CRM
Interview Questions and Answers
1. Five
Groups created in Active directory while installing CRM 2011?
PrivReportingGroup,
PrivUserGroup, SQLAccessGroup, ReportingGroup, UserGroup
2. Plug-In
deployment Options and why?
The
3 storage options are: Database, Disk and GAC. The main differences
between these are:
· Database:
The assembly dll is stored in the database, rather than the file
system. The major advantages are that the assembly
need only be deployed once if you have multiple CRM servers, and that
no additional action is required to restore / redeploy the assembly
either during disaster recovery, or if redeploying to an alternate
server. This is the preferred option in a production
environment
· Disk:
The assembly dll is placed in the \server\bin\assembly directory on
each server. You have to ensure the dll is placed in the correct
place on all CRM servers, so the deployment overhead is a little
greater. I normally use this option in development environments as
you can redeploy newer versions solely by file transfer, rather than
reregistering. Also, if debugging, the assembly .pdb file needs to be
placed in the same location; with this option it's easy to ensure the
dll and pdb are from the same build
· GAC:
The assembly is placed in the Global Assembly Cache on each CRM
server, and again you will have to do this. The GAC does allow
multiple versions of an assembly, but CRM doesn't, so you don't
really gain anything by using the GAC.
There
is one further consideration. If your plugin assembly has other
dependent assemblies, then you can place this dependent assembly in
the GAC whichever of the above options you take. However, if you use
the Disk option, then the dependent assemblies can also be deployed
into the \server\bin\assembly directory
3. Secure
/ UnSecure in Plug-In
As
you all know the plugin registration tool in CRM 2011 contains Secure
and Unsecure configuration sections as shown below.
Following
are the two key differences found between these two configuration
settings.
Unsecure
Configuration
|
Secure
Configuration
|
Unsecure
configuration information could be read by any user in CRM.
Remember its public information (Ex: Parameter
strings to be used in plugin could be supplied here)
|
The Secure Configuration
information could be read only by CRM
Administrators.(Eg: Restricted data from normal user could
be supplied here)
|
Imagine
that you include a plugin, plugin steps and activate them in a
solution. Later solution was exported as Managed Solution to
another environment. In this scenario, the supplied unsecure
configuration values would be available in the new environment.
|
The
plugin with secure configuration in a solution was exported as
Managed Solution to another environment. In this scenario, the
supplied secure configuration information would NOT be
available in the new environment. The simple reason
behind this is to provide more security to the contents
of Secure Configuration
|
Below
are key differentiations between Secured and Unsecured
data configuration
· Access
o Data
passed through “Unsecure” section is PUBLIC (i.e., It can be read
by any user in CRM).
o Only
users with “System Administrator” role have access to the data
passed through “Secure” configuration section
· Storage
o “Unsecure”
config data will be stored along with the Plugin ‘Step’
registration information (i.e., In SdkMessageProcessingStep entity)
o “Secure”
config data will be stored in a separate entity named
“SdkMessageProcessingStepSecureConfig”
§ Only
“System Administrator” has Read access on this entity, hence only
users with ‘Sys Admin’ role can access this data
o Both
“Secured & Unsecured” configuration data stored as “Plain
text” in DB
· Outlook
Sync
o “Unsecured”
configuration data is downloaded to the user’s computer when they
go offline making it Unsecure
o “Secured”
configuration data is NOT downloaded to User’s Computer when they
go Offline
4. Max
Number of controls got allowed in CRM 2011 Dashboard?
5. Role
Based Vs Object Based Security in CRM 2011?
Code
based security is entirely coded in the application itself. Role
based security uses one of the authentication/authorization
mechanisms of the application server. The fundamental concept
in role-based security is that of privilege, defined at design time,
on a system-wide basis. Each user has a set of privileges (there are
well over a hundred privileges) that are enabled for that user.
However, Policies and Roles grant privileges and simplify the
process. The other form of security applies to individual instances
of objects. There is a fundamental difference between an access right
and a privilege: an access right is a right granted to a user on an
object), but a privilege is a right granted to a user on a class of
objects. Access rights apply only after privileges have taken effect.
In other words, if a user does not have the privilege to read
accounts, the user will not be able to read any account, whether or
not it has been shared.
