New Development Options for Dynamics CRM

Dynamics CRM 4.0 provides developers with new options for customization, including a new workflow system for defining custom business processes, an expanded set of Web services for integrating CRM data with other applications, and a .NET-based system for defining a company’s business rules. But customizing a mission-critical server application remains complex, and the developer documentation is incomplete, so many customers will be better off working with integrators and other partners who work regularly with Dynamics CRM rather than doing the work themselves.

Dynamics CRM for Developers

Along with features that help organizations track customer interactions and plan sales and marketing campaign, Dynamics CRM includes a variety of tools that allow administrators, developers, and other workers to customize and extend the product, create custom solutions, and integrate the product with other applications, such as ERP systems. Like most line-of-business applications, CRM requires customization in order to fit the specific business processes of the customer. Some types of customization, such as defining the entities—sets of predefined record types (such as contact, account, and product)—can be done using the built-in features of the product without requiring the skills of a developer. Other changes, however, require software developers to write custom code to extend the product.