AgileXRM Release Notes 8.0.23142.2040

It is Spring time and that means it is time for a new Release.

The main improvements in this release are the following:

  • Version 8 of the Process Engine
  • Enhanced Search functionality (Search Shape, Search Control and Query-based Controls)
  • Performance Improvements overall
  • Smoother Modeler Experience
  • New Rule Editor in Page Forms

New Enhancements & Fixes

Dataverse Integration

Enhancements

  • Support SSO limitations of PowerApps Native Mobile App
    As SSO is not supported in the Native App, when user navigates to a page with AgileXRM functionality, the user is now notified that it is not supported, and allows the user to click a link to take them to the corresponding page in the browser, where AgileXRM and SSO work correctly and context is not lost
  • Support running a process against multiple selected records in a View
  • “Processes I can Initiate” view uses a more logical filter
  • Support certain operations in a process in current environment in another environment
    The operations Search, Insert and Update can be executed against another org
  • Enable Entity/Activity now generates corresponding Unmanaged Solution for upstream ALM
  • DEPRECATION: A new process variable called ProcessInitiatorId replaces the deprecated ProcessInitiatorCSDId
  • Update Dynamics 365 SDK to 9.0.2.48 

Fixes

  • Upsert shape did not populate SaveEntityIdTo property when query found the record
  • Detach Shape was sometimes failing during runtime
  • CrmConnector threw an exception when Process Template record had already been created in Dynamics/Dataverse
  • Process Launcher was taking a lot of time to show data
  • Process Launcher did not render process diagram properly
  • Set Status shape was failing when ClosePendingTask property was set to True
  • Wait For Update shape was failing with “Is Any of These” operator 

AgileDialogs

Enhancements

  • Add a HTML/RichText Editor Control
  • Improve Search Control and Query-based Controls
    Including improvements in Query, Columns, Mapping and Advanced tabs and support for dynamic custom FetchXML
  • Support Progress Bar and Messages between Pages
    When the steps between two pages are going to take long, allows to inform the end user with a progress bar and informative messages
  • Allow editing the Source HTML of Labels
    Gives full control over the content of the label
  • Support Custom Attributes inside Dialog Title and End Message
  • Allow setting custom labels for Two-Options control (not just Yes/No)
  • Allow Ordering Radio Buttons based on OptionSet
  • Allow 3 Grids in a row: Minimum Column Span is now 4 (instead of 6)
  • Add Ordered and Unordered List functionality to Label editor
  • Add SignOut option to Page Form Editor
  • Button background contrast increased in theme.uui
  • Added better support for DPI > 100%
  • When IFrame Control has no file to display, show a more friendly message 

Fixes

  • “Reassign To Me” button was not showing in the user message informing that this is not your activity
  • When Stages were enabled, page was not rendering properly
  • Custom Validation was executing for hidden controls
  • PageForm editor was taking excessive time to copy large amount of controls
  • An unnecessary vertical scrollbar was showing when rendered with the non-hosted option
  • History was not working if Page was in a loop
  • Grid was not working correctly if REST returned empty JSON
  • Page columns were not aligning correctly
  • Resizing Dataverse window was not centering AgileDialogs window correctly
  • AutoNext in Grids was not working the second time if going back to the grid page
  • Scrollbars were not responding to mouse clicks if Page Width was not 100%
  • Search Control was not mapping to attributes from a linked entity
  • Validation message window was left open when navigating back
  • Default value for Numeric Control was overriding old value
  • Required flag was not always at end of last line of label
  • Auto-scroll was not working with Continuous Render mode
  • Grid Control was not always returning the correct number of rows
  • Undo (CTRL+Z) in Control Caption editor did not work correctly
  • Dialog Task assigned dynamically via custom FetchXML was not being assigned correctly

Process Manager

Enhancements

  • Performance improvements

Fixes

  • Process Manager did not always provide correct information about sub-process status
  • Show All Processes functionality was not working if processes had been deleted/archived
  • Open Task functionality was not opening Completed Dialog Tasks
  • Under certain circumstances process status was not being shown correctly

Process Modeler

Enhancements

  • New Rule Editor in Page Form Editor
    Easy to configure Rules greatly reducing the need to use javascript to customize Page Forms
  • Support M:1 and M:M Relationships in Search
  • Add Clone Action to Environment Explorer
    The Clone action allows duplicating an exiting process or dialog model with a different name. This is the only supported way to rename a process.
  • Handle “WS Trust Auth” deprecation for all new Dynamics 365/Dataverse Organizations
    Microsoft deprecated Basic Authentication, so this enhancement allows using OAuth instead
  • Environment Explorer Check-Out button now always does a Get-Latest
    When more than one modeler is working on a model, this enhancement ensures no work is overwritten by the other modeler
  • Logic Inspector improved to include all variables in all shapes
    And also takes into account Global Variables and performance improved
  • Add keyboard-shortcuts to AgileXRM Ribbon buttons
  • Allow empty string for Equals and Does Not Equal operators for string-type fields
  • DEPRECATION: Change Ownership and Change Ownership (Multi) shapes are deprecated
    Use Update Entity and Update Entity (Multi) shapes instead