6. Difference
between Find and Advanced Find? Which one is faster and why?
Find
perform a search on an attribute for which it is defined. Advanced
Find perform search on the conditions and the attributes for which
user customizes or runs it. Normal Find in faster as it looks for one
attributes and matches with that and returns the result whereas
Advanced Find searches for all the attributes and conditions while
parsing through the records. Find is applicable on only active
records and it finds only on 2 or 3 column which we have defined in
the find view and even it returns any those column which is there in
the view but advanced find is applicable to all the records and it
finds all the columns and even it returns all the column and filter
criteria can be on any column and most important - find filters on
just one condition but advanced find filters on multiple condition at
one time.. Find is faster than Advanced Find.
7. Types
of Services in CRM 2011?
Deployment
Web Service, Discovery Web service, IOrganization Service.
Deployment
Web Service
Using
this service we can
· Create
or import organizations
· Enable
and Disable organizations
· Add
deployment administrators
· Configure
IFD and Claims-based authentication
2.
Discovery Web service
Using
this service we can
· Identify
the organization information available in a deployment
3. IOrganization
Service
· In
CRM 4.0 we had the CrmService & CrmMetadataService to access
data & metadata.
· In
CRM 2011, These are combined in single IOrganization service
endpoint that includes both data and metadata
8. Asynchronous
Plug-in Vs Workflow
Asynchronous Plugin
a) Plugin
has maximum time limit of 2 minutes. Plugin running synchronously
will get timed out after 2
minutes.
b) We can configure plugin to run
as (another)
user's context.
c) Cannot accept any input parameters, by
default it takes only details from
the entity using IPluginExecutionContext.
Custom
Workflow
a) Assembly does not have maximum time
limit. It is preferred when consuming external webservices in
the plugin.
b) Cannot configure with Run
as (another) user's
context.
c) Can accept input parameters and return
output parameter to workflow.
Can be configured to run as a child
workflow while plugin does not have this feature.
9. Whenever
you install MSCRM what all databases get created?
MSCRM_CONFIG,
ORGNAME_MSCRM
10. Difference
Between Append Vs Append To
'Append'
and 'Append To' privileges works together. 'Append To' privilege will
allow other entities to get attached with the entity. 'Append'
privilege will allow the entity to attach the records to the entity
with 'Append To' privilege.
Let
us understand this with simple example:
Let
us say that you want to attach a note to a case then note entity
should have 'Append' access right and case entity should have 'Append
To' access right. Let us take one more example to understand this.
Suppose you have two custom entities called 'TestCustomEntity1' and
'TestCustomEntity2'. You want to attach the 'TestCustomeEntity2'
records to 'TestCustomEntity1'records. For this you need to have
'Append' access right on 'TestCustomEntity1' entity and 'Append To'
access right on 'TestCustomEntity2'.Now guess will I be able to
attach the records? Answer is “NO" because we need to create a
1:N relationship between 'TestCustomEntity1' and 'TestCustomEntity2'.
Now the user who has above mentioned access right in his security
role will only be able to add 'TestCustomEntity2' records to
'TestCustomEntity1'.
11. How
to create a Custom Entity record using SDK?
Using
Dynamic Entity in CRM 4.0 and Entity
in 2011.
12. How
to join two table using Query Expression?
Using
Linked entity.
13. Can
we modify the name of Root Business Unit?
No,
we will have to re-install MSCRM
14. Does
CRM fall more to sales or marketing in most organizations?
In
my experience, marketing is somewhat of a new concept in CRM. Sales
are definitely involved, but most often it is operations leading the
charge.
15. How
many numbers of tabs available in MS CRM Entity Form?
Officially
max 8 tabs, unofficially we can do plenty (It’s not recommended by
Microsoft CRM)
16. Difference
between Managed and Unmanaged solutions.
Unmanaged
Solutions
All
solutions start out as Unmanaged. When it is in the unmanaged
state, you can add, remove, update, and test any of the components of
the solution. You can delete components of your unmanaged
solutions, while leaving it available for use in the rest of the
system. Some on the MS CRM Dev team have likened this to
your 'source' code of your system. The great thing about an
Unmanaged Solution is that during development, you can create
restrictions (like 'not customizable') on the components as they
evolve.
Managed
Solutions
When
your unmanaged solution is ready for the show, you simply export it
to 'Managed'. You could think of this as 'compiling' you
code. You set the restrictions (i.e. prevent
customizations on certain components) and the end user lives by those
rules. But remember, they can still customize the components of
the solution that are unrestricted. You cannot add or remove
components of a solution, even if the component is unmanaged.
Once
you have packaged the Managed Solution, it can be installed into
another organization. They can also be deployed across multiple
deployment types (Online, Partner Hosted, On-Premise) and all CRM
Clients (web, Outlook, Mobile Express, and Offline via Outlook
Client).
Refer
the below links for more information
17. What
is a filtered view?
SQL
database views, called "filtered views," are provided with
the Microsoft CRM database to enable access to business data
according to the user's Microsoft CRM security role. When a user runs
a report that obtains data from filtered views, the user's Microsoft
CRM security role determines the data to be included in the report.
Data in filtered views is restricted at three levels: the
organization, the business unit, and the owner. Filtered views exist
for all Microsoft CRM business objects (entities).
Your
reports should not read data directly from the Microsoft CRM database
tables. Instead, use the filtered views. The following sample SQL
code returns all columns from the filtered view for an Account
entity:
SELECT
* FROM dbo.FilteredAccount
18. What
are different stages used in Plug-In registration?
Event
|
Stage
Name
|
Stage
Number
|
Description
|
Pre-Event
|
Pre-validation
|
10
|
Stage
in the pipeline for plug-ins that are to execute before the main
system operation. Plug-ins registered in this stage may execute
outside the database transaction.
|
Pre-Event
|
Pre-operation
|
20
|
Stage
in the pipeline for plug-ins that are to execute before the main
system operation. Plug-ins registered in this stage are executed
within the database transaction.
|
Post-Event
|
Post-operation
|
40
|
Stage
in the pipeline for plug-ins which are to execute after the main
operation. Plug-ins registered in this stage are executed within
the database transaction.
|
Post-Event
|
Post-operation
|
50
|
Stage
in the pipeline for plug-ins which are to execute after the main
operation. Plug-ins registered in this stage may execute outside
the database transaction. This stage only supports Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 4.0 based plug-ins.
|
19. What
are the different kind of Images you will use while registering
Plug-In and how they will be used?
PreEntityImages
It
is basically used to capture the data when the form loads. That is
the data which is present by default when the form
loads
PostEntityImages:
The
Post Image contains the attributes value which are finally changed.
We can capture the changed data before the database operation takes
place. And can do any kind of validation based on the changed data.
Remember it can only be registered for update message and cannot be
registered on create message.
20. How
you get the data from third party application to your CRM
organization?
22. What
is POA table and why it is used?
The
POA table is used to provide access to specific records for CRM
users, and each record in the POA table represents one CRM object
that is related to one CRM user. Records created in the
POA table come from one of four ways:
Share
reassigned records with original owner: CRM System Settings
If
this is set to Yes, then records would be added to the POA table
whenever an assign takes place. These records will have a value
in the AccessRightsMask column of the POA table.
Direct
sharing: Actions – Sharing
When
users explicitly share a record to another user, a record would be
created in the POA table. These records will have a value in
the AccessRightsMask column of the POA Table.
Reparent
Setting: Relationship Behavior
Each
entity has relationships with other entities (ex. Account to Case).
By default, the Reparent option is set to Cascade All. With
this setting, sub records would be shared to the owner of the
parent record. For example: Let’s say that User1 owns
Account1. User2 has access to Account1 and creates a case
underneath Account1. With the out of the box Reparent options,
a record would be created in the POA table that would give User1
access to the newly created case. These records will have a
value in the InheritedAccessRightsMask column of the POA table.
Indirect
Sharing:
When
sharing occurs through a direct share, assignment, or parenting, if
the relationship is set up to cascade the share to child records,
additional records will be created in the POA table in order to give
proper permissions to the new user for the relevant child records.
These records will have a value in the InheritedAccessRightsMask
column of the POA table.
23. Explain
the Sales Flow
24. What
are different activities available in CRM?
a. Task
b. PhoneCall
c. Appointment
d. Meeting
e. Email
f. Letter
g. Fax
h. Recurring
Appointment
i. Service
Activity
j. Campaign
Response
25. How
can you provide access level as only “None” or “Organization
Level”? And what kind of entities are those?
