Chapter 9. Microsoft Dynamics Marketing
While Dynamics CRM has basic marketing capabilities that include the ability to segment and send emails (and even track responses), the ability to execute on complex campaigns requires a more sophisticated tool for marketing. This tool is Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM), which is a product specifically oriented toward marketing departments.
Note
MDM is a separate product from Microsoft Dynamics CRM that fully integrates with Dynamics CRM. Users can purchase it through an Office 365 subscription.
Tip
MDM is available only with CRM Online, and there are no plans for it to be available for On-Premises installations. However, you can integrate the MDM Online service with your On-Premises deployment of Dynamics CRM.
Note
This chapter covers only the most common usage scenarios related to MDM, as an entire book could be written about MDM.
The current version of MDM (Dynamics Marketing 2016, Update 0.3) is the third generation since Microsoft acquired Marketing Pilot in 2012.
Key Features of MDM
MDM is a robust marketing solution for marketing operations, planning, execution, and analytics across different channels, such as email, social media, SMS, and various other digital options (blogs, Twitter, and so on).
Note
You can get a free one-month trial of the Enterprise version of MDM for 25 users by going to www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/marketing-test-drive.aspx.
While the MDM user interface (UI) shares the same look and feel as the Dynamics CRM application, these are actually two different systems and applications, using different databases and entity models behind the scenes.
These are the key features of MDM:
Marketing resource management
Multichannel campaigns
Lead management and scoring
Sales and marketing collaboration
Social marketing
Marketing intelligence
All these features present a mature and enterprise-class system for marketing, and the typical deployment of MDM is to a marketing department, not to a casual user who wants to send occasional emails announcing sales (not that you couldn’t do that).
MDM Setup
After navigating to the Office 365 portal and selecting MDM to add to your subscription (or getting a free trial, as mentioned earlier in this chapter), you need to perform an initial setup and configuration. As part of this initial setup, you need to select a default currency, which will later be used to manage the marketing budgets, and the language (as shown in Figure 9.1). Note that you can change the configurations later, if necessary, by going to Settings > Site Settings, as explained later in this chapter.
You must also agree to the terms of the applicable MDM license or subscription and click the Submit button to start using the application, as shown in Figure 9.2.
The welcome screen, which appears next, presents a drop-down list with the following options to help you select your role:
Marketing Manager
Creative
Media Buyer
All
After you select a role selection, a video presentation shows how to initially use and navigate the system, and you can opt to not see this welcome screen again in the future by selecting Don’t Show Me This Again. After you view the video or click Skip Intro, you see the home page.
Note
To navigate back to the welcome page, select the gear in the top-right corner of the window and choose Welcome Dialog.
The first time you log in to MDM, you get a series of warnings across the top of the screen:
Turn On Full-Text Search
Double Opt-in for Emails
SMS Marketing Information
Standardized KPIs for SMS
The following sections describe how to deal with these messages.
Turn On Full-Text
To turn on the full-text search, click Go to Site Settings in the yellow warning bar. Alternatively, you can navigate to Home > Settings > Site Settings. Figure 9.3 shows where to turn on/off full-text search, in the Contact Options section.
Check this option and then click Submit at the bottom of the page.
Note
Notice that under Settings > Site Settings you can find all the configurations that were made the first time MDM was configured, and you can change them here as well.
Double Opt-in for Emails
This warning suggests using double verification before setting a contact to receive marketing materials. The reason for this is that usually a contact is created in the system after completing a form on a web page, and in most cases that automatically sets the contact to allow receipt of marketing emails. However, it is recommended that you ask the contact if he or she really wants to receive these emails by sending them another email with a link so they can opt in.
To get rid of the double opt-in emails warning, navigate to Settings > Company Settings to go to the My Company Page, as shown in Figure 9.4.
Check the Enable for Email Marketing check box next to Double Opt-in and click Submit at the bottom of the page to save your changes. Then click OK on the confirmation alert.
Note
The Double Opt-in setting is a global setting, which means that it will apply to all emails.
SMS Marketing Information
The SMS Marketing Information warning suggests that you review user permissions and privacy information about SMS marketing and relevant contact duplicate detection options. To do so, click the link that appears in this warning’s yellow bar (or navigate to Settings > Site Settings).
