How to Configure Field Level Access Control With Studio Builder for External Users

Not everything in a CRM is a part of a portal. The portal users need not get access to all of it. For this, you need to establish field level access control to manage the nuances of this access.

Let’s talk a look at how to do that with the Dynamics CRM Power Apps portal:

Dynamics CRM Power Apps portal does not provide an option for field level access control. It has to be managed by creating a new entity form and adding the fields that you want in CRM. Then the relationship between portal side and CRM side entity forms has to be managed via mapping.

Note: When you use any CRM entity form in the web page, all fields & sub grids which are included in the CRM entity form will be displayed on the portal side.

Steps to create Web Page & add form into web page:

Step 1: Go to PowerApps -> Click on Apps.

Step 2: Select more commands (…) for the portal and click on Edit. It will open the Power Apps Portal Studio to edit the content and components of the portal.

Step 3: Click on New Page -> Blank layout.

Step 4: Select Components from the toolbelt on the left side of the screen, double click on Form to add form on the web page.

Step 5: From the form component, fill up Form Name, select Entity, select Form Layout. Form Layout is the same as Dynamics CRM Entity Forms.

You can customize forms in Dynamics CRM & it will reflect on the portal side.

Dynamics CRM Customer Portal Field Level Access Control:

An easier way to enable field level access on the user side would be via a quick drag and drop function. This eliminates confusion, and there is a clarity about the layout. It can also be reused since there is only the task of

dragging away fields.

Set Portal Layout steps:

Customer portal provides the feature to manage Dynamics CRM module’s accessibility & field accessibility for their WordPress portal users. You can decide which module’s access should be provided to which customer by creating a role and assigning modules or fields to that role.

To let your customers avail Dynamics CRM modules from your WordPress portal, it is mandatory to set Portal Layouts for each accessible module. Customer Portal plug-in provides facility to set Portal Layouts for Dynamics CRM modules.

Step 1: To create a role in CRM, Click on Sales -> CRMJetty tile.

For Unified Interface from bottom left click on Sales -> CRMJetty

Step 2: To set Portal layouts, click on the Portal Layouts option. This will open up the Portal Layout Setting page.

Step 3: Select a role from the Select Roles dropdown menu and select your desired Module for layout setting.

Step 4: Set layouts for Edit view, Detail view, and List view. Drag and drop fields from the left column to the right. After populating the layout, click on the Save button to save the layout.

Step 5: You can also set a Detail view layout for the reference module. A check box will appear on selecting a module that has a reference module associated with it. Check the box to set Detail view layout for reference modules.

And just like that, you can manage the whole flow in three simple steps. Depending on the complexity you prefer, you can opt for the default option, or the third party portal.

How to Assign Role Based Access for Dynamics 365 Contact Entity

As an enterprise organization, you have a number of people who have access to your CRM. But that doesn’t mean all of them have to have equal access. For this you need to use a portal with role based access.

With this, you can set entity access permission for different sets of user groups so that each group gets the entity that they need, without you having to share the data with everyone. If you are using Dynamics’ PowerApps portal, here are the step-by-step instructions to enable the role based access for the Contact entity:

Power Apps portal Role Based Accessibility for Dynamics 365 contact entity
Steps to create web roles:

Step 1: Open PowerApps, then from Apps open Dynamics 365 Portal management app.

Step 1: In Dynamics 365 Go to Sales -> Portal

Step 2: Go to Portal -> Web Roles -> Click on New

Step 3: Enter a Name & fill up other details. Then click on Save.

Steps to assign roles to portal users:

Step 1: Open PowerApps, then from Apps open Dynamics 365 Portal management app.

Step 1: In Dynamics 365, go to Sales -> Portal

Step 2: Go to Portal -> Contact, open the user account for which you want to assign a role.

Step 3: Click on Related -> Web Roles

Step 4: Click on Add Existing Web Role, select roles which you want to assign to portal users then click on Add.

The role based accessibility in the default portal has multiple layers and it can become cumbersome to navigate the complex set of permissions.

However, if you want to go with a third party solution, you can opt for the Dynamics 365 Customer Portal for WordPress. Compared to the default solution, the third party solution is simpler to navigate and the hierarchy is easier to understand. You don’t need to take multiple steps and instead you can focus on just a few steps and get the desired results.

Dynamics 365 Customer Portal for WordPress Role management :
Steps to create web roles:

You can create Roles and assign accessible modules to that role, then follow the steps given below:

Step 1: To create a role in CRM Click on Sales -> CRMJetty tile.

For Unified Interface, click on Sales -> CRMJetty from bottom left.

