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Dynamics 365 general forum

What is the value of Connections?

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Posted on by Community Member Microsoft Employee

After doing some reading on what Connections are in CRM and how to set them up, I'm still left wondering what their value add is.

While the ability to create a relationship for a contact across different entities is of value, at this point I can only see the visual value.  To date the reasons we have wanted to create N:N relationships like those in Connections are for process workflows, bulk emails/mail merges/powermailchimp, and a general visual hierarchy.  From what I have read so far, on the latter is possible without custom java script.

Can anyone advise what the value is that can be gained with Connections?

Thanks in advance,

Categories:
Other Functionality
Customization / Solutions / SDK and API
  • Suggested answer
    Alex Fun Wei Jie Profile Picture
    Alex Fun Wei Jie 33,626 on at
    RE: What is the value of Connections?

    Hi,

    I dont see the mail merge button on Connection, so i believe it does not supports. Furthermore , mail merge is going to be deprecated, use word document instead.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: What is the value of Connections?

    Hi Fun Wei Jie,

    Thanks for your example and report points - one last query.  Have you been able to use connectons in emails/mail merges?

  • Suggested answer
    Alex Fun Wei Jie Profile Picture
    Alex Fun Wei Jie 33,626 on at
    RE: What is the value of Connections?

    Hi,

    let me share one of my past experiences. My client is using CRM online, as we know there is a limit of custom entities. So , where comes to setup the relationship.

    We decided to use connection. Below is the scenario.

    My client's contact owning multiple companies, the contact is sitting different positions in different companies.  Instead of creating custom entities to store the position in each companies, we decided to use connection, why? because there is a limit of custom entities for CRM online, so the connection is kicking in. 

    Another example would be, the stake holders in opportunity, Microsoft is using connection to store the stake holder too.

    4035.1.PNG

    Limit of custom entities for CRM online

    [View:https://nishantrana.me/2016/11/16/resources-in-use-300-custom-entities-limit-in-dynamics-365-online/:750:50]

    Report

    - you can use the report wizard, you can choose connection from there.

    - you also can build SSRS , if you want fancy report design.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: What is the value of Connections?

    Hi Fun Wei Jie,

    Thanks for your reply!  The article is interesting in that it talks about keeping for form clean and affirmations for many to many relationships, but I'm still missing what Connections can do in a functional sense.  The article mentions that it can be used in reporting - but I'm yet to see how this is possible.  A lot of reporting relies on views, and I don't see a Connection being able to be added to a view.

    Nor do I see anything to indicate that functions like business rules, work flows, mail merges etc are able to be used through these.

    Have you been able to use Connections for any of this yourself?

    Would be interested in hearing on any examples where connections have helped a business.

  • Alex Fun Wei Jie Profile Picture
    Alex Fun Wei Jie 33,626 on at
    RE: What is the value of Connections?

    Hi,

    you can refer to below article. It explains the pros and cons of using connection .

    www.powerobjects.com/.../the-great-debate-dynamics-crm-connections-vs-lookups

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