I'm reading that many blogs are starting to talk about the next Microsoft CRM 4.0 release (code name Titan) and I've read also that the 1st of October is the official NDA end date for this product.
I've not listened any official announce around it but the sources of this information are "guys that count"... ;)
I'll talk a lot about Titan (ops... CRM 4.0) in the next days, but for the moment I want to leave you here what I think is the hottest feature of this release: the new workflow platform!
In this new CRM release, workflows are finally totally like a standard CRM entity. You can create workflows directly via the web interface or using Visual Studio and Windows Workflow (WF). You can use any entity in your workflows and (after millions of requests given to the product Team) finally you can trigger a workflow also on an entity update. :)
Having the web interface for workflow creation is a terrible added value for the end user: no needs of remote connections and the possibility to create "personal workflows" that fits your business needs.
The web interface for workflow creation is simple and intuitive, no needs of particular programming knowledge.
An important thing to remember (thanks Michael for this): When using Visual Studio to create and deploy workflows into the CRM system, you are unable to change them in the CRM client. You can enable and disable them, but if you have to make changes, you need to go back to Visual Studio!
Now I want to anser here to at least two common questions that will come from users:
- What about the workflow migration from the old system to the new one?
During the migration to the new CRM platform, workflows based on the old platform will be totally migrated to the new framework in a seamless mode. So good... :)
- What about the customizations based on the CRM 3.0?
The data schema has evolved from the 3.0 to the new 4.0 platform, so is not possible to directly import CRM 3.0 customizations into the new 4.0 version. The best way to do this is a server upgrade that contains the customizations.
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Dynamics CRM