As shown in Figure 9.5, when you navigate from the SMS Marketing subtitle, you can click the Review Privacy Information for SMS Marketing link to see instructions on how to configure SMS.
Note
SMS requires you to set up a short code for each region and then purchase SMS message credits before you can use SMS Marketing features.
Standardized KPIs for SMS
For the Standardized KPIs for SMS warning, navigate to Settings > Marketing Automation and select whether to view standardized or legacy KPIs, as shown in Figure 9.6.
MDM Navigation
From the navigation bar you can access the main functionalities of the MDM application. Selecting Microsoft Dynamics Marketing always takes you home.
Home
Select the Home icon to go to your home page, where you can customize the application by adding widgets.
If you click Add Widgets, you get icons for the following options (see Figure 9.7):
Add Charts
Add Budget Usage
Add Power BI
Add Widgets
Adding Charts
Figure 9.8 shows the options available after you select the chart icon on the Add Widget page. When you add a chart, you need to select a data source, which can be any of the following:
Expense Item
Lead Performance
File Usage
Email Deliverability
Budget Usage
Campaign Effectiveness
You can select one of the following type of charts:
Pie chart
Area chart
Bubble chart
Adding Widgets
Selecting the last icon on the Add Widget page allows you to add the following widgets:
Approvals
Favorite Files
My Jobs
Job Status
My Tasks
My Time Slips
My opportunities
Account Balances
My Leads
Lead Performance
Email Marketing
Figure 9.9 shows the Approvals and Favorite Files widgets added to the home page.
Note
From the Add Widget page you can also add Budget Usage and Power BI components to the application to provide analytics and reporting.
Main Areas of the MDM Application
The MDM application is divided in the following areas, which are dependent on the user roles and privileges you are configured to be able see (see the “Settings” section, later in this chapter):
Projects
Marketing Execution
Assets & Media
Budgeting
Performance
Settings
Figure 9.10 shows these main navigation options in the navigation bar, and the following sections provide details.
Projects
As shown in Figure 9.10, the Projects area is divided in the following sections and items:
Jobs Management
Jobs
Jobs Request Templates
Jobs Request Menu
Approvals
Approvals
Templates
Tasks
Tasks
Notes
Notes
Emails
Emails
Templates
Reports
Approval Workload
Tasks Workload
Jobs % on Time
Jobs Actual vs. Est Time
Jobs Performance
Estimated Time
Time Utilization/Realization
Time Workload
Invoices Time
Jobs
Jobs track overall projects and are necessary for tasks to be assigned, distributed, and completed. Figure 9.11 shows the new job form.
In addition to using jobs to manage and track projects, you can complete the specifications and related note fields to provide context related to the jobs. In addition, if you add time slips to the job form, you can later aggregate effort on any given project by clicking the clock icon in the top-right corner of the new job form. Figure 9.12 shows the time slip addition form.
Project Templates
You can use project templates when you find that a job is used more than once. After you create a project template, it must be used to create requests.
In essence, project templates create the layout and necessary questions that the requestor then completes in order to make a request.
To create a project template, navigate to Projects > Project Request > Templates and click the + button.
Enter at least the name of the template and save the form. After you save the new template, you can add new requirements by clicking the + button near the requirements.
Complete the required information and click Save to save the requirement.
After you add all the requirements you need, you can click Submit to activate them. Figure 9.13 shows the project template with several requirements. Notice the order that was selected/entered when creating the task; you can adjust this manually if necessary by selecting tasks with the mouse and moving them in the preferred order. (MDM automatically reorders the sequence.)
Click Submit to finish your project template configurations.
Project Requests
Not to be confused with job requests, project requests develop projects, and they typically require approval, queuing of permissions, resources, and so on before the requests can become jobs. (Job requests, on the other hand, skip the approval step and create a job immediately.)
When creating a new project request, you are required to enter the name of the request and a type. From the Type drop-down you can select from a list of the active project templates you have in the system, so be sure you have at least one project template created before trying to create a new project request.
