Differences between the Workflow Functionality from CRM 3.0 to CRM 4.0
Workflows in CRM 4.0 have a lot more features than those in 3.0 (even some of the lingo is different). So let’s look at the differences.… For starters, Workflows can now be accessed from any computer that can access CRM, instead of the separate application that could only be run on the CRM server in 3.0. In CRM 4.0, just navigate to the Settings Module and you should see workflows for administration and configuration.
Another key feature is that workflows can now be applied on a user, business unit, parent-child business unit or an organization level. Giving users the ability to create workflows, that are custom to the way they work, is awesome (as long as the security is set up rightJ).
My personal favorite is the ability to trigger a workflow when fields are updated. Yes you read that right – workflows can now be set up to trigger based on the update of fields on the entity. Also now you can trigger workflows on deletion of an entity record. Additionally, you can publish a workflow as a workflow or publish it as a template that can be used for other workflows. Like before, workflows in CRM 4.0 can be set to run on-demand or as child workflows depending on their purpose.
Now let’s dive into the differences in setting up the workflow components. One thing you may have noticed in CRM 3.0 is that actions could only be performed on the primary entity, in CRM 4.0 they can even be performed on related entities. We can go over that in detail in a bit.
In CRM 3.0 you could insert conditions and actions, now they both are grouped together in a step. You can also pick if you want to enter the step before your current step or after the current step. So let’s start!!
Stages
· In CRM 4.0, there are no sales processes as there were in 3.0, but instead all workflows may have stages. · These stages are a part of the workflow steps and can be used to define your sales process or any process that you may want to create, such as a support process.
If Condition
· The “If” Conditions in CRM 3.0 and 4.0 have stayed the same with the addition of the Default Condition (else statement).
· One thing I found out the hard way was you can only have 5 nested if statements which is less than what you could in CRM 3.0.
Wait Condition
· The Wait condition which used to be a part of the Insert Conditions in CRM 3.0 is now a separate step.
· Also, you can have multiple Wait Conditions (Parallel Conditions) which wait simultaneously for different conditions to go thru.
· Wait timers in CRM 3.0 are now a part of the wait condition in CRM 4.0. For the timer, you have to set the duration to the Workflows Timeout Attribute.
Create Record · The Steps in CRM 4.0 do have additional functionality when compared to the Actions in CRM 3.0 like now you can create not just activities but system entities as well as custom entities – how cool is that!!
· Also, now that Notes are a separate entity, you can use the Create Record for them as well instead of the CRM 3.0 Create Note functionality.
Update Record
· The update feature in CRM 4.0 is similar to that of CRM 3.0 with one minor change – you can update multiple fields instead of having to update each field one by one .
Assign Record
· Assigning records in CRM 4.0 has major improvements like now you can assign not just the primary entity but related entities as well.
· Additionally, instead of being limited to assigning the entity to just the User, Manager or Queue, you can assign the record to users from related entities. One I recently used was when a case is created; assign the case to the owner of the account.
Send Email
· The Send Email functionality in CRM 4.0 is very similar to that of CRM 3.0 with the addition of being able to set the to, from, cc and bcc to dynamic values based on related entities.
Child Workflow
· Sub processes can be CRM 4.0 like other features can be run not just for the primary entity but related entities as well.
Update Status
· Update Status is no longer limited to the primary entity as it was in CRM 3.0, now you can update the status for related entities as well.
Stop Workflow
· Unlike CRM 3.0 where if you wanted to stop the workflow you could select complete, cancel, complete and stop processing other rules and cancel and stop processing other rules; in CRM 4.0 you can only select complete or cancel.
Call Assemblies
· Call Assemblies also seem way cooler (at least the ones you upgrade from CRM 3.0 to 4.0 do). You can now access the individual attributes of your custom assembly return object. I recently did an upgrade where I had a custom assembly written in 3.0 that returned a system user. In CRM 3.0 I could only access the system user but not its attributes, but that changed in CRM 4.0J.
A couple of features that no longer exists with CRM 4.0 are the Post URL action and the custom assembly class that allowed for programmatically triggering a workflow process.One thing I did notice was in CRM 4.0 if I added a step and then didn’t save, and pulled up my workflows, my change would still exist even though I didn’t save. Not sure why that happened!!!
Workflows in CRM 3.0 had to be activated or deactivated; in CRM 4.0 they need to be published or un-published. In CRM 3.0, if you wanted to look at current workflow logs, you used the Workflow Monitor. Now you jut navigate to the record that triggered the workflow and you should be able to see all system jobs(logs in CRM 3.0) that are currently in progress, cancelled or succeeded. You can open each system job to see what step the workflow has completed or is currently at.
Unlike CRM 3.0 where you have separate applications for importing and exporting workflow, in CRM 4.0 you can import and export using the export/import customizations functionality already a part of CRM.
The one thing (of manyJ) I haven’t figured out is how to copy workflows, in CRM 3.0 it used to be a button click. The workaround I ended up having to use is unpublishing my workflow and changing the ‘publish as’ setting to workflow template and republishing it and then creating a new workflow and using that template.
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