Microsoft Dynamics CRM Extensibility Architecture

                                                                             Microsoft Dynamics CRM Extensibility Architecture

WCF Web Services

Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a dynamic Web service interface for applications to use to access and manipulate platform data, metadata, and to interact with platform services, implemented using the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). These services allow you to write .NET applications using Microsoft Visual Studio or non-.NET applications using other developer tools by simply referencing the Web services. The Web services exposed by the platform are WSI BP 1.1 compliant. This compliance support makes the Web services interoperable with non-Microsoft platforms. 

Processes (formerly Workflows)

The process feature supports extending the functionality of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system by enabling the user to create and execute custom business processes. A Microsoft Dynamics CRM process is built on top of Windows Workflow Foundation, which provides the programming model, run-time engine, and tools for quickly building processes. This includes XAML processes and custom process activities (.NET assemblies). There are two categories of processes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: workflows and dialogs.

Plug-ins

Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides an extension mechanism for implementing validation and custom platform-based business logic. You are not limited to creating custom business logic through workflow processes alone. You can also construct business logic that is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and executes in response to a particular system event for a specific entity.

Plug-ins support an event handler interface that is based on a pipeline execution model. The pipeline model allows for event handlers, also known as plug-ins, to be executed before or after the core operation of the system. When an action occurs caused by user interaction with the Web application or a Web service call, the platform checks for registered event handlers. If a handler is registered for notification, the platform executes a well-defined event handler method, passing it run-time information.

Reporting

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes reports that provide useful business information to the user. You can use these reports as templates for creating your own custom reports using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Report Builder. You can also use filtered views to create custom reports within Microsoft Dynamics CRM and directly in Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Access. There are two types of reports in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: SQL-based reports and FetchXML-based reports.