Step 2: Click on Roles. There will be a Default role already existing along with default layout; you can create a new role by clicking on the New button. This will open up a page to add roles.

Step 3: Fill role details like Role name, Is Active, Description and Accessible Modules. Click Save to create the role.

To disable a module, select Disable option from the status dropdown. To provide dynamic access rights of Create, Edit or Delete check the boxes against the respective module.

Note: By default, Default groups will be assigned to a newly created contact record.

Note: Access rights of the default user group cannot be changed.

Step 4: You can also define advance configurations for different user groups for the features like case deflection and calendar accessibility.

While creating cases from the portal, Case deflection feature helps your customers find probable solutions. If no relevant solutions are found, then the customer can proceed by adding a new case.
It will search for a solution for the enabled Case Deflection subject (which belongs to articles or Knowledge articles categories of CRM). So, on enabling Case deflection option, you will be setting entities and respective categories to be searched from while the portal user looks for a solution.

Note: Case Deflection will only work if Articles or Knowledge Articles module is enabled and the Category is selected.

For adding articles either for article entity or knowledge article entity navigate to the role page and click on the Add Article button.

Add the existing article to this user group and it will get visible on the portal side. Note: For adding data from article entity, you need to switch to classic interface.

You can also enable calendar for specific user groups. Note: Calendar can only be enabled if Phone Calls or Appointments module is enabled.
Steps to assign roles to portal users:

Step 1: In Dynamics 365 Go to Sales -> Contact

Step 2: Open portal user account (contact) for which you want to assign a role. There will be a field called Role Code you can change/assign a role form that field.

The portal you choose depends on your workflow. There are steps for two options here to help you choose between the complexity you want to deal with while enabling the feature you need.

Benefits of Using Dynamics 365 Portal

The general dislike towards haggling with customer support and regulatory agencies is well-known. As such, who likes overwhelmingly endless forms, long wait times, and queues for fulfilling their demands? If you think that these processes are frustrating just for the customers, you might be wrong. The employees who need to manage the flow of the application and process them well are even more flustered.

Thanks to digital transformation and advancements in cloud technology, you can digitalize the customer support process. And portals make it even better. You can connect with your customers and manage their data by having control over it. It makes customers happier and enables agencies to work with better efficiency.

They want a solution that is efficient, easy to use and. That’s where Dynamics CRM Portal comes in. It makes the task of managing documents, cases, schedules, accounts as well as order sheets absolutely seamless! Also, it just doesn’t process your database but also keeps all the records in detail.

Let’s check out some of the features of the Dynamics CRM Portal and its benefits:

Easily Configurable & User-Friendly:

DynamicsCRM Customer Portal intends to extend the basic functionality of MS Dynamics CRM and make it all-inclusive. Apart from the compact layouts, there are organized and stacked elements on the dashboard. With the help of it, users can navigate the portal seamlessly.

Now, let’s talk about the configuration part. This portal plugin can be deployed rapidly. They are ready to use and will start running in a matter of a few minutes. As an Admin, you just need to sign into the system and follow the configuration steps.

Solve Problems Easily:

As a business owner, your biggest goal should be to eliminate the gap between the problem of your customers and fixing them. And you would want this process to be hassle-free. With the help of Dynamics CRM Customer Portal’s ticketing system, you can not only process your database but also keep all the records in detail.

One of the major benefits of this portal’s ticketing system is that it enables CRM users to communicate with customers without sending them long emails or haggling with them over calls. You would also be able to manage cases, documents, schedules and accounts with utmost ease and save a lot of time.

Dashboard with Power BI integration:

The Dynamics Portal dashboard can fetch data from Power BI which helps significantly because you can get customer insights directly on the dashboard. It has an intuitive user interface and offers seamless navigation. These insights help you get quick insights which in turn help you take action based on them. Power BI integration elevates the default portal’s dashboard and you can make use of this for better productivity.

Sharepoint Integration for Document Management:

Sharepoint integration makes it much easier for you to share documents internally with your employees directly from the Dynamics CRM portal. It helps you collaborate seamlessly across the board. Collaboration on such native level in the portal enhances your workflow.

Keep Your Data Safe:

If you have a business, you must understand the importance of data security. And here, we are talking about your customer data. The best part about this portal is that the data stays in your Dynamics CRM and gets processed there itself. So, there are no data leaks or breaches.

Final Thoughts…

It’s time to get over the traditional help desks and call centers. With all the above-mentioned benefits and many more, this Portal plugin is sure to make you and your customers smile. Your portal should enable you not restrict you.

