Creating CRM Accounts, Contacts & Leads
Web Form to CRM Record
Create Import Files Easily
February 3, 2011, by Bill Bonofiglo, Dynamics MCT
Revised: Feb. 18, 2011
Don't miss the related article Using the Xrm CRM Web Services.
Abstract
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
Have a web form mirror a CRM Contact and send an HTML email containing the data. A special CRM Excel tool converts the email into a import
ready .csv file. This gives Companies using Microsoft Dynamics CRM a process for collecting Customer information via a web page and easily
create records without web site visitors writing directly to the database (e.g. spammers). This solution is also scalable and can be
modified to use CRM Web Services to automatically create records directly into CRM.
Website Lead Capture
For those of you that don’t know, CRM Online has a built in feature that allows you to build/generate code to paste into a web page to create
a Lead in CRM. .Net development skills are not required. An additional benefit is the Lead records do not go directly
into the CRM database. There is a simple User Interface and interim step to approve the records prior to import and assignment. The theory is
to prevent spammers from filling your valuable CRM deployment with intentional garbage. Sabotage if you will. This is an excellent
feature but in some cases, maybe it is not required. We'll discuss that shortly.
About the only limitation to this wonderful CRM Online tool is you have to use the OEM Lead fields. If you customize the Lead record, you can
hijack one of the OEM fields in some circumstances. However, building a custom web form and using CRM Web Services from the SDK examples will
allow any/all custom fields to be available and negate the preceding limitation. It will also allow web forms to be created for other CRM
records such as Accounts and Contacts. Most importantly, a custom solution is required for On-Premise deployments. The built
in Lead capture UI only comes with CRM Online.
Spammers
As mentioned earlier, maybe there are circumstances where allowing the web form to create a record directly into CRM is ok. Maybe
the spamming threat is low because the landing page containing your web form is not linked to or the duration of its'
life cycle is short. For example, you may deploy a marketing campaign and list a specific URL in your collateral. Something
like www.yourwebsite.com/signup.aspx. Furthermore, you may only leave it up for a few weeks. Since the general public is unaware
of it's existence (reduced exposure) and it is invisible to a search engine spider, you are reasonably safe from
spam. It would be beneficial to have the records go directly into CRM.
Another example is the Contact web form demonstrated in this article. Having an unlinked secret page where a Customer
could do all the input is valuable. Simply emailing them a hyperlink puts them a measly click away.
A third example would be a tradeshow. By simply having a notebook computer with internet access, people could create their Contact
records for you on the spot! The face to face interaction of a tradeshow enviroment would facilitate this. A friendly smile and "Why don't you take a few seconds
and join our mailing list and every once in a while we will get you new information," you say. Additionally, the URL to the page could also be printed on
your marketing collateral giving the Customer access after the show is over. Sweet!
Have I got your attention now?
Web Forms and Marketing Campaigns
Another major benefit of custom landing pages (that create CRM records) is the ease of linking these records to a Campaign.
For example, by simply having a hidden form field containing something unique a simple Workflow could link it when it is created.
A Less Expensive Alternative
Getting back to the subject of this article, let's explore a simpler and less expensive hybrid solution for turning web form
submissions into CRM records. By having the Server send an email, we prevent the Customer, and spammer, from writing to the CRM
database. A human being, or gatekeeper, reviews and imports the data similar to CRM Online. The rest of the article will demonstrate
how this works. We will save the new Xrm SDK capabilities in a follow up article.
One Click of a Button
Using our special Excel CRM tool, with one click, a perfectly mapped (Automatic) .csv import file is placed in a folder on the User's desktop.
Setup
This solution has two key components: 1) ASP.Net web form mirroring an Account, Contact (image left) or Lead, and 2) our Microsoft Excel tool to
instantly create an import file, for either record, with the click of a button.
How convenient is that? Web form to import ready file.
