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Customer experience | Sales, Customer Insights,...
Suggested Answer

Store Documents in Notes or SharePoint?

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Posted on by

Hi

My team are debating where documents and images (primarily relating to Contacts) should be stored - as notes attachments or in SharePoint?

I believe that SharePoint is the best option for a number of reasons but would like to get your opinions on pros and cons of each. 

Thanks in advance for your input.

Lisa

I have the same question (0)
  • Suggested answer
    Radu Chiribelea Profile Picture
    6,667 on at

    Hi Lisa,

    I agree - SharePoint is the best option as it is basically designed for sharing files across people.

    In CRM this would just eat up storage space and it's not necessarily automated processes relevant data.

    The downside is that you would need to get a SharePoint license besides CRM

    Hope this helps,,

    Radu

  • Suggested answer
    Naveen Ganeshe Profile Picture
    3,397 User Group Leader on at

    Hello Lisa!

    My opinion would be SharePoint. However, I am sharing a link where you can get a better idea of both the options i.e. Notes and Sharepoint. Please see below link:

    www.crmug.com/.../viewthread

  • Suggested answer
    Eccountable Profile Picture
    10 on at

    It depends on what you do with the documents. I found that the Attachment Management feature in Appsource is an excellent (and lower cost) solution to SharePoint: appsource.microsoft.com/.../microsoft_labs.96257e65-dbbe-43db-b775-77cf1609530c

  • LISAFOLEY Profile Picture
    on at

    Thanks for the swift responses guys! Very helpful.

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    18,054 on at

    Hi

    I think first thing to consider is the cost involved, If you already are paying for SharePoint, then I would say integrating SharePoint with CRM storing files in SP would be much better than notes.

    Number one problem with storing files in Notes is the not enough visibility. Searching and finding documents not very easy with notes. You could definitely think about creating views and dropping them on dashboards but this in no way closer to what SP integration provides. Plus side of using notes is that you don't pay extra and you don't have to integrate or administer like you will be doing for SharePoint.

    However, I still think using SharePoint is better because loads of other tools on Office 365 underneath use SharePoint, including Teams.

  • LISAFOLEY Profile Picture
    on at

    Thanks Kokulan. We do have Sharepoint licenses already.

    I had heard that where there used to be a big difference in cost, with Sharepoint being much cheaper, that recent pricing changes have brought the two closer?

    Also do you know if MS has bridged the gap in terms of user setup/ security. We had been looking at CB replicator to manage this.

    Thanks

    Lisa

  • Suggested answer
    Kokulan Profile Picture
    18,054 on at

    Yes it is much cheaper and there are different pricing models and if you already have licenses cost is not a concern.

    As far as I know there is no out of the box feature to Sync user privileges between CRM and Sharepoint.

    5037.ScreenClip-_5B00_233_5D00_.png

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/set-up-dynamics-365-online-to-use-sharepoint-online

    You have to rely on the tools like the one you mentioned above. Server side integration makes it easy so that users don't have to login to Sp separately to see the documents but permissions sync will have to be done manually or using a third party tool or you could write your own sync using a plugin or a scheduled task.

  • jason6311 Profile Picture
    5 on at

    Now that Microsoft is offering Azure Blob storage directly with Dynamics, is there a better answer to this question (that's a question for the MVPs here)? I.e. isn't the new best practice to store files directly in Dynamics using Attachment Management (directly to Azure Blob) instead of leveraging SP at all? The downsides of keeping it in SP are numerous operationally: minor SP outages affecting D365 environments, using SP storage limits, some Microsoft D365 support offerings (e.g. ACE) will not touch a problem with SP, general confusion between these separately managed and administered solutions, etc. 

    This feature formerly was called "Attachment Managment" when it was an unsupported solution offered through Microsoft Labs, though the name may have changed now that it is supported, but i can't find a link. Here is a post on the Labs version from a while back: https://d365blogger.com/2017/07/17/dynamics-365-attachment-management-with-azure-blob-storage/

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