Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Government Service Center – A Technical View
A Microsoft vision for high performance citizen service
Microsoft Citizen Service Platform Contents
About this paper.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 The Microsoft Platforms ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Microsoft Dynamics CRM.......................................................................................................................... 4 Microsoft SharePoint Server ..................................................................................................................... 5 Portal ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Collaboration......................................................................................................................................... 5 Business Intelligence ............................................................................................................................. 5 Business Forms and Integration............................................................................................................ 5 Content Management ........................................................................................................................... 6 Search.................................................................................................................................................... 6 Microsoft BizTalk Server ........................................................................................................................... 6 Microsoft Office Communications Server ................................................................................................. 7 Streamlined Communications ............................................................................................................... 7 Operational Flexibility and Control ....................................................................................................... 7 Extensible Communications Platform ................................................................................................... 7 Customer Care Framework ....................................................................................................................... 7
Key Features for a Government Service Center ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Platform Services .................................................................................................................................. 9 Contact Center Optimization .............................................................................................................. 12 Electronic Citizen Interaction .............................................................................................................. 14 Organizational Productivity ................................................................................................................ 15
Delivering a joined up Service Center ................................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Integration Approaches for a Service Center................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Microsoft Dynamics CRM........................................................................................................................ 19 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 19 Advantages.......................................................................................................................................... 19 Microsoft SharePoint Server ................................................................................................................... 20 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 20 Advantages of SharePoint Integration ................................................................................................ 21 Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server ......................................................................................... 22 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 22
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Advantages of PerformancePoint Integration .................................................................................... 23 Microsoft Forms Server .......................................................................................................................... 24 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 24 Advantages of InfoPath Integration .................................................................................................... 25 Microsoft® Office Communications Server ............................................................................................. 27 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 28 Advantages of OCS Integration ........................................................................................................... 28 Microsoft® BizTalk® Server ....................................................................................................................... 29 Integration Approach .......................................................................................................................... 29 Advantages.......................................................................................................................................... 29
Appendix.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Microsoft Product Information ............................................................................................................... 30 SharePoint Server ............................................................................................................................... 30 Dynamics CRM .................................................................................................................................... 30 BizTalk Server ...................................................................................................................................... 30 Office Communications Server ........................................................................................................... 30 Microsoft Customer Care Framework ................................................................................................ 30 Windows Workflow foundation.......................................................................................................... 30 Bing Maps for Enterprise .................................................................................................................... 30 Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server ......................................................................... 30
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform About this paper
This paper has been written to demonstrate how the concepts laid out in the paper ‗Government Service Center‘ can be delivered using Microsoft Technologies. It shows how the Microsoft products and platforms can be used to deliver a comprehensive Government Service Center that delivers efficiency and quality to the citizens who rely on it. It will start with an overview of the Microsoft Servers that are going to be utilised, before going on to describe how the features can be delivered. Finally it will cover the different integration techniques for these Microsoft Servers.
The Microsoft Platforms
As we can see from the Business Overview chapters the requirements to offer a true multi-channel service center are very wide. It is not just about bringing together the different input channels; it also requires efficient integration with the rest of the organisations IT to enable true change and deliver a cost effective joined up service. Microsoft offers a number of key platforms that come together to not just deliver a service center, but can be re-used across the organisation to deliver value from the front end to the back end. Before we understand how we can deliver the features that the business requires, it is important to understand what the platforms can deliver. A short description of the technologies follows. In the appendix you‘ll find link to more in depth technical information. Microsoft Dynamics CRM The heart of any service center is the case management system. This platform handles all of the case and records management for the organisation as well as the contact records and activity records. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a complete citizen relationship management solution that provides the invaluable capability to attain a 360-degree view of the citizen and the necessary tools to create and maintain a clear picture of the information that governmental organisations need. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been designed as not just a CRM system, but a development platform that can be customised to meet your business requirements. The users can either access the system through a web UI, or can use Outlook and its familiar interface to work with their data and cases. All of the functionality that is exposed via the web interface, is also exposed via a Web Service Interface so that anything you can do on the site, you can call directly via the Web Service API. This gives huge flexibility when looking to integrate systems with Dynamics CRM. The Business entities can be created, edited and published using built in tools, meaning that the system can be customised to meet your needs. A process needs to be in place to ensure that updates are approved, pushed to the business at the correct time, and do not have a negative impact. Once these changes are published, the data layer is automatically updated to reflect the changes, with new properties and entities becoming immediately available in the Workflow and reporting engines as well. The Workflow is handled by Windows Workflow Foundation (see Appendix for more information) that is part of .net and is Microsoft‘s standard workflow technology found across all of it products. This highly powerful engine can be worked with at
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a number of different levels, from basic wizard driven creation of workflow that power users can control, all the way to the ability for Develop teams to create workflows in .net languages. The Reporting system includes a powerful design interface so that most reports can be created and published by users, giving huge flexibility in understanding your data. For more complex tasks the reporting engine is built on SQL Reporting Services so developers can create and publish complex reports with the tools that they know and understand.
