Improving the Traceability and Reliability of CRM Implementations with TFS

© Hitachi Solutions, Ltd. 2015. All rights reserved.
11/12/2015
Ivan Kurtev
Improving the Traceability and Reliability
of Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Implementations with Microsoft Team
Foundation Server

Presenters
Ivan Kurtev
• Enterprise Technical Architect
• Hitachi Solutions, Ltd.
• Implementing Dynamics CRM for 9 years
• Contact Information:
• Email: ikurtev@hitachi-solutions.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivankurtev
• Twitter: @ikurtev
• Blog: https://mscrmunfiltered.wordpress.com/

Contents
1. Work Management
2. Source Code Management
3. Build and Deployment
4. Testing

• TFS On-Premise and Visual Studio Online (VSO) are the same product with
two different release schedules.
• Same core features, the main gaps with VSO are:
– Reporting:
• Closed with Power BI Pack for Visual Studio Online.
– No process or work item customization:
• Currently available only in preview.
• VSO Release Cadence:
– New VSO releases every 3 weeks, no opt-out.
– VSO Release Archive/Plan: https://www.visualstudio.com/news/release-archive-vso
• TFS On-Premise offers more flexibility but requires hardware, installation, and
maintenance, VSO provides easy access anywhere and easy setup.
TFS Versions

How Does Team Foundation Server Compare?

• TFS for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Development Management:
– http://msdynamicsworld.com/webcast/tfs-microsoft-dynamics-crm-development-
management-recorded-webcast
• Tips and Tricks for Using the Solution Packager in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Implementations:
– http://www.xrmvirtual.com/events/
– https://www318.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/view?id=47DFT6
• Release Evolution: The New Best Practices for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Release Management:
– http://msdynamicsworld.com/webcast/release-evolution-new-best-practices-microsoft-
dynamics-crm-release-management
Related Sessions

Work Management

• Team Foundation Server
• Atlassian Confluence/JIRA
• Microsoft Excel/Word
• CRM
• Other
Poll
Where do you manage the requirements for your CRM System?

• Agile, Scrum, Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).
• Key Features:
Create a TFS Project
Choosing a Project Template
Agile Scrum CMMI
Portfolio Backlog • Epics
• Features
• Epics
• Features
• Epics
• Features
Product Planning • User Stories
• Tasks
• Product
Backlog Item
• Tasks
• Requirements
• Tasks
Issue Tracking • Issues • Impediments • Issues
• Change
Requests
• Reviews
• Risks

• Teams:
– Consider using more than one team for larger projects.
• Iterations:
– Use to define your sprint cadence.
• Areas
– Use to categorize work items, e.g. CRM Configuration, CRM Development, Reporting, etc.
Configure a Team Projects

• Product Backlog Management:
– Epics and Features – categorize your user stories.
• Product Planning:
– User Stories/Backlog Items/Requirements.
• Task and Sprint Planning:
– Tasks
• Tools:
– Dashboards
– Queries
– Boards
Product Planning and Backlog Management

Demo: Managing Epics, Features, User Stories and Tasks in TFS

Source Code Management

• Components of a CRM Implementation:
– CRM Solutions
• CRM Metadata
• Custom Code (Plug-ins, Web Resources, Reports)
– Configuration Data
Source Control Management for CRM implementations

• Which of the following do you manage in source control today:
– Custom Code (Plugins, Jscript, Reports)
– Unpacked CRM solutions
– Configuration Data
– None of the above
Poll

– Few teams manage CRM Metadata in Source Control.
• But CRM Metadata is as valuable as custom code:
– The definition of an entity and its fields is foundational to any solution.
– Business logic is workflows is just as important as business logic in plug-ins.
• Possible Reasons:
– Historically, it was not possible to break down a solution into its components.
– Functional users who perform configuration may not have a development background and
experience with source control.
– Issues with existing toolsets.
CRM Metadata and Source Control

• Full history of all changes to a
component.
• View the changes made to solution
component files.
• Rollback undesired changes using
Source Control.
• Eliminate “sacred” development
organizations.
• Check in and release only some
changes while continuing to work on
others in development
Benefit of Managing CRM Solutions in Source Control
Versioning and Auditing

