Dynamics 365 Attachments in Azure Blob

Recently we have implemented the attachments management for Dynamics 365 CRM online using Azure Blob storage. Its easy to implement and saves a lot of costs ( Dynamics CRM storage costs Vs Azure Blob storage)

I have also blogged an issue we had while trying install here

http://crmdm.blogspot.com/2018/10/sorry-we-couldnt-find-dynamics-365.html

Steps are given below. I would recommend to try this in sandbox first.

Settings -> Micorsoft AppSource and search for Attachment management solution

 Click on the Get it Now button as shown below.

This will install solution in the selected CRM enviroment. Refresh the page a bit later and check for the installed status.

After the solution is installed, you could see a tile for the Azure Attachment Storage.

The solution has mainly 4 tasks to be done.

1. Azure Blob storage Setup

Azure blob storage details should be provided here.

How to find organisatin ID in Dynamics CRM?

Settings->Customizations->Developer Resources-> Instance Reference Information->ID

2. Notes Attachment Entity Settting

Separate entities are defined here. This attachment solution would only move attachments configured here. Container name should be specified

3. Reports and Admin

Yes, its just a button after configurations are done. As you could see here just the move to blob button. This would move all the existing attachments. You could see how many are moved and how many to be moved. The newly created ones would be stored in blob from now on.

I would recommed DB back to be taken before this step ( just in case scenario).

4. Users should have security role against the 'Azure Blob storage settings' entity

After implementing this solution we found that users need to have security role for azure blob storage settings entity in CRM. So in our case we created a new security role for this. Alternatively you could include this privilege in one of the existing security roles.

We also used a tool to assign this security role to everyone.

 Xrm Toolbox-> Users, Team, Security role report plugin --> Connected to CRM ->selected organisation -> Selected users on the left hand side and role needed on the right hand side and then choose the action 'Add roles'

Sorry we couldn't find a Dynamics 365 Organization connected to the signed-in user. Please use different credentials or sign up for a free trial and try again,

We were trying to implement the attachment management for Dynamics 365 crm online using Azure blob storage. But we ended up with the below error.

"Sorry we couldn't find a Dynamics 365 Organization connected to the signed-in user. Please use different credentials or sign up for a free trial and try again "

The url we followed is given below.

https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/dynamics-365/microsoft_labs.96257e65-dbbe-43db-b775-77cf1609530c?tab=overview

Later realised that this should be done from Dynamics CRM.

So navigated to CRM

Settings -> Micorsoft AppSource and searched for Attachment management solution and no more errors.

I hope this helps !

Advanced Find Feature Dynamics 365 V9

Long waited feature is here ! Thank you Microsoft for bringing this one in !

For instance, Find all contacts which do not have child activities. 

This was impossible before Dynamics 365 V9.

Free Process Drawing Tool - Online

One of my colleagues recommended this online tool for drawing process diagrams etc. Found it really cool. It has capababilities to export as image, pdf etc too. And most interesting factor is that its free ! Highly recommended.

https://www.draw.io/

SSRS Error -The report parameter has a DefaultValue or a ValidValue that depends on the report parameter Forward dependencies are not valid.

SSRS Error -The report parameter  has a DefaultValue or a ValidValue that depends on the report parameter.  Forward dependencies are not valid.  

This was actually a simple issue. But the error message was a bit confusing. So thought to post this scenario so that this could save someone's time. 

In our scenario we had a parameter called Country. And this Country parameter was used in another parameter to filter down further. So we had another parameter called States which was based on a query with Country parameter in the where condition along with some other conditions. Now the order of the parameters should be Country First and then States. Otherwise you would see the above error. Its super easy to change the order of the parameters. For the beginners, please refer the below link. It has a screen shot.

How to change the order of report parameters 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/report-design/change-the-order-of-a-report-parameter-report-builder-and-ssrs?view=sql-server-2017

Azure Mobile App

Azure Mobile app is a cool way to monitor the usage of Azure resources. 

You could easily find it by searching 'Azure Mobile App' either in Google Playstore / Apple app store.

Below are some sample screen shots from the Android version.

Powerapps- What's new

Two types of business apps could be created using Powerapps.

1. Canvas App ( Apps with great user interfaces can be built using these apps)

 2. Model Driven App ( Starts with data model and then build business process. UI automatically generated)

How to switch between the above apps?

Well, its very easy. When you navigate to https://web.powerapps.com
you could choose the app on the left bottom corner as shown below.

There are lots of learning materials available for these apps. Two are given below.

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-model-driven-apps/

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-powerapps-learning-resources/