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Configuring the ACM system

Now that we have an out-of-the-box development environment, let's first configure it. Because we use Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as an xRM platform, we just focus on those settings that are used by our ACM system.

Note

The term "xRM" stands for "Anything Relationship Management", and is used to refer to custom solutions that build on top of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.

So Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not just managing the "customers"; it can be customized to manage "anything" that fits for the business requirement.

Administration

Navigate to Settings | System | Administration.

System settings

The System Settings module allows the configuration of global application settings such as general settings, calendar, formats, auditing, email, marketing, customization, Outlook, reporting, and goal settings. You can easily find and configure these in System Settings.

ACM has a requirement that:

All usernames are set up with First Name and Last Name.
Current Format is set to English: United States.
Auditing is enabled for common entities.
The tracking token prefix is set to: ACM.
All other out-of-the-box settings are maintained.

Solution and publisher

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 provides a rich framework on which the business application can be built. It has the notion of "solution" by providing full support to create, install, upgrade, and delete business applications that run on the CRM framework.

The solution concept is new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. A solution is a container of components designed to provide specific business functionality. The valid components that can be included in the solution are data model, modification to the CRM user interface, web resources such as images, HTML pages, JavaScript libraries, processes, plug-in code, and translations. Each solution has a publisher associated to it. A solution publisher represents the "author" who writes/provides this solution.

Solutions can be packaged as "managed" or as "unmanaged". All solutions are initially created as unmanaged solutions. When you create a "New" solution in CRM, this creates a container to hold references to the components in the system. Multiple unmanaged solutions can have references to the same component, however any changes performed on the component will be visible to all unmanaged solutions. Exporting any solution that contains the component will export all of the changes performed on the system. Importing an unmanaged solution always overwrites the components that it touches.

Managed solutions were designed for the final distribution of components. After initial development is done and the solution is ready to deploy to the production environment, you need to export it as managed. If a managed solution is imported into a different organization, the definition of the solution is locked and you may not add or remove any of the components within the solution. Managed solutions can be uninstalled and this will not affect your base system.

We will cover Solution and Publisher in detail later in Chapter 10, Creating Eye Candy Effects with Particle Systems.

In this project, we are going to create an unmanaged solution during our development. Once we complete the development, we will package it and export it as a managed solution for our production deployment.

Creating a solution publisher

To create a new publisher in CRM 2011, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings | Customizations | Publishers.
Click on New to create a new publisher.
Populate the Display Name and Prefix fields by filling in the publisher form with the following information:

Display name

ACM publisher

Name:

acmpublisher

Prefix:

acm

Option Value Prefix:

10,000

The following screenshot shows the ACM Publisher form:
Click on Save and Close.

Display name	ACM publisher
Name:	acmpublisher
Prefix:	acm
Option Value Prefix:	10,000

Creating a solution

To create a new solution in CRM 2011, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings | Solutions.
Click on New to create a new solution.
Populate the Display Name, Publisher, and Version fields by filling in the solution form with the following information:

Display name

ACM solution

Name:

ACMSolution

Publisher:

ACM

Version:

1.0

The following screenshot shows the ACM Solution form:
Click on Save and Close.

Display name	ACM solution
Name:	ACMSolution
Publisher:	ACM
Version:	1.0

Creating an Entity for the ACM solution

Let's customize the ACM solution. Since we have created a solution for our project, the next step is to create the entities. In the ACM solution, we will have three custom entities (Airport, Flight Route, and Flight), one custom activity (Compensation), and one system entity (Crew Member [contact]).

So let's go ahead and create the custom entities first.

Go to Settings | Solutions, and double-click to open the ACM solution. In the solution components list, select the Entities node and then click on New. Fill in the Airport information, and then click the Save button on the toolbar:

Airport

The following table lists the entities that need to be defined, and their settings.

Entity	Customization
Definition	Entity Definition: Display Name: Airport Plural Name: Airports Name: acm_airport Ownership: Organization Define as an activity entity: No Display in Activity Menus: No Description: Airport entity Primary attribute: acm_name (Display Name: Airport Code) Areas that display this entity: Workplace Options for Entity: Notes (Includes attachments): Yes Activities: Yes Connections: Yes Sending e-mail: No Mail merge: No Document management: No Queues: No Duplication detection: No Auditing: No Mobile Express: No Reading pane in CRM for Outlook: No Offline capability for CRM for Outlook: No
Forms	Main
Views	Active Airport (Default Public View) and other Views
Charts	-
Custom Relationships	1:N—Flight Route (custom label: Route From and Route To); Relationship Behavior: Referential

Note

Note: Some options cannot be disabled after you enable them, so you can leave options unchecked if you are not sure about them during the entity creation.

