The Service Configuration page is the central hub for managing your DocumentsCorePack services. Here, you can create new services, or configure and modify existing ones.
This article outlines the array of options available on this platform, beginning with how to access the service configuration itself.
Accessing the Service Configuration
To access the Service Configuration, navigate to our (1) website and click on (2) My Account. You can then access the Service Configuration page by selecting (3) Manage Services.
The Service Configuration page displays a list of configured services. If no services are configured, the page will be left empty.
Selecting any services will bring up the Service Configuration Overview, along with a list of tabs that contain more configuration options and other information.
1. Overview
This page displays essential information about the service, including how your service has been used, as seen in the highlighted section below. It is also possible to Stop a service, Move the service to another instance, or Delete the service entirely.
2. Configuration
The Configuration tab is divided as follows:
1. Save button: Save changes made to your service configuration.
2. Button Configuration: The Button Configuration site opens, displaying all available tables inside your Dataverse. Here, you can configure which entities the Create Document button should be displayed on, providing access to the DocumentsCorePack Dialog.
3. View AzureServiceName: This setting defines the service that should be used to start generating documents.
4. Dynamics Details: View the details of the Dynamics 365 instance the service is connected to. Under the Edit button, you can view or change the authentication details.
5. SharePoint Details: View the details of the SharePoint instance the service is connected to. Under the Edit button, you can view or change the authentication details.
6. Use Dynamics Integrated SharePoint: A setting that, when enabled, allows documents to be stored via Dynamics 365 Integrated SharePoint.
7. Advanced Settings: The Advanced Settings offers the following configuration options:
- Enable Debugging: Enable this setting in case of any issues during the document generation process. Log files will be available for download as soon as the service is saved.
- Job Type: Select between Document Creation, Print Jobs or Both.
- Push Request Logic: Specify here which Push Request Logic should be used by the DocumentsCorePack Dialog. Select between:
- Legacy
- Alternative
- Alternative (only for print jobs)
- WebSocket
- SharePoint Single Location: Specify a SharePoint location. This will enable document editing in the DocumentsCorePack Dialog, even if integrated SharePoint is disabled within Dynamics 365.
- Use SharePoint Compatibility Connection: When enabled, improves performance with the SharePoint connection.
- Note: This requires SharePoint 2013 or higher and native REST endpoint communication.
- Notify on service changes immediately: To avoid notifications for short-term temporary issues with your service, we send out emails after 30 minutes in case the issue remains. Enable this option to receive an email immediately instead.
- Only document-generating service: If you select this option, this service will be enforced as the only document-generating service for a specific Dynamics 365 environment (see more here).
- Category: Number category for prioritization is required when using multiple services. The default is 0. This setting is only required in Load-Balancing-enabled systems and is automatically defined by your configuration.
3. License
Under License, you can install a new license, or can see the overview of the currently installed license. DocumentsCorePack is delivered with a fully supported, 14-day trial license.
- Clear License Cache: Clears your License Cache and enforces a re-load of your current licensing situation.
- Subscription Number: See or change your Subscription ID here.
- Server based/Client based: View the license info for DCP Server and the Template Designer (Client) based respectively.
- User Roles: View user roles and user assignments. This can help give insight into your license count.
4. Version Info
Under Version Info, you can see an overview of the version your service is currently running on. You will see your Dynamics 365 (CRM), Service and Online Configuration versions. With a click of the Reinstall/Upgrade button in the top-left corner, you can reinstall or upgrade your solutions to get to the latest version available.
5. Power Automate
Obtain the API key of your service here. This is needed to use the DocumentsCorePack Connector in Power Automate and Power Apps.
6. Cloud Printing
Once you have created a Dynamics 365 (CRM) Connection profile, the printing options can be specified here. Please make sure that you have already configured your Cloud Printers. Once configured, you can access printers from Power Automate, Dynamics 365 or your PowerApp.
Click the Add button to add a printer. In addition to the integration of three major cloud print providers, our solution comes with options to utilize local printers as well. This article outlines the extensive printing capabilities that DocumentsCorePack provides for the Power Platform and Dynamics 365.
Please note: It is not possible to use both a cloud print provider and a local printer for a specific Dynamics 365 organization.