When you create a new request, the estimated completion date is automatically calculated based on the estimated duration in days you entered and the project template you selected from the Type drop-down list.
Click Save to create the new project request, and the list of requirements that were predefined in the project template is shown (see Figure 9.14).
Note
If you want to select a division, you must create a divisions first by going to the Settings area, as explained later in this chapter. Once the division is selected and saved, this value can’t be changed.
Approvals
There are two types of approval requests: approval and review. An approval request requires the user to approve or reject an item, whereas a review request is only a request for feedback and doesn’t include or involve any workflow. Figure 9.15 shows the new approval request form.
If you have a complex approval process, you can customize the basic workflow by clicking the Workflow button after you have completed the required fields and clicking Save. You then see the screen shown in Figure 9.16.
You can add a reviewer by dragging and dropping the Reviewer component from the right list to the workflow designer area, and then you can switch to the Properties tab to specify the user who will act as a reviewer for this workflow. After you select the user, click Select.
You can use the following library components:
Approval
Reviewer
Group Review
Action Type
Email
Task
Scheduler
Response
Trigger
After configuring the workflow, you must validate it by clicking the Validate button. After it is validated, the workflow can be activated.
Note
All approvers or reviewers must be users of MDM.
Tip
An extensive audit log is created during the approval and review process that allows the requestor to view all comments made during the process.
Marketing Execution
The Marketing Execution area is divided in the following sections and items:
Campaign Management
Campaigns
Campaign Templates
Programs
Marketing Calendar
Offers
A/B Testing
A/B Testing
Marketing Companies
Marketing Contacts
Vendors
Vendor Companies
Vendor Contacts
Clients
Client Contacts
Client Companies
Contracts
Marketing Lists
Marketing Lists
Lead Management
Landing Pages
Leads
Opportunity Metrics
Opportunity Forecast
Marketing Plans
Marketing Plans
Internet Marketing
Online Visitors
Redirecting URLs
Websites
Event Management
Events
Lodging
Attendance
Registrations
Sponsorships
Staffing
Templates
Equipment Availability
Equipment Inventory
Venues
Venue Facilities
Travel
Social Media
Social Media
Email Marketing
Email Marketing Messages
Templates
External Content
SMS Marketing
SMS Marketing Messages
Calendar
Activities
Calendar
Results
Results
Figure 9.17 shows the Marketing Execution navigation options from the navigation bar.
Campaigns
When considering marketing, one of the most important features is campaigns. MDM allows you to see the campaigns you have already created that are running.
To create a new campaign, navigate to the Campaign Templates option. Once there, start a campaign by using one of the existing templates or by creating a new campaign template (see Figure 9.18).
To create a new campaign template, click on the + icon in the command bar.
Each campaign has three navigation options, represented by icons right under the word Create:
Summary
Automation
Dashboard
To complete the summary information, enter a name for your campaign, and the company name is populated with your personal company name; you can change this later, if needed, in the Settings area. Click Save to create your campaign.
To be able to start editing the automation of your campaign, be sure to set start and end dates for the campaign.
Automation
You can add automation in order to preconfigure the follow-up related to actions that have occurred. For example, a user might request information from a webpage, and from that you would want to send the user the information and then follow up with additional emails and assign the lead to a sales agent (via a task).
By using the process of automation, marketers can scale their outreach, leveraging the power of technology.
Figure 9.19 shows the automation page for a campaign. Microsoft refers to this area as the Campaign Canvas.
With the automation editor, You can drag and drop tiles to specify what events should happen and when. You drag the activities from the right and drop them on the design area on the left. You can then select an activity you dropped and switch to the Properties tab to configure the activity for the automation, as shown in Figure 9.20.
To delete an activity, just right-click it and select Delete. You can also copy and paste from this context menu.
Dragging an activity and dropping just below an existing activity allows you to add activities in parallel. Figure 9.21 shows campaign automation with parallel activities added.
By clicking the multi-selector icon (which looks like a mouse pointer and is at the top of the automation designer), you can select more than one activity at the same time by drawing a square by holding the left button of the mouse as you click activities.
