Document Management and Sharepoint Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

A great new feature of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is the ability to easily integrate with SharePoint.   This allows documents that are stored internally at a company to be viewed and managed from within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  For example, when a users display the Account form for a client and click on Documents in the left pane, they can easily see all documents related to that client.   The list of documents includes the version number and the date last modified and by whom.  Users can check out the document if they need to change it, or can view a read-only copy if not.  Document management and collaboration within a team is now simplified.

Documents can also be linked to other entities within CRM, such as an Opportunity, a Case, or a Marketing Campaign.  In a nutshell, SharePoint integration within Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables you to:

• Create, upload, view, and delete documents from within Microsoft Dynamics CRM based on user’s security roles.
• Check in and check out documents, view version history, and change document properties.

We recently migrated our on-premise CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 to take advantage of this Sharepoint integration.  Our support consultants are excited about being able to share documents easily including documents related to a case, to an account, or even regarding a generic topic like ‘Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010’.  Instead of storing their documents on a shared drive – or worse yet their hard drive – they can now store documents in Sharepoint.  With the integration to CRM, these documents can be easily retrieved and shared with the rest of the team.   In addition, because the documents are stored on a server that is running SharePoint, non-Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can access the documents given the appropriate security on that server.  This approach promotes better collaboration and teamwork in an organization where all users may not have CRM available to them.

We are looking forward to learning more about and teaching our customers how to take advantage of the integration of these powerful technologies – Sharepoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Sherwood Systems, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, provides Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Customer Relationship Management) business management and accounting software for small to midsize businesses in the U.S. with an emphasis on customers in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. Contact us at www.sherwood.com or call 877-943-9696.

by Sherwood Systems, your Arizona Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner