RSMUS.comOur Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients often have a need to integrate their Dynamics CRM environment with other data sources. It may be an ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics GP or Microsoft Dynamics AX where contacts, accounts and sales transactions are shared. It could also be legacy data from an existing system’s database that they are want integrated with Dynamics CRM either to enhance sales activity or use Dynamics CRM as a xRM platform. xRM refers to using Dynamics CRM as a development platform for functional uses beyond managing customer relationships.
Scribe Software is the most popular and accepted choice when choosing a data integration tool to be used with Dynamics CRM. Scribe can be used to transfer data into Dynamics CRM for the initial import during a project go-live phase or an on-going data integration. A data integration can either be one way (to or from CRM) or two way (to and from CRM).
I have been involved with many small and large Scribe integration projects over the past eight years, including a huge project for a federal agency program. As a result of those experiences I have found that there are several things that need to be done to ensure the best data transfer speeds between your Dynamics CRM environment and your other database locations.
- First and foremost is to configure and design your Dynamics CRM, SQL and Scribe servers with the appropriate levels of CPU, RAM and hard drive space. Of course each situation is going to dictate a different approach based on number of Dynamics CRM users and acceptable Scribe processing times. As a rule, do not use the minimal requirements as laid out by Microsoft and Scribe for server size or you will be disappointed. With most organizations using virtual servers these days, it is very easy to expand system resources as needs arise.
- Secondly, network speed and stability can be a huge factor when transferring large amounts of data and maintaining consistent database connections during the transfer cycle. You can have great application servers but if you have network congestion or are constantly losing connectivity to those servers then data transfer speeds are going to suffer.
- There are also several database related tweaks that can greatly increase processing. If you are updating or searching on large Dynamics CRM database tables then adding indexes to the search criteria can really help performance, I have seen the speed increase by a factor of three.
- Also put the source and target databases on different SQL server instances. This prevents resource bottlenecks that can happen when you are writing from one database on a server to another database on the same server.
These are the high level items to look for when trying to get more performance out of your Scribe data integration. There could be any multitude of additional items to configure or tweak based on your own particular network and server environment differences. You can spend many hours, I know I have, researching and analyzing the different server and network performance metrics using any number of native and third party tools but in my experience the above four items will solve 80% of your performance issues.
RSM is recognized as an Elite Partner by Scribe Software Corporation. We can help you with migrating your data migration and integrating your solutions to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. To learn how we can help, complete a request for our Rapid Assessment® for Microsoft Dynamics methodology or contact our professionals at crm@mcgladrey.com.
By: Scott Roller – Kansas City Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner
