Using SQL CLR stored procedures to integrate Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft CRM

I have been involved for over the past 6 months with an extensive project requiring complex integrations between Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0, Microsoft CRM 4.0 and other custom operational systems. In the process of designing and implementing these integrations the client requested a very easy to use interface that could be maintained without having to hire an army of developers or even specialized resources.

The mission: insert/update customer addresses and inventory items from Microsoft Dynamics GP into Microsoft CRM's Product and Customer Address entities. The client also requested the integration be done using the Microsoft CRM web services in order to ensure upgrade support.

Background

Beginning with SQL Server 2005, the components required to develop basic CLR database objects are installed with SQL Server. CLR integration functionality is exposed in an assembly called system.data.dll, which is part of the .NET Framework. This assembly can be found in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) as well as in the .NET Framework directory. A reference to this assembly is typically added automatically by both command line tools and Microsoft Visual Studio, so there is no need to add it manually.

The system.data.dll assembly contains the following namespaces, which are required for compiling CLR database objects:

System.Data
System.Data.Sql
Microsoft.SqlServer.Server
System.Data.SqlTypes

You can find more information on SQL Server CLR integration over at MSDN. Be sure to check the following articles:

Overview of CLR Integration
CLR Stored Procedures

Solution

The solution can be broken down into two parts:

1. Creating the assembly with the CLR stored procedures that would in turn instantiate the CRM web methods to open a connection and insert or update the Product and Customer Address entity records.

2. Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and registering the assembly, creating the triggers on the RM Customer Address Master (RM00102) and Item Master (IV00101) tables that would invoke the CLR stored procedures to pass the Microsoft Dynamics GP records.

This week's series will outline the solution with the code to achieve this. The following topics will become available on the day of their release:

08/18/2010 - Creating a CLR assembly and working with CRM web methods

08/20/2010 - Configuring SQL Server and creating table triggers

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/