dotmailer for Dynamics Frequently Asked Questions v 6,0

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dotmailer for Dynamics

Frequently Asked Questions

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Introduction

This document provides answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Connector for dotmailer (the Connector).

The Connector utilises the Dynamics CRM Service to communicate with the Dynamics CRM instance. The integration takes advantage of the customisation capabilities by modifying the ISV Configurations, site map and by creating new custom entities and extending existing entities.

For the Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM 2013 the Connector is packaged as a “Managed” solution to enable ease of installation and the applications of any future updates.

The dotmailer platform has a comprehensive web service application programming interface (API) platform and this enables the management of email sending, tracking, subscriptions and recipients.

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Why should I use the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for dotmailer?

The Connector provides your business with the ability to send highly customised and trackable messages using the information already located in your Dynamics CRM instance to the dotmailer Email platform.

The dotmailer Email platform enables your business to generate more relevant emails because it uses your own CRM data to create dynamic email content that is personalised to each recipient. This is accomplished by mapping

Dynamics CRM data to dotmailer Data Labels to drive dynamic content or personalisation.

What software needs to be installed?

There is no software to install on your Dynamics CRM servers. Within your Dynamics CRM system the Connector is installed as a “Managed” solution for Dynamics CRM 2011/2013 and as a series of customisations for Dynamics CRM version 4. The Connector is a cloud service that runs through the Internet.

Can I send my Email Campaigns directly from Dynamics CRM?

Yes, you can send your email campaigns from within Dynamics CRM using the Email Send Wizard. The Email Send Wizard provides an easy to use method of selecting which Marketing Lists you wish to send to and managing the split-testing criteria you wish to use.

What reporting functionality is available?

The Connector integrates directly with dotmailer ‘s own reporting and there are options within each CRM Email Campaign to view the real-time dotmailer reports at the click of a button.

As the Connector creates a wealth of email tracking and behavioural information directly within your Dynamics CRM solution, your existing CRM reporting and querying tools can be fully utilised to provide you with the information you need to drive your Sales and Marketing activities.

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Can Marketing Lists be created or updated based upon recipient behaviour?

Yes, there are several ways to create new Marketing Lists or update existing Marketing Lists based upon the behaviour information returned by the dotmailer platform.

 Using the standard Advanced Query capabilities of Dynamics CRM, as all behavioural information is held within Dynamics CRM

 Using supplied views and filters within each Email Campaign to select your new targets and add them to a Marketing List

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How much control do I have on the synchronisation process?

The Connector provides you with a high degree of control on what is synchronised and when, including;

 Control each aspect of the synchronisation process, including the intervals, to meet with your own requirements

 Ability to determine the order in which Marketing Lists are synchronised

 Facility to ensure that certain Marketing Lists can be manually synchronised only

Are unsubscribers managed within Dynamics CRM?

Yes, the accounts, contacts, and leads in your Dynamics CRM system can stop receiving email by unsubscribing from within the email that has been sent to them and then this request flows back to Dynamics CRM.

Email Suppression List

The suppression list allows for the global suppression of email addresses to prevent them from being sent emails. This is in addition to the standard Dynamics CRM “Do Not Bulk Email” option. This list is synchronised with the dotmailer Email platform.

Global Unsubscribe

A global unsubscribe will remove the accounts, leads, and contacts who do not want to receive email marketing from your organisation. This action automatically sets the Bulk Email field of a Contact, Lead, or Account record to Do Not Allow without requiring you to make manual changes. This action also marks the Contact, Lead, or Account as unsubscribed in the dotmailer platform.

Once globally unsubscribed the recipient is added to the email suppression list held in dotmailer and Dynamics CRM. Marketing List (Address Book) Unsubscribe

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What aggregate statistics are available from within Dynamics CRM for the Email

Campaign?

The aggregate statistics retrieved from dotmailer and held within Dynamics CRM are very comprehensive and include the following;

 Click Rate (%)  Delivered Rate (%)  Open Rate (%)  Reply Rate (%)  Hard Bounce Rate (%)  Soft Bounce Rate (%)  Unique Open Rate (%)  Unsubscribe Rate (%)  User Click Rate (%)

 Total Number of Clicks  Total Number Delivered  Total Number of Hard Bounces  Total Number of ISP Complaints  Total Number of Opens

 Total Number of Page Views  Total Number of Replies  Total Number Sent

 Total Number of Soft Bounces  Total Number of Unique Opens  Total Number of Unsubscribes

What behavioural information is available for each recipient of an email?

For each email sent the following send statistics are available from within Dynamics CRM;

 Number of Opens  Number of Replies  Number of Clicks

 Number Forwarded To Friends  Hard Bounced (yes/no)  Soft Bounced (yes/no)  Unsubscribed (yes/no)

 Number of Views  Date First Opened  Date Last Opened  Date Sent

 Number of Estimated Forwards  IP Address used when first opened  Email Agent details from when first opened

For each click made by a recipient the following statistics are collected and made available from within Dynamics CRM;

 Date Clicked  The URL Clicked

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Can we use an installation of Microsoft CRM Online 2011/2013?

Yes, Microsoft CRM Online 2011/2013 is fully supported and the Connector is provided as a “Managed” solution enabling full control of the installation.

Can we use a Partner Hosted implementation of Dynamics CRM?

Yes, Partner Hosted Dynamics CRM solutions are already accessible from the Internet and the technical approach we have taken with the Connector means that only standard customisation changes are required. This should be

supported by any Dynamics CRM Partner Host.

For Dynamics CRM 2011/2013 the Connector is provided as a “Managed” solution enabling full control of the installation.

A new user account will be required for use by the Connector and this must have access to the Dynamics CRM Web Services (CRM Service and Metadata Service).

For Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011/2013 Partner Hosted, you must enable anonymous authentication for the 2007 SPLA CrmDiscoveryService on each server where Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011/2013 is installed. For other requirements, please see (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=210780) in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Planning Guide.

Can we use an on Premise installation of Dynamics CRM?

Where you are hosting your own Dynamics CRM solution there are three primary methods of providing connectivity between your Dynamics CRM implementation and the Connector.

For Dynamics CRM 2011/2013 the Connector is provided as a “Managed” solution enabling full control of the installation.

Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) Preferred Option

Many Dynamics CRM customers already have this option implemented, which allows secure access to Dynamics CRM from the Internet.

IFD allows Dynamics CRM customers to configure their CRM system to be reachable from outside the intranet (i.e. internet or outside of the firewall). The main difference when using IFD vs. typical on-premise deployment is how users are authenticated. When using the on-premise version, Internet Information Services (IIS) handles most of the authentication via integrated windows authentication. In IFD, the CRM web site is opened for anonymous access and the authentication relies on claims-based authentication in CRM 2011/2013 or the presence of a CRM ticket cookie in CRM 4.0.

For Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011/2013 IFD, you must enable anonymous authentication for the 2007 SPLA CrmDiscoveryService on each server where Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011/2013 is installed. For other requirements, please see (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=210780) in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Planning Guide.

Use a Reverse Proxy or Edge Gateway Server

There are several security and performance benefits to a utilising a reverse proxy solution with dotmailer® for Dynamics, with the primary benefit being one of granular control over the flow of network data.

Organisations also typically have an existing edge server in place, such as Microsoft TMG or Microsoft ISA which allows you to publish external access to the CRM system under highly secure conditions.

This is more secure than port forwarding as the reverse proxy sends requests on behalf of dotmailer® for Dynamics and processes responses on behalf of your CRM server – the two solutions have no direct communication. All communication should be undertaken over HTTPS.