Microsoft SharePoint Server Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 is an integrated suite of server capabilities that can help improve organizational effectiveness by providing comprehensive content management and Enterprise Search, accelerating shared business processes, and facilitating information sharing across boundaries for better business insight. Office SharePoint Server 2007 supports all intranet, extranet, and Web applications across an enterprise within one integrated platform, instead of relying on separate fragmented systems. Additionally, this collaboration and content management server provides IT professionals and developers with the platform and tools they need for server administration, application extensibility, and interoperability. Portal The facilities that provide the capabilities to personalize the user experience of an enterprise Web site, to target content to various audiences based on sets of rules, to automatically facilitate intuitive navigation through the Web site while tailoring the navigation to the individual rights of the user, to deliver comprehensive site content management and structural facilities, and more. Collaboration The enabling technologies that allow teams to work together effectively, providing intuitive, flexible, and secure mechanisms for sharing information through the use of wikis and blogs, collaborating on and publishing documents, maintaining task lists, conducting surveys, developing and maintaining site templates customized for specific business uses, and implementing workflows. Business Intelligence Delivered through Microsoft PerformancePoint Server is the ability to deliver information critical to business objectives through a wide range of mechanisms, from server-based spreadsheets accessing business data in real time and performing sophisticated analyses to the presentation of key performance indicators (KPIs) through enterprise Web sites. Business Forms and Integration The ability to rapidly and effectively implement forms-based business processes, from design to publication to user access, by using standard Web browsers hosted on Microsoft Forms Server or a rich client application such as Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007. Also includes the ability to connect with structured systems such as databases and line-of-business applications, and the ability to access that information in a number of ways.
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Content Management The facilities for the creation, publication, and management of content, regardless of whether that content exists in discrete documents or is published as Web pages. Content management scenarios include document management, records management, and Web content management. Search The critical ability to quickly and easily locate relevant content distributed across a wide range of sites, document libraries, business application data repositories, and other sources, including files shares, various Web sites, Microsoft Exchange public folders, and Lotus Notes Databases — and to find the appropriate people who can help answer questions or be involved in projects.
Microsoft BizTalk Server BizTalk Server is Microsoft‘s Integration and connectivity server solution. A mature product on its sixth release, BizTalk Server 2009 provides a solution that allows organizations to more easily connect disparate systems. Including over 25 multiplatform adapters and a robust messaging infrastructure, BizTalk Server provides connectivity between core systems both inside and outside your organization. In addition to integration functionality, BizTalk also provides strong durable messaging, a rules engine, EDI connectivity, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), RFID capabilities and IBM Host/Mainframe connectivity. BizTalk Server 2009 provides the infrastructure to connect existing applications (regardless of the platform) and to compose, expose, and consume new services. This allows you to get more out of the investments that you have already made and minimize the cost of integrating the new pieces of technology that you have acquired. Because BizTalk Server includes tools to connect both proprietary and standards based systems and pre-integrates with the .NET Framework, BizTalk Server is a central part of any SOA strategy. Additionally, a broad array of technology and application adapters is available for BizTalk Server. With out-of-the-box support for everything from transport protocols to high level integration with line of business applications such as PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel and Oracle you choose how you want to connect applications, platforms and people—we provide the tools to do it. BizTalk Serer also provide support for Enterprise Service Bus pattern through BizTalk ESB toolkit. BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of tools and libraries that extend BizTalk Server 2009 capabilities of supporting a loosely coupled and dynamic messaging architecture.
