Office 365 CRM integration missing?

[GWJW]

Had to create an account because I cannot find any good information on this. I am trying to implement the Office 365 Dynamics integration with 3CX Pro v15. I ran into some trouble so I removed the plugin from the client side crm integrations page in the admin console with the intention of re-downloading it and basically starting fresh, but now the Office 365 Dynamics option is no longer present as an option to download.

Is Office 365 Dynamics still supported? If so any idea how I can re-download the integration plugin?

For reference I am following this guide: https://www.3cx.com/docs/dynamics-crm-integration/#h.dbmgfg84lr37

 

[edossantos]

Hello @GWJW,

We removed that integration because we're releasing a new server side template to replace it. However, this server side integration has not been released yet, so we added back the client side plugin for now. Please check your console again, you should be able to see it.

In any case, it is recommended that you move to the server side integration when we release it, because the client side approach will be definitively removed soon.

Kind regards.

 

[VoIPTools]

Ernesto,

While I think the web client is wonderful, one of the ... trade-offs... of using the web client is that you have to sacrifice your entire screen to actively use it, while the footprint of the 3CX Phone for Windows client is very compact. Is it the plan to completely stop support for the 3CX developed plugins for 3CX Phone for Windows?! From your comment it sounds like the plan is to remove the ability to download the plugin once the integration is ready for the web client.

Please correct me if I'm wrong (I frequently am wrong), but isn't there some functionality in the 3CX Phone plugins that are not in the web client integrations. For example, rather than popping a contact screen in the CRM when a new contact is created, instead, a link to the new contact is created in the web client. Is that right? That would be, in my view, a important change of functionality. Is the plan to provide feature parity in the web client PRIOR to removing the 3CX Phone plugins from download?

Nick mentioned in a post earlier today that even when the soft phone features are added to the web client, 3CX will continue to support 3CX Phone and the plugin functionality. He also mentioned that a new REST API will be made available that perhaps expands on the capabilities of the 3CX Phone API. That would be awesome.

While I realize it may be premature to discuss release plans, I am interested in any information you can provide on the direction of how we build integrations moving forward. I have the strong impression that 3CX Phone for Windows will eventually be phased out. That would make complete sense if we have feature parity between the web and windows clients. Why maintain both applications when the web will run on all platforms? But that would mean rewriting our integrations for AutoTask, ConnectWise, Zendesk, and Hubspot

 

[edossantos]

Hi Matt,

Regarding CRM integrations, 3CX is focusing on the server side approach. This has 2 important advantages:
1) The configuration is much simpler, as you only do it once on the 3CX server.
2) You can use it on any platform, so for example if you're running a Mac, you can enable the CRM integration as well...

We are aware of some limitations at the moment on the server side integrations, but that's where we will be focusing, adding the missing features to the server side, and not providing more client side plugins.

In any case, the client side API will remain available. There are some integrations that can't be done server side, like Outlook, EBP or DATEV. These will remain client side, and the API will continue being fully functional if you want to develop plugins for it, so you don't need to worry about the API being deprecated. But we're deprecating some client side plugins, as soon as we release the server side equivalent.

Kind regards.

 

[GWJW]

Hello @GWJW,

We removed that integration because we're releasing a new server side template to replace it. However, this server side integration has not been released yet, so we added back the client side plugin for now. Please check your console again, you should be able to see it.

In any case, it is recommended that you move to the server side integration when we release it, because the client side approach will be definitively removed soon.

Kind regards.

Thanks for the update. This clears things up.

 

[GWJW]

3CX team

I see the Server Side integration for 365 Dynamics was released. Following this guide: (https://www.3cx.com/docs/dynamics-crm-integration/#h.dbmgfg84lr37) I've gotten the app registration setup in Azure, and filled in the required field for the server side integration in the 3CX admin console, but when I try to login I get an error. Any thoughts? Usually in my experience things in Azure can sometime take a little while to become "active".

Pic 1: https://imgur.com/8N0uMde
Pic 2: https://imgur.com/1c2ezOW

 

[edossantos]

Hi @GWJW,

Please note that this integration is with Dynamics 365, and not Office 365. Do you have a Dynamics 365 active subscription?

 

[GWJW]

Indeed. Specifically it's a subscription for Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise Edition.

 

[edossantos]

Great, in that case it should work. Are you getting that error when you press Authorize? It's weird how your screenshot looks like, the Authorize button says Login, what version of 3CX are you running? And what Service Pack / Update?

 

[GWJW]

I thought the same thing as well! Yup the error comes up after clicking on "login". We are on version 15.5.10244.4 Pro

 

[edossantos]

You need to upgrade to Update 5. This integration uses OAuth2 authentication, which is only included in Update 5. Please upgrade 3CX and try again, that should fix the issue.

 

[GWJW]

We'll give it a shot. Thanks for the guidance!

 

[GWJW]

Just a quick heads up. After upgrading the menu options on the CRM integration page now include the "authorize" button, and I was able to complete the server side integration install. Thank you very much!

 

[edossantos]

Great to know, thanks for the feedback!

 

[GWJW]

One last question if I may. Does this integration support calling a contact in CRM using the 3CX desktop app? E.g. you bring up a contact in CRM and from a 3CX drop down you can have it call the contacts' business line, for example, and the 3CX desktop app then takes over and initiates the phone call? This is the functionality my client is looking for. The Introduction in the setup article doesn't explicitly define this as one of the capabilities so I wanted to check. If not are you aware of any such integration/feature that could handle this?

 

[edossantos]

You need to use the click-to-call Chrome or Firefox extensions for that:
https://www.3cx.com/phone-system/click-to-call/

 

[GWJW]

Got it! Thanks again my friend