c360 Explorer Administration and Configuration Guide · 2010-12-20 · c360 Explorer Administration and Configuration Guide Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 compatible c360 Solutions, Inc

c360 Solutions – All Rights Reserved

c360 Explorer Administration and

Configuration Guide Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 compatible

c360 Solutions, Inc.

[email protected]

www.c360.com

Page 2 of 25 12/20/2010 c360 Solutions, Inc.

Contents____________________________________

Overview......................................................................................................... 3 Explorer Implementation ................................................................................... 4

Implementing Explorer ................................................................................ 4 Initiate indexing of CRM Relationships ........................................................... 4 Initiate Indexing of CRM Records .................................................................. 6 Register Explorer Plugin .............................................................................. 8

Explorer Configuration .................................................................................... 13 Configure Plugin Subscriptions ................................................................... 13 Configure Explorer Search Results Area, Snapshot Mappings and Entities to be

Indexed ................................................................................................... 15 Configure Explorer Search Endpoint URL and Register Organization ................ 18 Configure Reading Pane Settings: ............................................................... 19 Configure CRM attribute to be displayed in the Explorer Relationship Tree ....... 20 Explorer Configuration Settings .................................................................. 22

Explorer Administration ................................................................................... 25 Administer Explorer Relationship Plugin ....................................................... 25


Overview _____________________________

c360 Explorer provides near instant search of all CRM data by constantly indexing all

CRM records and attachments and leveraging Microsoft Office SharePoint Search

(MOSS) to search the indexed information. Explorer simplifies and expedites retrieval

of information regardless of where it has been entered in CRM.

• Unlock the value of your of your CRM data by searching and exploring all CRM

data in a single user friendly screen

• Perform Broad-based search and refinement:

o Start with a ‘broad-based’ keyword search and then quickly refine the

results and explore all activities, emails, relationships, related entities,

attachments, etc in one single screen

• View snapshot data right within the search results

Figure 1: Explorer Screen


Explorer Implementation _________________

Implementing Explorer

There are several steps necessary to implement Explorer for use in your

organization. This checklist assumes that Explorer and the Explorer Service have

been installed. The steps are as follows:

1. Initiate Indexing of CRM Relationships 2. Initiate Indexing of CRM records 3. Register Explorer Plugin.

Each of these steps is described below.

Initiate indexing of CRM Relationships

The Relationship Indexer screen manages CRM Relationship indexing. The contents

of this index are utilized to build the Explorer Relationship Tree relationships (figure

2).

Figure 2: Relationship Tree


Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> Explorer Settings -> Explorer Relationship

Setup -> Relationship Indexer

Figure 3: Relationship Indexer

KEY:

Field Description

Rebuild Complete Relationship Index This will rebuild the entire relationship

index

Rebuild Partial Relationship Index This will rebuild only those entities that

are known to be out of sync. This state

is triggered when the display attributes

chosen for an entity the Relationship

Tree have been modified (see Configure

Relationship Index Attributes)

Cancel current Indexing This will cancel current indexing, leaving

the index in an unknown state, causing

indeterminate results in the Explorer

Relationship Tree

This index needs to be built upon initial installation of the Explorer product. Click on

Re-Build Index.


Initiate Indexing of CRM Records

The Explorer Record Indexer screen manages CRM records indexing. This index is

utilized by the Explorer application to return search results.

Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> Explorer Settings -> Explorer Record

Indexer

Figure 4: Explorer Record Indexer

KEY:

Field Description

Host Host URL of the organization-specific

CRM application.

Entity Entity to be re-indexed. This constrains

the index to only re-index this specific

entity.

RecordId This specifies 1 CRM record to be re-

indexed. Entry must be in the form of a

GUID (with brackets),

Force Re-Index of unchanged records This forces the index to re-index

unchanged records.

The index needs to be built upon initial installation of the Explorer product. Click on

ReIndex to initiate complete indexing.

