GP to CRM option set questions
Manny asked 6 years ago
Hello,
We’re running GP 2015 (on premise) and CRM Online (2016). We are trying to create an integration that goes form GP to CRM, but have a few questions regarding how to populate option sets (aka pick lists) in CRM.
– Can SmartConnect populate a CRM Option Set so that it writes it to Null? If not, we were thinking of creating an option in the CRM Option Set and label it as “NONE” or “N/A”. So if GP has a blank/null for that field, it will set it to “NONE” in CRM. Is this the best option?
– If there’s a value in GP (not null) that doesn’t match a value in the CRM Option Set, can SmartConnect dynamically add an option to the Option Set? If not, we will have to manually create this in CRM, but would be a little more work and prone to error.
Thanks!,
Manny
We’re running GP 2015 (on premise) and CRM Online (2016). We are trying to create an integration that goes form GP to CRM, but have a few questions regarding how to populate option sets (aka pick lists) in CRM.
– Can SmartConnect populate a CRM Option Set so that it writes it to Null? If not, we were thinking of creating an option in the CRM Option Set and label it as “NONE” or “N/A”. So if GP has a blank/null for that field, it will set it to “NONE” in CRM. Is this the best option?
– If there’s a value in GP (not null) that doesn’t match a value in the CRM Option Set, can SmartConnect dynamically add an option to the Option Set? If not, we will have to manually create this in CRM, but would be a little more work and prone to error.
Thanks!,
Manny
Answers
Patrick Roth Staff answered 6 years ago
Can SmartConnect populate a CRM Option Set so that it writes it to Null? If not, we were thinking of creating an option in the CRM Option Set and label it as “NONE” or “N/A”. So if GP has a blank/null for that field, it will set it to “NONE” in CRM. Is this the best option?
No, SmartConnect currently won’t send a NULL to that field. It reads it into the data ok but at some point converts that internally into an empty string which doesn’t work the same. Knowing that, it probably would be better to have a NONE or N/A or something similar then for “not set”. Not the best workaround but really about the best you can do with SC currently.
If there’s a value in GP (not null) that doesn’t match a value in the CRM Option Set, can SmartConnect dynamically add an option to the Option Set? If not, we will have to manually create this in CRM, but would be a little more work and prone to error.
That’s a darn good question. Currently if you try to set a value and it doesn’t exist then it is going to fail with an error. There isn’t anything built-into SmartConnect that says “oh, I expect to see Option set 1234 here so create it (what would it set it to?)”.
However since SC should be able to integrate to any entity in CRM you might be able to do what you are asking. I was talking with an ISV who was planning on doing this a while back but don’t know how he came out. But if you can figure out the underlying entity in CRM that controls this then there shouldn’t be a reason why you couldn’t do this.
No, SmartConnect currently won’t send a NULL to that field. It reads it into the data ok but at some point converts that internally into an empty string which doesn’t work the same. Knowing that, it probably would be better to have a NONE or N/A or something similar then for “not set”. Not the best workaround but really about the best you can do with SC currently.
If there’s a value in GP (not null) that doesn’t match a value in the CRM Option Set, can SmartConnect dynamically add an option to the Option Set? If not, we will have to manually create this in CRM, but would be a little more work and prone to error.
That’s a darn good question. Currently if you try to set a value and it doesn’t exist then it is going to fail with an error. There isn’t anything built-into SmartConnect that says “oh, I expect to see Option set 1234 here so create it (what would it set it to?)”.
However since SC should be able to integrate to any entity in CRM you might be able to do what you are asking. I was talking with an ISV who was planning on doing this a while back but don’t know how he came out. But if you can figure out the underlying entity in CRM that controls this then there shouldn’t be a reason why you couldn’t do this.
Manny replied 6 years ago Sounds good, thanks for the response!