• Why did the component change and how does it relate to our requirements?
• Requirement > Task/Bug > Code Check-in.
Traceability

• Allows developers to work in isolation on separate development environments
and check CRM metadata changes in source control:
– Works well when the changes are to unrelated components.
• Helps identify potential issues with CRM metadata:
– Conflicts that may result in overwrites of someone else’s changes:
» Requires process for resolving conflicts with changes to the same component.
» Frequent environment refreshes help minimize conflicting changes
– Unintentional or undesired changes that may otherwise go unnoticed.
Support for Team Development

• Export Solution from Development Environment
• Unpack solution using the Solution Packager
• Check in individual component files that have changed in TFS:
– Associate changesets with tasks or bugs.
Process for Managing CRM Solutions in Source Control

• What Type of Data:
• Custom CRM Entities used to store Configuration/Seed/Master Data, e.g. Unified Service Desk
configuration data.
• Typically low volume.
• How To Manage and Use in a Build:
• Manage in Source Control and Export/Import using tools:
– With CRM 2013 SP1 and above, use the Data Migration Utility included in the CRM 2013 SP1 SDK
– For older versions, use custom tools
– Adxstudio ALM Toolkit
• Preserve Consistent Id’s:
– May be referenced in Processes, Views, etc.
Managing Configuration Data in Source Control

Demo: Checking In Unpacked CRM Solutions in Source Control

Build and Deployment

• Build:
– The creation of a CRM solution package:
• Export from a CRM organization.
• Pack with the Solution Packager.
– The process of collecting artifacts that are not solution-aware:
• Data in custom configuration entities.
• Environment configuration changes.
– Deployment instructions.
• Deployment:
– The import of the solution package into a target CRM environment.
– The import of configuration data and other components.
– The execution of one-time deployment steps.
Build and Deployment for CRM

• Tasks Required to Build a Solution From Source Control:
– Get Latest or Specific Changeset from TFS.
– Compile custom assemblies for plug-ins and custom workflow activities.
– Pack solution using solution package using a mapping file to merge custom assemblies and
web resources.
• Advantages:
– Traceability:
• TFS Builds are associated with all check-ins and tasks or bugs completed since the last build.
• Now you can answer the question “What is included in the latest release”.
Building CRM Solutions using TFS Build Definitions

• Continuous Integration:
– Runs for every changeset.
– Ensure that an individual changeset does not introduce breaking changes:
• Especially important when managing unpacked CRM solutions in source control.
– What is included in a continuous integration build:
• For custom code, compiling a Visual Studio solution is sufficient.
• For a CRM solution, there are two options:
– Ensure that all custom code compiles and the solution packs with the solution packager.
– In addition, ensure that the solution imports in a target environment similar to Test.
Continuous Integration Builds

• Options:
– CRM Solution Import with multiple manual pre- and post-deployment steps.
– Package Deployment:
• Using Package Deployer
• Using the Import-CrmPackage PowerShell cmdlet
• Scheduled TFS Builds:
– Runs on a scheduled basis, can be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.
– Can be used as a deployment tool.
– The XRM CI Framework build definition allows us to deploy a Package Deployer package or
a CRM solution.
Deploying CRM Solutions

Demo: Building Solutions using the XRM CI Framework Build Definition

Testing

• Test Plans and manual tests:
– Allow us to create tests for user stories in the
current sprint.
– Bugs are also associated with user stories.
– Changesets with fixes can be associated with
bugs for traceability.
– Team Web Access vs Microsoft Test
Manager.
Test Plans and Manual Tests

• For Custom Code:
– Unit Tests.
– Integration Tests.
– The XRM Test Framework provides a great foundation for both types of tests:
• https://xrmtestframework.codeplex.com
• Created by Wael Hamze and Ramon Tebar.
• For CRM Forms:
– Coded UI Tests.
– Selenium components for Coded UI Cross-Browser Testing.
Automated Tests

Improving the Traceability and Reliability of CRM Implementations with TFS

Improving the Traceability and Reliability of CRM Implementations with TFS

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Improving the Traceability and Reliability of CRM Implementations with TFS

Recently uploaded

Improving the Traceability and Reliability of CRM Implementations with TFS