Zendesk Microsoft Dynamics provides a CRM integration to close the gap between an organization’s support and sales teams through enhancing visibility into key customer information and critical support activity between Dynamics CRM and Zendesk.
This guide will help you understand, configure, and even use Zendesk for Dynamics CRM – an application installed in your Dynamics CRM application by your Dynamics CRM admin. A Zendesk module gains you access to Zendesk tickets in Dynamics and displays critical Dynamics fields in Zendesk user profiles.
Zendesk Microsoft Dynamics Overview
To begin with, the set consists of 3 parts:
- Installation
- Zendesk Web Service configuration performed on the IIS Server
- Zendesk App setup and Ticket-to-Case
Dynamics CRM 2011/13 editions supported:
- On-premise Active Directory based
- On-premise Internet Facing Deploy based
- Cloud based (Windows LiveID and Office365 authentication)
Part 1: Installation
1. Load and install the solution package into your Dynamics CRM
2. Perform the two new security roles set up provided by the Zendesk integration so that you can get more granular control over the people who can have direct access to individual Zendesk credentials, including Zendesk configuration pages.
3. Perform entity mapping configuration in both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Zendesk to view Dynamics CRM 2011 data within your Zendesk.
4. Perform the “Zendesk settings” page configuration to set up user credentials for the Zendesk account you wish to connect to and data you intend to view in Zendesk
You may opt to configure the ticket-to-case capabilities in your Zendesk and Dynamics CRM to allow you to convert tickets into Dynamics CRM cases. Add the Zendesk ticketing grid.
Part 2: Zendesk Web Service Configuration on the IIS Server
After you are done with Installation, the next step involves configuring Zendesk Web Service on the IIS Server. Note that with an Active-Directory based implementation of Dynamics CRM, this has to be hosted internally to allow Zendesk retrieve information from Dynamics, but for Cloud-based, or Internet Facing Deploys, the step is optional.
Also note that it comes with a shared web service to handle this functionality:
- Zendesk user profile lookup
- Ticket-to-case syncing
But if you choose to not use the shared web service, you are also provided with the code for the web service to allow you host your own IIS environment. This deployment should be completed by a professional IIS admin, or someone who fully understands IIS, including the credentials to IIS Manager.
Follow these steps:
- Download Crm2011AdapterForZendesk.zip file
- Extract the file
- From your Windows Start menu, RUN and enter “inetmgr” in the prompt to open the IIS Manager
- Right-click the “Sites” folder in the left hand panel and select “Add Web Site,” or add the web application to an existing site by simply right-clicking the site you wish to add this to and select “Add application.”
- Find the dialog box “Add Web Site” and complete the below fields before clicking OK:
- Site Name
- Physical Path
- Port
- Host Name
Now wait for the next dialog box and select the path you intend for the service to be, giving it an Alias and entering the Physical Path before finally clicking OK. Lastly, change the “application pool” of your newly-created web service to “.Net framework 4.0” to complete the configuration of your web service, which can be accessed at: http://[<server-address>>:<<port>>]/<<web- application-path>>/ MSCRMAdapter.asmx (remember that “server-address:port” could be replaced by an alias set up.)
Part 3: Zendesk App setup and Ticket-to-Case
After completing the Dynamics CRM section, it is time to move to the Zendesk data display configuration of Dynamics CRM information.
- To benefit from Zendesk Microsoft Dynamics, complete this step by opening the newly-created “Zendesk Configuration” page in your Dynamics CRM instance.
- In the page, navigate to the “mapped record types” section, then select the Dynamics CRM fields you wish to appear in Zendesk user profile.
- Log in to the Zendesk portal with your admin permission, which is critical in the remaining steps.
- In the sidebar, click “Manage” icon and select “Extensions.”
- From the CRM tab, select Dynamics 2011 from the CRM’s drop down list
- Complete the following key information:
- Select your hosting type (cloud, on-premise, or Internet facing deploy)
- Web service address
- CRM server address
- Additional Domains and Domain Name (limited to only IFD and on-premise hosting types)
- Username
- Password
- Discovery URI accessed via “Settings -> Customizations -> Developer Resources” in your Microsoft Dynamics.
- Organization Name
- Organization URI accessed via “Settings -> Customizations -> Developer Resources” in your Microsoft Dynamics, under “Organization Unique Name.”
- User data lookup
- Example
7. Then click “Save Tab.” After the connection has been tested and the page refreshed, the settings are complete.
8. Now add the “Dynamics CRM” app to the ticket pages via “Manage-> Browse,” then on the application tile for Dynamics, install and name the application.
Then, on your ticket page, expand the Apps panel and view the info from Dynamics pulled in.
Configuring the “Ticket-to-case” capabilities
(This is optional)
Zendesk Microsoft Dynamics allows you to send key ticket information to Dynamics CRM cases through a target –useful for adding Zendesk tickets in the support analytics normally generated via the Dynamics CRM reporting module. Typically designed to send primary ticket info for reporting, this feature does not allow replication of ticket comments in the Dynamics CRM case.
Observe the following rules for case creation:
- Ticket-to-case is ideally a one-way push to a case
- Modification of a case in Dynamics CRM does not update the Zendesk ticket
- Creation of a case from a Zendesk ticket means that a subsequent push of this ticket creates another case
- There will always be an association between a contract and a case, where the email address of the contract matches the email address of the Zendesk ticket requester, otherwise a new contract is immediately created and quickly associated with that case.
Enable this feature by completing these steps:
1.In Zendesk, quickly create a trigger depending on the criteria a ticket should meet in order to create a case in Dynamics CRM 2011.
2. In Dynamics CRM, open the page “Zendesk Configuration” and in the section“Mapped record types,” map the regular values of Zendesk ticket field to the corresponding Dynamics CRM cases field values.
Conclusion
With Zendesk Microsoft Dynamics, you can enjoy a CRM integration to bridge the gap between your organizations’ support and sales teams, as it enhances visibility into critical customer information and key support activity that occurs between Zendesk and Dynamics CRM, as long as you have the right admin roles to perform configurations.