Form customization

In the Airport entity, click on the Forms link in the left-hand navigation panel, and then double-click to open the Main form:

We need to change the field layout from two columns to one column: Double-click on the Airport Code field, go to the Formatting tab, select One Column, and then click OK to save the changes and go back to the Form Editor.
Next we need to insert some new fields (attribute) on the form: In CRM 2011, you can create attributes from the Form Editor: click the Body button on the ribbon, and the Field Explorer appears in the right-hand pane. You can create attributes by clicking the New Field button in the Explorer.
Follow the table to add new fields: Click the New Field button in the Field Explorer, and add Airport Name, Time Zone, Country, City, and Per Diem. After these fields have been created, drag them to the General tab on the Form Editor. And then click the Save button to save changes.
Note
Note: When adding an Option Set, if you want that option field to be used globally in the solution, you can select the Existing Option Set option and then click on New to create the Option Set.

Back in the Form Editor, click on the Insert tab on the ribbon, and then click on IFRAME (see below: IFRAME_map).

Main form

*All fields (except Notes and IFRAME) are Business Required, Searchable, and Auditing enabled.

	Field	Type	Description	Options
General	Airport Code	Single Line of Text	Airport code	Max length: 100
	Airport Name	Single Line of Text	Airport name	Max length: 100
	Time Zone	Whole Number (Time Zone)	Time zone	-
	Country	Single Line of Text	Country list (this is a demo list for the book)	Label Value United Kingdom 1 United States 2
	City	Single Line of Text	Dependent picklist of 'Country' (this is a demo list for the book)	Label Value London (UK) 1 Birmingham (UK) 2 Washington D.C (US)) 3 Seattle (US) 4 New York (US) 5
	Per Diem	Currency	Hourly payment of this location	Min: 0 Max: 100 Precision: Currency Precision
Notes	Note Text	Notes	-	-

Now that we have created the Airport main form, click the Preview button on the ribbon and select Create Form, which will show us what the form looks like.

Click the Save and Close button on the ribbon to go back to the solution panel.

Main formAirport entity, ACM data modelmain form

View customization

In the Airport entity, click on Views to open the view list; double-click on the Active Airport view, to open it. Click on the Created On column and click the Remove button on the right-hand Common Task panel to remove this column. Click on Add Columns to add Airport Name, Country, and City columns to the View. Double-click on the column to change the Width for each column. Use the Left and Right buttons to change the column placement.

Views—Active Airports and other Views

Columns

Airport Code, Airport Name, Country, City

Views—Airport entity, ACM data modelViewsActive Airports and other Views

Now you know how to create and customize entities, attributes, views, relationships, and navigations. Do the same for the remaining entities for the project.

Flight route

Entity	Customization
Information	Entity Definition: Display Name: Flight Route Plural Name: Flight Routes Name: acm_flightroute Ownership: Organization Define as an activity entity: No Display in Activity Menus: No Description: Flight Route entity Primary attribute: acm_name (Display Name: Flight Route) Areas that display this entity: Workplace Options for Entity: Notes (Includes attachments): Yes Activities: Yes Connections: Yes Sending e-mail: No Mail merge: No Document management: No Queues: No Duplication detection: No Auditing: No Mobile Express: No Reading pane in CRM for Outlook: No Offline capability for CRM for Outlook: No
Forms	Main
Views	Active Flight Routes (Default Public View) and other Views
Charts	-
Custom Relationships	1:N—Flight; Relationship Behavior: Referential N:1—Airport; Relationship Behavior: Referential

Main form

*All fields (except Notes) are Business Required, Searchable, and Auditing enabled.

	Field	Type	Description	Options
General	Flight Route	Single Line of Text	Name of the flight route	Max length: 100
	From	Lookup	Unique identifier of the departure airport code	-
	To	Lookup	Unique identifier of the arrival airport code	-
	Miles	Whole Number (None)	Miles between departure and arrival airport	Min: 0 Max: 100000
Notes	Note Text	Notes	-	-

Relationships

Like CRM 4.0, you can create entity relationships (1:N, N:1, N:N) from the Entity Editor. Alternatively, in CRM 2011 you can also create an N:1 relationship directly from the From Editor by clicking the New Field button, then selecting Lookup type.

