Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 supports SharePoint 2007/2010 integration to improve document management in CRM. The previous versions of CRM didn't have a solid out-of-the-box solution for document management except 'Notes' and 'Articles'. The SharePoint integration feature provides the same look and feel inside CRM. Users can operate documents inside CRM just like in SharePoint. SharePoint 2010 is recommended, because documents from SharePoint 2007 are displayed in an IFRAME, and folders cannot be automatically created on the SharePoint server.
This task will show you how to enable and configure the SharePoint integration feature in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
The airline company is using Microsoft SharePoint 2010 internally. They like the document management capability in SharePoint, as they have some experience in CRM. They especially want to have documents relating to Airport, Crew Member, and Flight.
First of all, we need to create a SharePoint 2010 site collection to host the CRM documents for Airport, Crew Member, and Flight.
Go to the SharePoint 2010 central administration site, create a new web application, and then create a new site collection called CRM Documents. Select the "Document Center" as the template when creating the site collection. The URL for the site collection is http://bps:6666.
If you have installed SharePoint Foundation 2010, you can also create a site collection in it.
The following screenshot shows the homepage of the CRM Documents.
Next, we will need to install the CRM List Component on this SharePoint site collection.
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 List component for SharePoint makes the CRM documents that are stored on SharePoint available in a format that has the look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This component also allows Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automatically create folders that will be used to store documents related to CRM records on SharePoint. The CRM List Component is a SharePoint sandbox solution package file (.wsp) that can be installed on SharePoint 2010 Server and SharePoint 2010 Online. It provides two handy features for CRM/SharePoint integration:
- SharePoint integration in CRM grid (same look and feel).
- Automatic folder (document locations) creation on SharePoint.
To install CRM List Component on SharePoint server, we need to make sure that the "Microsoft SharePoint User Code Host" service, which allows the execution of user code in a sandbox solution, is started. Then, install the solution package (.wsp) on the SharePoint site collection. Browse to the SharePoint site collection, click the Site Settings link, click on Solutions, and then select Upload Solution from the Solutions ribbon. Next, navigate to and upload the CRM List Component WSP file, and then activate it.
The following screenshot shows the CRM List Component in SharePoint 2010 Solutions (Go to CRM Documents site collection | Site Settings | Solutions):
Notice that, for the on-premise SharePoint deployment, you may have to add the .htc extension to the list of the allowed file types. Document Management is responsible for button actions through Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You can do this through the SharePoint Management Console or Windows PowerShell. Type in: .AllowHtcExtn.ps1 <Web Application URL>, for example:
.AllowHtcExtn.ps1 http://bps:6666
This PowerShell command will turn on the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation User Code Service, and add HTC extensions to the list of allowed extensions.
You may reference the "Microsoft Dynamics CRM List Component for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Readme" for more information on the CRM List Component.