The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 provides key building blocks that are required for implementing a comprehensive SOI including:
Endpoint run-time discovery and virtualization Loosely coupled service composition Dynamic message transformation and translation Dynamic routing Centralized exception management Quality of service Protocol transformation Extensibility
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Microsoft Office Communications Server Microsoft‘s Unified Communications (UC) solutions use the power of software to streamline communications. Office Communications Server 2007 R2, one of the cornerstones of Microsoft‘s UC solution, is the platform for presence, instant messaging, conferencing, and enterprise voice for businesses around the world. Building on the customer, partner, and industry momentum of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, the new Office Communications Server 2007 R2 update continues to deliver on the Microsoft promise to streamline communications for users, give IT organizations the flexibility and control they need to manage their communications infrastructure efficiently, and provide an extensible platform for communications-enabled business processes. Streamlined Communications People manage their communications across many devices and applications, which can have a negative impact on productivity. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 streamlines the way users manage communications, which allows them to find and communicate with the right person, right now, from the applications they use most. It delivers on the promise of Unified Communications. Microsoft‘s unique software-based approach has allowed rapid innovation. This update introduces many new enhancements over the 2007 release. Operational Flexibility and Control IT departments are expected to manage cost control, security, integration with existing infrastructure, and compliance requirements. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 allows IT administrators to meet these challenges effectively by giving them the ability to provide flexible communications solutions to users and by delivering the tools they need to help manage secure, compliant communications. Extensible Communications Platform One advantage of a software-based communications infrastructure is that businesses can embed communications capabilities into existing line-of-business applications and use communications and workflow capabilities to automate business processes, which saves money, saves time, and improves customer service. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 delivers an extensible communications platform that works with an organization‘s existing messaging and telephony infrastructure and can adapt to changing business needs.
Customer Care Framework Microsoft‘s Customer Care Framework (CCF) is designed to enable organisations to improve their customer experience. It is a software framework that enables organisations to create an aggregated custom user interface for customer care staff, by combining data elements from disparate applications (mainframes, databases, or web sites) and displaying data into a single UI. Recognizing that today‘s customer transactions typically involve multiple support channels (web, phone, kiosk), starting in one and ending in another, CCF enables support channels to share common logic and data. CCF provides for a consistent customer support experience, removing the classic customer frustration of repeating or re-entering information when they move to another support channel. Additionally CCF offers many backend system advantages, including data failover and load balancing. The Microsoft Customer Care Framework provides the following functionality.
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Aggregation. CCF enables aggregation of data by integrating LOB applications at the user interface, by using applications that are exposed as individual Web services, or by using a full service-oriented architecture. This enables you to deploy CCF quickly and migrate to an SOA gradually. The Integrated Desktop provides a user-friendly, customizable interface that provides a consistent user interface that suits the requirements of your organization. The Integrated Desktop provides unified views of customer data for contact center agents, which reduces training times and increases customer satisfaction. Customer details are readily available regardless of the current application, which causes reduced requests for data and reduced application switching. CCF 2009 enables the use of consistent user interfaces across multiple customer communication channels. This consolidation results in lower software development and maintenance costs, in addition to a more consistent user interface for the agents. Automation. CCF supplies a development framework that takes advantage of WF to model and execute business processes, and to orchestrate hosted application automation. Additionally, CCF enables the separation of the user interface from business logic, which means that the same hosted application can be used through multiple customer interaction channels. The scripting support in CCF enables you to automate hosted applications and to implement scripted scenarios for marketing campaigns, for example. Acceleration. The design of CCF emphasizes quick integration of existing solutions. The Integrated Desktop and Application Integration Framework enable quick integration of existing client user interfaces into a composite application. The use of industry-standard Web service interfaces enables CCF and new server-based systems to be integrated quickly with little impact on existing operations. The modular design of CCF enables new services and capabilities to be quickly added in phased rollouts The principal elements of CCF that you can exploit for building and consuming services are: The Multi-Channel Engine (MCE). The MCE is a set of design-time and runtime components that enable a developer to separate the business logic of a component from the implementation of its user interface by following the Model-ViewController (MVC) pattern. Using the MCE, a developer can build a logical model of the user interface and the processing behind the elements of this model. A developer can build alternative user interfaces by using different technologies, such as Web Forms and Windows Forms, and execute the same process behind these user interfaces. The Hosted