Using the ExactTarget Configuration Editor

Changing ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Information

The ET Settings tab contains version information for your installation as well as ExactTarget API user information on paths for the discovery service URL, the download server, and the log file.  This information is entered during the installation process and should not be changed unless you are switching users or servers.  If necessary, enter the new information in the appropriate fields and click Update to save your changes.

Changing the Default Campaign and Allowed Roles

The Web tab allows the Dynamics CRM administrator to add or remove roles and change the default campaign for each organization managed under ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  You can add the ExactTarget Access Role to those users you want to manage the Exacttarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM administration tasks, such as enabling ExactTarget users, mapping attributes, or creating dynamic owner rules. Administrators may also click the Enable Maximum Server-Side Data Processing checkbox. This checkbox forces the server to recycle the ports used in communications between the Dynamics CRM instance and the ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM connector, speeding up communication and improving performance. It also forces the server to make the maximum number of ports available. Finally, you can enable the Send to View feature on this tab by checking the appropriate checkbox.

NOTE: The connector user must have the SQL Access Role or PrivReportingGroup Active Directory group enabled in order to use Send to View.

Changing the ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector Settings

The Connector is the link between your CRM servers and the ExactTarget system.  These settings determine how long the CRM servers actively listen for a response from the ExactTarget system.  When your CRM servers time out too quickly, you can lose data on tracking or the progress of your email sends.  Changing these settings can improve the performance of your tracking data make sure you don't accidentally send multiple versions of the same job.   Connector settings must be made on the CRM server by user with administrative privileges. Follow these instructions to change your Connector settings:

1. Log into your CRM server.
2. Start the ExactTarget Configuration Editor by selecting Start->All Programs->ExactTarget->ExactTarget Configuration Editor.
3. In the column on the left side, select the organization for which you want to change the settings.
4. Click the Connector tab to see the settings for that organization.  Each number is expressed in seconds.
5. Change the Send time to shorten or lengthen the amount of time your CRM server will wait for a response from the ExactTarget system regarding a large send of emails.
6. Change the Tracking time to shorten or lengthen the amount of time your CRM server will wait for a response from the ExactTarget system regarding email send tracking data.
7. Change the SQL time to shorten or lengthen the amount of time your CRM server will wait for a response from your CRM database regarding an SQL query.
8. If you want to change the Connector User, check the Change Connector User? checkbox and enter the username, password, and domain for that user.
9. Change the Maximum Concurrent Requests to reduce or expand the number of processes your server will actively handle at one time.  Reducing the number will decrease the load on your CRM server and queue processes to run instead of slowing down all of them. Requests include the following 3 processes:
   • Requests for tracking information
   • Imports from the FTP site
   • Email sends released to ExactTarget
10. Change the Max API Attempts to increase or decrease the number of times the connector will try to send an API request before returning an error.
11. Change the Attempt Delay (seconds) to increase or decrease the number of seconds between API attempts.
12. Change the Log File Path to set the location of log files for the connector.
13. Click Update to save your changes.

Changing Tracking Settings

The Tracking tab allows the CRM administrator to regulate the type and frequency of each tracking job for all of the organizations managed by ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Click the Tracking Configuration button on the Tracking tab to set tracking to one of four options:

1. No tracking information pushed back to Dynamics CRM
2. Only aggregate tracking information pushed back to Dynamics CRM
3. Individual tracking information for email responses (open, click, bounce, or unsubscribe) pushed back to Dynamics CRM.
4. Individual tracking information for all recipients pushed back to Dynamics CRM.  Because of the huge amount of data this option may create, ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM creates a new custom table in the CRM database and uses SQL to access and handle the additional data.  Depending on your server's needs, you can also move this custom table to a new custom database.  If you wish to do so, change the associated registry entry to point at the custom table in the new custom database after installation.

Administrators can also change tracking to update daily or hourly at a certain time and create different responses to both the administrator and the recipient requesting tracking information. By default, the ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM connector retrieves information every hour at the half-hour mark. Administrators can also check the appropriate checkboxes to make create responses closed or send recipient create responses closed. Finally, administrators can set the server, port, and protocol for use in on-demand tracking requests.

Changing Send Batching Settings

Some CRM servers may experience slowdowns or timeouts when large jobs (in excess of 100,000 messages) are sent to the ExactTarget system. Send Batching detects these large shops and provides the option of sending these large jobs as a series of smaller batches of messages. This reduces loads on the CRM server and provides for quicker and more accurate tracking data. Send batching transfers these batches of messages via FTP to the ExactTarget application, where they can be processed and handled in a quicker fashion.

Follow these instructions to change your Send Batching settings.

1. Log into your CRM server.
2. Start the ExactTarget Configuration Editor by selecting Start->All Programs-> ExactTarget->ExactTarget Configuration Editor.
3. In the column on the left side, select the organization for which you want to change the settings.
4. Click the Send tab to see the settings for that organization. Set the following fields:

   Check For Sends	Change the Check For Sends settings based on how often you send emails through the ExactTarget system. The numeric value in the first field can be expressed in seconds, minutes, or hours depending on your choice in the drop-down menu.
   Threshold	Change the Threshold to set the limit above which large email jobs will be batched. The minimum value for this setting is 1000, and the default is 25000.
   Batch Size	Change the Batch Size to set the amount of emails sent in each batch. Batch Size must be less than the Threshold setting, and the default value is 5000.
   Data Extension Retention	Set the number of days to retain the information in the data extension in the Data Extension Retention field. The default value is 1 day.
   SFTP?	Check box to enable SFTP protocol for your FTP transactions.
   Site	Enter the URL for your ExactTarget FTP location: ftp1.exacttarget.com (S1 Instance Users) ftp.s4.exacttarget.com (S4 Instance Users) ftp.s6.exacttarget.com (S6 Instance Users)
   Path	Enter the FTP server path to use.
   Username	Enter your FTP account username.
   Password	Enter your FTP account password.

5. Click Update to save your changes.

NOTE: Send Batching only affects sends involving 1000 or more messages and will improve performance for these sends, especially for sends larger than 2500 subscribers.

Changing Data Extract Import Settings

The Data Extract Import tab allows administrators to enable the import, set the filename and download directory, and schedule a time to run the process.  The administrator also enters applicable FTP or directory information here as well.

Forcing the Connector to Start Automatically

The ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector starts by default as configured by the installation process. However, your server settings may include policies that prevent the connector from beginning automatically. You can force the connector to start automatically by making a required service for Dynamics CRM dependent on the connector service. Update your server registry to force the connector to start automatically.

1. Back up your registry and save it to another location. You can use this backup to restore your registry in case of error.
2. In the server, click Start and select Run.
3. Type regedit. The registry editor appears.
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.
5. Select any service required for normal operation of the server, such as IISADMIN.
6. Click on the service's main node in the navigation tree.
7. Double-click the DependOnService multi-string value key and press Enter. Another row is added to the list.
8. Type ExactTargetMSCRMConnector.
9. Click OK.

The required service now depends on the connector service to run and will automatically start the connector.