How to Install the Default Portal Add-On for Dynamics 365

When it comes to integrating a customer portal, it is important to take into consideration that it is one that fits well into the workflow of your business. You should also take care that it functions smoothly with your Dynamics CRM. It should be fast, secure, customizable and with a range of functions.

Dynamics 365 has a neat portal solution. Since it is an Add-on solution, you need to take certain steps to add it to your CRM, and then install it. Here’s a step-by-step guide for installing the Dynamics 365 default portal Add-on:

Installing the Default Portal Add-On for Dynamics 365

Steps to install Dynamics 365 default portal add-on:

Step 1: Sign in to Microsoft 365 admin center.

Step 2: From the navigation column on the left, select Show all -> select All admin centers.

Step 3: From the list of all admin centers, select Dynamics 365.

Step 4: On the Dynamics 365 Administration Center page, select the Applications tab

Step 5: Click on Portal Add-On under Manage applications. Portal Add-On is set to ‘Not Configured’. Now click on the Manage button on the right side.

Step 6: In the General Settings section, enter a Name and other details like Type (Trial or Production), Portal URL for your portal.

Step 7: Select a Dynamics 365 instance from which you can install a portal, select language.

Step 8: Select Portal Audience & Portal to be deployed & submit

It might take time to configure the portal.

Step 9: Once the portal is created, you can see the Base Portal URL. Click on it to see your Dynamics 365 Portal.

After portal installation, a new tile will be added in Dynamics 365 called “Portals”.

If you want more flexibility, and want to go deeper into the features that a portal can provide, then you can look at a third party integration. Here’s a brief introduction to Dynamics 365 WordPress Customer Portal:

Dynamics 365 WordPress Customer portal

Dynamics 365 WordPress customer portal is a convenient third party solution for enhancing your customer service. It provides a number of features that are either not available in the default portal or have certain limitations. If you are to go deeper into why to use this third party solution, here are a few reasons:

Secure and scalable:

Security cannot be something anyone should compromise on. But that doesn’t mean that the secure option limits you to a certain number of users. Your portal should be able to scale with your expanding customer base instead of limiting you due to high costs.

Multi Language support:

Any portal ought to be available in multiple languages. This helps establish connections and trust with your customers. Having anything in the language that one speaks in, aids in the buying decision.

Credentials for users:

Generating credentials for a huge number of people is a part of the ecommerce business. It shouldn’t be a hassle nor should it be a major cost.

Customization:

A portal has to reflect the style of your website. Since this portal is integrated with WordPress, you have the freedom to customize it. Configure a layout of your choice based on the modules you want. Have a dashboard of your design for what you think your customers want up front, etc.

Case management:

If the portal can handle cases, it would reduce a lot of work that your staff has to do. There would no repeated queries and customers would be able to find what they are looking for instead of raising a ticket for an issue that has already been solved.

The purpose of a Dynamics 365 WordPress Customer Portal is how it helps you in providing support to your customers. A third party solution brings more options for you as compared to the default option. It can offer equivalent security, plus more customization options in line with your website. Once you go through the differences and discern what you need in your workflow, it will be easier to decide what you want to go with.

How to Install PowerApps Portal in Dynamics 365 CRM

In order for you to provide your customers with exceptional service, you will need to do things that are above and beyond the basics. You will need to provide certain things that make their interaction with you more efficient and frictionless. Let’s see the steps of how you can install and activate the customer portal with Microsoft Power Apps and Dynamics 365 WordPress Customer portal.

Power Apps by Microsoft provides a new portal option with Dynamics 365 CRM. If you want to activate it, here are the steps for it. You can find steps to install the Power Apps portal from its backend.

Provision a PowerApps portal steps

Steps to install PowerApps portal:

Step 1: Sign into Power Apps.

Step 2: Select your environment from top right in which you have to install the portal.

Step 3: If you want to create a blank portal, click on Portal from blank.

Step 3: Click on All Templates to create a portal from default portal templates.

Step 4: Enter Name and Address, then click on create.

After you click on Create, the portal will begin provisioning and the status will be displayed in notifications.

After the portal is provisioned successfully, the status is updated and the portal is displayed in the grid:

From the More (…) option, you can edit or browse the portal. Browse the portal to see your Dynamics 365 Portal.

Apart from that, if you want to go for a third party option that can work with your WordPress frontend, there are steps to install and activate a Dynamics 365 WordPress customer portal from the WordPress backend.

Dynamics 365 WordPress Customer Portal Installation steps

Dynamics CRM Plug-in Installation

To install ‘Dynamics CRM Customer Portal’ plugin, the following steps have to be followed:

Step 1: On purchasing the plugin, you will get a zip file named DynamicsCRM-Customer-Portal-v3.0.zip

Step 2: Login into your CRM and click on Settings → Solutions.

