What: The Microsoft Dynamics CRM connection allows you to synchronize visitor data between BlueConic and Microsoft Dynamics 365 online (back and forth) in real time.
About BlueConic: The BlueConic Customer Data Platform harnesses the data required to power the recognition of an individual at each interaction, and then synchronizes their intent across the marketing ecosystem.
Why: CRM data integrated into BlueConic is prime material for segmentation and personalization. BlueConic features a unique data collection engine that captures data at the customer level for known and anonymous users. For known users, or once a user becomes known, having this data in your CRM will arm your call center and other communication platforms with relevant details about your customers' explicit and implicit intents.
Note: Microsoft Dynamics 365 online is required for this connection.
Getting the connection with Microsoft Dynamics 365 up and running is divided in two parts:
Preparing Dynamics and AzureAD
In order for BlueConic to connect with Dynamics, BlueConic needs to be registered in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and to have this registration data configured in the BlueConic connection. You'll need to follow the Microsoft instructions found here to add BlueConic as an app for your Azure portal and record some data along the way.
Tip: Due to its technical nature, this setup is best done by someone familiar with Azure and Azure AD.
Note: BlueConic cannot offer support if you need assistance on the configuration of Azure AD. If you have a non-standard installation, this article tries to provide you with a solution, but in the end BlueConic is limited to what tools Microsoft provides, and you may need to contact a Microsoft partner or representative.
Prerequisites
- Full access to Azure and Azure AD
- Access to Dynamics CRM 365 online and the Dynamics CRM url (should look like "https://<companyname>.crm.dynamics.com")
- A licensed user account for Dynamics CRM 365
- Access to BlueConic
- An installed Dynamics CRM BlueConic plugin
Setting up Azure Active Directory
The Azure AD setup process takes place in your Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com/. Follow the Microsoft instructions found here to add BlueConic as an app to your portal. Setting up Azure AD is a multi-step process, and you'll need the following information to complete the setup:
- When configuring platform settings, select the tile for the Web application type and input the following redirect URI (with your specific tenant name): https://yourtenantname.blueconic.net/login. For your Single-page redirect URI, input https://oauth.blueconic.net/redir.
- This is part of the Authentication setting: confidential vs. public section of the provided Microsoft instructions.
- Make sure your newly registered app has permission to access Dynamics CRM. When adding a new permission in Azure, click the "APIs my organization uses" tab and add "Dynamics CRM Online." (When completed, this will appear on the "My APIs" tab.) Then, designate the type of permission required by clicking the tile for "Delegated Permissions" and selecting "Access CRM Online as organization users."
- This is part of the API permissions section of the provided Microsoft instructions.
- Add a client secret for your app registration. BlueConic uses this information to secure the communication with Dynamics CRM. Input an understandable description, and select "Recommended in 24 months" in the Expires dropdown. Once the secret is added, make note of its value (an automatically generated key code) on the Certificates & secrets menu in Azure for later use.
- This is part of the Certificates & secrets section of the provided Microsoft instructions.
Tips:
- For the display name of your application, choose a recognizable name (e.g., "BlueConic"). This is part of the Register a new application section of the provided Microsoft instructions.
- Make note of your app's Application (Client) ID and Directory (Tenant) ID on the Overview menu in Azure for later use. This is part of the Application ID (client ID) section of the provided Microsoft instructions.
Configuring the Microsoft Dynamics Connection
Set up and run
After completing the setup process above, you should now have the following data:
- Application ID
- Directory ID
- Secret key/value
- Your Dynamics URL, e.g. https://swsmn.crm2.dynamics.com/. Make sure it ends in a "/".
With the information obtained in the steps above you can now set up the BlueConic Dynamics CRM connection. Open BlueConic and add a Microsoft Dynamics CRM connection on the Connections page.
Enter a name for connection at the top of the page, select whether to receive email notifications when the connection runs or fails to run, and save the connection.
Then press "Connect with Microsoft Dynamics CRM". A pop-up window should open and redirect you to a Microsoft Dynamics login page, where you fill in your Microsoft Dynamics CRM credentials and log in. After logging in you should be redirected to the BlueConic page. After a short while the words "Cannot connect to Microsoft Dynamics" disappear.
Data exchange shows the total number of unique profiles that have been imported or exported via the connection. Note that these are unique profiles. If the same profile is exported multiple times, it is counted as 1.
Now you are ready to set up your import and export goals.
Setting an import goal
Import data from Microsoft Dynamics 365 into BlueConic by running a batch connection. Click the Add goal button and choose Import goal. You can customize the name of the import goal at the top of the page.
- Choose the data you want to import from Dynamics: leads and / or contacts.
- Link identifiers for contacts or leads being imported from Dynamics.
- Map the Dynamics data you want to add to BlueConic profiles.
You can select how to import the data from the Set drop-down menu:
- Set
- Set if empty
- Add the data field to the list of existing values
- Sum a number with the existing values (if the data field is a number)
- Specify whether you want to allow new profiles to be created in BlueConic if no matching lead or contact is found for a Dynamics lead or contact.
Setting an export goal
Export data from BlueConic to Microsoft Dynamics 365 in real time. Click the Add goal button and choose Export goal. You can customize the name of the import goal at the top of the page.
- Select a BlueConic segment to export profile data from.
In the top right-hand corner, the number of profiles available for the export appears.
This number shows how many profiles meet the conditions for the selected segment (for example, they have an email address and gave required consent for an objective) and therefore are available for the export. BlueConic tries to export only the profiles that have changed since the last export. This number of profiles exported may be lower than the number displayed here.
- Specify whether you want to export data to leads and / or contacts.
- Link BlueConic profiles to Dynamics leads or contacts by linking identifiers from both systems.
- Map the BlueConic data you want to send to the corresponding Dynamics fields.
Select a BlueConic profile property by entering a search term and enter the Dynamics value it should populate.
Click the BlueConic icon to open a drop down menu where you can switch between the type of information you want to export. Pick one of:- BlueConic profile identifier: The unique identifier for a profile
- Associated segments: All segments, or a selection of one or more specific segments that the profile is associated with
- Profile property: The value of a specific profile property
- All viewed interactions (all time): The interactions that the profile has seen
- Permission level: The permission level set in the profile
-
Text value: Enter any static text
- Optional: Specify whether you want to allow the creation of new leads in Microsoft Dynamics if no matching lead or contact is found for a BlueConic profile. You can further specify whether to reopen leads formerly marked as disqualified. This step is optional.
You can restrict the leads that are created by selecting an optional segment. For example, if you selected "All Visitors" in step 1, select "Engagement: High" as an optional segment to only create leads in Dynamics if the visitors are part of both segments. If you choose a segment here, BlueConic shows the number of profiles that are in both this segment and the segment in step 1 and can potentially become leads in Microsoft Dynamics.
Privacy management
Connections can be added to Objectives, allowing for privacy management of the information that is being picked up. A connection will only process the profiles of visitors who have consented to at least one of the objectives that the connection is linked to.
Troubleshooting
If you get stuck on the Dynamics login page, take a screenshot of the entire page. Technical information is often stored in the bottom right corner and be sure to include this.
For example:
"Additional technical information:
Correlation ID: 122b6ac1-2076-4109-b0b2-1809708b1d44
Timestamp: 2022-06-08 11:07:54Z
AADSTS90002: Tenant 2c2b1d3f-d39f-4ffa-9f21-11d4d4bdf77 not found. This may happen if there are no active subscriptions for the tenant. Check with your subscription administrator."
If you’ve followed these troubleshooting steps and still have an issue running a connection, contact BlueConic Support for assistance. When contacting BlueConic support, be sure to include as much information as possible.