Overview
Connections in Dynamics CRM 2011 are useful when you want to relate 2 different records together in more of an ad-hoc manner. You start out by defining what the relati
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Connections in Dynamics CRM 2011 are useful when you want to relate 2 different records together in more of an ad-hoc manner. You start out by defining what the relati
Connections in Dynamics CRM 2011 aonship represents (Connection Role) and then determine which entities can participate. You can allow as many or as few as you need in order to suite your requirements.
Navigate to Settings -> Business Management -> Connection Roles to manage the current list of
Connection Roles and to create a new one. Alternatively you can also navigate to
Settings -> Customizations -> Customize the System ->
Connection Roles. At a minimum you will need to assign a Name and a
Connection Role Category. The Name field will go on to represent how the
Connection Role should be used to the end user. The purpose of the Connection Role Category is more for internal purposes and sorting the records. You can modify the values in this list in the Global Option Sets area (Settings ->
Customizations -> Customize the System -> Option Sets ->
Category).
Next you have the option to allow the Connection Role to be available for all entities or just a subset. This can be specified under the Select record types section. Specified types can include both out of the box and custom entities.
Finally you can determine a Matching Connection Role. When viewing a
Connection the meaning can be different depending on which side of the relationship you are looking at. A good example is the relationship between a business and a former employee. Out of the box these
Connection Roles are already defined. You relate the Contact to the
Account as a ‘Former Employee’ but you relate the Account to the
Contact as a ‘Former Employer’. When creating the matching role you will have the option to create a new
Connection Role or choose a pre-existing one.
From the ribbon above a view or inside a record you can use the Connect button to initiate a new Connection. In the Connect To section you will have options to select the record to create the relationship with as well as the Connection Role that will define the type of relationship. The look up dialogs will not immediately be filtered to limit the available records type depending on the Connection Role selected however when attempting to save the Connection it will display an error if an invalid combination of Connection Role and entity type is set. In the Details section you can select the matching Connection Role as well as define a Start Date and an End Date that the Connection is relevant for. This might be useful for historical purposes to record durations of the given relationship.
