Getting Started with Dynamics Marketing - Some Lessons Learned

The connector from CRM to Dynamics Marketing (MDM) can be tricky. The definitive guide for setting it up is Jon Birnbaum’s blog found here.

Since comments on his blog are disabled, here are some things to keep in mind as you go through it:
  • You do not need to bother with the Azure Service Bus pieces unless you want to use the SDK. The writeup goes into a lot of detail about setting up your own queues but managed queues will suffice for simple use cases. Even if you need your own queues, I recommend you start with the managed ones just to keep it simple.
    • Note: If you do set up your own queues, you do have to do it via PowerShell. I tried the UI.
  • The CRM integration user you create must have the MDM user role, even if it is an admin.
  • The install files for the CRM package are in the MDM installer. You have to download the on-premise connector and install it, even if you are not connecting to on-premise, just to get the ZIP file.
  • The initial sync can take a long time, even in a demo environment without a lot of data.
Another thing that’s important, and buried in a paragraph, is that you need to add the “Sync Enabled” field to the CRM form and toggle it to “yes” for any records you want to go over to MDM.

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