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Please see section “On-Premise Connectivity Scenarios for dotmailer for Dynamics Cloud Edition” for further information

Directly Expose Dynamics CRM using a Public Internet address and port forwarding

This approach involves your Dynamics CRM Server being directly accessible from the Internet and will use standard Windows Authentication to access the CRM system. This option is not usually recommended without secure firewalls being in place and SSL connectivity

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What changes are made to Dynamics CRM?

All changes that are made are undertaken through the standard customisations ability of Dynamics CRM. Several new entities are created and some existing entities extended within your Dynamics CRM instance. There are also new Security roles created to support access to the new functionality.

For Dynamics CRM 2011/2013 the Connector is provided as a “Managed” solution. The new roles created are;

 Email Campaign Connector Service (System Use Only)  Email Marketing Manager

 Email Marketing Professional  Email Marketing Viewer

A detailed list of customisations is available separately. Extended CRM Entities

 Marketing List (list)

The existing Marketing List entity is extended to support synchronisation with the dotmailer platform. New CRM Entities

 Crm Field (esc_crmfield)

Holds CRM metadata used by the Email Service Connector  Email Campaign (esc_emailcampaign)

Holds information about the email campaign, including aggregate statistics

 Email Campaign Connector Configuration (esc_emailcampaignconfiguration) Holds configuration information for use by the Email Service Connector

 Email Click (esc_emailcampaigncontactclick)

Holds information about each click a recipient has made, including what, when and where  Email Send Summary (esc_emailcampaigncontactsummary)

Holds detailed information about the send made to each recipient, including individual send statistics for the Account, Contact or Lead.

 Email Data Label (esc_emailcampaigncustomfields)

Holds the data labels that are used to pass recipient specific information between CRM and dotmailer. For example, First Name, Last Name, Gender or any other related CRM attribute.

 Email Data Mapping (esc_emaildatamapping)

Holds the attribute mappings between CRM Fields and Email Data Labels for each entity type; Account, Contact and Lead.

 Email Suppression (esc_emailsupression)

This entity contains the email suppression list used by the Connector and dotmailer when synchronising.  Email List Unsubscriber (esc_listunsubscriber)

Holds details of Accounts, Contacts and Leads that have unsubscribed from a Marketing List / Address Book.  Email Message Queue (esc_messagequeue)

This entity is for future use.

 Email Account (esc_emailaccount)

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How is the installation performed?

Dynamics CRM 2011/2013

For Dynamics CRM 2011/2013 the Connector is provided as a Managed Solution.

Option 1 (Preferred)

CRM Administrator/Customizer access, which can be temporary only, is provided to dotmailer by assigning the appropriate rights to a new CRM account created to act as the Connector account. This account is used to obtain the current CRM metadata and existing customisations and confirms remote connectivity.

Your Dynamics CRM instance is then remotely provisioned by our technical services team, which includes the following steps;

 A backup of the existing metadata and customisations is created

 The Managed Solution package (called “dotmailerCRMConnector”) is imported. These changes will include new entity metadata, new security roles, new forms, configuration data and changes to the Site Map to allow for access to the new Email Campaign information, which is added to the Marketing section.

 Initial tests are then conducted.

Option 2

A standard (non-administrator) CRM User Login is provided to dotmailer which includes the role of “CRM Connector Service” (details of which will be supplied). This Login will act as the Connector service account and is used to obtain the current CRM metadata, existing customisations and confirms remote connectivity.

You will be sent a link to the managed solution package (called “dotmailerCRMConnector”) which your CRM Administrator can then use to install the Connector.

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Dynamics CRM 4.0

For Dynamics CRM 4.0, as each implementation will have been highly customised to meet the business requirements, it is important that the provisioning of the Connector is undertaken by us and the required changes merged with your own existing changes. This will involve one of the following options;

Option 1 (Preferred)

CRM Administrator access, which can be temporary only, is provided to dotmailer by assigning the appropriate rights to a new CRM account created to act as the Connector account. This account is used to obtain the current CRM metadata and existing customisations and confirms remote connectivity.

