What does a Dynamics CRM Administrator do?
Dynamics CRM is an application layer software that sits on top of and integrates with a technology stack that includes other server roles (Active directory, SQL server, Exchange server, SharePoint server,…). Most IT Departments will have clearly defined roles and tasks for each technology server that are well documented and carried out by the technology administrator/owner. Depending on the size of the implementation sometimes more than one full time resources is assigned, but not for Dynamics CRM! Adding to the normal classic IT administration functions, Dynamics CRM is a business application that embraces end users customizations and responds to changes in business needs. All of that adds to the life cycle of the solution and adds a bit more complexity.
Having that said, the role of Dynamics CRM administrator/owner is critical to the success of the solution, and it is required at different stages of the solution life cycle. In this article we are going to focus on post go-live, operational production tasks of the Owner/Administrator of Dynamics CRM solution
Notice the below is only high level guidelines for Dynamics CRM on premise solution. Each solution will have its specific needs and each organization will have it’s own specific best model, it’s a big “it depends”. Dynamics CRM PFE offers a service that can help your organization reach good understanding specific to your implementation, the service is Microsoft Proactive Operations Program: Operations Team Roles and Responsibilities for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (POP OTRR) Contact your Microsoft Technical Account Manager for more details.
| Task | Component | Example |
| Owns server’s H/W configurations | Servers hardware | Needed Hardware |
| H/W Capacity planning | Refresh rate of the Hardware | |
| Monitoring performance and get notified if any flags raised | ||
| Sizing, anticipating future needs | ||
| Owns server’s S/W configurations | Servers software | Needed software |
| Software life cycle | ||
| Monitoring performance and get notified if any flags raised | ||
| Owns Dynamics CRM Server’s related technologies | SSRS | |
| Email router | ||
| Owns server’s S/W updates (including Windows, SQL server and Dynamics CRM) | Servers update | Windows Updates |
| Dynamics CRM updates | ||
| Owns CRM server Administration settings | Dynamics CRM server | Organization settings (Language, date,) |
| Server settings | ||
| Owns CRM server Maintenance tasks | Monitoring Async maintenance jobs, | |
| Archiving old data and own retention policy | ||
| Owns Dynamics CRM monitoring | Establish needed monitoring counters | |
| Get notified when threshold exceeded | ||
| Owns CRM Performance optimization | Follow through and execute remediation tasks | |
| Owns CRM Organisation Business customization | CRM Organisation | Business settings |
| Customizations, End users customizations (views, reports, finds,..) | ||
| Owns CRM Organisation security and managing users | Managing users | |
| Owns CRM incidents escalations | Coordinate with 1st line support | |
| Make sure benchmark is meet | ||
| Accept and monitors Solution benchmark matrix | Report any deviation from benchmarks | |
| Owns CRM client environment optimization and settings | CRM Client | Machine configurations |
| Software installed and its Settings | ||
| Optimization settings with CRM | ||
| Owns SQL server settings tasks of Dynamics CRM instance | SQL Server | Processing, memory, locking settings |
| Owns SQL server Maintenance tasks of Dynamics CRM Databases | Monitoring performance and get notified if any flags raised | |
| Maintaining indexes | ||
| Maintaining tables & databases sizes | ||
| Monitoring performance and get notified if any flags raised |
Most of these tasks above are not to be carried out by the CRM administrator/s themselves rather they are to be performed by different teams, but the owner in terms of accountability is the Administrators of CRM and they are responsible for coordinating and managing these tasks.
Regards,
Fadi EL-Hennawy