Fixes

  • Certain XPDL files were failing to import
  • Delete key inside the property grid was deleting the shape rather than the item in the grid 
  • Sub-Process shapes failed to Validate when Template Name was a custom attribute
  • Environment Explorer had some unhandled exceptions
  • REST Shape Schema Mapper lost mapping information after select “Only Unmapped Items” option
  • REST Shape Schema Mapper was taking too much time to open
  • REST shape config would fail if service was not retuning any data in the body
  • Query Expression Editor threw an exception when the same related entity was added multiple times
  • SetStatus and SetStatusMulti shapes were sometimes being misconfigured
  • Multi Shapes were allowing contradictory configurations
  • Could not delete the last row of Activity Properties
  • Could not set Priority for Manual Activities
  • WCF shape was throwing an exception after closing config window
  • CheckIn and Undo CheckOut was failing if modeler account name had changed case

Miscellaneous

  • Security: Hide and Encrypt Secret Key in CRM Connector
  • Security: Encrypt Secret Key in root web.config
  • New Azure DevOps Tasks for Process Template Import/Export
  • Includes NX v8.0, Software Update 2, Cumulative Update 4 (See Release Notes)
  • New AgileXRM Administration PowerShell Module (Preview)
  • “Get Process Data” task in the AgileXRM Connector for Microsoft Flow was not retrieving data from the Process Engine
  • Process Import Tool was not loading .zip files with non-ascii chars in file name
  • Known issue: AAD User Virtual Entity cannot be used in AgileXRM because it does not support Client Credentials

Announcing the AgileXRM Community Edition

person hand reaching body of water

“You’ve got the Holy Grail of Process Management Tools”

— Microsoft Program Manager


AgileXRM has been around for quite a while now and has been fully tried and tested, out there in many clients around the globe, including many hard-to-convince enterprise and public sector customers, helping them manage their Business-critical processes.

AgileXRM started life back in 2006, in the Dynamics CRM 3.0 era, and has since grown and matured through the amazing evolution of Dynamics CRM On-Premise to Dynamics 365 Online and on to the remarkable Power Platform (Dataverse), Microsoft’s Business Application Platform.

All these years, we have been happily occupied with evolving the product through all the feedback we received from our customers, to cater for their ever-changing and increasingly demanding real-world business scenarios. Our customer base was growing just through word-of-mouth!

It is now time to make AgileXRM available to a much larger audience, and what better way to make our product more reachable in the market, than by offering a Free-Forever version of it. With AgileXRM Community Edition you can verify for yourself, the value it brings to your Digital Transformation strategy and how it complements the Power Platform.

Recruitment Process Example

Below we try to answer some questions you may have:

What is the value of AgileXRM for me?

In short, you will be receiving the following:

  • A Microsoft Visio-based Modeler to let you model processes and dialogs
  • Powerful dialog functionality for creating guided interactions for any type of user
  • A Business Process Engine (BPM) to manage the lifecycle of your processes end-to-end
  • A Process Monitor to let you visually see and manage running processes

The answer also depends on you background:

  • If you are new to Power Platform and just starting
    Power Platform is many things to many people. You may be looking at Canvas Apps in conjunction with data sources like SharePoint to create your Apps. Or maybe you have already recognized the need for Dataverse as your data repository and want to create more solid and manageable Model-driven Apps. If it is the latter, then AgileXRM would add great value.

    AgileXRM Value: AgileXRM keeps Model-driven process-apps Low-Code (mostly No-Code). Because with AgileXRM, you avoid having to use javascript in your Dataverse Forms and avoid needing to write custom C# code (Plugins etc.). Also being a BPM tool, you will be modelling and configuring your business processes and your User Interfaces/Interactions explicitly with Microsoft Visio, a visual tool that is designed to be understood by business users. Anyone can create very complex process-apps easily and cleanly without extensive knowledge of Dataverse customization.
  • If you are already using Power Platform to some extent and want to do more
    Having delved into the platform already, you probably have recognized how some requirements are harder to implement, either needing resources with expert knowledge or requirements that need too much effort to implement.

