Dynamics 365 CRM

Dynamics 365 CRM is Microsoft’s core customer relationship management platform built on the Dataverse data store. It manages contacts, leads, and accounts. Advanced Form Integration creates and updates these records from your WordPress form submissions using the Dataverse Web API (OData v4), with email-based deduplication for contacts and leads.

What you’ll need

• An active Dynamics 365 environment.
• An Azure AD App Registration with client credentials (see below).
• A Power Platform Application User inside Dynamics linked to your Azure app.
• The Advanced Form Integration plugin installed and activated.

Authentication: Azure AD Client Credentials

Dynamics 365 uses server-to-server OAuth2 via Azure Active Directory (now Microsoft Entra ID). AFI uses the client_credentials grant flow, which means no user login is required. The token is automatically cached and refreshed before expiry.

Step 1: Register an app in Azure

1. Sign in to portal.azure.com.
2. Go to Microsoft Entra ID → App registrations → New registration.
3. Name it (for example, “AFI Dynamics”), leave the redirect URI blank, and click Register.
4. On the Overview blade, copy the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID.

Step 2: Create a client secret

1. Go to Certificates & secrets → New client secret.
2. Copy the Value column (not the Secret ID). It is shown only once.

Step 3: Grant API permissions

1. Go to API permissions → Add a permission → Dynamics CRM → Application permissions → user_impersonation.
2. Click Add, then click Grant admin consent.

Step 4: Create an Application User in Power Platform

This step is critical. Azure decides whether your app can ask for a Dynamics token; Dynamics decides whether that token grants access to records. Both are required.

1. Go to admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com.
2. Navigate to Environments → your environment → Settings → Users + permissions → Application users → New app user.
3. Pick your Azure app, a Business Unit, and assign a Security Role (for example, “System Administrator” for testing, or a custom role with write access to the entities you need).

Step 5: Connect in AFI

1. In WordPress, go to AFI → Settings → Dynamics 365 CRM.
2. Enter your Instance URL (for example, https://yourorg.crm.dynamics.com).
3. Enter the Tenant (Directory) ID, Application (Client) ID, and Client Secret Value.
4. Click Save & Verify. AFI will fetch a token and call WhoAmI() to confirm access.

AFI automatically detects sovereign clouds (GCC, China) from the instance URL and routes token requests to the correct login host.

This connection powers all Dynamics 365 platforms

The connection you configure here is shared across all Dynamics 365 platforms in AFI:

• Dynamics 365 Sales (Opportunities, Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices)
• Dynamics 365 Marketing (Marketing Contacts, Marketing Lists)
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service (Cases, Notes)
• Dynamics 365 Field Service (Work Orders)

Create the integration

1. Go to AFI → Add New.
2. Give the integration a name, for example Lead form to Dynamics 365.
3. Under Trigger, pick the form plugin and the specific form.
4. Under Action → Platform, select Dynamics 365 CRM.
5. In Task, choose one of: Create / Update Contact, Create / Update Lead, or Create Account.
6. Pick the saved account in the Dynamics 365 Account dropdown.
7. Map your form fields onto the Dataverse fields.
8. Optional: open Conditional Logic to limit which submissions are sent.
9. Click Save Integration.

Tasks supported

Create / Update Contact (by email)

Creates a contact via POST /contacts. If a contact with the same emailaddress1 already exists, AFI updates their fields via PATCH /contacts(guid) instead of creating a duplicate.

Create / Update Lead (by email)

Creates a lead via POST /leads. If a lead with the same emailaddress1 exists, AFI patches it. The subject (Topic) field is required by Dynamics; AFI auto-generates a default from the contact’s name or company if not mapped.

Create Account

Creates an account via POST /accounts. The name field is required.

Type coercion

AFI automatically coerces field values to the type Dynamics expects: integer for option sets, boolean for donot* fields, float for revenue, and OData @odata.bind for lookup fields like ownerid and parentcustomerid.

Pro features

The Pro integration adds a Custom Fields repeater to every task. This lets you map any custom Dataverse column (publisher-prefixed fields like new_segment, prefix_lifecyclestage, etc.) without code changes.

How custom fields work

Pro adds a table where you enter the field’s schema (logical) name as the key and the value or trigger tag. Standard mapped fields take priority on collision, so you cannot accidentally overwrite a mapped field.

Feature comparison

Conditional logic example

Only create leads for B2B submissions. Add a condition on company_name being not empty. Individual enquiries that lack a company go to a separate “Create Contact” integration.

Troubleshooting

Token request failed

AFI surfaces Azure’s error_description in the settings page and the log. Common causes: incorrect client secret (copy the Value, not the Secret ID), missing admin consent on the API permission, or wrong tenant ID.

WhoAmI succeeded but record creation fails

The token is valid but the Application User lacks write access to the target entity. Go back to Power Platform and verify the security role includes write privileges on contact, lead, or account.

Nothing arrives in Dynamics

Open AFI → Log and find the most recent entry. AFI stores the full request URL, headers (with redacted token), body, and the raw Dynamics response including OData error details.

Related docs

• Dynamics 365 Sales
• Dynamics 365 Marketing
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service
• Dynamics 365 Field Service
• Send Contact Form 7 submissions to Dynamics 365
• Conditional Logic