Application Toolkit (HAT). The HAT provides an extensible application integration framework for CCF. The HAT enables you to integrate and automate both existing and new applications into a single solution. The HAT makes extensive use of WF to specify the flow of control through an application. The Application Integration Framework (AIF). The AIF provides a development model and runtime environment that enables you to host multiple applications in a single, unified user interface, such as the Integrated Desktop. Using the AIF, you can host many types of applications, including Windows Forms applications, Web applications, and Win32 applications. The AIF implements a message bus, enabling applications (including HAT and MCE workflows) to communicate with each other by sending and receiving messages. The loose-coupling model promoted by AIF enables you to dynamically add or remove applications from a solution. Distributed Connectivity Services (DCS). Distributed Connectivity Services (DCS) is a middleware infrastructure that provides an end-to-end development model enabling you to build discovery-based client/service systems by following SOA principles.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform Key Features for a Government Service Center
Platform Services Single Citizen View The quality of data is one of the biggest challenges that call centers face, and many of these issues are inherited from the data that existed in legacy and paper based systems. The challenge that organisations have faced over the years is that people can represent themselves in many different ways, and those ways can change over time. Where information was initially taken from letter or phone calls, incomplete or inconsistent data has got into systems. For example names can be spelt differently or represented differently – James Brown, J Brown, J Browne, Mr Brown can all be the same person. People can also change name, and also change address. So a ‗Miss Janet Brown‘ with an address of ‗1 The High Street‘, could be the same person as a ‗Mrs Johnson‘ living at ‘12 Sea View Parade‘ if the organisation has not been correctly notified of a change of address and change of name due to a marriage. Within Microsoft Dynamics CRM there is the ability to attach duplicate detection rules to nearly any entity (not just on contacts, accounts or leads) so that during data entry or data import the rules can be executed to ensure that duplicate entries do not exists. As records are created or updated, the system can run these rules over the existing database and highlight any potential clashes. These matching rules will commonly look for specific patterns or matches across the existing data. So for example for First Name ‗D = David‘ and it may be decided that ‗Dave = David‘ as well. This is commonly needed when matching addresses as well. For example a ‗Crescent‘ can be abbreviated to ‗Cr‘ or ‗Cres‘.
There are also a number of different algorithms for matching against misspellings, for example SoundEx matching (however this algorithm is designed for English and may not work across all languages). This means that similar records can be highlighted to the agent and they can attempt to resolve or clean up the data while the citizen is on the phone. Back Office Integration Government Agencies tend to contain a large number of back office systems to complete the wide variety of work that they need to perform. However these systems rarely work together in a consistent way, or have standard data formats etc. This makes co-ordination and reporting a difficult and migration to a more consistent infrastructure challenging.
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An integration layer is often needed to ensure that the different system can talk to each other, processes are managed across them and reporting and data formats can be consolidated. By using an integration server such as Microsoft BizTalk server we can use a specialised platform for that integration and orchestration. For both the inbound and outbound communication BizTalk uses a concept of ‗Adapters‘ These pluggable components understand the system of format they are querying, and can transform the data into a standard format for processing. This means whether you are accessing a comma separate file, or an Oracle database, the data can be accessed and transformed into a common format. By utilising the workflow engine, BizTalk can orchestrate the gathering of data from multiple systems and merge that data into a useful format that can be utilised by the forms client. Likewise it can also be used to execute process across multiple systems to update and then gather the results together for presentation to the user. BizTalk Server comes with a large number of Adapters out of the box, allowing connection to most major systems including: PeopleSoft Oracle SAP Siebel JD Edwards TIBCO IBM Mainframe DB2 Web Sphere
A number of third party adapters are available from partners, and the Adapter framework allows development teams to write their own to connect to bespoke systems. Another strategy for bringing together multiple disparate systems is by using Microsoft Customer Care Framework (CCF) to consolidate the user interfaces (UIs). This gives the agent a single desktop to understand and interact with, while CCF distributes the work and data to the legacy UIs that sit behind it. Microsoft CCF‘s integrated desktop can map between different technologies (Web, WinForms, Green Screens) and handle the different security requirements so that user only sees the single unified desktop. This can often be faster and less disruptive that created an integration layer to integrate the data that flows between the systems.
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Geographic Information Systems With Bing Maps for Enterprise bringing mapping data into an application has never been so easy. Much of the data that governments hold has some geographical element to it, whether it is an address or a location, or reporting across the different boroughs.
As long as in an internet connection is available, using javascript, .net controls or Web Services maps and geographic data can be included in an application. These maps can be included in public portals to show data such as nearest recycling centers, or with Dynamics CRM to visually see where specific cases are occurring or to enhance PerformancePoint reports. All of the Microsoft Platforms can use maps to show a far enhanced view or geographic data.