If you have lot of activities, you can use the zoom mode that is near the multi-selection icon to zoom in and out of the canvas, as shown in Figure 9.22.
When you are done configuring campaign automation, you must validate it prior to activating it. You can do this by clicking the Validation button in the top-right corner (see Figure 9.22). Any activity that has errors is shown with a red exclamation point, as shown in Figure 9.23.
To correct these errors, you need to enter data in their required fields. To do that, double-click the tile to see the properties displayed in the right panel. Each activity type has its own specific set of properties.
The Goal tab is where you can set the leads, unit costs, average score, and grade for the campaign (see Figure 9.24).
You can add more goals if necessary by clicking the + button and selecting one of the result types listed and clicking OK. Figure 9.25 shows the result type options available.
You can create your own custom result types by going to Settings > Result Types.
Campaign Dashboard
When all issues are fixed and a campaign is validated, you can switch to the dashboard (see Figure 9.26) to see detailed information about the campaign performance.
As with the home page, you can add widgets on the campaign dashboard to take advantage of additional management features.
Email Marketing
You can use email marketing to send emails using templates. Navigate to Marketing Execution and then select the Email Marketing Messages option. Here you see the email messages that were executed as well as important information about the reaming messages quota limit you can use for the day and the month, as shown in Figure 9.27.
To learn how to enable the sample email templates, SEE the “Templates” section, later in this chapter.
You can create a new email message by clicking the + button, selecting an email template, and entering your company name, as shown in Figure 9.28. Click Submit and then enter a name for your email and select a subscription center.
The subscription center is a mandatory plug-in that ensures that all emails are CAN-SPAM compliant. See the “Settings” section of this chapter for more details.
Either create a new subscription center in the Settings area or use the sample subscription center, as shown in Figure 9.29.
Select the Edit Content icon just above the Status field to enter the design mode, which is shown in Figure 9.30.
Depending on the control you select on the design palate, you will see different properties that can be applied in the right panel.
By clicking Validate in the command bar you can see what must be completed to ensure that the email is valid and can be sent. Figure 9.31 shows the result with a poorly formed email.
For every error or warning displayed on the Validation Results page, you can click the Edit button to go to the place on the form where you need to fix the problem.
For example, a common error is not selecting the recipients of the email. Figure 9.32 shows the options for selecting recipients from one of the existing lists.
You can also preview the email message in multiple devices and change the orientation to make sure mobile users can read your messages on any device, as shown in Figure 9.33.
If you want to take a look at the generated HTML code of the email, you can click the View HTML button. You then see a read-only view of the generated HTML code, as shown in Figure 9.34.
When you are done fixing all validation issues, it is recommended that you send a Test Send email to make sure the email looks good before you sent it to the selected recipients. Figure 9.35 shows the Test Send dialog, where you can enter a custom email address manually.
After you enter an email address in the Test Send dialog, click the + button to add it to the list and then click the Send button.
Examine the email on your devices for form, function, and portability. When you’re satisfied with the results, click the Send button to rerun the validation. When you see the confirmation dialog, click Send again to send the message to all the selected recipients.
After you send emails, you can switch to the summary view to see the result of the email messages (see Figure 9.36). To see the performance charts, you need to expand the details section, which is collapsed by default.
Landing Pages
With MDM you can easily create landing pages without having to use an external website. You go to Marketing Execution > Landing Pages and click the + icon to create a new landing page, as shown in Figure 9.37.
Components
Components
Component Adjustments
Component Packs
Component Requests
Main
Sub Folder
Advertisements
Advertisements
Files
Files
File Libraries
File Usage
Media Planning
Media Outlets
Rate Cards
Media Buying
Ad Scheduler
Components
Components are physical marketing items such as brochures and business cards. Figure 9.38 shows the form for adding a component; you can use this form to create and catalog your assets.
The Type drop-down shows a list of component types that you can manage by going to Settings > Categories, as explained later in this chapter.
