Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - Supported and Un-Supported Code, Customizations and Extensions

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is a robust application. It is a highly customizable xRM platform which can be used as a non-CRM application.

Dynamics CRM 2011 can be customised and extended in many ways:

• Customizing Site Map 
• Changing Icons
• Customizing Ribbon Buttons
• JScript Web Resources
• Other Web Resources (HTML, CSS, XML, Image, Silverlight, etc.)
• Plugins
• Workflows
• Dialogs
• Custom Workflow Activities
• SSRS Reports
• Integration with other applications through tools like Scribe, etc.

When customising and extending Dynamics CRM 2011, always write supported code. Supported code is the code which falls between the boundaries of Dynamics CRM platform. Meaning the code is well integrated into the Dynamics CRM architecture and is easily upgradeable.

On the other hand unsupported code or unsupported customisations fall outside of what should be done in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. It is not that the unsupported code will not work or not produce the desired results. The unsupported code if written correctly will do the job, but is not supported by Microsoft. In simple words Microsoft takes no responsibility for your unsupported code.

The problems with unsupported code or unsupported customizations are:

• Future service updates or rollups for Dynamics CRM 2011 can reverse your changes. In worst case scenario the installation of the service update or rollup will fail. 

For example, if you change manually any of the core Dynamics CRM files to change the look and feel of CRM. Next time when you try to install the service update or rollup, the installation might overwrite those core files. This will remove your changes and you will have to make those changes again.

• When you try to upgrade to the next version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, this could lead to many issues. Upgrade from current to future versions will be seamless if your CRM 2011 has all the supported customisations. In case of unsupported customisations, there could be errors as that piece of code could no longer be executed in CRM's programming model.

• If you are a large IT consultancy firm and are involved with your customer for their critical enterprise level Dynamics CRM project. This project involves more than a year of development. Before go-live your customer calls another company for final auditing of this project. If those company's consultants pin-point that there are unsupported code and customisations, this could be a major source of embarrassment for your organisation.

• There is no Microsoft support for unsupported code and unsupported customisations in Dynamics CRM.

Few Examples of Unsupported Customisations

• Document Object Model (DOM): Referencing Document Object Model (DOM) objects in HTML in JScript is not supported. Always use the new CRM 2011 XRM Page programming model. The Document Object Model (DOM) is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. 

You can read more about JScript development and the cheat sheet in one of my blog.

• SSRS Reports: SSRS reports in Dynamics CRM 2011 should always be either Fetch XML based or filtered views based. SSRS reports based on SQL which accesses non-filtered views are unsupported.

In Dynamics CRM database there are always 2 types of views "filtered" and "non-filtered". Non-filtered view is named, based, on the entity's name. For example, "select * from account" will get me all records. "account" here is a view which will combine tables like  "AccountExtensionBase", "AccountBase" and other related tables. "account" view is a non-filtered view which never has security inbuilt into its script. On the other hand if I use "select * from FilteredAccount", I will get only the records to which I have access. Use of filtered views is supported over the use of non-filtered views.

• Direct Database Table Modifications: Direct database table modifications, through code, are unsupported. For example, in a plugin if I have code which changes the status of an entity record through a SQL script, this is unsupported. Always use CRM 2011 web services to make changes to any entity fields.

• CRM 2011 SDK: The best reference for always writing supported code is the CRM 2011 SDK. 

SDK has articles and examples on how to extend and customise CRM. If it's not there in SDK, then it is likely to be unsupported.

• Ribbon: You can always extend Ribbon XML and customise by adding you own buttons. Ribbon buttons defined for system entities are already there when CRM 2011 is installed. You can hide or disable them. You can also use CRM 2011 Ribbon commands. Reuse of CRM 2011 Ribbon JavaScript functions is unsupported. Reason being these functions can be overwritten during upgrade or get deprecated.

• Database Schema Changes: Physical changes to the CRM 2011 database schema are unsupported. This could lead to severe performance issues or even CRM 2011 being unavailable.

The only supported changes are adding new or updating existing indexes.

• Help Content: Changes to the help content for CRM 2011 application is not supported for on-premises.

• Core CRM Files: Changes to Core CRM files in its installation directory is unsupported.

• CRM 2011 IIS Website: Making changes within the CRM 2011 IIS website like adding another website is unsupported.

I hope this blog about 'Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - Supported and Un-Supported Code, Customizations and Extensions' was informative. Please feel free to leave your comments.