Integration of training services providers & apprentice/trainees for Australia’s statutory authority using Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM

Project Summary

Client is the national regulator for the vocational education and training (VET) sector, which seeks to make sure that the sector's quality is maintained through the effective regulation of:

• Vocational education and training providers
• Accredited vocational education and training courses
• Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) providers including those delivering English Language Intensive Courses to Overseas Students (ELICOS)

Executive Summary

The vision of the Nationally Integrated Managed Services and Business Systems Program is the delivery of a single source of truth. The single source of truth will be accessible from the core business system, no matter where the data is held. This will be of value to both Client and its stakeholders. The new system will supersedes clients existing system. The existing system was build in ASP don’t net and it is not sufficient to meet client’s business needs. The new system is combination of multiple systems and the core is Microsoft dynamic CRM.
 

Challenges

Client has determined that the current system is a significant risk to the client to meet regulatory obligations. They therefore propose to replace existing system because:

• There are currently unacceptable and unpredictable delays to validate and approve training providers
• The current system is a simple dot net application and extension required more development effort
• Existing functionality does not meet best practice
• Reporting functionality is limited and does not meet user needs
• There is no graphical representation and analysis reports
• Security functionality is inadequate given the sensitive nature of the personal information stored in current system

In summary, due to various limitation the existing solution is not efferent to meet client needs and extension is difficult. So client was looking for a solution which is capable to meet client needs with data security. Also the new system should easily integrate with other system.
 

Solution

The business drivers for the new system developed using Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamic CRM NAV & EDRMS integrations will help client to manage its business needs including

• A CRM Portal site will provide interface for end users. The end user is anyone who want to provide training on any vocational course or anyone who want to complaint on a training provider and the stake holders of training provider
• There will be core backend system which will completely utilize the power of Dynamic CRM and NAV and which will be used to manage backend operations including

1. Approve/Reject an application
2. Request additional information as a part of application verification
3. There can be an external audit configured
4. Recommendation/Decision management
5. Complaint verification
6. Payment and invoices

• There is a effective notifications system build which will send notifications to all stake holders effectively
• Scheduled jobs are build to handle integrate data between systems and bulk updates

 

Logical Architecture

The Nimbus Program is based on an N Tier application model designed to be supported by the Microsoft stack. The following are the core business systems and their respective underlying applications:

• ANX – Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Intelledox Infiniti
• EDRMS – Objective Corporation Limited EDRMS
• AR – Microsoft Dynamics NAV
• Hosting – Shared Services Centre Virtualised Server Platforms

 

CRM Portal Design

 

CRM Backend core design

 

Benefits / Business Case

The Client anticipates the following over-arching key benefits to be delivered as a result of the replacement of existing system:

• It is very easy to handle backend operations
• There is a separate front end (Portal) and backend system(CRM). The Core backed system is safe from external hacks. Because the core system will run in intranet
• Reduces manual work
• It is very easy to restrict users using CRM security roles and it is very efficient. CRM form and field based security will allow the admin/ manager to show only required data to the end user.
• Reduce the maintenance cost of the code base and provide greater cost effectiveness
• Validate data quality to improve analysis capability
• Improvements in usability

CRM Implementations

•   Entity Creation
•   Form customizations
•   Business rule and JavaScript validations
•  CRM OOB and Custom workflows are used to handle varies business needs
•   Plugins are used to meet more advanced business needs
•   Backend jobs are developed using CRM API and other system APIs to integrate data between systems
•   Custom web services are build to extend notifications
•   Created a CRM workflow activity which is capable to call any web service from CRM Workflow which reduced development hours
•   Best practices are followed to create common solutions which will reduce development and testing effort  
• CRM site map and ribbons are customized as per client needs
•   Unused default entities are hided from CRM interface using CRM security
•   Third party inline editable grid is integrated with CRM system
•   Unit Test cases are used for test coverage

About Ray Business Technologies

Ray Business Technologies is a Global Information Technology (IT) Services and Solutions company. We are a CMMI Level 3 company, providing cutting-edge IT Solutions to Enterprises worldwide, enabling them to utilize available resources effectively and manage the operations. Our excellent team of Technology Professionals work with enterprise clients in North America, Latin America, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

www.raybiztech.com