Scheduled Workflow in MSCRM 2013/2011
There was a requirement for us to write an application which
should run on every month 1st 12:00 AM.
Approach 1
1.
Create two Date Time fields as ‘WorkflowRunDate’ and ‘FirstWorkingDateOfNextMonth’,
which are hidden on the User Entity.
2.
Create a System Workflow (On Demand and Child Workflow).
3.
Create a Custom Workflow
Custom
workflow Pseudo Code
If (WorkflowRunDate is null or
FirstWorkingDateOfNextMonth Equals to WorkflowRunDate)
Update WorkflowRunDate with Current Date +1
Update FirstWorkingDateOfNextMonth on User Record.
<<This Business Logic >>
Else
WorkflowRunDate = WorkflowRunDate + 1
Day ( 12:00 AM)
4.
The Wait condition in the workflow will be set to trigger at the
time “WorkflowRunDate” for the next
consecutive date.
Note:
We did find an issue of
workflow triggering twice, so added wait for 5 mins steps. As the time is
controlled by our custom workflow we didn’t get any issue in adding that step.
Impact
1)
The workflow should be triggered manually by the user who has
access on respective accounts of the user record.
2)
We should have two fields on the User Record.
3)
We should never de-activate/disable the user record.
4)
Workflow runs for 24/7.
5)
If there are any changes to the business logic, we should check
the dates carefully and trigger it again.
Approach 2
1)
Create a Console Application in C# code.
Console Application Pseudo Code
<< Business Logic >>
2)
Schedule it on System’s Task Scheduler with the below Trigger.
Impact
We should have one Azure server to schedule the application.
Approach 1 VS Approach 2
Sno
|
Approach 1
|
Approach 2
|
1
|
Triggering is manual
|
No manual trigger, initial configuration
on server is needed
|
2
|
Whenever there is a change in the
logic, the workflow should be triggered again.
|
Its automatic
|
3
|
Date Logic is Programmatical
|
Task scheduler takes care of it
|
4
|
Dependency on User Record
|
No dependency on any record
|
5
|
Workflows runs for 24/7
|
Task scheduler takes care of it
|
6
|
No server needed
|
Need a server for scheduling the
job
|
7
|
Included in Dynamics CRM
|
Not included in Dynamics CRM
|
8
|
No server maintenance cost
|
Server maintenance should be
taken care
|
Happy CRM’ing
Gopinath
