Microsoft® Dynamics CRM 2011 Administration Bible

Chapter 26. Connecting to Other Systems: Migration and Integration with Dynamics CRM

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Planning for migration and integration

• Handling different integration scenarios

• Selecting the right tools

• Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)

Our goal with this chapter is to provide an administrative overview of the types of integrations that are frequently implemented with Dynamics CRM, as well as a summary of various integration techniques, best practices, and useful integration technologies.

Whether you implement Dynamics CRM for traditional customer relationship management or as a platform for a line-of-business application, it will undoubtedly play a central role in your organization's daily operations. As a sales, marketing, and service application, Dynamics CRM is the primary tool for facilitating interactions between your organization and your customers. As a LOB platform, it may be used to track the key functions of your organization's core competencies.

Because of this central role, it is often necessary to integrate Dynamics CRM with other business systems. Integration typically refers to sharing data between systems, such as an accounting system and your CRM system. Increasingly, however, as services-oriented applications have become more prevalent, and with the advent of distributed platforms such as cloud-based services, integration needs include not just sharing data between systems but also leveraging the services of one application from another.

Dynamics CRM is frequently ...