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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Adding workflow to a s...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

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Posted on by CRM Learner 88

We have a workflow in our production environment that sends an email out to a specific contact record.  This contact record does not exist in our dev environment.  We always make updates to in Dev first and then roll them up.  Thus far for the workflows we have been making the change manually in all environments but eventually want to just add them to a solution and roll up. 

What is the best approach in this case since the contact record doesn't exist in Dev?  I can create the contact manually in Dev but I don't think the guids would match right...  Should we just be aware of this and then manually change the contact record in the workflow once the solution is in production?

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  • Suggested answer
    Luke Sartain Profile Picture
    Luke Sartain 1,266 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    Yes, and then unzip it once it has downloaded.

  • CRM Learner 88 Profile Picture
    CRM Learner 88 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    Should I download the compiled version?  Is it just an installation file.. I am not a developer so I wouldn't know how to implement code.

  • Suggested answer
    Luke Sartain Profile Picture
    Luke Sartain 1,266 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    I find this tool useful for such jobs.

    alexanderdevelopment.net/.../dynamics-365-configuration-data-mover-v2-1

  • Suggested answer
    Gee Bee Profile Picture
    Gee Bee 11,397 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    Yes you are correct.

    You may need a 6 lines of code c# (console application).

    Or just use Configuration Data Migration Tool.

  • ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    I'd actually still use the tool (data migration tool does not require coding etc). You'll probably spend a few hours to get it to work if you never did it before, but, once it's done, you won't have to deal with this ever again since your contact record will have the same ID in all environments

  • CRM Learner 88 Profile Picture
    CRM Learner 88 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    So it sounds like with coding or using a special tool our best bet would be to just change the contact record in production after the import, right?

  • Suggested answer
    Gee Bee Profile Picture
    Gee Bee 11,397 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    Hi

    It is not a best practise to do so.

    However, if you want to create a contact with a certain GUID, you can either do programmatically (a few lines of code) or Use Configuration Data Migration tool (Export Contact from your Dev and manually remove all the records except this one. Import it into the target, it would create the record with the same GUID).

  • Suggested answer
    ashlega Profile Picture
    ashlega 34,475 on at
    RE: Adding workflow to a solution that references a specific contact record

    Hi,

     you can keep the ID if you copy that contact to your dev environment using such ETL tools as SSIS or Scribe.. Or you could use custom code. Or you might also use Configuration Migration tool:

    technet.microsoft.com/.../dn647421.aspx

    PS. Another way to do it would be to create a configuration entity and store all those references in the config entity, then use that configuration entity in your workflows. But you will need a custom workflow activity that would retrieve that configuration record for you in the worfklow (ID-s won't matter then. You'll just create a configuration record in each environment)

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