You can create folders by selecting Settings > Categories > Component Folder Category. You can also create them from the Assets & Media Components list, but instead of creating a new component, you can click the new folder icon as follows:
1. Click the Make Folder icon, as shown in Figure 9.39.
2. Enter the name of the folder and click Save and then Submit (see Figure 9.40).
3. Enter the information required to build and host the component folder.
Budgeting
The Budgeting area is divided into the following sections and items:
Payments
Expenses
Purchase Orders
Settings
Budget Workbooks
Reconciliation
Expense Reconciliation
Closing
Figure 9.41 shows the navigation options for the Budgeting area.
Note
The Budgeting area is beyond the scope of this chapter. However, you can check the online help for MDM for further information.
Performance
The Performance area is divided in the following sections and items:
Campaign Management
Campaign Performance
Marketing Results
Online Visitors
Projects
Jobs % on Time
Jobs Actual vs. Est Time
Jobs Performance
Request Metrics
Approval Workload
Tasks Workload
Tasks Gantt
Marketing Database
Opportunity Metrics
Opportunity Forecast
Other Reports
Other Reports
Figure 9.42 shows the options in the Performance area.
In the Other Reports section (the last option in the Performance area), there are a variety of reports you can run, email, print, and export to Microsoft Excel or PDF. The following are some of them (see Figure 9.43):
Administration
Banking
Campaigns
Clients and Receivables
Company and Budgeting
Email
Estimates
Events
Jobs
Media
Programs
Results
Sales
Tasks
Time Slips
Vendor and Payables
Settings
The Settings area is divided into the following sections and items:
Administration
Site Settings
Users
Roles
File Options
Reports
Languages
Import Monitor
Shipping
Integration Options
Social Engagement Option
Alert Settings
Update Options
Categories
Dashboards
Marketing Automation
Media Buying
Budgeting
Jobs & Components
External Entities
My Company
Company Settings
Channels
Departments
Divisions
Locations
Regions
Virtual Teams
Staff
Campaign Management
Campaign Templates
Email Marketing Plug-ins
Marketing Automation
Rules and Models
Lead Scoring Models
Lead Assignment Rules
Approval Templates
Approvals
Cross-Campaign Rules
Templates
Campaign Templates
Email Marketing Templates
Event Templates
Approval Templates
Email Templates
Figure 9.44 shows the navigation options for the Settings area.
While there are a number of settings here (all of which are important), the following sections familiarize you with only the most commonly used settings in this area.
Note
As previously mentioned, an entire book could be devoted to the MDM application, and the coverage here is limited to only the most commonly used features and functions.
Users
The Users page shows a list of all users who have an MDM license assigned (see Figure 9.45).
An exclamation point next to a user who doesn’t have any role assigned means that a role needs to be assigned; to assign a role, click the name in the User ID column, and the user details screen, shown in Figure 9.46, appears.
In the user details screen, you can either assign privileges manually or select a predefined role and assign it to the user to configure the user to have the privileges specified for the assigned role.
You can select one of the following predefined roles:
Accounting Professional
Administrator
Agency Marketing Professional
Designer
Marketing Manager/VP
Marketing Professional
Media Buyer
Salesperson
Seller Portal User
There are four types of users:
Media Buyer
Regular User
Web Portal User
Public User
Note
Media Buyer and Regular User require both Office 365 and MDM licenses, while Web Portal User requires only an Office 365 license. Public User, which doesn’t require a license, is an external user of the system.
Clicking your name in the top-right corner takes you to your site contact details, as shown in Figure 9.47.
On this page you can change the company.
Templates
MDM trials come with some sample email templates that you can enable by going to Settings > Templates > Email Marketing Templates. However, you don’t see any emails initially.
To view the sample email templates, click the user icon to view all user templates and then click the eye icon to see inactive templates (see Figure 9.48).
To enable any of these templates, select the template you want to enable and open it. Once it is open, change the status to blank and then click the Save button, as shown in Figure 9.49.
Subscription Center
To be able to send marketing email messages, you must select a subscription center. To create a new subscription center, navigate to Settings > Campaign Management > Email Marketing Plug-ins, and the dialog shown in Figure 9.50 appears.
Click the + icon to create a new plug-in and select Subscription Center from the Type drop-down list. Then click OK to go to the subscription center page, as shown in Figure 9.51.