By
creating entity Ownership as Organization. Product is one of the CRM
out of the box entity with ownership as Organization.
26. Can
we change the color (own required color) to the Bars in the User
Charts in the Dashboard?
Yes,
We can. Export the chart, modify the XML and then import it.
27. Workflow
Ownership…. And workflow types.
28. What
role do we need to create the solutions and deploy?
29. Early
binding VS Late Binding?
Early
Binding
Compiler
bind the objects to methods at the compile time. This is called early
binding or static binding. Function overloading is example for early
binding.
A
class should be generated using CrmSvcUtil.exe for generating Entity
Classes of CRM.
Late
Binding
Compiler
bind the objects to methods at the runtime. This is called late
binding or dynamic binding. Function overriding is example for late
binding.
//Early
binding
Account
account = new Account();
account.Name
= "Via Context";
service.Create(account);
//Late
binding
Entity
objEntity = new Entity("account");
objEntity
["name"] = "Via
Service";
service.Create(objEntity);
30. What
is publisher? Prefix and Option value prefix.
Publishers
in Dynamics CRM are organizations that develop custom solutions. A
publisher can include an organization that makes their own solutions
for internal usage or third-party developers who re-sell their
solutions. Prior to making changes to Dynamics CRM for the first
time, you should edit the default publisher. For most organizations,
this one-time edit of the default publisher is all that should be
required. If, however, you plan to republish your customizations and
provide them to other organizations, then you may want to create a
publisher specifically for that purpose. Some larger organizations
may wish to create publishers based on different business units or
even different individual developers.
Display
Name:
Change this to a name that describes your organization
Name: This
value cannot be changed. For most organizations this will not present
a problem.
However,
if you plan to make your solutions available to others and you want
to create a unique name that aligns better with your company
branding, then you will want to create a new publisher for this
purpose.
Description: Entering
good, descriptive information for the description is always a best
practice particularly if you plan to create multiple publishers. A
good description might be, “We use this publisher to make
internal-facing solutions and customizations to Dynamics CRM; do not
use this publisher for solutions that you plan to share with others
inside or outside of our organization."
Prefix: This
small field is the most important one on the form. It permanently
impacts every customization you make to Dynamics CRM using this
publisher. Every component (entity, field, and so on) that you create
in Dynamics CRM will be prefixed with this value. The value will only
show up in views available to administrators and developers. Although
this value can be changed later, components created with this value
permanently retain it — so select a value that you don’t plan to
change. This is usually a three- to five-letter acronym that your
organization may be known for. The prefix makes it fairly easy to
identify customizations that your team made to Dynamics CRM versus
changes that may have been made by others.
Option
Value Prefix: These
are the first numbers that will be assigned to any new option set
values that you create with this publisher. These numbers reduce the
chance that duplicate values are created when importing solutions
from this publisher that contain option sets. In general, you can
leave this number unchanged.
Contact
Details: Fill
in the contact information for your organization in this section.
31. How
do you debug a plug-in?
32. How
do you debug the Java script?
33. Ribbon
Customization and Adding Button in Ribbon Control?
34. How
many types of Relations can we create between Entities?
35. What
is N:N Relationship?
When
we create N to N relationship between the entities, CRM internally
creates a table with the Primary Keys of two entities and uses the
same for the reference.
37. How
you Create N:N Relationship?
38. A
& B are two entities, we created N:N relationship between them?
Is system is going to create 1:N and N:1 between both of them
automatically?
39. How
you create a security role?
40. Can
I create security Role at Business Unit Level? Not at the Root
Business unit.
Yes,
we can create it.
2013
41. What
all new feature you know about 2013.
42. What
is the BPF?
43. What
is the Difference between Stage and Step?
44. How
many steps & stages you can create a BPF? Is there any
limitations?
45. What
kind of entities you can use while creating BPF?
46. I
have 3 Entities (A, B, C) having relation 1: N, 1: N, 1:N. There is
no relation between A & C. Can I create the BPF by using
all these?
47. Is
the BPF works and useful in Real time scenarios? If yes How?
48. Workflows?
Synchronous. How it works?
