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Siebel CRM Desktop - Hands on

Thanks to Alexander Hansal for this story
11 Mar - 3:00pm

The latest Fix Pack for Siebel CRM (8.1.1.2 - available for customers on My Oracle Support) includes support for Siebel CRM Desktop for Microsoft Outlook.


I couldn't help but get my hands on this as it provides a lot of features which are quite interesting.
  • Web service based integration of Outlook and Siebel CRM
  • Offline storage of Siebel CRM data
  • Ability to synchronize e-mails, contacts and calendar
  • Extensible framework
So if you want to get your hands on Siebel CRM Desktop for MS Outlook too, this is what to do:

1. Download and install Siebel CRM Fix Pack 8.1.1.2

Ensure that you install the Fix Pack on all Siebel software components, including Siebel Tools as this will fill the tools/reppatch directory with the necessary .sif and .dat files for the next steps.

2. Import repository and seed data

The ACR464.zip archive in the tools/reppatch folder contains all necessary files to update the database. Follow the instructions in the word document in the .zip file to import the .sif archives and the seed data.

The repository updates include the following:
  • Brand new S_PIM% tables to hold the CRM Desktop package information
  • UI components for the new Administration - CRM Desktop screen (which is added to most standard application object definitions)
  • Some business services and classes
  • a bunch of integration objects
  • updates to the S_EVT_ACT table and Account, Contact, Employee and other BCs and BOs
Don't forget to apply the schema changes and compile...

The seed data import creates the necessary LOV data and registers the new views with the Siebel Administrator responsibility.

BTW: In a real-life environment the procedure described in this post would be executed against a Siebel server database. However you can also run it against the sample database if you wish to have a small demo environment.

3. Upload the CRM Desktop metadata files

This step is done in the new Administration - CRM Desktop screen. After logging in as SADMIN, we should be able to locate the new screen in the sitemap. In the Metadata Files view, we have to register the java script and XML files that make up the CRM Desktop metadata. These files are located in the CRM Desktop installation folders.

The step is explained in the documentation and the result is as follows:


CRM Desktop metadata files uploaded and registered with the respective file type.

4. Create a test responsibility

CRM Desktop packages are associated with responsibilities to control which user groups have access to what packages. For first evaluations it is recommendable to create a test responsibility and assign the test user account to it.

5. Create a CRM Desktop package

In the Administration - CRM Desktop screen, we use the Packages view to create a new test package and associate it with the test responsibility.

The test package includes all metadata files which we previously registered. The step is described in the documentation.

6. Install the CRM Desktop client

The client side software is based on invisibleCRM's Sales Desktop for Siebel and the installer is delivered with the 8.1.1.2 Fix Pack. Before attempting to install, ensure that you have set up MS Outlook (2003 or 2007) with a default profile.

7. Set up Siebel CRM Desktop

Once MS Outlook is started, the CRM Desktop Setup Assistant is launched and guides us through the remaining setup steps. This includes the connection information to the Siebel CRM server. With a bit of tweaking (the Windows registry) you can convince CRM Desktop to connect to the Siebel Mobile Web Client (which supports inbound web services since 8.1.1.2) but this should only be done for evaluation purposes.

If you run your first evaluation against a large Siebel database or the Siebel sample database it is recommendable to set some filters to limit the amount of data to be synchronized.


The CRM Desktop Synchronization Control Panel with filters for Siebel Account data

8. Initialize local CRM Desktop data

The first synchronization downloads all necessary data to local files. After patiently waiting for completion, we can marvel at the results.

The screenshot above shows the Outlook form for Siebel CRM Contacts. We can now start modifying or creating Contacts, Accounts or Opportunities (replete with notes and attachments) or send e-mails to contacts.

CRM Desktop will synchronize all these changes to the Siebel CRM server.

In the next post, I'll describe how the synchronization works, so stay tuned.

have a nice day

@lex
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