Because we will create two N:1 relationships from the Flight Route entity to the Airport entity, there will be two relationship links in the left-hand navigation panel of the Airport entity, and they will both call: Flight Route. So in this case, we need to change the name to make it different: go to the Airport entity | 1:N Relationships, and then open the Flight relationships (Primary Entity = Airport, Related Entity = Flight Route), change the Display Option to "Use Custom Label", Custom Label: "Route From" (and for the other one, where Name is "acm_acm_airport_acm_flightroute_to", change the custom label to: Route To). You may also change the Relationship Behavior here.

Views—Active Flight Routes and other Views

Columns

Flight Route, From, To, Miles

Flight

Entity	Customization
Information	Entity Definition: Display Name: Flight Plural Name: Flights Name: acm_flight Ownership: Organization Define as an activity entity: No Display in Activity Menus: No Description: Flight entity Primary attribute: acm_name (Display Name: Flight; Requirement Level: No Constraint) Areas that display this entity: Workplace Options for Entity: Notes (Includes attachments): Yes Activities: Yes Connections: Yes Sending e-mail: No Mail merge: No Document management: No Queues: No Duplication detection: No Auditing: No Mobile Express: No Reading pane in CRM for Outlook: No Offline capability for CRM for Outlook: No
Forms	Main
Views	Active Flights (Default Public View) and other Views
Charts	-
Custom Relationships	1:N—Compensation; Relationship Behavior: Referential N:1—Flight Route; Relationship Behavior: Referential

Main form

*All fields (except Flight and Notes) are Business Required, Searchable, and Auditing enabled.

	Field	Type	Description	Options
General	Flight Name	Single Line of Text	This filed is populated by workflow. Requirement Level: No Constraint. Layout: 3columns. Display: In the header of main form.	Max length: 100
	Flight Route	Lookup	Unique identifier of the of the flight route	Flight is an instance of a Flight Route
	Departure Time	Date and Time	Local departure date and time	Format: Date and Time
	Arrival Time	Date and Time	Local arrival date and time	Format: Date and Time
	Flight Time	Whole Number (Duration)	In flight hours	-
	Layover Time	Whole Number (Duration)	Off flight hours of the destination	-
	Flight Type	Options Set	The Red Eye/Holiday/Polar line flights will double the hourly payment. (Default value: Normal)	Label Value Normal Flight 1 Red-Eye Flight 2 Holiday Flight 3 Polar Flight 4
Flight Crew	CrewConnection	Sub-Grid	Insert a new tab called "tab_crew" on the form; and then insert a Sub-Grid inside the tab	Sub-Grid properties: Records: Only Related Records Entity: Connections (Connected From) Default View: Active Connections
Notes	Note Text	Notes	-	-

Form header

The Flight (name) will be generated by Workflow, so Flight Name = Flight Route + Departure Time.

So we can put the Flight (name) in the form header. On the Form Editor, click Header on the ribbon, then drag the Flight field onto the Header section, and then increase the width by three columns.

Double-click on the Flight field in the Body section, deselect the Visible by default option to make sure that the Flight field only appears in the Header.

Views—Active Flights and other Views

Columns

Flight, Flight Route, Departure Time, Arrival Time, Created On

Now that we have created three custom entities, for Crew Members, we will use the system entity: contact. So go to the ACM Solution Components list, click on Entities, and then click on Add Existing | Contact. Select No, do not include required components, because we don't need those entities in the ACM solution:

When you click on the Contact entity in the ACM Solution Components, you may notice that some options are grayed out, so just leave this as it is. Some of these can be changed in SiteMap.

Crew Member

Entity	Customization
Information	Entity Definition: Display Name: Crew Member Plural Name: Crew Members Name: contact Ownership: User or Team Define as an activity entity: No Display in Activity Menus: No Description: Crew Member entity Primary attribute: fullname (Display Name: Full Name) Areas that display this entity: (Default Settings) Options for Entity: Notes (Includes attachments): Yes Activities: Yes Connections: Yes Sending e-mail: Yes Mail merge: Yes Document management: No Queues: No Duplication detection: Yes Auditing: No Mobile Express: No Reading pane in CRM for Outlook: No Offline capability for CRM for Outlook: Yes
Forms	Main
Views	Active Crew Members (Default Public View) and other Views
Charts	-
Custom Relationships	1:N - Compensation; Relationship Behavior: Referential

Main form

*Monthly Base Pay and Hourly Duty Pay are custom fields that are Business Required, Searchable, and Auditing enabled. All other fields are system default fields—we try to keep it really simple in this book, although in reality there will be more fields for this entity.