7. Load Balancing
If there are many documents to be processed by a DocumentsCorePack service (see Performance benchmark and scalability), it may be that one service is not enough. This issue can be solved by enabling DocumentsCorePack Load Balancing in this tab.
Note: To configure a Load Balancing service, you must first purchase a license/licenses for it. Once a license has been purchased, you can open the Load Balancing Configuration window by clicking on Configure. If you are interested in purchasing a license, please contact sales@mscrm-addons.com for more information.
The Load Balancer Configuration window provides you with information about how many (1) available Load Balancer Services you have. You can also specify how many load balancers you want to configure (2) (Please note: there must be at least three) and how many services you want to (3) reserve for single documents only.
Example: There are five Load Balancing licenses available. All five should be configured, and two should be reserved for single document generation. The rest are for batch document generation. The figure below illustrates what that would look like.
8. Document Statistics
The Document Statistics contain valuable information on every document generated with the most notable entries being:
- TemplateName: Which template was used?
- Date: When was the document generated?
- TotalDuration: How long did the overall action (create, convert, save back) take?
- CreateDocTime: How long did the incorporation of data into your template take?
- SaveDocTime: How long did it take to save the document back to Dynamics as a note or to SharePoint (if chosen to)?
9. Data Usage Charts
The front page shows an annual overview. Click on the year and the monthly detailed charts are shown. When you hover over the color-coded bars, it shows how many documents were generated per month and how large these documents were in total.
Since every license comes with a certain number of documents included, this number gives you an idea of where you are at and if it is necessary to buy additional licenses.
10. Template Management
Under Template Management, templates can be imported, exported, or transferred between different Dynamics 365/Dataverse environments using the DocumentsCorePack Online Service Configuration as shown below.
1. Import: Click on the Import section if you would like to import DocumentsCorePack templates. You may select multiple *.docx/ *.docm/ *.dot templates or *.zip files containing multiple templates.
You can also drag and drop files from the explorer into this dialog.
Furthermore, you will be asked to specify how to proceed with the templates you want to import if they already exist in the system. You can select from Overwrite, Create new, or Skip.
- Overwrite: The template GUID stays the same.
- Create new: The old version will be kept with the old template GUID and the new version of the template will be imported with a new template GUID.
- Skip: All existing templates will be ignored. Only new templates will be imported.
2. Export templates: Please click on the Export button to export all DCP templates as *.zip-files.
Please note: During the export, the GUID of the template record is added to the document name. The GUID is a unique alphanumeric code that is assigned to each template. It is important to retain the GUID associated with a template during the export process because it acts as a unique identifier, preserving the template’s identity and connections. It’s essential not to modify the GUID during the export/import process to guarantee the seamless operation of templates within your system.
IMPORTANT: To ensure that the templates are extracted correctly, make sure to not export to a folder that contains many subfolders. The maximum path length should not be over 260 characters.
- Examples:
- Proper path length for exporting:
- C:\temp\DCP_Templates
- Improper path length for exporting:
- C:\Users\MyUSerAccount\Documents\CRMData\DocumentsCorePackTemplates\28_11_2017\DCP_Templates
- Proper path length for exporting:
3. Copy to Dataverse: This option allows you to combine exporting and importing into one step. You can choose which other Dataverse environment you would like to export the DocumentsCorePack templates into. Use this option when you want to, for example, export your templates from your QA into production.
4. Cloud Backup: You can back up your templates on a scheduled interval to your Azure Blob Storage. We highly recommend setting up a cloud backup of your DocumentsCorePack templates.
In the Configure tab, you can enable Scheduled Template Backup and decide on the interval in days. When enabled, you will have to enter your Azure Blob Storage SAS Url and, optionally, a Folder and Filename. You can then view your template backups under the View Template backups tab.
11. Font Management
If your templates are using fonts (e.g. custom fonts) you will need to provide those for your service. You may upload and install your fonts into your DocumentsCorePack instance by clicking on the Browse… button and choosing the fonts from your system.
12. Service Logs
The Service Logs tab provides valuable insights into service health. This information is mainly used by our support team to gain information about the service.
Please note: Service logs are only kept for an interval of about 14 days.
That’s it! We appreciate your feedback! Please share your thoughts by sending an email to support@mscrm-addons.com.