RSMUS.comI have read many of the blogs written by my colleagues about the great new features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In particular, the business rules have many people excited. For those searching, business rules allow for actions to take place on a form based on changes to data. For example, a field could be made invisible or read only based on the values entered into another field.
This is a tremendous improvement from prior versions when this work would have to be coded in JavaScript. The business rules help with browser independence as well utilizing the functionality on the mobile applications. The whole concept is great.
The downfall to this new feature is the fact that the form has to be in a position where auto save is running for business rules to fire. Forms are not in auto save mode when it is a new form and all the required fields are not filled in. This, in my opinion, is very prohibitive.
A perfect example of where this limitation will impact the form is when a required field is being used as a trigger for a business rule. For instance, on case, if the subject field is required and also being used to trigger a business rule that hides certain fields based on the subject, this business rule will not fire until the user clicks save. In my opinion, this is not an acceptable behavior, since the flow of the form is not controlled. Unfortunately, the only solution to this problem is to reverting to JavaScript. I am hoping that this is something Microsoft will work to improve in future versions of Dynamics CRM.
RSM offers services that extend your Dynamics CRM solution – from basic “out of the box” to complex architecture, we can automate processes, integrate with other critical business systems or customize according to your business’ needs. Contact our professionals at crm@mcgladrey.com for more information.
By: Bob Kanzler – Philadelphia Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner
Bob Kanzler
Principal of RSM's Dynamics 365 CE focused on our east coast clients and non profits.