The origins of Microsoft Dynamics CRM

It's not always about what you can see!

More and more New Zealand-based organisations are turning to Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Microsoft CRM) to build Line of Business (LOB) applications – why?  Before we consider this question head on, let’s consider how we got here.  In 2000/01 Microsoft set out to build an extensible and flexible development platform that could be used by its partners and customers to rapidly build business or industry specific applications.  Their vision was to provide the building blocks that support rapid application development and not to build (at that time) a LOB product.  However, Microsoft decided to build an application to showcase the platform, and Microsoft CRM 1.0 was born!

So what is Microsoft CRM? 

As discussed above, Microsoft CRM is as much a platform and framework as it is a LOB application.  Each application piece is an entity that displays certain characteristics and relationships depending on its role in the application and as defined by the developer.  The easy way for us to look at this is to say the most commonly used entity, the ‘accounts’ entity, could just as well be a generic entity that each different organisation names and uses to suit its own purpose.  For instance, ERMA uses the entities and workflows in Microsoft CRM to track and report on applications relating to hazardous substances. This supports ERMA’s role in managing the requirements under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. The Charities Commission uses Microsoft CRM to track communications, information and activities relating to the application and management of grants.
 
To answer the question: Why are so many organisations turning to Microsoft CRM as one solution to providing a framework for building multiple LOB applications?  We have stated that Microsoft CRM was built with this in mind; so what makes it fit for purpose?  It comes down to what you can’t see when you look at the Microsoft CRM application.  Most (custom) development projects start by building the plumbing – the framework and fundamental aspects of the system, including security models, data models and of course the user interface (UI) – and later focus on the functionality required to support the business processes.  Often this means you are spending up to 75% of the project effort on the bits below the surface, the bits that you can’t see.  Microsoft CRM provides this for you in an extensible platform, framework and SDK (Software Development Kit).

 
You might think that this is standard practice by CRM and ERP vendors, but the difference is that Microsoft CRM was built as a platform, not an application, and 100% of the framework is provided to you through the SDK.  This means that, unlike typical COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) packages which normally allow you to extend 20 to 30% of the application, Microsoft CRM provides you with exactly the same SDK and open framework it provides its own developers, the developers who built and continue to extend Microsoft CRM, the application.

Because of the broad extensive range of entity-based LOB applications that are now being developed using the Microsoft CRM platform, the term xRM is being used to better describe these applications.  Intergen has a large team of professionals highly skilled in xRM application development using the Microsoft CRM platform.
If you are keen to talk to us about this article or your business needs, please email me at simon.bright@intergen.co.nz.