Note: If no entity and no record Id is selected, then the all entities selected for

Indexing (see Configure Explorer Search Results Area, Snapshot Mappings

and Entities to be Indexed) will be indexed.


In order to determine indexing status when leveraging WDS as the search provider,

navigate to the WDS Indexing status (figure 5):

Figure 5: WDS Indexing Status Option

In order to increase the performance of indexing, c360 Solutions recommends

enabling the ‘Index Now’ option.


Register Explorer Plugin

Plugins are the method used to subscribe to CRM events such as the addition or

modification of an account record. Explorer uses this mechanism to keep the search

provider index in sync with the CRM system.

For example, if an account record is updated in CRM, that event is published as a

message. If the Explorer application plugin is subscribed to that message, the plugin

will notify the search provider of the change. The provider index will then be

updated. The result of this being that the change will be reflected in the Explorer

search results. The c360 Plugin Configuration center enables administrators to

enable Explorer to subscribe to these messages.

Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> c360 Configuration Center -> Plugin

Configuration and click ‘Configure’.

If Plugin registration has not been performed yet, the following screen will appear:

Figure 6 Plugin Configuration Center

The first step is to register the c360 Plugin Controller Assembly with CRM. (Figure 6)

Click ‘Register’.


The following confirmation message will appear:

Figure 7: Confirmation of Plugin Registration

Next, register the c360 Plugin Controller by clicking ‘Register’ (see figure 8):

Figure 8: c360 Plugin Controller Registration

The following confirmation message will display:

Figure 9: c360 Plugin Controller Registration Confirmation


Once registration is complete, administrators have the option of adding any custom

entities to the plugin subscription. Choose the Product to be configured (c360

Explorer in this case), and select any custom entities that you would like to show in

the search results. In the case shown in Figure 10, the Custom Home and Purchase

Agreement entities have been selected.

Figure 10: Custom Entity Registration

Note: This selection process was also available during the installation of the Explorer

Application. Any selections made during that installation will be reflected in this

screen as entities already selected.

Note: If any additional custom entities are selected in this window, they must also

be registered with the Explorer Service Component before results will display in the

Explorer Search Results Area. (see Configure Explorer Search Results Area,

Snapshot Mappings and Entities to be Indexed).

Click ‘update’, and the following confirmation dialog will show:


Figure 11: Confirm Custom Entity Update

Click ‘Next’ and navigate to the Plugin Configuration Center screen.

Figure 12: Plugin Configuration Screen – Initial state after installation

Note: Not all potential messages for available for subscription are available on the

first page. Click on the next page arrow to show more entries. In figure 12, there

are 177 potential messages for selection.

Select the product to be configured, in this case Explorer.

Highlight all messages to be subscribed and click ‘Update’.


Figure 13: Plugin Configuration Center messages subscribed

Figure 13 shows that Explorer is subscribed to all messages.


Explorer Configuration ___________________

Configure Plugin Subscriptions

The plugin configuration center allows for extensive configuration of the messages

that can be processed by the Explorer Application. Figure 14 shows an example of

this flexibility.

Figure 14: Plugin Configuration Center with selected messages subscribed

In this example, messages for the Update and Delete events for the competitor

(standard) entity will be processed. Likewise, the messages for the Update and

Create events in the new_customhome (custom) entity will be processed. However,

messages for the Create event in the competitor entity and the Delete event in the

new_customhome entity will not be processed.

KEY:

Field Description

Product Name Filter to display messages for only that

product.

Display Mode Filters columns displayed. The concise

view is recommended.


Subscription Status Indicates whether or not the product is

subscribed to the CRM messages for the

particular entity and action.

Dispatch State State of the subscription. Dictated by

override configuration entry

Product Name Name of the c360 product to which the

subscription is assigned.

Entity Name The name of the entity associated with

the message

Message Name The action that originated the message

Stage The stage of the CRM save process in

which the message is sent.

