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Summary of CRM 4.0 Whitepapers

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Over time there have been quite a few technical whitepapers on Dynamics CRM, with more still to come. Hopefully this listing will be a useful reference and perhaps point you to a few that you weren’t aware of. If I’ve missed any you think should be included, please email me.

There are plenty more whitepapers for sales and marketing available on PartnerSource.

 

Whitepaper

Details

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Security Model

This white paper, The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Security Model, serves as the core architectural component of a larger "nuts and bolts" article on Security and Authentication in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The paper details the security model leveraged by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, including information on the authentication mechanisms that, depending on the deployment model, support Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In addition, the document provides details about how access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 system resources by users and external systems can be controlled and restricted.

Field-level Security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Options and Constraints

This white paper, Field-level Security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Options and Constraints, provides selected aspects of the conceptual application of the security model in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. While Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not provide for true field-level security, there are a number of options available for using supported custom logic to control of access to data at a more granular level than provided out of the box. This document discusses some of the key options and constraints available for implementing this type of solution.

Connectivity and Firewall Port Requirements in On-Premise Deployments

Many data centres include firewalls between the end-users and the servers and other integrated systems that support an implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. This document provides guidance on the connectivity requirements between Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and other systems to assist readers with proper firewall configuration in customer environments.

Outlook Synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Both the online and offline versions of the CRM Outlook Client support synchronizing CRM contacts and CRM activities to Outlook folders, or Outlook synchronization. Outlook synchronization enables Outlook users to view Dynamics CRM information, including contacts, tasks, phone calls, letters, faxes, appointments, and e-mails, within the Outlook interface. This document describes the client synchronization process that is associated with Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 or later (for on-premise deployments) and with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online November 2009 Service Update or later (for online deployments).

Sharing Data across Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deployments

While using a single CRM instance is probably the simplest way to accommodate the data sharing needs within an organization, using multiple instances of Dynamics CRM may be preferable in a number of scenarios. This release includes two documents, a white paper and a build guide, focused on sharing data across multiple CRM organizations. The white paper provides an overview of the levels of integration available for sharing data across multiple Dynamics CRM organizations, together with details about the techniques that are used for integration at the Application and Data levels, which include Web Services, Web Services-based solutions, Filtered Views, and SQL Server Replication. The build guide explains how to configure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 April 2009 VPC base image to enable data sharing between a Publisher organization and multiple Subscriber organizations. The configuration demonstrates how to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to maintain referential integrity between multiple organizations by leveraging Microsoft SQL Server 2008 transactional replication.

How to configure an Internet-Facing Deployment for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

This document covers the following Internet-Facing Deployment (IFD) scenarios for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

  • Install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 through the user interface (UI) setup
  • Install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 with a configuration file
  • Upgrade Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 through the UI setup
  • Upgrade Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 with a configuration file

This document is intended to cover how to set up the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Web site to make it available from the Internet. This document will not cover the steps that you must complete to make a server available from the Internet.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance and Scalability White Papers

Made up of the following:

  1. Enterprise Performance and Scalability This white paper provides an overview of the results and benefits of performance and scalability enhancements in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
  2. Performance and Scalability – User Scalability for the Enterprise These benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to meet the needs of an enterprise-level, mission-critical workload of 24,000 concurrent users while maintaining performance at sub-second response times. Test results were achieved without customizations to simulate an out-of-the-box Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment. This white paper describes the goals, methodology and detailed results of this performance benchmark.
  3. Performance and Scalability – Database Scalability for the Enterprise These benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to data volumes of over 1 billion database records while maintaining performance at sub-second response times. Test results were achieved without customizations, and minimal optimization to simulate an out-of-the-box Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment. This white paper describes the goals, methodology and detailed results of this performance benchmark.
  4. Performance and Scalability – Bandwidth Utilization Improvements Microsoft Dynamics CRM showed network utilization improvements of up to 94% in version 4.0. This white paper details the test results comparing version 3.0 to 4.0.

Developing ISV Applications using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports a wide range of business applications with the essentials required for building, delivering, and maintaining these applications in a multi-tenant SaaS environment. In this white paper we explore how, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, an ISV can quickly build, deploy, and manage line-of-business applications.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Suggested Hardware for Deployments of up to 500 Concurrent Users

The purpose of this document is to summarize the performance test results of 500 concurrent users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 executing a mix of sales, marketing, service, data management, reporting, workflow and Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook with Offline Access synchronization transactions. The scenario described in this document is based on a specific set of metrics (user counts, transaction volumes, data set size and composition, etc) and is for a single organization, on-premise deployment model. The primary goals of the report are to:

  • Validate hardware configurations for up to 500 concurrent users.
  • Assess the application performance of the user, data and transaction volumes and the overall suitability of the test infrastructure.
  • Provide performance benchmark data on the proposed infrastructure.

Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

This white paper provides techniques, considerations, and best practices for optimizing and maintaining the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 implementations. Structured to support a tier-based optimization methodology, the paper includes a section dedicated to optimizing and maintaining each of the Client, Application, and Data tiers. For each tier, the paper addresses the relevant components of the broader implementation. This white paper also includes links to additional information and resources, such as performance enhancements, security updates, Knowledge Base articles, and related Microsoft Dynamics CRM documentation.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Logical Database Diagrams

These Microsoft Office Visio diagrams show the logical database structure for Microsoft CRM 4.0.

These diagrams were generated using the Metadata Diagram sample code included in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 SDK download.

Microsoft Dynamics xRM and Microsoft SharePoint Positioning White Paper

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM team and the Microsoft SharePoint team worked jointly on this positioning summary, which reflects the updated go-to-market approach for the xRM framework as part of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft SharePoint 2007.