CRM-SharePoint Connector Installation & User Guide
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Table of Contents Introduction... 4 Overview 5 So, how does it work? 6 Key Features & Benefits 7 Installation... 8 Software prerequisites 8 Installation Procedure 8 Post Installation 9 Component Localization... 11 Resource File Editor utility structure 11 Translating a KWizCom component 12 Use the component in your preferred language 12 Component Activation... 13 Administrator's Guide... 15 Introduction 15 CRM-SharePoint Connector configuration 15 MS CRM with SharePoint-based document management capabilities 21 FAQ... 24 What exactly does KWizCom CRM-SharePoint Connector do? 28 Does CRM-SharePoint Connector require that the CRM server and the SharePoint server be installed on the same server? 28 Version Release Notes... 29 New Added Features 29 This Version's Known Issues/Limitations 29 Technical Support... 30 3
Introduction KWizCom CRM-SharePoint Connector is a Microsoft CRM 3.0 add-on that provides Microsoft CRM 3.0 users with enhanced document management capabilities. This is done by seamlessly integrating Microsoft SharePoint Services capabilities into CRM 3.0 user interface. This document provides all the information needed to install, evaluate and deploy this KWizCom product: Product overview Installation guide Component localization Component activation Administrator's guide FAQ Version release notes 4
Overview KWizCom CRM-SharePoint Connector enables users to better manage documents connected to any CRM entity (Account, Lead, Product etc.). These document management capabilities relay on Microsoft SharePoint Services, and provide CRM users with the ability to: Create document Libraries and folders Save documents connected to any CRM entity Search for documents Expose documents to users who are NOT CRM users (and do not have CRM client license) This new "Documents" tab displays data from a SharePoint site which is connected to the current campaign. 5
So, how does it work? KWizCom CRM-SharePoint Connector automatically creates a SharePoint site for a CRM entity (for example: A site for every account, where you can store all documents, contracts related to each account). The CRM-SharePoint Connector includes a configuration utility that enables an administrator to configure various settings of the CRM- SharePoint connection: The CRM entities for which to create a SharePoint site Where to create the site (WSS site collection) Site creation event Which WSS site pages should be displayed inside CRM interface 6
Key Features & Benefits CRM enhanced knowledge management features, based on widespread SharePoint technology Enable CRM users and non CRM users share the same documents Provide an API for SharePoint site creation that can be used for any other purpose No client installation needed easy & fast deployment Multi-lingual (standard for all KWizCom components) 7
Installation Software prerequisites Server Requirements 1. Microsoft CRM 3.0 2. WSS 2.0 / SPS 2003 OR 3. WSS 3.0 / MOSS 2007 Client PC Requirements 1. Microsoft Windows XP - SP2 / Windows Vista 2. IE6+ SP1 / IE7 Installation Procedure 1. Log in to the CRM 3.0 server as local admin. 2. Unzip the CRM-SharePoint Connector zip file. 3. Double-click the.msi file in order to begin the installation. 4. If your SharePoint Server is installed on a separate server repeat steps 1 to 4 on that server. 8
Post Installation 1. After completion of the installation, you will see a new KWizCom entry on your CRM server, in Windows Start -> All Programs -> KWizCom containing: About CRM-SharePoint Connector Display General information about the component. Activate CRM-SharePoint Connector This utility enables you (the SharePoint Administrator) to activate the downloaded evaluation version. CRM-SharePoint Connector User Guide Link to user-guide document (.PDF). CRM-SharePoint Connector Settings Configuration utility that enables to define the SharePoint site creation rules. CRM-SharePoint Connector Resource Editor This utility enables to translate the component to your local language. Please review the next sections for further details about component localization and activation. 2. Set a domain user account that has a SharePoint site creation privileges. This step is required because the CRM-SharePoint connector creates a SharePoint site whenever a new defined CRM entity is created (according to the defined rules). Since normally most od the users do not have SharePoint site creation privileges, you have to define a domain user that all site creation activities will be done under 9
his credentials. On your SharePoint server: Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. Find _layouts folder under your SharePoint web site. Under _layouts folder find KWizCom_CRMConnector folder. Make KWizCom_CRMConnector folder a virtual directory and assign it the same Application pool that _layouts virtual directory uses. Open C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\template\layouts\kwizcom_crmconnector folder (WSS 2.0 / SPS 2003) OR C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\template\layouts\kwizcom_crmconnector Rename web.config1 file to web.config and open it for editing In the <identity impersonate="true" username="domain\username" password="password"/> element insert username and password of a domain user that has sufficient privileges to create SharePoint sites. 3. Use CRM-SharePoint configuration utility to define rules for auto creation of SharePoint sites and their connection to CRM entities. Please review the administration section for details. 10
