Integration of MS CRM (4.0) Online with SharePoint

Lot of people now a day’s talking about Integration of MS CRM (4.0) Online with SharePoint 2007.
Before we start thinking of Integration of MS CRM (4.0) Online with SharePoint we should be aware of the below restrictions of MS CRM Online.

Restriction(s) of MS CRM Online 4.0 hosted by MSFT

Plug-ins:
Plug-ins allow you to augment the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business logic with your own code, for both online and offline applications. These extensions can also be used for integration to external systems. In the previous version, this feature was known as callouts.

Extensions	On-Premise	Hosted	Online
Plug-ins	Yes	Partner specific	No

Workflow:
Call out to external systems from your workflow rules. Create custom workflow activities that can be used by your workflow rules. In the previous version, this feature was known as workflow .NET assemblies.

Extensions	On-Premise	Hosted	Online
Declarative workflows using workflow tools in Web application	Yes	Yes	Yes
Custom workflow activities (.NET Assemblies)	Yes	Partner specific	No

The Probable solution would be:

1) Use standard/OOB workflows of MS CRM 4.0 Online and send out an email messages with the formatted message in the message body with all (or required) Values (Inserted / Updated / and record GUID in case of Deletion).

2) Add custom JavaScript in “OnSave()” event of the Entity, MS CRM forms where you can call out the web services (say using XmlHttpRequest / JSON) and there are chances that you will face the cross-domain Web service calls issues.

You can overcome the issue by hosting the “Internet Facing Web Services on your server” but that should be available over internet so that you can communicate CRM with exposed Web Service Server.


One more thing, I would like to share that “MS provides Partner Hosted Solutions”, you can go with it, but you have to pay (please correct me if I’m wrong), as it is paid service, I guess!!!!!