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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Seeking 3rd party solu...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Seeking 3rd party solutions for enhanced Scheduling/Production Runs using dynamics CRM 2011 Services module & service calendar

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Posted on by Joseph Ramil 155

Can anyone recommend some third party solutions that work well that integrate with CRM online or Outlook calendar or better yet both?

 

The out of the box solution in CRM online is very limited, cumbersome and not intuitive for non-tech users without a lot of customization.

 

Thanks.

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  • GL-23071537-0 Profile Picture
    GL-23071537-0 on at

    Hi Joseph,

    It really depends on your requirements.  Can you share a bit more of what you want it to do?  We have implemented the Service Scheduling with success and have also created some custom solutions for scheduling where the requirements have not been met with out-of-the-box.  Once you get into 3rd party solutions, the devil is in the details for matching requirements, and we haven't found any good matches yet!  But perhaps others have a good experience to share.

  • Joseph Ramil Profile Picture
    Joseph Ramil 155 on at

    We use dynamics gp integrated with dynamics crm online.  We use outlook heavily.  I am testing the service scheduling on the services calendar in our sandbox but have found some issues I can't overcome.   #1 is that we only run production from 6am to 10pm in two shifts.  If I have a production run that goes for say 60 hours and goes over multiple days, the service activity in CRM calendar does not take into account the hours we don't work and therefore is not accurate for showing when a job will be completed. this requires me to enter a separate activity every day multiple times for one job. Very time consuming.  Even though I entered the downtime hours it still does not work.   The other issue is the inability to add users(hourly workers_ as resources in addition to machines to schedule them without adding CRM users that I have to pay for.   What options or suggestions can you offer?  Any customization you have done that overcome any of these issues etc. and how involved/costly were they.  Thanks.

  • Suggested answer
    GL-23071537-0 Profile Picture
    GL-23071537-0 on at

    Hi Joseph,

    One of the criticisms of the Service Scheduling area of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has consistently been that it is tightly defined and customizing it for outlying needs is not always easy.  

    But a couple of suggestions on workarounds--for the 60 hour job, you could try to get workflow (plug-in or workflow extension would be better) to assist you with scheduling multiple service activities by specifying how many days it needs to be scheduled--or calculating total hours (JavaScript) and scheduling out a # of activities based on that.  Some thought would have to go into this.

    For the non-CRM user resources, you are kind of stuck, as I imagine you are wanting to have visibility into the availability of those people.  So I haven't tested, but I'm wondering if you put them in as Facilities/Equipment, group them together at one site, and then specify in the rules that you need someone from that site.  Just a thought!

    I hope others will chime in if they have seen any third parties, but what I am hearing now seems like you might need at least some custom work to accomplish this.

  • Joseph Ramil Profile Picture
    Joseph Ramil 155 on at

    Thanks for a very detailed and helpful answer.  The idea of adding workers under facilities/equipment is something I did think about but thanks for the confirmation.  I will have to do some research into workflows for scheduling in the services calendar to see what is possible.  Surprising to me that Microsoft or its partners don't offer something a little more flexible.  

  • Suggested answer
    GL-23071537-0 Profile Picture
    GL-23071537-0 on at

    Hi Joseph,

    Totally understand what you mean.  I think part of the issue is that the Service Scheduling is one of the least used areas because of all the businesses I go into, only a small, small percentage have any sort of scheduling process that requires the need for something like service scheduling.

    We are working on an add-on now that is more of a backend integration with Service Scheduling and Exchange so that people do not have to have Outlook open and syncing in order to get the requests. So stay tuned!

  • Joseph Ramil Profile Picture
    Joseph Ramil 155 on at

    Preactor Express Software.....it would be nice to have some of that functionality integrated into CRM Service module.   Check it out if you have not already.   I look forward to hearing about your solution when you come out with it.  Thanks

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