Subscription Mode The subscription mode – asynchronous or

synchronous.

c360 Solutions provides a configuration override mechanism that will allow advanced

plugin state configuration. This configuration must be manually updated by

modifying the XML file located at:

…\c360 Solutions\V4\Plugins\EventMapOverrideXml

The following table describes the potential plugin subscription states:

ID Entity

Type

Subscription

State

Dispatch

State

Product

Will

process?

Action to achieve

state

1 Standard Subscribed Enabled by

Plugin

Yes Select record and

clicking ‘update’

2 Standard Subscribed Unsubscribed No Un-subscription entry

in the override

configuration file

3 Standard Unsubscribed Unsubscribed No Only occurs on the

initial installation of

the product

4 Custom Subscribed Enabled by

XML

Yes Select entity in

Custom Entity

Registration Tab,

then select record in

Plugin Configuration

Center tab and click

‘update’

5 Custom Subscribed Disabled by

XML

No Select entity in

Custom Entity

Registration Tab,

then add Un-

subscription entry in

the override

configuration file.

Table 1: Potential plugin states


An example of these potential states is shown in figure 14 as outlined in the

following matrix:

Figure 14 Event Record Table 1 ID

competitor Delete event 1

competitor Create event 2

new_customhome Update event 4

new_customhome Delete event 5

Note: In order to unsubscribe from a standard entity, the override configuration

must be manually updated.

Note: In order to unsubscribe from a custom entity, navigate to the Custom Entity

Registration Tab, de-select the custom entity for that product and click update.

Configure Explorer Search Results Area, Snapshot Mappings and Entities to

be Indexed

The Explorer Field Mapper screen allows an administrator to map particular CRM

fields to be displayed in the Explorer Search Results Area (figure 16), as well as

choose what fields are mapped to the record snapshot (figure 17).

Figure 15: Explorer Search Results Area


Figure 16: Record Snapshot

Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> Explorer Settings -> Explorer Field Mapper

Figure 17: Explorer Field Mapper


KEY:

Field Description

Host Name The host name of the server that hosts

the CRM Server.

Auth Type The authentication type of the user

logging into the CRM Server.

User Name The user that has administrative access

to the CRM Application.

Password Appears blank. It can be updated.

Web Service URL The URL to the CRM Web Services.

CRM entity All entities available for configuration

Include Entity in Index If this checkbox is unchecked, the entity

will not be included in the service

provider index and will therefore not be

part of search results in the Explorer

Application.

Explorer Field The fields displayed in the Explorer

application Results list

Index Field (Not modifiable) The service endpoint field that stores the

value for the CRM attribute.

CRM Attribute The CRM attribute available for mapping.

Note: Any modifications to this screen will require a re-index of the Explorer Record

Index (see Initiate Indexing of CRM Records).

Note: This selection process for indexing custom entities was also available during

the installation of the Explorer Service. Any selections made during that installation

will be reflected in this screen as entities already selected.

Note: In order to include custom entities in the index, after checking the Include

Entity in Index box for the custom entity, the custom entity must be included in the

plugin subscription. (see Configure Explorer Plugins)


Configure Explorer Search Endpoint URL and Register Organization

The Explorer Search Endpoint screen manages registering and un-registering

organizations from a specific Explorer Service endpoint.

Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> Explorer Settings -> Explorer Search

Endpoint

Figure 18: Explorer Search Endpoint KEY:

Field Description

Set Search Endpoint URL This describes the location or the

Explorer Service.

Register/UnRegister current Organization

from Search Indexer

This will register or un-register the

current organization from the search

provider configured in the Explorer

Service Component

Note: During installation, the Organization is automatically registered with the

Explorer Service. This step does not need to be performed after initial installation.


Configure Reading Pane Settings:

The Reading Pane Settings screen manages the fields that will be contained in the

Explorer Reading Pane (figure 20) and the order in which they will be displayed.