Sender Address
To be able to send marketing email messages, you must use a valid and active sender address. To create a new sender address, navigate to Settings > Campaign Management > Email Marketing Plug-ins.
Then click the + icon to create a new plug-in and select Sender Address from the Type drop-down list.
Enter a name for your new sender address and complete the required fields, as shown in Figure 9.52. Then click Save and then Submit.
You can then use the new sender address when editing an email message by using the Info/Horizontal or Info/Vertical options, as shown in Figure 9.53.
Result Types
You can go to Settings > Result Types to see the complete list of result types, which you use in the Goal tab of the campaign template.
There are predefined result types. In addition, you can create your own result types by clicking the + button and entering the name of the result type you want to create.
Divisions
Divisions are different from companies; a company can have an unlimited number of divisions. While not required (information can associate to companies directly), divisions are useful for accurately reflecting the structure of your organization.
If you go to Settings > Divisions > My Company, you can see the complete list of divisions. There are no sample divisions records created out of the box, so you need to create your own. You add a new division by entering the name and then clicking Save and then Submit.
Categories
You can go to Settings > Categories > Business Administration to see the complete list of categories. Categories in MDM are divided by language and category type, and they serve as the source of many of the drop-downs used by MDM in the different areas. For example, when you create a component, you see a drop-down option from which you can select the type of the component that is returned by the Component Type Category type. Figure 9.54 shows the categories for the 1099 Vendor category type.
To create a new category, select the category type, wait for the list to be updated, and then click the + icon. The dialog shown in Figure 9.55 appears. After filling in the required field, click Save and then click Submit.
Languages
By default, MDM comes in English, but there are 11 other available languages you can install. To install another language, you can download Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 19.2.5056-Language Pack.msi from www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43108.
After downloading and executing this language pack, you can find the languages in the C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Dynamics MarketingLanguagePack folder.
The following languages are available for installation:
Danish (Denmark)—Found in the da-DK folder
German (Germany)—Found in the de-DE folder
English (United States)—Found in the en-US folder
Spanish (Spain)—Found in the es-ES folder
Finnish (Finland)—Found in the fi-FI folder
French (France)—Found in the fr-FR folder
Italian (Italy)—Found in the it-IT folder
Japanese (Japan)—Found in the ja-JP folder
Dutch (Netherlands)—Found in the nl-NL folder
Portuguese (Brazil)—Found in the pt-BR folder
Russian (Russia)—Found in the ru-RU folder
Swedish (Sweden)—Found in the sv-SE folder
To make another language available in MDM, navigate to the MDM web interface and go to Settings > Languages > Administration Group. Then click the Browse button and locate the file for language you want (for example, C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Dynamics MarketingLanguagePackes-ESBase.xml for Spanish). Then click the Import button, and you see the new language installed, as shown in Figure 9.56.
Dynamics Marketing/CRM Integration
You can integrate Dynamics Marketing with any version of Dynamics CRM (Online and On-Premises). To do this, you need to install and run an integration component called the Microsoft Dynamics Marketing Connector. You can download this component from the Microsoft Download Center or by going to www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43108.
There are different versions of the connector, and you need to download and install the one that matches the Dynamics Marketing version you are running. To find your version, you can go to the Dynamics Marketing user interface, click the gear icon, and select About. The About page that appears lists the version number, as shown in Figure 9.57.
Connector Requirements
The Microsoft Dynamics Marketing Connector supports the following operating systems:
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 8.1
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2
It supports the following Microsoft Dynamics CRM versions:
CRM Online
CRM On-Premises (at least CRM 2011 with Rollup Update 12)
Connector Setup
To set up the Microsoft Dynamics Marketing Connector, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the downloaded Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 19.2.5056-CRM Connector.msi file and double-click it. The setup wizard begins, as shown in Figure 9.58. Click Next.
2. To and accept the terms, click Next.
3. Select the location and components you want to set up and click Next.
4. Click Install to complete the setup wizard. The setup takes a few minutes to complete. When it finishes, you have the option to configure the CRM Connector.
5. Go to the Dynamics CRM web interface and import the CRM2015-CRM2016-ConnectorSolution.zip solution file that is located in the C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Dynamics MarketingSolutionsCRMConnector folder.
