Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics manages the communication between Microsoft Dynamics and Dotdigital. Microsoft Dynamics and Dotdigital gather data to send emails, retrieve and act on tracking data, and manage unsubscribe requests. All communications happen through standard web protocols: HTTPS and SOAP.

The integration uses customisation to modify the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Configurations, the sitemap, and it can also create new custom entities or extend existing ones.

Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics is packaged as a managed solution for quick installation and efficient updates.

Technical architecture

This diagram shows the technical architecture between Microsoft Dynamics and Dotdigital.

There are three main parts to the Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics integration:

Microsoft Dynamics solution

This managed solution extends Microsoft Dynamics functionality by adding new entities, security roles, sitemap customisations, and modifications to existing entities. For Microsoft Dynamics 365 users, we include a model-driven app which groups the integration features in one place.

Dynamics integration middleware

Between Microsoft Dynamics and Dotdigital, a piece of middleware coordinates data transfer between the two and ensures synchronisation happens when scheduled. The middleware communicates with Microsoft Dynamics using the Common Data Service.

Dotdigital API

The middleware uses the Dotdigital API to send and retrieve data from your Dotdigital account. The API uses HTTPS and SOAP.

Security

At Dotdigital, we store and transfer all data using modern security practices.

Learn more about security practices in Trust Centre.

Integration requirements

The Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics integration requires specific entities:

Contacts
Leads
Accounts
Campaigns
Marketing lists.

Compatibility

The Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics integration is compatible with most versions of Microsoft Dynamics.

Version	Additional info	Compatible
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales	We are developing new features for version 9.0 and up.	✔️
Microsoft Dynamics 2016		✔️
Microsoft Dynamics 2015		✔️
Microsoft Dynamics 2013		✔️
Microsoft Dynamics 2011	We are no longer developing new features for this version.	✔️
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement	If you have access to contact, lead, account, and marketing list entities, you can use the Dotdigital for Dynamics integration.	✔️
Microsoft Dynamics NAV	We don't integrate directly with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, but integration is possible. Contact us to learn how.	⏳
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central	We can’t currently integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.	❌

Using firewalls

If you secure your Microsoft Dynamics with a firewall, you must add the IP addresses from the applicable regions that are listed in the Dynamics CRM connector areas.

Supported deployments

We support the following deployments:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner-hosted deployment

You can access partner-hosted Dynamics CRM solutions from the internet and only standard customisation changes are required. The Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics connector is provided as a managed solution, which gives you complete control of the connector. The connector requires a new user account with access to the Dynamics CRM Web Services (CRM Service and Metadata Service). On each server that is installed with the partner-hosted Dynamics CRM Server 2011/2013, you must enable anonymous authentication for the 2007 SPLA CrmDiscoveryService.

Microsoft Dynamics on-premise version

If you host your own Dynamics CRM, you can use one of three methods to connect it to the Dotdigital for Dynamics connector:

Internet-facing deployment (IFD); this is best practice.
Reverse proxy.
Direct web service connection by an internet connection to a public IP address, known as port forwarding.

Learn more about these methods in Technical installation details for Microsoft Dynamics.

Changes made to Microsoft Dynamics

Some roles and entities are affected when the Dotdigital for Microsoft Dynamics solution is installed:

Creation of new security roles.
Extension of several existing entities.
Creation of new entities.

All changes that are made to Dynamics happens because of the standard customisation ability of Dynamics.

New Security Roles

New roles are created to support access to new functionality:

Email Campaign Connector Service (System Use Only)
Email Marketing Manager
Email Marketing Professional
Email Marketing Viewer

Learn more about security roles in Users in Microsoft Dynamics.

Extended CRM Entities

There are a few extended CRM entities:

Marketing List
The entity is extended to support synchronisation with the Dotdigital platform.
Contact
Lead
Account
Campaign

New CRM Entities

All custom entities in the solution are prefixed with Email Service Connector (`esc_`). A detailed list of customisations is available separately.

CRM entity	Description
Crm Field (`esc_crmfield`)	Contains CRM metadata used by the Email Service Connector.
Email Account (`esc_emailaccount`)	Contains information for each email service account that's used by the Email Service Connector.
Email Campaign (`esc_emailcampaign`)	Contains information about the email campaign, including aggregate statistics.
Email Campaign Connector Configuration (`esc_emailcampaignconfiguration`)	Contains configuration information for use by the Email Service Connector.
Email Click (`esc_emailcampaigncontactclick`)	Contains information about each click a contact did, including what, when, and where.
Email Send Summary (`esc_emailcampaigncontactsummary`)	Contains detailed information about the send made to each contact, including individual send statistics for an account, contact, or lead.
Email Data Label (`esc_emailcampaigncustomfields`)	Contains data labels that are used to pass contact-specific information between CRM and Dotdigital. For example, first name, last name, gender, or any other related CRM attribute.
Email Data Mapping (`esc_emaildatamapping`)	Contains attribute mappings between CRM fields and email data labels for each entity type. For example, account, contact, and lead.
Email Preference (`esc_emailpreference`)
Email ROI Detail (`esc_emailroidetail`)
Email Send (`esc_emailsend`)
Email Single Send (`esc_emailsinglesend`)
Email Subscription Group (`esc_emailsubscriptiongroup`)
Email Subscription Group Item (`esc_emailsubscriptiongroupitem`)
Email Suppression (`esc_emailsupression`)	Contains the email suppression list that's used by the connector and Dotdigital when synchronising.
Form (`esc_form`)
Form Answer (`esc_formanswer`)
Form Question (`esc_formquestion`)
Form Question Option (`esc_formquestionoption`)
Form Response (`esc_response`)
Email List Unsubscriber (`esc_listunsubscriber`)	Contains details of accounts, contacts, and leads that unsubscribed from a Dynamics Marketing List or a Dotdigital list.
Email Message Queue (`esc_messagequeue`)	This entity is not available in our solution for Dynamics 365 version from 9.0 and up.
Social Bookmark (`esc_socialbookmark`)
Email Account (`esc_emailaccount`)	Contains the details for each Dotdigital account, including synchronisation settings.
Marketing Preferences (`esc_marketingpreference`)	Contains marketing preference data at account level.
Marketing Preference Subscription (`esc_marketingpreferencesubscription`)	Contains preference subscription data at record level.

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Technical installation details for Microsoft Dynamics