	Field	Type	Description	Options
General	Salutation	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	First Name	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 100
	Middle Name	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 100
	Last Name	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Employee ID	Single Line of Text	CRM default field (Employee)	Max length: 50
	Business Phone	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Mobile Phone	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	E-mail	E-mail	CRM default field	Max length: 100
	Address
	Address Name	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 200
	Street 1	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Street 2	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Street 3	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	City	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Province	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
	Postal Code	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 20
	Country	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 50
Detail	Professional Information
	Department	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 100
	Job Title	Single Line of Text	CRM default field	Max length: 100
	Monthly Base Pay	Currency	Monthly base pay (This field enables Field Security )	Min: 0 Max: 100,000 Precision:Currency Precision
	Hourly Duty Pay	Currency	Hourly duty pay of the crew member (This field enables Field Security )	Min: 0 Max: 100 Precision:Currency Precision
Owner	Owner	Unique identifier of the user or team who owns the record.	CRM default field	Unselect the "Visible by default" option
Owner	Description	Multiple lines of Text	CRM default field	Max: 2000
Notes	Note Text	Notes	-	-

Entity navigation pane

The out-of-the-box Contact entity has some default links in the entity navigation pane; we can remove these links from the entity's Form Editor:

Under the Common node, only keep Activities, Closed Activities, Connections, Audit History, and Compensation.
Remove everything under Sales, Service, and Marketing nodes.
Keep the Processes node and sub items.

Views—Active Flight Attendants and other Views

Columns

Full Name, Department, Job Title, Business Phone

Views—Crew Member entity, ACM data modelViewsActive Flight Attendants and other Views

Note

Note: Because we renamed the system entity "Contact" to "Crew Member", we need to rename it for all related Fields, Views, and Messages that contain the word "Contact". We also need to rename it in the Relationships text and the Help document if necessary.

You cannot delete System Views in a Managed solution, but you may deactivate the View by selecting View | More Actions | Deactivate.

The last major entity we will use in this book is a custom activity (new introduced in CRM 2011) entity called Compensation. Each flight will generate a compensation record for each crew member who works on this flight.

Note

Note: When you create a custom activity, some options are pre-configured.

Compensation

Entity	Customization
Information	Entity Definition: Display Name: Compensation Plural Name: Compensations Name: acm_compensation Primary attribute: subject (Subject) Ownership: User or Team Define as an activity entity: Yes Display in Activity Menus: Yes Description: Compensation entity Options for Entity: Notes (Includes attachments): Yes Activities: No Connections: Yes Sending e-mail: No Mail merge: No Document management: No Queues: Yes Duplication detection: No Auditing: No Mobile Express: No Reading pane in CRM for Outlook: No Offline capability for CRM for Outlook: Yes
Forms	Main
Views	All Compensations (Default Public View) and other Views
Charts	-
Custom Relationships	1:N—Compensation; Relationship Behavior: Referential N:1—Flight Route; Relationship Behavior: Referential

Main form

*All fields in the General tab are Business Required, Searchable, and Auditing enabled.

	Field	Type	Description	Options
Header	Compensation	Currency	One-Flight Compensation for the crew member (This field enables Field Security)	Min: 0 Max: 10,000 Precision:Currency Precision
General	Subject	Text	The subject of the compensation	Max length: 100
	Flight	Lookup	Unique identifier of the of the flight	Flight is an instance of a Flight Route
	Crew Member	Lookup	Unique identifier of the crew member	-
	Owner	Owner	Unique identifier of the user or team who owns the record.	Unselect the "Visible by default" option
Detail	Layover Time	Whole Number (Duration)	Same field of the Flight entity	Read-Only
Detail	Flight Type	Options Set	Same field of the Flight entity	Read-Only
Notes	Note Text	Notes	-	-

Views—All Compensations and other Views

Columns

Subject, Crew Member, Flight, Date Created

Views—Compensation entity, ACM data modelViewsAll Compensations and other Views

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Table of Contents for Configuring the ACM system

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Configuring the ACM system

Note

Administration

System settings

Solution and publisher

Creating a solution publisher

Creating a solution

Creating an Entity for the ACM solution

Airport

Note

Form customization

Note

Main form

View customization

Views—Active Airports and other Views

Flight route

Main form

Relationships

Views—Active Flight Routes and other Views

Flight

Main form

Form header

Views—Active Flights and other Views

Crew Member

Main form

Entity navigation pane

Views—Active Flight Attendants and other Views

Note

Note

Compensation

Main form

Views—All Compensations and other Views

Table of Contents for
Configuring the ACM system