Figure 19: Explorer Reading Pane

Navigate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> Explorer Settings -> Reading Pane Settings

Figure 20: Reading Pane Settings


KEY:

Field Description

Select Entity Entity to be configured

Unselected Attributes Attributes that will not be displayed in

the Reading Pane

Selected Attributes Attributes that will be displayed in the

Reading Pane

Note: Defaults are set during install. These settings do not have to be configured

post-installation.

Note: No re-indexing is required when modifying settings in this screen.

Configure CRM attribute to be displayed in the Explorer Relationship Tree

The Relationship Index Attribute screen manages what attribute will be displayed in

the Explorer Relationship Tree per Entity (see figure 12).

Figure 21: Explorer Relationship Tree


Setup -> Relationship Index Attribute


Figure 22: Relationship Index Attributes

Note: Any changes to an entity will require a partial re-index of the Relationship

Tree Index (see Initiate indexing of CRM relationships).


Explorer Configuration Settings

These settings allow the administrator to further configure the Explorer product.

Naviate to Settings -> c360 Settings -> c360 Configuration Center -> c360 Explorer

-> click ‘Configure’ -> Update Config Files

Figure 23 Explore Configuration Settings


KEY:

Field Description

Explorer Search Max BufferPool Size This parameter specifies an attribute of

the communication channel between

Explorer and the search provider index.

This value should not be modified.

Explorer Relationship Indexer Fetch

Retries Count

If the Explorer relationship indexer

encounters a communication error with

CRM, this indicates the number of times

the indexer will retry the data fetch

before the process aborts.

Explorer Endpoint Address The URL of the Explorer Service endpoint

Explorer selected RelationshipTree

Display Entities

The IDs of the entities that will be

displayed in the Relationship Tree. These

values are comma-delimited.

Explorer Search Apply Shared Object

Access in Security

This Boolean value indicates whether or

not records shared to a user will be

displayed in the Explorer Search results.

True indicates that shared records will be

displayed. Please note that enabling this

functionality can have a significant

impact on performance.

Explorer Search Apply Security This Boolean value indicates whether or

not search results include only those

records to which the user has access.

False indicates that the user has access

to all records.

Explorer Search Query Max Records The number of records displayed in the

Entity Result list.

Explorer Selected CRM Entities The IDs of the entities that are available

to be selected for display in the CRM

Entity Results list. These values are

comma delimited.

Explorer Relationship Indexer fetch time

waits

If the Explorer relationship indexer

encounters a communication error with

CRM, this indicates the number of

milliseconds the indexer will wait before

retrying the fetch.

Explorer selected RelationshipTree RollUp

Entities

The IDs of the entities that will be rolled

up in the Relationship Tree. These

values are comma delimited.

Explorer Preview Source The source of information for the

Explorer Reading Pane. This value

should not be changed (default is CRM).

Explorer Search Max Received Message

Size

This parameter specifies an attribute of





Please note: this value must equal the

Explorer Search Max Buffer Size.

Explorer Search Max Buffer Size This parameter specifies an attribute of




Please note: this value must equal the

Explorer Search Max Received Message

Size.

Explorer Search Source The source of information for the

Explorer search results. This value

should not be changed. (default is ESEP

– Explorer Search End Point.)

Explorer Display only Active Records This indicates whether or not only active

records are returned in the Explorer

Search Results.


Explorer Administration __________________

Administer Explorer Relationship Plugin

The Relationship Plugin screen manages whether the Relationship Index captures

changes to relationships within CRM and updates the Relationship Index.


Setup -> Relationship Plugin

Figure 24: Relationship Plugin

KEY:

Field Description

Stop / Start Plugin Stops or starts the plugin

Note: If the plugin is stopped for any amount of time, the Relationship Index will

potentially be out of sync with CRM. Without a complete re-index (see Initiate

indexing of CRM relationships), the Explorer application will return indeterminate

results.

Documents

c360 Explorer Administration and Configuration Guide · 2010-12-20 · c360 Explorer Administration and Configuration Guide Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 compatible c360 Solutions, Inc