BEST SALESFORCE - MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX INTEGRATION
If you have invested in top rated CRM and ERP systems such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics AX, you need the two systems to be in sync. This will allow you to get the most out of your investment. But do you know how to choose the best Salesforce - Microsoft Dynamics AX integration?
Integrating Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics AX (or Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations) is not necessarily an easy task. This article will evaluate the greatest challenges in Microsoft Dynamics AX integration before looking into the best possible way to integrate it with a CRM solution such as Salesforce.com.
The greatest challenge when integrating with Microsoft Dynamics AX
In principle, integrating with Microsoft Dynamics AX does not look much different from any Microsoft Dynamics integration. However, there are a few things to bear in mind.
OData
Microsoft recommends using OData services as the method of choice to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations. This should not cause many problems as many data integration solutions such as RapidiOnline have been able to integrate using OData for a while.
Timestamps
Anybody who has tried to do integration with Dynamics 365 or Dynamics AX will not be surprised to read that timestamps can be the greatest challenge.
What are timestamps? To put it simply, timestamps is a way to register when data is being added, deleted, or moved. It is particularly useful in data integration, as it allows systems to only transfer the data that has been added, deleted or moved rather than the entire data when systems are synchronized.
Why are timestamps an issue for Microsoft Dynamics AX integration? Simply because Microsoft Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations do not support timestamps. This makes data integration more troublesome.
Many providers of Microsoft Dynamics data integration platforms have come up with workarounds. For example, some develop triggers in the code. These triggers simply update a timestamp field on the record. This sounds like an easy solution, but it is not and can require quite a bit of development time.
Rapidi and the Rapidi Mirror Technology is a clever and simple way to solve this. RapidiOnline is a data integration solution that connects Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions.
The Rapidi mirror is a separate binary SQL database (MS SQL, MySQL or similar) designed to easily solve the lack of timestamp issue. The Rapidi Mirror automatically creates the tables needed to store a copy (also called “a mirror”) of the data from your source system and automatically uses these to compare with the actual data and deliver a list of changed records.
It is a clever solution that is programming free for you and works regardless of any customizations you may have on your Microsoft Dynamics solution.
