Synchronizing Accounts with Outlook Instead of Contacts

[John Clifton]

We have a CRM 3.0 client who wishes to synchronize information from Accounts
(along with two attributes from Contacts) with Outlook Contacts rather than
synchronizing info from Contacts. Ideally, we could just copy the existing
CRM routines that already synch the Contacts, modify them for the new
mappings and add an "Accounts" item to the "Tasks, Appointments, Contacts"
that already appear on the menu. Would probably want to disable the
"Contacts" synchronization at the same time.

Perhaps this is way too simplistic (and optimistic !!). . . I would
appreciate hearing your thoughts on this. If it is possible to 'clone' the
existing routine, where would we start? If not, any other suggestions as to
how to approach this and provide as close to the same functionality as what
CRM currently provides for Contact synchronization?
--
Many thanks,

John Clifton

[David Jennaway]

I'm afraid I don;t have anything particualrly helpful for you. I don't know
of any way to clone the existing routines (and there's definitely no
supported way).

I can think of 2 possible routes:
1. If you're not using the contact synchronisation at all you could build a
twisted mechanism whereby you create a contact for each account you want to
sync with appropriate field mapping (I think you'd need a callout for this)
with a flag field to distinguish these pseudo-contacts from real ones. Then
modify the Local Data Groups for Outlook synchronisation to only sync the
pseudo-contacts, and modify the CRM views to only display real contacts.
2. Write the synchronisation code from scratch. I've done similar to sync
with Exchange public folders (using WebDAV and Exchange OLEDB), and I think
the server-side route of going straight to the Exchange stores is easier than
developing within Outlook, even though there are few security issues to get
round
Or 3, give up now.

Hopefully somebody else has some more useful suggestions, but I wouldn't
hold your breath

--
David Jennaway - Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP
Web: http://www.excitation.co.uk

[Stephaner]

On May 2, 3:18 pm, David Jennaway

<DavidJenna...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I'm afraid I don;t have anything particualrly helpful for you. I don't know
> of any way to clone the existing routines (and there's definitely no
> supported way).
>
> I can think of 2 possible routes:
> 1. If you're not using the contact synchronisation at all you could build a
> twisted mechanism whereby you create a contact for each account you want to
> sync with appropriate field mapping (I think you'd need a callout for this)
> with a flag field to distinguish these pseudo-contacts from real ones. Then

> modify the Local Data Groups forOutlooksynchronisation to only sync the

> pseudo-contacts, and modify the CRM views to only display real contacts.
> 2. Write the synchronisation code from scratch. I've done similar to sync
> with Exchange public folders (using WebDAV and Exchange OLEDB), and I think
> the server-side route of going straight to the Exchange stores is easier than

> developing withinOutlook, even though there are few security issues to get

> round
> Or 3, give up now.
>
> Hopefully somebody else has some more useful suggestions, but I wouldn't
> hold your breath
>
> --
> David Jennaway - Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP
> Web:http://www.excitation.co.uk
>
>
>
> "John Clifton" wrote:
> > We have a CRM 3.0 client who wishes to synchronize information from Accounts

> > (along with two attributes from Contacts) withOutlookContacts rather than

> > synchronizing info from Contacts. Ideally, we could just copy the existing
> > CRM routines that already synch the Contacts, modify them for the new
> > mappings and add an "Accounts" item to the "Tasks, Appointments, Contacts"
> > that already appear on the menu. Would probably want to disable the
> > "Contacts" synchronization at the same time.
>
> > Perhaps this is way too simplistic (and optimistic !!). . . I would
> > appreciate hearing your thoughts on this. If it is possible to 'clone' the
> > existing routine, where would we start? If not, any other suggestions as to
> > how to approach this and provide as close to the same functionality as what
> > CRM currently provides for Contact synchronization?
> > --
> > Many thanks,
>

> > John Clifton- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

We ran into the same issue as many of our sales team uses some type of
PDA and need both Contact & Account info available on the road and CRM
doesn't sync Accounts only Contacts. What we ended up doing is when a
new Account needs to be entered it is actaully started as a Lead. You
can then turn the Llead into an Account and it will give you the
option to add as Account, Contact or both. We select both (add
Account & Contact), while this is a work around, the Account, in
effect, will sync with outlook with all the data you need.

To ensure we were capturing all the data we require I changed the Lead
entitiy so that it had all the fields we deam mandatory for Accounts
and any additional data for contacts we want are entered only once and
applied once the lead is changed.

Hope this makes sense and helps.

~Stephanie

[denis.ma...@grinmark.com]

This answer is a bit delayed, but may still be useful.

I recommend you to consider the Agile Dynamics CRM to Exchange Synchronizer (DXSync). It provides server-side integration between Dynamics CRM and Exchange. Integration includes synchronization of Contacts, Meetings, Calls, Tasks; Archiving emails; special scenarios to replicate and create items like Opportunities and Cases from your email client. This solution works without any client-side plugins. No need for additional configuration of standard mobile or desktop email clients (Outlook, Entourage, Mac Mail, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, etc.).

Free trial version is available for download so you can try DXSync before making a decision.

If what you need is one-time synchronization, then trial mode may be enough to get required results.

Best regards,
Denis Markovtsev
GrinMark CRM Integration Team
sa...@grinmark.com

[Denis Markovtsev]

Give the Agile Dynamics CRM to Exchange Synchronizer (DXSync) a try. DXSync provides two-way synchronization of Contacts, Accounts, Leads, Meetings, Calls, Tasks; Archiving emails; special scenarios to replicate and create items like Opportunities and Cases from your email client.

You can now choose between On-Premise and On-Demand (cloud) server-side synchronization of Dynamics CRM and Exchange.
http://www.grinmark.com/products/dxsync/on-premise-vs-on-demand.html

Free trial version is available so you can try DXSync before making a decision.
http://www.grinmark.com/requesttrialform.html
http://www.grinmark.com/products/dxsync/

Best regards,
Denis Markovtsev
GrinMark CRM Integration Team

http://www.grinmark.com
sa...@grinmark.com