Chapter 15. Yammer
Microsoft acquired Yammer in 2012 and initially integrated it with Dynamics CRM 2013. Since then Yammer has continued to grow, with broader functionality and many enhancements. With the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, integrated Yammer represents a significant and powerful tool for collaboration.
Often described as enterprise social software, Yammer has controlled access (via email address) to certain networks, and it allows individuals within an organization to communicate privately. Yammer offers its collaborative interface with both Dynamics CRM 2016 and SharePoint.
It is important to realize that because Yammer is a dedicated social communication platform, and because this book focuses on Dynamics CRM 2016, this discussion covers only the core functionality of Yammer as it relates to Dynamics CRM 2016, not Yammer’s full functionality and range of options.
Note
Full coverage of the Yammer product is beyond the scope of this book. In fact, each component and its integrated usage with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 could fill an entire book on its own. This chapter provides a high-level overview of Yammer.
Yammer Basics
Microsoft acquired Yammer about a year before the launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. Yammer is a dedicated (that is, separate) service that many people compare to Facebook because of to the way it allows “conversations” between users in the same organization.
Despite it being a standalone produce (see www.yammer.com), you can acquire/purchase Yammer through an Office 365 subscription.
Tip
Check the Office 365 interface or log in to http://portal.office.com to view pricing and options for Yammer.
Users log in to their Yammer accounts at Yammer.com. Yammer has a dedicated desktop and mobile client set that includes Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone. Figure 15.1 shows the Yammer home page.
FIGURE 15.1 Yammer.com.
Once logged in, users have access to their network (see Figure 15.2). They can then interact with their groups, networks, and feeds by creating, commenting, or taking other actions in relation to posts.
With Yammer integrated with Dynamics CRM 2016, users will likely spend a significant amount of time on Yammer.com because the feeds display directly there and then are also displayed in Dynamics CRM 2016.
In addition to the web version shown, users have the option of running a desktop app, which is available for download from the Yammer site and can also be obtained by clicking the Get Yammer for Desktop link inside the yellow box shown in Figure 15.2. The desktop app creates real-time notifications that are displayed to users while they’re working at their computer, so users don’t have to remember to log back in and check or read emails. Typical notifications are for new posts being created from a conversations you are following and for a new post being created.
The installation for the desktop version uses ClickOnce technology to ensure that the latest version of the app is installed and updated, as shown in Figure 15.3.
Once Yammer is installed, a new icon appears your service tray, and you can click it to see a notification window related to your feeds (see Figure 15.4). Selecting one of the options from the icon takes you directly to your page at the Yammer site.
Yammer, like many other Microsoft products, is an extensible platform that allows you to extend its capabilities by either creating custom applications or consuming Yammer data from other custom applications.
Yammer provides a RESTful API endpoint that allows you to query Yammer data such as users, groups, or messages. By using a standard protocol like REST, you can also authenticate with Yammer from an external application by using OAuth 2.0, the standard and popular authentication protocol that is used by applications such as Facebook and Twitter.
The software development kit (SDK) for Yammer is available for JavaScript, Ruby, Python, iOS, .NET, and Windows Phone 8.
Note
There is another API available specifically for the export of data (such as messages), called Yammer Data Export API, that allows users to export Yammer data. To use this API, navigate to the Office 365 administrative portal and select Yammer > Admin Settings. Then select Content and Security > Export Data.
To learn more about the Yammer API, go to https://developer.yammer.com.
Yammer and Dynamics CRM 2016
When Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 is integrated with Yammer, data feeds are available to users of Yammer either natively in Yammer.com or via Dynamics CRM 2016 directly. If you plan to use Yammer with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, keep the following in mind:
The free edition of Yammer does not work with Dynamics CRM 2016.
Activity feeds and Yammer are incompatible. Once you install Yammer, activity feeds (and their data) are available only programmatically.
