• Illustration: Dynamics Snap Vacation Management

Four free programs from Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) allow users to access data and functions in Dynamics AX 3.0 and Dynamics CRM 3.0 from Office applications. The programs—called Dynamics Snap—better position Office as a platform for custom application development and could give workers access to business information from within the familiar Office interface. The Snap programs and source code are freely available, which could help jump-start partner development of additional applications. However, the programs are unsupported, and partners who build on them should be aware that Microsoft's plans for these products could change.

Pushing Office as Client

Dynamics Snap supports two important Microsoft business objectives. First, the project helps establish Visual Studio, the .NET Framework, and Office as a platform for custom business application development. The Snap programs are .NET-based solutions written in the C# language using the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office (VSTO), an edition of Visual Studio that enables developers to use the .NET Framework and .NET languages to build extensions to Word, Excel, InfoPath, and Outlook.

Second, improving integration between MBS's Dynamics product line and Office is one of several high-level goals of Project Green, Microsoft's long-term plan to converge the four Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) products (Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, and Dynamics SL) on a single code base. However, the initial Snap programs offer features only for AA AX 3.0, the latest release of the top-of-the-line Dynamics ERP product (formerly named Axapta), and CRM 3.0, the most recent version of the Microsoft's customer relationship management (CRM) application.

Features, Benefits Similar to Mendocino

The initial Snap programs offer functionality similar to that planned for Mendocino, a joint Microsoft and SAP product that will allow workers to use Office to access the mySAP ERP application. Both Snap and Mendocino give a wide cross-section of workers access to business information without leaving the Office interface, and both reduce common inefficiencies, such as redundant data entry, associated with bridging applications manually.

(For a screen shot of one of the Snap programs for AX, see the illustration "Dynamics Snap Vacation Management".)

Despite their functional similarities, Snap and Mendocino use different technologies. Snap uses VSTO, but Mendocino is being built on Microsoft's Information Bridge Framework, another developer technology for building thick-client solutions on Office and the .NET Framework.

The four Snap programs provide the following functionality:

Connect to AX and CRM data. Two Snap programs provide task panes in Outlook, Word, and Excel for searching for and using data in AX and CRM. Using the AX Snap program, for example, a sales representative could access customer sales orders and insert details of those orders into a Word document, such as a letter to the customer. Conversely, workers can also attach Office documents to AX or CRM records—for instance, the sales representative could attach the Word document containing the letter to the AX sales order referenced in the letter.

Vacation time management. Another Snap program for AX allows workers to submit vacation requests via e-mail from within Outlook. Requests are automatically routed for approval or rejection; following approval or rejection, the Snap program updates the requestor's vacation information in AX's time and attendance module. The program also allows users to view information about their vacation history (for example, vacation days remaining) stored in AX from Outlook.

Timesheet management. A timesheet Snap program for AX allows users to view and submit entries via Outlook for time worked. Outlook entries (such as tasks and meetings) are linked with AX time entries, eliminating the need to manually track and maintain those entries in two separate applications. The program could help project- or service-oriented companies, such as consulting companies, whose employees are required to track and allocate time against multiple projects.

Partner Starting Point, Not Supported

The source code for the Snap programs is available under the Microsoft Permissive License, which allows partners and customers to view, modify, and redistribute the code, effectively making the programs prototypes for connecting Office with Dynamics applications. Microsoft hopes this will help kick-start third-party development of additional Office-based functionality for the Dynamics line.

However, partners heading down that path should tread carefully to avoid conflict with Microsoft's plans. The company has indicated that it will ship additional Snap programs in the future, expanding the range of AX and CRM data and functions available to Office users, and adding programs that connect to other Dynamics products such as GP (formerly Great Plains) and NAV (formerly Navision).

How the Snap programs, or similar programs created by Microsoft partners, will work with future versions of the Dynamics products remains unclear. For example, Snap programs gain access to AX data and functions through a COM-based programming interface (called the Axapta COM Connector). But Project Green specifies that legacy interfaces such as COM eventually will be replaced by .NET or Web services interfaces. Such compatibility questions may be less of a concern with CRM, which is built on the .NET Framework and provides a Web services API (which its Snap program uses to access CRM).

Finally, customers should note that the Snap programs are not supported by Microsoft (although Microsoft has tested the programs internally). Consequently, customers and partners deploying the programs in production environments must also be prepared to maintain those programs. This is one main difference between Snap and Mendocino—when Mendocino ships in the second half of 2006, it will be a fully supported product.

Availability, Requirements, and Resources

The Snap programs were released in Feb. 2006 and are available from Microsoft free of charge. To use the Snap programs, client computers must be running Office 2003 SP1, and the .NET Framework 2.0 and VSTO runtimes, which are free, redistributable downloads. Developers wanting to build similar applications or customize the Snap programs must also install Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office and Visual C# 2005. Customers using the Snap programs for AX must license the Axapta COM Connector; customers using the Snap programs for CRM must purchase CRM user licenses.

The Dynamics Snap code and associated documentation is available for download at codegallery.gotdotnet.com/dynamicssnap.

The press release announcing availability of the Dynamics Snap programs and an interview with MBS Vice President Satya Nadella is at www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/feb06/02-20Dynamics.mspx.

Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office are described in "Office Document Processing Platform Emerging" on page 23 of the July 2005 Update and "Visual Studio Tools Add Outlook Support" on page 16 of the Sept. 2005 Update.

Project Mendocino is described in "Mendocino Ties SAP and Office" on page 29 of the June 2005 Update.

The Information Bridge Framework is described in "New Platform for Office Smart Clients" on page 24 of the July 2004 Update and "Office Bridge Platform Updated" on page 22 of the Apr. 2005 Update.

A discussion of MBS's Project Green product consolidation strategy appears in "Project Green Details Trickle Out" on page 23 of the Nov. 2005 Update.