To learn more about how to import solutions in Dynamics CRM, SEE CHAPTER 22, “Customizing Entities.”
CRM Online Configurations
To configure the CRM Connector for CRM Online, you must go to the MDM web application and select Settings > Integration Options > Administrator and then click Enable CRM Connector Services, as shown in Figure 9.59.
After you have enabled the CRM Connector services, a confirmation window prompts you to start the services (see Figure 9.60). Click OK to do so.
The integration is then enabled but it is not running. Navigate to the CRM Endpoint section and click the gear icon to configure the CRM endpoint. Figure 9.61 shows the interface preconfiguration (notice the Not Configured messages).
Enter the CRM Online URL and the CRM Online credentials with system administrator rights. Then click the Verify button (see Figure 9.62).
When the verification is complete, click Submit, and when you are back to the integration configuration page, click Save and then Submit.
Configuring the Azure Service Bus Message Queues
The next thing you need to do is configure the Azure Service Bus message queues. To do this, go to the MDM web interface and select Settings > Administration > Integration Options.
Find the Service Bus section and click on the gear icon in the top-right corner. Figure 9.63 shows the dialog that appears.
Select Managed Queues (Recommended) and click Next. You now need to enter the Dynamics CRM certificate issuer name and upload the certificate, as shown in Figure 9.64.
To find the certificate file and issuer name, navigate to Dynamics CRM and go to Settings > Customizations > Developer Resources. As shown in Figure 9.65, you need to look in the Connect This Instance to Dynamics CRM to Azure Service Bus section near the bottom of the page.
Get the issuer name, which should be similar to crm.dynamics.com, and click the Download Certificate link to download the certificate to your local computer.
Go back to the MDM user interface and enter the certificate issuer name, upload the certificate, and enter the CRM credentials of a user with the System Administrator role in CRM Online, and click OK.
The configuration starts. When it is successful, you see the Service Bus section.
Note
You can always check the status of this integration by clicking the right-pointing arrow under Health Check.
Manually start the initial synchronization by clicking the right-pointing arrow in the Initial Synchronization section. When the confirmation dialog appears, click Yes, as shown in Figure 9.66.
The status changes to In Progress, as shown in Figure 9.67.
How long the synchronization takes depends on the number of records you have in the CRM Online organization.
For more information about how to configure the Azure Service Bus to manage queues, see www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/marketing-customer-center/configure-synchronization-for-dynamics-crm-online.aspx.
CRM On-Premises Configurations
If you want to integrate Dynamics Marketing with CRM On-Premises, you need to run the configuration manually. To do so, you start the .msi file you downloaded and manually run the configuration wizard located at C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Dynamics MarketingCRMConnectorServiceDataIntegrationConfigurationWizardMicrosoft.Dynamics.Marketing.DataIntegration.ConfigurationWizard.exe.
You see the wizard shown in Figure 9.68.
Click Next and in the next screen, select Add a New Connector and enter name for the new instance, as shown in Figure 9.69.
Click Next and enter your password, as shown in Figure 9.70. Notice that you cannot change the username here, so you must be logged in as a user that belongs to your domain.
Click Next to continue, and the tool attempts to validate your credentials.
Enter you CRM organization URL (for example, http://crm2016dev/book/) and CRM system administrator credentials, as shown in Figure 9.71.
Click Next, and the tool validates the CRM connection. If there are errors, you cannot continue until you fix them.
Enter the certificate location of the Azure Service Bus (as explained for the Online version earlier in this chapter), as shown in Figure 9.72.
Summary
While Dynamics CRM has some basic marketing features, Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM) is a more robust enterprise solution for marketing purposes. MDM, which is licensed separately from Dynamics CRM, is a full solution for marketing professionals who want to run complex campaigns, involving managing budget, tracking expenses, and more.
Note
Due to the specific nature and complexities inherent with marketing (for example, ROI, A/B testing results), MDM is becoming widely used by marketing agencies, and it is recommended for organizations that have these requirements.
This chapter describes how MDM can be integrated with both Online and On-Premises Dynamics CRM, using the CRM Connector.