Plan for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployment and administration
Applies To: CRM Online
[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases.]
Your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online deployment will go more smoothly with some preliminary planning. The following table lists some of the items to consider before you start the actual deployment process.
| Item | Description | Considerations |
|---|---|---|
Environment discovery |
A detailed description of your organization’s environment in terms of number of users, groups or teams, and the number and type of business units or divisions. Identify current CRM data that you would like to bring into CRM Online, and your overall data storage requirements. Include a business requirements analysis that describes your organization’s expectation or requirements for a service level agreement (SLA). An SLA is an agreement between two or more parties describing the deliverables, support, and communication that each party will provide to the other. Specify your policies related to security and privacy. |
Is there enough overlap in customers and products across business units to be able to work in the same CRM data? What type of security policy does the organization already have in place? Are there any special requirements in this area? Is there a plan for business growth that could affect the number of users of CRM Online? Plan for enough time to do this discovery; information that comes out of this exercise can affect the way you implement the service. |
Single sign-on |
An authentication process that enables a user to access multiple systems or services through a single set of sign-on credentials. For example, implementing single sign-on for CRM Online in an organization’s network environment means that after a user signs in to the network, that user does not have to enter credentials again when accessing CRM Online. Note For Office 365 subscribers, CRM Online instance must be in the same tenant as your Office 365 subscription. A user account in Active Directory can only sync with one tenant. |
There are additional requirements to implement single sign-on, therefore, consider how important it is to your organization. More information: Manage user account synchronization |
Integration with Office 365 applications |
You can significantly enhance your company’s online, collaborative experience by integrating Office 365 applications with your CRM Online subscription. This requires a separate purchase of an Office 365 subscription You’ll have the best integration experience if your Office 365 subscription and CRM Online instance are in the same tenant. |
More information: What is Office 365 and how does it relate to CRM Online? |
Administrative roles in the Microsoft Online Services environment |
A number of administrative roles are available to assign to users if you manage your subscription in the Microsoft Online Services environment. Administrative roles define administrative responsibilities related to subscription management activities, for example, billing administration, password administration, and user management administration. |
Consider the available administrative roles and the needs of your environment to identify the roles you want to use and the users you will choose for each role. The global administrator role is the highest level role, having all the permissions to manage any part of the subscription process. We recommend that you assign this role to more than one person so that someone is always available to manage all aspects of the subscription. Note Administrative roles cover all subscription management functions within the service. These aren’t the same as the security roles that you assign to users in CRM Online, which are required and govern access to resources in the CRM Online service. See “Security roles in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online” in this table. |
Security roles in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online |
CRM Online uses role-based security. The security role assigned to a user determines the tasks the user is permitted to perform and the data that the user is permitted to view. |
Every user must be assigned at least one security role to access CRM Online. Note Security roles aren’t the same as administrative roles in the Microsoft Online Services environment, which cover subscription management and related activities in the Office 365 admin portal. See: Administrative roles in the Microsoft Online Services environment in this table. |
Importing data |
CRM Online offers a wizard to help with importing CRM data from other applications and services. |
If you import data from other systems, consider the way you’ll process the data to minimize errors. More information: Import data (all record types) |
Product updates |
Some CRM Online releases will include optional product updates that you can choose to enable. |
Product updates may affect existing customizations in your CRM Online instance. Review the documentation associated with each product update before you enable it in a production environment. Additionally, some product updates, such as the sales and service process forms, can’t be removed or easily reverted to the previous functionality. Therefore, you should give careful consideration before you enable a product update. More information: Install product updates Tip If you’re unsure whether you want to enable a product update in a CRM Online instance used in production, sign up for a trial subscription to evaluate the new functionality. More information: Sign up for a free trial |
See Also
Concepts
Get started administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online requirements
Grant users access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a Microsoft Online service
Other Resources
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Enterprise Planning Guide
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