Import Process Overview
As previously discussed, a Customer can visit the custom landing page. The web form emails the gatekeeper a
specially formatted HTML email. The gatekeeper copies and pastes the body of the email into cell A5 in our special Excel tool,
clicks a button and a perfect .csv import file is placed in a folder on the desktop!
This file is then imported into CRM using the data import wizard built into CRM. The mappings are Automatic. Money is saved on
development costs and the gatekeeper weeds out spam. The only real limitation is the amount of records requiring review/import.
Hundreds a day would not be practical; however, a few a day and you are golden.
How to Get this Solution
This solution is part of our Microsoft CRM Consulting services. It applies to both CRM Online and On-Premise deployments. It does not
write to any database or use CRM Web Services (which is more expensive). Our solution is simpler, less expensive, allows a gatekeeper to review
records prior to import and is scalable.
Advantages of this Solution
If you can copy and paste and click a button, you instantly prepare a data import .csv file. We will assist you with the development of the ASP.Net
web form as required. The web form captures the data, the Excel tool makes it import ready.
This CRM record import solution is fast! After receiving an email from the web form a User can create new records in a few minutes. Delays
would only include the gatekeeper’s availability and the required time to review the record prior to import. On that note, the review process could
be deferred until after the import process by simply setting a value on the record, such as a piclist, to "Review Required," for example. This would allow the User
to access the record more quickly.
There is no database administration with this solution. It sends an email! This email is specially formatted using VB.Net server side code and sent automatically by
the server. The recipient, or gatekeeper, simply copies and pastes the Body content of the email into our Excel tool.
The recipient has the option to edit the submission in three ways: 1) directly in the email, 2) the completed import file or 3) the final imported record.
It is scalable. The ASP.Net web form can be used and retrofitted in the event you decide to use CRM Web Services to write to the CRM database down the road.
A nice bonus!
About our Excel CRM Tool
Our specially developed Excel tool allows the User to create a single record or multiple records at the same time. It automatically concatenates
the record Owners name into the file path of the .csv import file. This makes it easy for the gatekeeper to assign the records after
import to the correct Owner. The tool automatically increments each new .csv import file with a higher number as well. This ensures all files have a unique name.
Duplicate Detection
The gatekeeper can handle any duplicate detection on the spot freeing other CRM Users from this task.
About the Web Form
Strong data validation can be incorporated into the ASP.Net web form. This front line defense would prevent Users from skipping required
fields, for example, just like on the CRM form. Your company would have the option to customize data validation as you see fit using built
in ASP.Net validation or scripting.
In other words, you have many options regarding form validation.
Two-step record creation also separates validation code from the CRM deployment. This simplifies managing the deployment because there is less code, if fewer places, to manage.
A Different Prespective on CRM Records
Viewing a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Contact record stretched out (like the image above) highlights the minimum intelligence required to produce a
valuable record. By deploying a gatekeeper strategy for Account and Contact CRM records, dirty data and incomplete records are practically
eliminated.
This whole process scrubs and interrogates the data before it enters your valuable CRM database. It is quick and easy as well.
The Final Contact Record
The following images show the final records created from the data shown in the web form image above. Please note once the import .csv file was created,
with the click of a button, it was immediately imported into CRM without any changes. All this from a Contact web form and an email!
CRM Contact
Outlook Contact
Who Can Benefit
Ideally, this strategy will benefit CRM users who do not create large amounts of Accounts, Contacts or Leads every day. There are many CRM
shops that fit this category. However, this strategy would be unacceptable for a large organization such as Best Buy for example,
where large amounts of Customer records are created daily.
Contact Us Today
This is great example of driving the results you desire from a Microsoft CRM deployment and protecting your valuable records at the same time. By thinking
outside the box, this could be the exact strategy for some CRM Customers or a scalable interim step for others.
To learn more about how this solution can be deployed for your company, please contact Bill today using the Contact web
page (top right tab).
Thank You
Bill Bonofiglo
Dynamics MCT / MCP / CIS Instructor