Your Dynamics CRM instance is then remotely provisioned by our technical services team, which includes the following steps;

 A backup of the existing metadata and customisations is created

 The changes required by the Connector will be merged with the existing customisations. These changes will include new entity metadata, new security roles, new forms, configuration data and changes to the Site Map to allow for access to the new Email Campaign information, which is added to the Marketing section.

 The changes are published and initial tests conducted.

Option 2

A standard (non-administrator) CRM User Login is provided to dotmailer which includes the role of “CRM Connector Service” (details of which will be supplied). This Login will act as the Connector account and is used to obtain the current CRM metadata, existing customisations and confirms remote connectivity.

Your Dynamics CRM instance is then accessed by our technical services team who will take a backup of the existing metadata and customisations.

We will then use this backup to merge the changes required by the Connector with the existing customisations. These changes will include new entity metadata, new security roles, new forms, configuration data and changes to the Site Map to allow for access to the new Email Campaign elements which are added to the Marketing section.

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Will Dynamics CRM be available while the installation takes place?

Yes, users can continue to access the system while the customisations are being provisioned.

What personalisation can be performed using the information sent to dotmailer?

The comprehensive mapping facilities allow each individual Marketing List member type (Account, Contact or Lead) to have their own mappings, which link any related CRM attribute to the dotmailer Data Labels.

Personalisation lets you add a Data Label (a placeholder for data) in an email that is replaced with recipient-specific information. For example, if the email should start Dear <First Name>, the <First Name> Data Label is replaced by the recipient's first name.

Dynamic content lets you include different content in the body of the email depending on recipient Data Label values. For example if you have a Data Label that contains a particular product interest this can drive the actual content within the email, such as including a section pertaining to that product.

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On-Premise Connectivity Scenarios for dotmailer for Dynamics Cloud Edition

In most cases connectivity to an On-Premise installation of Dynamics CRM is achieved using the standard Internet

Facing Deployment (IFD) features built into Microsoft Dynamics CRM itself.

Where a customer does not have an IFD enabled installation, an alternative method of connectivity may be required

to successfully allow our Cloud Edition to access the CRM web services over HTTPS.

This can be achieved using the following approaches.

Direct CRM Web Service Connection via Internet Connection to Public IP Address

Where this approach is taken all communication is undertaken with an Internet exposed static IP address.

In this scenario it is strongly recommended that all network traffic is encrypted and that HTTPS is used, which shall

require a valid SSL certification to be installed on to the Dynamics CRM web server.

It is also recommended that your firewall is configured to permit access to the CRM server from the dotmailer IP

address range associated with the domain “crmconnector.net” (94.143.104.164) to provide further security.

Reverse Proxy for Remote Access

A further option to be considered is the use of a “Reverse Proxy” to handle all communications between your

internal CRM solution and the dotmailer for Dynamics Cloud Edition. In computer networks, a reverse proxy is a

type of proxy server that retrieves resources on behalf of a client (dotmailer for Dynamics) from one or more CRM

servers. These resources are then returned to the client as though it originated from the reverse proxy itself

The following steps are typical of installing a Reverse Proxy using IIS and Windows Server 2008 R2:

- Clean build of Windows Server 2008 R2 - Default install of IIS 7.5 from server roles

- Installation of ARR and URL Rewrite modules using Web Platform Installer - Within IIS Management:

o Select the server

o Double click the Application Request Routing Cache o Click Server Proxy Settings

o Make sure ‘Enable Proxy’ is ticked and apply

- Within the default web site (Can be any site you like, this is purely for example): o Double click ‘URL Rewrite’

o Add rule

o Select ‘Reverse Proxy’

o Complete fields according to network

o SSL offload is optional, but may help performance on busy CRM systems.

dotmailer for Dynamics Frequently Asked Questions v 6,0