Component Localization Every KWizCom component comes with localization utility called "Resource File Editor" that enables translation of the component user interface to any required language. This section describes this utility and the translation process. Resource File Editor utility structure This utility displays the following dialog that enables the administrator to translate every displayed string (captions, menu items, user-messages) to the required target language. Here you select the target language All internal string names The application displays 2 controls: "Select Culture" drop-down contains a list of target languages. Strings grid This grid contains all the strings displayed by the component. The grid includes 3 columns: a. Internal Name This column displays the internal name of each string (read only). b. Default Value The default displayed value in English (read only). The default displayed caption for each string in English c. Localized Value The translated value in the selected language. This is where you enter the required translated value. The captions that should be displayed in your localized language 11
Once you finish translating all the component strings, click "Create" and a resource file will be created. This resource file will automatically be used by the component upon changing the user language on your server. For example: In an MS SharePoint-based component, you should create a site using your required SharePoint Language Pack. According to the SharePoint site language, the relevant language's resource file will be used by the component. Translating a KWizCom component 1. On your Windows task bar, select: Start->All Programs->KWizCom-> SharePoint Quick Launch Web Part Resource Editor 2. Select your target language on the "Select Culture" drop-down list. 3. Translate all the displayed strings in the strings grid by entering a translated value in the "Localized Value" column. 4. Click the "Create"/"Update" button in order to create/save a resource file for the selected target language. 5. If you want to create additional resource files for more target languages, simply repeat stages 2-4 for each language. 6. Close the utility by clicking the "Close" button. Use the component in your preferred language All KWizCom components use.net localization mechanism. This means that a KWizCom component will automatically use a language resource file according to the displayed application's language (this is true for all types of components). 12
Component Activation KWizCom components are available for evaluation prior to purchase. This way you can try our components and verify that they indeed meet your needs. An evaluation version for each KWizCom component contains all features of the component's production version. The only difference is that an evaluation version is time-limited, and will operate for a period of one month. Once you decide to order a KWizCom component, you will need to follow the following steps: 1. Order the component on the KWizCom website www.kwizcom.com. 2. Send us the installed evaluation version's product Code (you will see the product Code on the "About" product page: Product Code Please use the Activation Request web form, on KWizCom web site to send us your product code. 3. Get the component activation key this key will be sent to you by email once your order is processed. 13
4. Activate your installed evaluation version - click Start -> All Programs -> KWizCom -> Activate SharePoint Quick Launch Web Part 14
Administrator's Guide Introduction After CRM-SharePoint Connector is installed, the administrator role is to define for which CRM entities should SharePoint sites be created, using which site templates and under which URL. This section describes CRM-SharePoint connector settings utility, which serves for defining these rules by the administrator. CRM-SharePoint Connector configuration CRM-SharePoint Connector utility serves to configure CRM-SharePoint Connector. The utility is available on the MS CRM server, Start>All Programs>KWizCom>CRM-SharePoint Connector> CRM-SharePoint Connector Settings When the utility is activated the following dialog is displayed: 15
Creating a SharePoint site creation rule is done by the following steps: 1. Select a CRM entity in the "CRM Entity" drop-down list. Example: We want every CRM campaign entity to include a campaign SharePoint site that will store all campaign's documents. 2. Insert the URL of the SharePoint site collection under which you'd like the CRM-SharePoint Connector to create a SharePoint site for every new created campaign, in the "Root SharePoint Site" field. After you insert the URL you will be able to select a SharePoint site template that will be used to create these SharePoint site: 16
3. On the "SharePoint Site Name" field enter the name of the site created for the CRM entity (which is a CRM Campaign in this example). The name may be composed of static strings together with any of the CRM entity's attributes that may be selected by clicking the "SharePoint Site Name" drop-down list, and selecting an attribute: 17
4. Next, you should define when should the CRM-SharePoint Connector create a SharePoint site for the CRM entity: a. Automatically when the CRM entity is created b. Manually upon a user's request c. CRM Workflow In this example, we choose the 1 st option: Each time a campaign is created on the MS CRM system, a new campaign SharePoint site will be created. 18
Please review the next chapter for more details about the third option (CRM Workflow). 5. Last thing you should define is how will the SharePoint site be displayed as a part of the MS CRM entity: a. Tab Name defines the caption of a new tab that will be added to the CRM entity's page (on the MS CRM GUI). b. Which page of the SharePoint site will be displayed at default. In our Campaign example we chose to display the SharePoint site's "Shared Documents" page inside a tab called "Documents": 19
6. Clicking "Apply" will save this CRM-SharePoint site creation rule: That's it. Lets see now what is the outcome of the Campaign site creation rule. 20
MS CRM with SharePoint-based document management capabilities Lets continue our Campaign example; When you click the "Campaigns" button in MS CRM, you get the following display: Now, when you double-clicks one of the campaigns the selected campaign's record is displayed: 21
As you can see, a new "Documents" tab appears. When you save the current campaign the following message is displayed: 22
Now, when you click the "Documents" tab, the following page is displayed: What you see is the web interface of the SharePoint site that was automatically created for the current saved campaign record. You can create document libraries, store documents in them and search for documents using SharePoint services. Remark: This example shows a "vanilla" SharePoint site. In real deployments, it is recommended you design a SharePoint site template that can be better embedded inside the CRM's web interface (same colors, remove SharePoint top menus etc.) This can be easily done by creating the appropriate SharePoint site template. 23
WSS sites creation by a system user account There are some cases where CRM users have no permissions to create WSS sites. In such case, when a CRM user creates a new CRM entity, the CRM-SharePoint Connector will fail creating a new WSS site for this entity. In order to bypass this problem, we can define some windows user account that will be used for the WSS site creation by the CRM-SharePoint connector, no matter what are the permissions of the current CRM user. Implementing this definition requires the following configuration on the WSS server: 1. Open C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\template\layouts\kwizcom_crmconnector folder. 2. Rename web.config1 file to web.config 3. Create a new folder by the name BIN 4. Copy from C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\template\layouts\bin folder to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\template\layouts\kwizcom_crmconnector\bin folder the following files: a. CRM2WSSCreator.Constants.dll b. KWizCom.CRM.Utility.dll c. KWizCom.Sharepoint.Pages.CRMConnector.dll d. KWizCom.Sharepoint.Utilities.dll e. KWizCom.Utilities.dll 5. Open web.config file from C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\template\layouts\kwizcom_crmconnector folder for edit. 6. Edit <identity impersonate="true" username="[domain\username]" password="[password]"/> line, 24
where [domain\username] and [password] should be replaced with the real credentials of a domain user account that has WSS site creation privileges. 7. Open IIS Manager. 8. Create an Application for the Virtual folder KWizCom_CRMConnector in your WSS site under _layouts virtual folder with the same application pool. 9. That's it. 25
SharePoint Site Creation API CRM-SharePoint Connector provides an API for SharePoint site creation. This API may be used to programmatically create a SharePoint site for any business need. The API is based on an ASPX page: /_layouts/kwizcom_crmconnector/kwizcom_sitecreator.aspx In order to create a SharePoint site, you should call kwizcom_sitecreator.aspx page using HTTP GET with the following query string parameters: urlname new created site's URL name name of new created site template SharePoint template name that should be used for creating the SharePoint site. The SharePoint built-in template names are: Name Description STS#0 Team Site c#1 Blank Site STS#2 Document Workspace MPS#0 Basic Meeting Workspace MPS#1 Blank Meeting Workspace MPS#2 Decision Meeting Workspace MPS#3 Social Meeting Workspace MPS#4 Multipage Meeting Workspace GP#0 Great Plains Site (Part of MS CRM 3.0 installation) description description of created site (optional) submit should have the value "true" 26
Example: Calling the following URL creates a SharePoint site under the "http://kwizserv/demos site collection, using the "team site" site template. The new sites name is "My Example", its URL will be "http://kwizserv/demos/myexmp" and it displays no description. http://kwizserv/demos/_layouts/kwizcom_crmconnector/kwizcom_si tecreator.aspx?urlname=myexamp&name=my Example&template=STS%230&submit=true Note: The URL must be encoded. For example: any characters like # must be encoded to %230. 27
FAQ What exactly does KWizCom CRM-SharePoint Connector do? This utility integrates MS CRM 3.0 with Microsoft SharePoint collaboration capabilities. It provides a SharePoint site for every requested CRM entity; This SharePoint site enables managing additional data for every CRM entity, using SharePoint services (document libraries, document versions, Search etc.). Does CRM-SharePoint Connector require that the CRM server and the SharePoint server be installed on the same server? No. The CRM server may be installed on a different physical hardware from the SharePoint server. Does CRM-SharePoint Connector require that the CRM users will also have SharePoint site creation privileges? No. CRM-SharePoint connector can be configures to create SharePoint sites using the credentials of any preferred domain user. Please review the administration section is the user manual. 28
Version Release Notes Primary Software Version 1.3.0 Base version 1.2.0 Release date Nov-25-2007 Sub-Modules Module Version n/a n/a New Added Features n/a This Version's Known Issues/Limitations CR # Description 1.1.00-1 Bug Fix: "File not found" error on the WSS tab inside CRM interface 1.3.00-1 Upgrade to MOSS 2007 29
Technical Support You can obtain technical support using any of the following methods: The KWizCom Web site The KWizCom website at www.kwizcom.com contains the most updated valuable information, including: Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ's) about our products usability and technical questions. Product updates, which provide you with bug fixes and new features. The Web Form For technical support through the Internet, please fill in our support web form on our web site For more information on technical support, please review our support programs page. 30