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Creating a recurring service activity. RRS feed

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    I realize that for whatever reason CRM didn't come with the capability to do recurring service activity's, appointments, etc, out of the box but I also know that some very smart people were able to make it happen via workflow or another way.  If anyone knows how create a workflow that would accomplish this it would be great.  Or if you know of a website. I've been pounding my head on my new desk for a couple of days trying to get this to work.



    Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:34 PM

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    I have seen it where you create a workflow that has int time fields for recurrance, i.e. every X days, or every X weeks, then a tempdate field for calculations, and an endondate for when it should stop recurring.. On create of a recurring appointment it sets the tempdate to the scheduledstart + the X values.  Then another workflow waits until the schedulestart > recurring appointment, then if the tempdate is less than the endondate, it creates the next appointment.

    Example: 

    The following should be the fields added to the appointment:
    • RecurringDays (on form)
    • RecurringWeeks (on form)
    • NextStart (hidden)
    • NextEnd (hidden)

    * On Create:
    1. Set NextStart = ScheduledStart + RecurringDays + RecurringWeeks
    2. Set NextEnd = ScheduledEnd  + RecurringDays + RecurringWeeks
    3. Wait until SheduledStart > NextStart
      1. if NextStart < EndOn then create new appointment, copying all fields, but set ScheduledStart = NextStart and ScheduledEnd = NextEnd
    Friday, October 30, 2009 1:29 AM
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    Let's say you had a Recurring [ ] checkbox.  You could build a workflow that, conditional on the check box and firing on create, creates a new service activity due the appropriate date.  I'm not sure it will be easy design in variablilty.  You may have to hard code the interval.  Otherwise try making Recurring an int and see if you can to date math with a variable in the expression builder.

    Note: there should be an additional condition that makes sure the due date is less than some interval from today lest you create an unlimited number of recurrences.
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 9:37 PM
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    Hi Cole,

    It is probably worth investigating how to write windows services for this type of requirement. It's not overly complex and probably the right solution for your requirement. If you're intimidated, a windows service is like an invisible console application with a timer control on it.

    Write the .NET code you require to create a recurring activity, drag a timer control on your form and place that code inside the timer. If you're happy with your logic, that can easily be converted into a windows service.

    For most timer based workflows, I would only recommend it where not business critical, or for people without developent skills. You are bound to some across scenario's where workflows definitely will not suffice, so it is probably a good idea to build up this skill.

    Hih,
    Karlo
    Karlo Swart - http://www.ver206.com
    Friday, October 30, 2009 8:10 AM

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    Let's say you had a Recurring [ ] checkbox.  You could build a workflow that, conditional on the check box and firing on create, creates a new service activity due the appropriate date.  I'm not sure it will be easy design in variablilty.  You may have to hard code the interval.  Otherwise try making Recurring an int and see if you can to date math with a variable in the expression builder.

    Note: there should be an additional condition that makes sure the due date is less than some interval from today lest you create an unlimited number of recurrences.
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 9:37 PM
  • Question
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    I have seen it where you create a workflow that has int time fields for recurrance, i.e. every X days, or every X weeks, then a tempdate field for calculations, and an endondate for when it should stop recurring.. On create of a recurring appointment it sets the tempdate to the scheduledstart + the X values.  Then another workflow waits until the schedulestart > recurring appointment, then if the tempdate is less than the endondate, it creates the next appointment.

    Example: 

    The following should be the fields added to the appointment:
    • RecurringDays (on form)
    • RecurringWeeks (on form)
    • NextStart (hidden)
    • NextEnd (hidden)

    * On Create:
    1. Set NextStart = ScheduledStart + RecurringDays + RecurringWeeks
    2. Set NextEnd = ScheduledEnd  + RecurringDays + RecurringWeeks
    3. Wait until SheduledStart > NextStart
      1. if NextStart < EndOn then create new appointment, copying all fields, but set ScheduledStart = NextStart and ScheduledEnd = NextEnd
    Friday, October 30, 2009 1:29 AM
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    Hi Cole,

    It is probably worth investigating how to write windows services for this type of requirement. It's not overly complex and probably the right solution for your requirement. If you're intimidated, a windows service is like an invisible console application with a timer control on it.

    Write the .NET code you require to create a recurring activity, drag a timer control on your form and place that code inside the timer. If you're happy with your logic, that can easily be converted into a windows service.

    For most timer based workflows, I would only recommend it where not business critical, or for people without developent skills. You are bound to some across scenario's where workflows definitely will not suffice, so it is probably a good idea to build up this skill.

    Hih,
    Karlo
    Karlo Swart - http://www.ver206.com
    Friday, October 30, 2009 8:10 AM
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    Thanks a lot everyone for the suggestions.  I will see what I can get figured out!
    Friday, October 30, 2009 2:33 PM
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    anything new about this one?

     

    does anyone knows recurring tasks add on?

    Wednesday, September 21, 2011 10:29 AM
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    Nice work around! Putting this in a demo for our customer.
    Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:55 PM