New bulk workflow execution tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 overcomes common data management hurdle

With a little help from his friends, Andy Popkin, technical consultant at Zero2Ten has released a new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Bulk Workflow Execution Tool aimed at overcoming limitations of other methods of applying workflows to manipulate CRM data.

"Ever since I started working with Dynamics CRM, I have always been searching for ways to become more efficient when it comes to those repeatable tasks we all love doing every day," Popkin said in a blog post.

Popkin admits that as much as he loves CRM, it still has its limitations - limitations that users do their best to find ways around.   

Using CRM workflows for data manipulation is a common practice.  The problem is that running the same workflow for 25,000 records takes forever to do, page by page, 250 records at a time.

"I would rather do the bug eating challenge on Fear Factor," he said.

So like most innovators, Popkin figured that there had to be a better way to get the job done.

"I came up with my first solution which was 100% CRM based, but the solution did not work well with due to plug-in timeouts," he said. "So I decided to make things run on the client side and I created the Bulk Workflow Execution Tool."

Here's how it works: The CRM 2011 Bulk Workflow Execution Tool lets you to run any On Demand workflow in CRM 2011 (on-premise and online) for any view (system or personal) for the entire record set returned by that view.

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