Step 2: If you are in a unified interface, click on the Settings icon given on the right side of the title bar. Then click on Advanced Settings.

Step 3: Click on Import to upload and install the Solution.

Step 4: Click on the Browse button and choose the Package Zip File for Dynamics CRM Customer Portal from the Import Solution Window.

Click on Next for further processing.

Step 5: Check the box to enable any SDK message processing steps included in the solution and click on the Import button to import the solution.

Step 6: Click on Close after a successful completion message is displayed.

Once you import the solution, it will be displayed in the solutions grid view.

WordPress Manual Plugin installation

Step 1: To start with the installation, log in as Administrator into WordPress. Hover over Plugins and click on Add New to install the package.

Step 2: To upload the plugin, click on the Upload Plugin button.

Step 3: Now, click on the Browse button and browse the zip file. After uploading the package, click on the Install Now button to install the package.

Step 4: Navigate to Installed plugins. Here, you can see that Dynamics CRM Customer Portal Plugin was successfully installed. But it is still inactive.

Click on Activate to activate the plugin.

The Dynamics 365 WordPress customer portal allows for more flexibility, gives you more features and is scalable and customizable as you go. It can help you get things done and bridge the gap with your customers.

Hold Tunes are Out of Style: Upgrade with a Customer Portal

When you run an enterprise company, you tend to focus on big things. How many customers you have, how much revenue you are generating, how many employees you have etc.

It doesn’t affect your bottom line if you lose a few customers sometimes. Moreover, you are likely to gain new ones over time.

However, the way you think about the power customers have, has changed in the last couple of years. While companies that don’t want to pay attention to the grievances that customers face, don’t. But everyone knows that they are only a few too many social media complaints away from losing customers.

When cabs don’t arrive on time, people tweet at the company’s account. When other potential customers see that tweet, they will avoid using that cab the next time they need to make it to their appointment.

Addressing the issues that customers face on social media and otherwise is important now. You can easily use this platform to direct them to the support portal and guide them to help themselves. If their issue is not something that they can fix, you can guide them to raise a ticket in your customer portal.

The reason people complain on social media platforms is: a. Because they want everyone else to be aware of the company that wronged them and b. Because sometimes it can be difficult to raise a ticket on the company’s website. If they find how to do it, then perhaps there is no option for the issue they are facing. It can get quite ambiguous.

This is where your ideal CRM customer portal comes in. Not only will it make for a great space for your customers to reach out to you, it will also make it easier on your support staff. At the end of the day, it’s a win-win for you.

Let’s explore what this portal can do that makes it such an obvious thing to have:

Financial benefits:

As an enterprise company, you are always spending a lot. But do you have to spend a lot in this case? Not particularly. The portal can do a number of tasks that support staff can, but better because it can do this 24*7*365! The portal works as a filter for the cases that actually need human interaction.

If your customer simply wanted to exchange a product, 2 buttons can do that task instead of ten-minute long conversation with someone from support. The resources you employ will be able to make better use of their time.

Avoiding repetitive inquiry:

Imagine you have an ecommerce store that sells electronic appliances. The number of questions your support staff has to fill about each item, and the difference in each variant and the technology behind it is enormous. But you have a knowledge base on the portal that explains each variant, the technology and has a buying guide for each product. This helps the customers make an informed decision, without engaging with your staff. Your customer feels taken care of even though you were only a passive participant through their decision making journey.

No hold tune:

Everyone remembers the scene from the TV show FRIENDS where Phoebe is on hold with customer support for hours. While it is funny in the show, if your customer has to go through that, they are ditching your product. You have competitors, and if they don’t make your customers wait on the phone, they will win the race.

Data management:

Large enterprises tend to have a lot of dirty data. Dirty data means duplicate data, and old data. Of course, you wouldn’t know if your customer has changed their address when they add a new one. A customer portal gives them the right to manipulate their own details. They can modify addresses, contact details, and even preferences. These changes directly reflect in your CRM and you can have a clean, well-managed system in place, with almost no effort from your side!

What are the options you have as an enterprise to get such a portal in place? You will have a large customer base, and you will need to take care of security. You also need a more robust solution that looks and feels sleek to use. Keeping this in mind, you can go for a Dynamics CRM customer portal, leveraging the efficiency of Dynamics 365.

We understand that each business has a unique requirement, and we offer customization on our portal solutions. Get in touch with us here, for a walkthrough of the product and your custom requirements.