    AgileXRM Value: AgileXRM allows you to reach much further and quicker without requiring a higher level of Dataverse knowledge.
  • If you are already deep into Power Platform and have created many complex solutions
    There is no better person than you to know exactly where the pain-points are:

    • Difficulty in correctly capturing the business process requirements
      Business users usually use a flowchart diagram to describe their process requirements, but they will never see it again in the produced apps

      AgileXRM Value: From requirements capture to creation to execution, everyone uses the same Process Model. Everyone sees the same model at design-time and at runtime and it is understandable by everyone.

    • Cost/effort in creating the solutions
      Good expert resources are hard to find in the market and certain requirements demand excessive amounts of code leading to over-customization of the platform

      AgileXRM Value: Implement complex business requirements much faster and by non-developers. Avoid over-customization of the platform by keeping everything truly Low-Code.

    • Cost/effort of maintaining the solutions
      The business logic is split in many parts and hard to see the overall picture, especially when project resources leave or when business requirements change once in production, and how those changes affect existing processes that are mid-flight

      AgileXRM Value: The process logic is being documented with the end-to-end process model as What You Model Is What You Execute, and it is easy to see what needs to be changed and where in the model. You can even compare different versions of the process to see exactly what changed and where.

    • Cost/effort in troubleshooting when things go wrong
      Given the end-to-end business process is split across many components (Flows, Workflows, Actions/Custom API, Business Rules, Business Process Flows, Plugins, Custom Pages and client-side javascript), it is hard to identify what failed and what needs to be fixed. And even when it is identified and fixed, it is hard to evaluate how the changes affect existing processes which are still in progress

      AgileXRM Value: Firstly, you can model error-handling in your business process using alternative paths. Then, there is also a Retry mechanism, but if eventually a step in the process fails, the process is Suspended, and the error is made visually visible in the Process Monitor and recorded in Dataverse against the Process record (and admins are notified). If it is an external issue and it is fixed, Resuming the process is enough to continue. If it is a logic error in the process model, you can correct it, publish it and then Migrate existing running processes to the new corrected version.

    • Handling high volumes and business-critical processes
      When the correct running of the processes is of paramount importance to the business because it touches the organization’s bottom-line, you are aware of the pressure for all of it to work correctly

      AgileXRM Value: Our customers, in both private and public sectors, run Business-Critical Processes with millions of process instances per month. AgileXRM JUST WORKS!

What can I do with AgileXRM Community Edition (CE)?

You can use the full functionality of the Licensed Edition, for up to 25 Users for Free and Forever. You get the Visio-based Process Modeler, the Process Engine, the Process Manager and AgileDialogs.

  • Model and configure end-to-end Business Processes for any of your Dataverse or Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Apps
  • Visually monitor where you are in the process
  • Handle unforeseen situations by managing the running processes
    Things like jumping from any step of the process to another step. Or even migrating a running process to another version
  • Model and run powerful dialogs (screen flows, agent scripts, wizard-like self-service guides etc.) for internal and external users (Contacts or anonymous users do not need a license)

AgileXRM CE is single-server. If you require High Availability, Archiving or more than 25 Users, you would need to get a License.

How do I get my copy of AgileXRM CE?

Simple: Go through this dialog(Powered By AgileXRM) on our web site and just follow the steps to register.

How is AgileXRM CE deployed to my environment?

AgileXRM CE will be deployed to your chosen Azure tenant and your chosen Dataverse Environment (or Dynamics 365 Org). Everything is done via another nice dialog(Powered By AgileXRM) that will guide you through the steps of the deployment process automatically. You’ll receive a link to this dialog once you register.

AgileXRM CE Deployment dialog

You are going to need the following:

  • Azure Global Administrator credentials for the Consents
  • Azure Subscription Owner credentials (usually same as above) for deploying the Process Modeler and Process Engine VMs to your Azure Tenant
  • Dataverse Environment with System Administrator credentials for deploying the AgileXRM Solution and Consent
    If you do not have one, create a Trial Dataverse Environment here, clicking Start free button
  • Visio Plan 2 License as the Process Modeler uses Microsoft Visio
    If you do not have one, get a 30-day Visio Trial here
    NOTE: You can also use a Visio 2019 Product Key (Standard or Professional Editions), if you have one

What if I do not want to (or cannot) deploy anything to our Azure tenant?

You have two options:

  1. If you just want to try AgileXRM CE, you can create a new Azure Trial here
    You get US $200 of credit and you can deploy everything there, which gives you 30 days to try everything

  2. Let us know when going through the registration dialog and we can provide you with one of our AgileXRM Online Trial tenants. This way, nothing is deployed to your Azure tenant.
    You are still going to need a Dataverse Environment (or Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Org) and an Azure Global Administrator credentials for the Consents.

What is the best way I can try the capabilities of AgileXRM CE?

We do Free PoC’s. We highly recommend that you let us help you to implement your first process-app. That way, you quickly get up to speed and will be able to realize the value that AgileXRM brings to your Power Platform projects.