now have iPads and other tablets here at Altriva to test the new tablet functionality in Dynamics CRM 2013. And we have Hyper-V and VirtualBox VMs configured to try out server-side sync with Exchange, Azure and SharePoint integration, and all of the other great new features Microsoft has added to the product.

Those are just some of the projects I've been working on. Outside of those, I'm scheduled to take the CRM 2013 exams (to upgrade my completed CRM 2011 exams). Also, several of us at Altriva are registered for the charity event "The Big Climb" to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Catch you later,

Tim Dutcher