Technical Overview of ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Dynamics CRM Service and Customization

ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM utilizes the Dynamics CRM Service to communicate with the Dynamics CRM instance. In addition, the integration takes advantage of the customization capabilities by modifying the site map and adding a small number of custom entities.

The Dynamics CRM instance contains all subscriber data and syncs subscriber status and tracking data with ExactTarget on a schedule you can specify using the ExactTarget Connector Service.

ExactTarget Email Platform

The platform is exposed as a web service, and ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM takes advantage of the email sending, tracking, and unsubscribe request processing capabilities available in the platform.

ExactTarget Connector Service

The Connector service is responsible for communicating with the Dynamics CRM instance (via the Dynamics CRM Service) and the ExactTarget Email Platform. The Connector service is effectively the "glue" between the Dynamics CRM instance and ExactTarget. The service gathers data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM as part of sending emails, retrieving and acting on aggregate and individual tracking data, and retrieving and acting on unsubscribe requests. These actions occur over HTTPS with SOAP messages using WS-Security 1.0 specifications.

If the IIS server resets while performing an activity with the connector, that activity needs to be retried to ensure completion.

Installation Package

An executable file provides a simple way to apply the customizations required for the integration solution to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM instance.

Custom Entities

ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM makes use of the custom entities detailed in the Excel spreadsheet found at the link below:

http://memberlandingpages.com/help/mscrm/4.0/ET_4.0_Customizations.xls

Please refer to this document for all applicable changes. Note that you must have a program capable of reading Excel spreadsheets to view this document.

Management of Tracking Data

The ExactTarget application originates all tracking data and manages its distribution to your Dynamics CRM instance based on the settings of the Tracking tab in your ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Configuration Utility. Email tracking data is available at the aggregate or individual level. Aggregate tracking data is available via the ExactTarget Send entity, and individual data is available via a Campaign Response (with bounce data available on Contact records as well).

The user can retrieve tracking information for each CRM organization they manage in one of four ways:

1. No tracking data pushed back to the Dynamics CRM system
2. Only aggregate campaign data pushed back to the Dynamics CRM system
3. Individual data for all recipients that respond to the email (open, click, bounce, or unsubscribe) pushed back to the Dynamics CRM system
4. Individual tracking data for all recipients pushed back to the Dynamics CRM system (this option creates a custom staging table in the CRM database and uses SQL to read and write to this table; users can optionally change the location of this table in the registry)

By default, individual tracking data is represented as a Campaign Response and exists only if the recipient of the email opens the email, clicks on the link of an email, or unsubscribes from the email, or if the recipient is classified as bounced (as described in the Bounce Mail Management guide). However, the user has the option to track information for all sent emails, even those that don't report a response. The user can also track the bounce type:

• Hard
• Soft
• Block
• Technical/Other
• Unknown

Contacts features a section that details the last bounce date, the type of bounce, and the job that caused the bounce.

When a subscriber is marked as undeliverable in the ExactTarget application, Dynamics CRM registers any applicable bounce information. You can view that bounce information as part of a campaign response or in the contact information. Your Dynamics CRM instance does not unsubscribe a bounced subscriber automatically. However, ExactTarget will not continue to send email to that subscriber based on their status in the ExactTarget application. That means that while your Dynamics CRM instance may show a subscriber as subscribed to a list, that subscriber will not receive email sent through the ExactTarget application.

To avoid potential duplicate entries resulting from sending additional emails to unsubscribed subscribers, choose Option 3 in the ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Configuration Utility instead of Option 4.

Tracking data is retrieved incrementally. This means that each web service request to ExactTarget from the ExactTarget Connector service returns only new tracking information rather than all tracking information that is available.  The user sets the timing options for this tracking data to ensure optimum communication between the Dynamics CRM servers and the ExactTarget system.

Do not delete ExactTarget send records from your Dynamics CRM system.  Doing so prevents the transmission of tracking data for that job from the ExactTarget system to your servers, and ExactTarget is unable to restore send records in your Dynamics CRM system.

All tracking data, and hence all ExactTarget sends, roll up to a Campaign record in Dynamics CRM.

Attribute Mapping

Attributes from the Contact, Lead, and Account entities are mapped to ExactTarget subscriber attributes. This mapping allows the personalization and dynamic content capabilities in of ExactTarget to be used. The act of mapping occurs via an administrative screen in the Settings area of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Configuration Options

Multiple configuration options exist for the integration solution. These options are stored in the server registry. A configuration update utility is included with the solution, which allows for the configuration of:

• The frequency of checks to see if new emails need to be sent to ExactTarget; the default frequency is 5 minutes.
• The frequency of retrieving tracking data from ExactTarget; the default frequency is hourly.
• The ability to batch large sends and set the threshold and sizes for these batches; when Send Batching is enabled, the default settings take jobs larger than 25000 messages and batch them into groups of 5000. These batches transfer to the ExactTarget application via FTP.
• The timeout values for your Dynamics CRM server; this controls when your server  stops listening for sends, tracking and SQL responses from the ExactTarget System. By lengthening the time, you lessen the risk of timeouts during large jobs.
• The number of concurrent processes; by adjusting the number of processes, you can queue up your large jobs and make your system run more quickly and efficiently. These processes include the following activities:
  • Tracking requests
  • Imports from the FTP site
  • Email sends released to ExactTarget
• The ability to enable the maximum amount of server-side processing for individual tracking data; this increases the number of available ports and the rate at those available ports are recycled on your CRM server.
• The roles that can access ExactTarget settings and in turn perform "administrative" functions.
• The creation of Campaign Responses in the closed or open state.
• The ability to activate or deactivate email marketing campaigns with the click of a button.
• The default campaign that is used in the case where no campaigns exists.
• The location of log files that are created by the ExactTarget Connector service. Note that the log files created by the Connector service rotate on a daily basis.
• The ExactTarget API user name and password that is used to communicate with the ExactTarget Email Platform service.

Site Map/Navigation Impact

When the integration solution is installed, the site map and navigation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are impacted as follows:

• The ExactTarget button opens a work area provides access to ExactTarget entities and related Microsoft Dynamics CRM entities.
• The application menu option is added to provide seamless access to the ExactTarget API (the user is not prompted for username and password).
• A "Send ExactTarget Email" button is made available on the Marketing List, Contact, Lead, Account and Campaign entities.
• An entry labeled ExactTarget is available in the Settings area to users in the role of System Administrator (or as configured via the registry update utility).

Hardware Requirements

In general, the minimum hardware requirements for Microsoft Dynamics CRM are appropriate for use of the integration. Additional hardware may be required depending upon the number of subscribers specified for an email send/job. As the number of subscribers increases, the more memory (RAM) is required for the machine where the Connector service is running. In general a dedicated server with 2GB of RAM that is running the Connector service can support up to 250,000 subscribers per email send/job.

Additionally, be sure to make all processors in a virtual server available to ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Update the settings in your virtual server management software as necessary.