User conversations are stored in Yammer, not in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
System posts are stored in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Because Yammer information lives in the Yammer system, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM security model does not exist for Yammer information on Yammer.com. In addition, depending on what you’re trying to do, searching and reporting on Yammer data can be challenging.
If you are uncertain about installing Yammer (or if you want to test its functionality), Microsoft suggests that you create a test organization (that is, a free 30-day trial of Dynamics CRM Online) and preview the functionality. Table 15.1 shows the default configuration when you initially install Yammer.
Integrating Yammer with Dynamics CRM
While you can integrate Yammer with either Dynamics CRM Online or Dynamics CRM On-Premises, it is recommend that you have an Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) deployment configured. If you’re not using HTTPS and/or IFD, you need to run the following PowerShell commands in the CRM server before you enable the integration:
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Crm.PowerShell
$itemSetting = new-object 'System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair[String,Object]'
("AllowCredentialsEntryViaInsecureChannels",1)
$configEntity = New-Object "Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Deployment.ConfigurationEntity"
$configEntity.LogicalName="Deployment"
$configEntity.Attributes = New-Object "Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Deployment.
AttributeCollection"
$configEntity.Attributes.Add($itemSetting)
Set-CrmAdvancedSetting -Entity $configEntity
For more information about IFD, SEE CHAPTER 28, “Forms Authentication.”
To integrate Yammer with Dynamics CRM, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Settings > Administration and select Yammer Configuration (see Figure 15.5).
2. When the Yammer disclaimer appears (see Figure 15.6), click Continue.
3. When the Yammer configuration options appear, click Authorize Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to Connect to Yammer (see Figure 15.7).
4. When Yammer asks you to log in to its website, to make the connection between your instance of Dynamics CRM and Yammer (see Figure 15.8), complete the requested information and click Log In. Alternatively, if you are already logged in to Yammer, you see an authorization dialog you can use to allow the integration (see Figure 15.9).
FIGURE 15.8 Logging in to Yammer.com.
Note
You must have administrative rights within Yammer to perform the integration.
5. Once the login or authorization is complete, in Dynamics CRM, set the group ID and select the security for messages (see Figure 15.10). By default, the security is set to Private, which means that users must select to follow a record to see posts about that record. If you change it to Public, all posts show up for everyone. For this example, leave it set to Private. The configuration is now complete, and Yammer is connected to Dynamics CRM.
You can also specify the default group that will be used by users when posting to Yammer because Yammer now allows you to select which users’ or groups’ posts you want to see created from CRM. If you leave this group configuration empty, all Yammer users will be able to see the posts, but it might be a good idea to specify the name of a group with a limited number of users in it, such as just the Sales Team or others who work with CRM.
Note
Notice that the Yammer connection page says Connect to Dynamics CRM Online, however in our test (and, in fact, for this example), we connected just fine to Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premises by using this method.
You must consider a few things when you upgrade Dynamics CRM after the Yammer integration is enabled. Yammer stores the Dynamics CRM URL to link the posts with the CRM records, so you need to make sure you use the same Dynamics CRM URL after upgrading the organization from one version to another if you want to keep seeing the previous posts in CRM.
Removing Yammer
To remove the Yammer integration from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Settings > Administration > Yammer Configuration. The same screen shown in Figure 15.10 appears. At the bottom of this screen, click My Applications. Yammer opens, and a list of devices connected/authorized to use the Yammer group appears.
2. To remove the access, select the Revoke Access link shown in Figure 15.11. Yammer displays a message that the access has been revoked (see Figure 15.12).
Optimizing Yammer Integration with Dynamics CRM 2016
Once you’ve established a connection between Yammer and Dynamics CRM, you can configure Yammer for entities. Figure 15.13 shows the default configurations and the various configuration options for each. To reach this page, choose Settings > Activity Feeds Rules and change the view to All Yammer Rules.
If you want to enable another system entity that is not listed here, you must go to Settings > Activity Feeds Configurations, as shown in Figure 15.14.
Select the entity you want to enable (for example, invoice) and click Activate. On the page that appears next (see Figure 15.15), make sure the Enable walls for this is checked.
Working with Yammer in Dynamics CRM 2016
Once you have connected, installed, and configured Yammer, you’re ready to work with it in Dynamics CRM.
The following example shows collaboration (both in Dynamics CRM and externally) with another user on an opportunity:
1. Navigate to Opportunity and select an opportunity to open. Notice that the activity feed part of the screen is replaced with Yammer (see Figure 15.16).
2. Click the Sign In with Your Yammer Account link and, when prompted, enter your Yammer credentials. If you have an email address in Microsoft Dynamics CRM that differs from what you’re using for Yammer, the error shown in Figure 15.17 appears. To correct this error, update your email address in either Yammer or Microsoft Dynamics CRM so that they match.
Note
To avoid having to repeat step 2 next time you log in, check the Remember Me box.
3. When you see the warning shown in Figure 15.18 (because you’ve set the conversation option to Private, and you won’t see any posts about this record unless you follow it), click the ... and select Follow (see Figure 15.19).
4. Now we can post in Yammer, so enter some information to create a post, as shown in Figure 15.20 and then select where you want to post it and click Post. The post shows up on the feed in the record.
5. Go to Yammer.com, and you can see that the post is also available there, shown at the top of the feed (see Figure 15.21).
FIGURE 15.21 A post created in Dynamics CRM, shown in Yammer.com.
6. To see how you can also perform additional updates at Yammer.com that go back to Dynamics CRM, at Yammer.com add a new comment below the original comment, as shown in see Figure 15.22.
7. Navigate back to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and you can see the complete thread, with the external data added from Yammer.com on the record after the page is refreshed (see Figure 15.23).
One of the enhancements of this new version of Dynamics CRM and Yammer integration is the ability to select the groups or people for which you want a post to be displayed.
You can select the groups or people before clicking the Post button inside a CRM record, as shown in Figure 15.24.
Notice that the Post button changes to have a lock icon in it after you have selected the users or groups you want to see the post. This adds more security that was not available in the initial release of the Yammer and CRM integration (see Figure 15.25).
Yammer Features
Yammer comes with some cool features that you can use to improve collaboration with your team members; it doesn’t limit you to just writing and/or posting messages. Here are some of the other features available in Yammer:
Poll
Praise
Announcement
Post Actions
Chat
Common to all these features is the ability to add file attachments to the posts. You can add attachments from the Yammer interface if desired, and the attached files can then be downloaded from the Dynamics CRM interface, as shown in Figure 15.26.
You can add attachments from the following:
Your local computer
A file stored in Yammer
A note in Yammer
Users can then download or see your file attachment by hovering the mouse on the filename to see the download link (see Figure 15.27).
The Go to File link lets you see the file in a web browser. For example, if the file attached is a Microsoft Word document, you can see it with Word Online, which can be helpful if you are on a machine or device that doesn’t have Microsoft Word installed.
Polls
Polls that are created in the Yammer user interface are open to participation of CRM users in the Dynamics CRM web application.
You can create a poll in Yammer by clicking the Poll link that is to the right of Update (the default option for writing a post message), as shown in Figure 15.28
Even though you by default get three spaces for answers, another answer box appears as soon as you fill in what was previously the last answer box, as shown in Figure 15.29.
Users can then participate in the poll from Dynamics CRM (see Figure 15.30).
After a user clicks the Vote button, poll results appear. It is also possible to check the results before voting by clicking the See Results link (see Figure 15.31).
Praise
You can create praises from the Yammer web interface by clicking the Praise button to the right of Poll (see Figure 15.32).
You can then choose the praise icon from a gallery of icons available with Yammer.
Praises are also visible from the Dynamics CRM interface in the Yammer section, as shown in Figure 15.33.
FIGURE 15.33 Yammer praise created at Yammer.com and shown in Dynamics CRM.
Announcements
When you create announcements in the Yammer user interface, they can be then seen by Dynamics CRM users. An announcement differs from a standard post in that you can use some rich text functionality in the announcement description. Figure 15.34 shows this functionality.
After you create an announcement, CRM users can see it in Dynamics CRM but with a different icon on the left (see Figure 15.35).
FIGURE 15.35 Yammer announcement created at Yammer.com and shown in Dynamics CRM.
Post Actions
Users can perform some actions on Yammer posts. The first three actions already described (polls, praise, and announcements) are available in both Yammer and Dynamics CRM, but the rest of the actions are available only via the Yammer web interface (see Figure 15.36):
Like
Reply
Share
Stop Following
View Conversation
Add Topics
Bookmark
Email Me
Delete
Hide Conversation
Chat
Chat is a feature you can use only with the Yammer web interface; it is not available in the integration with Dynamics CRM. The chat feature is similar to the one in Facebook, and you can use it to send instant messages to other Yammer users (see Figure 15.37).
Yammer Settings
To access the Yammer settings, navigate to the gear icon that is located in the bottom-left corner of the screen, near your username, as shown in Figure 15.38. Navigating to Settings gives the available settings:
Profile
Org Chart
Networks
Account Activity
My Applications
Notifications
Preferences
Profile
In the profile settings, you can configure your name and image, as well as other personal fields (see Figure 15.39). Notice that the image you configure here is independent of the one you configure in Dynamics CRM or the one in your Office 365 profile.
Some of the fields you can configure are profiles for other social networks, such as Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Org Chart
As shown in Figure 15.40, users can create a dynamic organization chart.
Note
Unfortunately, the Yammer org chart is not yet integrated with the Dynamics CRM charts.
Networks
You can choose the Networks option to see the other networks where Yammer is integrated. If you have it integrated with Dynamics CRM, you see the Dynamics CRM URL here. You can also join other external networks or create other internal networks to use with your individual Yammer account (see Figure 15.41).
You can click Edit Notifications to configure the email notifications that can be fired from the application selected, in this case Dynamics CRM (see Figure 15.42).
These are the email notifications you can configure here:
I receive a message in my inbox.
I get new followers.
I install a new application.
I log in from somewhere new.
I post a message via email.
Someone likes the messages I posted (daily).
Someone invites me to a group
Someone modified my org-chart (daily).
Someone request to join a private group I administer.
There are new suggestions for people to follow (weekly).
Tips and important updates about Yammer features are available.
There is a new activity in the following groups (you can select the groups from the list of the available groups you have in your Yammer subscription).
Account Activity
You can click the Account Activity option to see the different applications, when they last authorized, and from what IP addresses the apps accessed (see Figure 15.43). If you see an application you don’t know, you can click Logout to disconnect that application.
My Applications
You can click My Applications to see all the related applications you installed to use Yammer outside the web user interface (see Figure 15.44).
Notifications
Notifications allow you to see and configure email notifications. Refer to Figure 15.42 to see the notifications options.
Preferences
The preferences setting, as shown in Figure 15.45, allow you to change the time zone. When you make this change, it affects the times of the posts you see in Yammer or Dynamics CRM, and, unfortunately this time zone option is not synchronized with your personal settings in Dynamics CRM.
You can also change the language in this section, and you can delete your Yammer account here as well. Be careful about using the Delete Your Yammer Account link, though, because this action is permanent and irreversible across all your Yammer networks.
Summary
This chapter covers Yammer, the private social network solution available in Microsoft Office 365.
Note
Remember that Yammer requires an additional purchase; it is not included in the base of Dynamics CRM product.
Yammer can be used extensively in both development and production environments. It is a powerful tool, and this chapter barely begins to explore its full potential. Some of the following functionality is also available:
Portal integration so that external users or customers can monitor record conversations in real time
Integration with the portal or email so that, based on escalation evaluation, alerts can automatically be posted to users or the organization
Tests for staleness of records or records that have velocity based on things such as number of posts or number of likes