1. Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Deep Dive: Creating a Basic Custom Workflow Assembly
Author: Joe ‘The CRM Chap’ Griffin
Website: crmchap.co.uk
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2. Introduction
Aim: To demonstrate how to create a simplistic Custom Workflow Assembly from start to finish for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement
Video will be intentionally "quick and dirty", to emphasise the straightforwardness of working with custom workflow assemblies within the application and to emulate a real life scenario as best as possible.
Accompanying blog post will contain this slide deck and completed solution files for reference purposes.
Assume no previous experience, but some knowledge of Visual Studio, C# and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement/CRM is preferred
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3. Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Overview
Previously known as Dynamics CRM, a “Customer Relationship Management” application developed by Microsoft.
“Modular” system, enabling organisations to:
Manage sales qualification processes
Provide full case management functionality to customers
Integrate with external features, such as Portals, Voice of the Customer, Office 365, Exchange Server etc.
Customise the application extensively, either within the interface or via code.
And more!
Cloud based with on-premise version available
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4. Understanding Custom Workflow Assemblies
Similar to Plugins, Custom Workflow Assemblies are custom code written in C#/Visual Basic .NET to add custom business logic to D365CE Workflows.
Allows you to specify input/output parameters that are exposed to the entire Workflow execution session.
Enables you to execute custom business logic Synchronously or Asynchronously.
Can be utilised alongside other default workflow steps/actions.
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5. C# Overview
C# is an object-orientated programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft as part of the .NET framework.
C# can be used to develop anything from simplistic console based application through to fully featured desktop/web applications.
Developers who have worked previously with C, C++, JavaScript, Java or PHP should have no trouble in leaning how to develop code in C#.
Microsoft offer a number of online tutorials to help get you started with writing your first C# application:
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6. Creating a Custom Workflow Assembly: Scenario
The Problem: An organisation has common templates that are used for Quotes. These Quote records contain all required Products, pricing information etc. that cover most typical sales scenarios. The sales team require a straightforward way to duplicate these “template” Quote records from within the application, rather then creating them manually each time.
The Solution: Develop a custom workflow assembly that can be incorporated as part of an on-demand, background workflow that performs all the required steps listed above.
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7. Demo
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8. Custom Workflow Assembly Recommendations
Best utilised when you need to leverage existing Workflow functionality (e.g. Wait Conditions), to enable users to execute complex business logic themselves or to create generic, multi- purpose workflows.
Custom workflow assemblies also have execution limits when executed in Sandbox.
Keep an eye on the Asynchronous Service/System Job loads.
Store your code within a Git repository to enable code change rollback and team collaboration.
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