CRM E-mail Tracking: Part 2

As we discussed in the first post, there is additional configuration required in order for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automatically track\promote emails within CRM and correlate the email activity to the appropriate CRM record.  For part 2 of the e-mail Tracking Series, we will be going into the different settings mentioned in Part 1 that affect e-mail tracking in CRM.

Diagnostics from the CRM for Outlook client

The first location we will be looking at is the Diagnostics tool that is installed with the CRM for Outlook client. To find this, go to Start | All Programs | Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 | Diagnostics on a client workstation that has the CRM for Outlook client installed.

As you can see, there are a few different options here.  Let’s find out which each of these options do:

Outlook Synchronization
    a. This setting controls any record synchronization between Outlook e-mail, appointments, tasks, and contacts with CRM. With this turned off, tracking will be disabled. Therefore, if you are tracking you will want to leave this enabled/marked.

Background Send E-mail
    a. When creating an e-mail directly in CRM, this setting controls the background process of actually sending the e-mails. Please leave marked if you are going to be sending directly from the CRM web client. If this is unmarked and you try to send an e-mail directly from the web client, you will notice the e-mail in CRM will be stuck in a Pending status until this option is marked. 

Background Track E-mail
    a. With this marked, e-mails can be automatically tracked in CRM during the synchronization process. This looks at the Personal Options configuration methods when left marked. For automatic tracking purposes, you would leave this marked.

Automatic E-mail Tagging
    a. The e-mail tagging process is a process that polls the CRM Server for messages that are currently tracked in Outlook. If there are CRM Server side modifications, it will retrieve these changes from the CRM server to Outlook for modified e-mails only.
   

Personal Options

If an organization is going to use the CRM for Outlook client to automatically promote/track emails within CRM, a user must configure their personal options to allow the CRM for Outlook client to handle emails on their behalf.  To access the user’s Personal Options they will need to open Outlook and go to File | CRM | Options for Office 2010 and CRM | Options for Office 2007.

Since we are dealing with E-mail tracking\promotion, let’s look at the E-mail options by clicking on the E-mail tab.

 2. In Outlook, go to File | CRM | Options for Office 2010 and CRM | Options for Office 2007

As you can see, there are quite a few options available for a user to configure.  Let’s go over each of these options and what they are responsible for.

1.  Allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM to send e-mail using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook
        a. This checkbox allows e-mails created and sent from the CRM web client to be sent using the CRM for Outlook addin through Office Outlook. You will notice these e-mails appearing in the Sent Items folder of the Mailbox.

2. Check incoming e-mail in Outlook and determine whether an e-mail should be linked and saves as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record
        a. This option is only enabled if the Background Track e-mail checkbox is marked in Diagnostics. This setting will check incoming e-mails based on the System Settings configured to see if a record should be linked and saved in CRM as a record

3.  Select the e-mail messages to track in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
        a. All e-mail messages
             - This will track all e-mail messages regardless no matter if it is a CRM record or not. When this is selected, you will see a new draft email already appear as tracked prior to sending. It will completely track once it is sent. This is different than having to click Track manually if you use one of the options below.
        b. E-mail messages in response to CRM e-mail
             - This will track e-mails in response to current e-mails based on either the Tracking Token or Smart Matching configuration in System Settings. It looks to see if this e-mail has already been tracked in CRM as well as the tracking token if one is being used.
        c. E-mail messages from CRM Leads, Contacts and Accounts
             - This will only track e-mails if the sender is a lead, contact, or account
        d. E-mail messages from CRM records that are e-mail enabled
             - This will track e-mails from all record types, including custom record types that contain an e-mail address field.

4. Automatically create records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
        a. This will automatically create a Contact or Lead in CRM using the Sender or Organizer e-mail address of tracked e-mails if the Contact or Lead does not already exist.
        b. While you are offline when using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, contact and lead records are not created automatically from tracked e-mail messages or the organizer of tracked meetings. You must manually create the records.

5. Display Icon
        a. This Display Icon is what will display in Outlook if the item is tracked. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Icon is selected by default.

Now we need to ensure that CRM for Outlook client is going to be doing an automatic synchronization so it can send and promote emails without the user having to continuously run manual synchronizations.  To do this, click on the Synchronization tab within their Personal Options. 

The setting we are interested is: Synchronize the CRM items in my Outlook folders every.  This by default is set to 15 minutes and controls how often the synchronization process runs in the background. This can still be run manually.

User Record

As discussed in the first post, a User within CRM must be configured to allow the CRM for Outlook client to handle the incoming and outgoing requests automatically.  Again, you can do this by doing the going to the following location within CRM: Settings | Administration | Users | USER RECORD.  Within the User record, locate the Email Access Configuration section.  Set Incoming Access Configuration and Outgoing Access Configuration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook.

System Settings

Lastly, let’s check the System Settings within CRM to determine what options are available for configuration.  We can do this navigating to Settings | Administration | System Settings. 

We’ll first start off with the Outlook tab:

Set e-mail promotion options for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook:

a. Perform new checks as e-mail is received: This is what controls whether or not the client will check incoming e-mail (in Personal Options). If marked to yes, it uses the time configured in the following two settings to check for incoming e-mails that need to be tracked. This can be overridden at the Personal Options level if they have this unmarked (Check incoming e-mail in Outlook and determine whether an e-mail should be linked and saves as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record ). In order for this to happen, the user must also have Read privileges for the entity for which the e-mail is being tracked.

b. Promote incoming e-mail every: This setting controls the how often incoming e-mails are polled or reviewed. If it finds new e-mails, it looks to see if they meet the criteria to be tracked and created in CRM. The default is 10 minutes.

c. Send pending CRM e-mail every: This setting is used to send e-mail from the CRM web client based on the time configured. The default is 10 minutes.

Set whether users can schedule synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook

a. Users can schedule synchronization: This can be set to yes or no. By default, it is 15 minutes. If this is set to Yes, the Schedule automatic synchronization with Outlook setting will be configured in the user's Personal Options under the Synchronization tab

b. Minimum Time between synchronizations: This setting default is 15 minutes. This is the minimum amount of time the client must wait before a synchronization process starts. 
  

Now let’s direct our attention to the E-mail tab within the System Settings window:

Configure e-mail correlation (Tracking Token and Smart Matching) 
      a. Use Tracking Token. This creates a tracking token in the Subject line of an e-mail to help CRM determine if the e-mail should be tracked. This has been covered in the following blog post: https://community.dynamics.com/product/crm/crmtechnical/b/dynamicscrmsupportblog/archive/2012/08/14/email-tracking-token-in-dynamics-crm-2011.aspx

      b. Smart Matching. This is covered in the following blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2008/11/11/microsoft-dynamics-crm-email-correlation-and-smart-matching.aspx

Set tracking options for e-mails between CRM users 

      a. Having this checked will create two separate e-mail activities. One owned by the sender for the sent e-mail and another for the received e-mail that is owned by the recipient.

      b. Note that when this is not marked and an e-mail is sent from a CRM user as tracked to another CRM user, the recipient will see this as tracked only for a short period and then tracking will be removed, as we are not tracking the incoming e-mail.

Set e-mail form options
  a. Allow messages with unresolved e-mail recipients to be sent. This will allow you to send e-mails to unresolved recipients