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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Using a workflow to up...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Using a workflow to update a field

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Posted on by StaceyKCRM 80

I have a client that has added a "Last Activity" field, and a workflow has been created. When someone creates an appointment, phone call, email in CRM the field will update with the last time an activity took place. It works just fine, when you create the activities in Dynamics.

The client wants to be able to create Activities in Outlook, which is integrated with the CRM. When the activities are created in Outlook, they do not trigger the workflow to update the Last Activity field in Dynamics, although the activity does display in the Activity tab of the social pane.

Is it possible to have that workflow trigger or somehow get that field to update when the activity creation is outside the CRM?

Thank you for your help!

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  • Suggested answer
    Bruno Lucas Profile Picture
    Bruno Lucas 5,421 on at

    Hi,

    the workflow runs after a record change event like create or the update of a field.  If outlook is offline, it will not run until it is back online. Outlook need to update or create a record on the server.

    www.powerobjects.com/.../going-offline-with-microsoft-crm-2011-outlook-client

  • Wayne Walton Profile Picture
    Wayne Walton 13,730 on at

    I would take a look at the workflow and the workflow history.  As long as the activity syncs back to CRM, it should kick off the workflow just like any other activity would.  If you don't see workflows kicked off for those Outlook-based Activities, but you can see the activities in CRM, you might want to talk to MS, as that sounds like a bug.

    If you do see workflows kicked off, open one and see where it is exiting.  It's possible that if you are creating and completing an activity in Outlook before it's synced to CRM that it's catching an if/then to close the workflow.  If nothing stands out, post a screenshot of a successfully completed workflow, and one that completes without updating anything.

    Finally, if the "regarding" field is the one used for updating "last Activity", you might need to update how they work, as "regarding" isn't an automatic Outlook field.  they're going to have to fill out the CRM field as well.  This goes for any CRM-specific field

    Ooh, one more thing: in the CRM for Outlook Options, you can tell Outlook to open the CRM form instead of the Outlook form.  If you set that to use the CRM form, then they'll just use CRM all the time, even from Outlook, avoiding the issue altogether.

  • StaceyKCRM Profile Picture
    StaceyKCRM 80 on at

    Outlook is Online. So that is not what is causing the issue. Thank you for the suggestion though.

  • Bruno Lucas Profile Picture
    Bruno Lucas 5,421 on at

    is this generating a workflow instance at all. sometimes the workflow create an instance but for some reason\condition it won't complete. Does it throw any error when you sync the CRM outlook

    www.magnetismsolutions.com/.../real-time-workflow-processes-and-microsoft-dynamics-crm-for-outlook-offline-mode

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