Business Intelligence and Performance Reporting Reporting across the service center is key to allow people to all levels to understand how they, their teams and their systems are performing. There are many different types of reports available, and defining what reports people want to see can be challenging. The information need to create reports can often be held across multiple systems, and in formats that are highly normalised. Therefore the main challenge to creating reports can often be the gathering and transformation of that data. Microsoft PerformancePoint can be used to read data from a wide variety of sources and create reports to monitor the key business drivers using dashboards and scorecards. This will allow different people within the organisation to see if they are meeting the targets defined for them. One of the issues that can arise when trying to pull together a comprehensive set of reports is that the data can be help in separate unrelated systems, therefore making it difficult to bring it together into a single data source. Likewise application databases are often not designed to be reported against, the data can be held in a way that makes pulling together a report challenging and can also have a performance impact on the running application itself. These challenges can be resolved by moving the data out of the application systems, transforming it into a format that makes it easier to report on and loading it into spate database purely for reporting against. This technique is called Extract, Transform and Load (ETL). It is also common to load the data into a special type of database format called OLAP, which is designed to allow reporting and data mining. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has its own OLAP cube which contains data from the system itself and allows for complex reporting and data mining. Data from other systems could be loaded into this OLAP cube and consolidated reporting run off that cube.
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Contact Center Optimization Call Handling & Telephony Integration Although we architecturally need to look at a Service center as multi-channel, the most significant volume of work will be generated via the phone. Call centers have been a key feature of most businesses for years, and is the most common way of working with a Government Organisation. Over time, there is a desire to push as many of these transaction to a web channel as this offers far greater cost efficiency, but there is and always will be a need for call centers. The key entry point for taking calls is of course the telephony exchange. This handles call routing, call groups, automated messages and so forth. Once an operative becomes available, the caller will be connected through to the operative. It is at this point that the operative needs to have to caller‘s information as quickly as possible. This can either be done through asking questions, by looking up in incoming telephone number, or the automated phone system can request information while people are on hold to determine who they are (taking of account number for example). As the Telephony System routes the call to the operative, it can also pass data to the Dynamics CRM system to open the customer or case record for that caller so that the call operative has information open once the user is connected. This is easily achievable with Dynamics CRM with multiple ways to access records. The most simple of which are the URL schemas that enable records to be opened by appending the record ID to the URL. Once the call has been opened and either a new case of existing case started, the Telephony exchange can also log the length of call etc into the case details so that is all tracked, thus giving a complete picture of the call. Knowledge base The knowledge base is a repository to store information that can be used by service center staff to help answer queries. It is important to ensure that only validated information is placed into a knowledgebase, otherwise incorrect information will be
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given out to callers. Normally a workflow is associated with submitting information where a restricted set of Subject Matter Experts can enter information, and this has to go through an approval process to get published. The Knowledgebase can then be exposed internally, and sections of it can be published externally. This allows for sensitive information be kept secure. Call Scripting Tools When a call comes into the service center, it is vital that they can be answered and resolved as swiftly and consistently as possible. To help do this, scripting tools can provide a simplified desktop to the call center operatives, allowing them to rapidly work through a set of questions and answers to determine what to do on the call. A call scripting tool will present a simplified set of screens to the user, that will guide them through the questions they need to ask, and dependent on the answer will prompt for further questions and information. The call scripting tool will integrate the data from the answers into the Dynamics CRM system so at the end of the call the call has been correctly logged, and if it needs to be escalated it will have collected the data that the specialist will need to answer the issues.
These scripting tools need to be intuitive for operatives to use, and also must be updated as new knowledge or procedures are introduced. By created a defined process, it can provide an improved and faster service to the customer
Case Management and Resolution The heart of any service center is the case management system, it is here that all of the different communication channels must intersect and be the single source of information. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a highly flexible and powerful system for managing cases, allowing in-house staff the ability to customise and tune for the role that it is required for. What makes Dynamics CRM so powerful is the integration of not just case management and resolution, but the workflow engine that allows the automation of processes to support that resolution. Processes can be created in a number of different ways, each requiring a different level of technical expertise and so many processes can be created by in-house teams rather than having to pay for external consultants to write them. Dynamics CRM has a web based tool to allow the creation of workflows that can interact with the data on the form and the data in the system to enable scenarios such as sending an email to a manager if an SLA is breached.
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Electronic Citizen Interaction Email and SMS Email has become a common communication method for online citizens, for inbound questions and queries as well as outbound responses. Integration with the core case handling is vital for a single view of the communications with a citizen. Microsoft Dynamics CRM can integrated with both Microsoft Exchange and also generic POP and SMTP mailboxes, ensuring that emails are tracked against cases and contacts appropriately. As emails arrive they can be matched to email addresses or existing threads in conversations so that replies are correlated and associated to the correct case. This can be achieved without the use of Correlation ID‘s in the email. This emails are then available from within Dynamics CRM, or if working from Outlook, the case can be opened from the email so that people can work in the tool that most suites their roles and link into the other systems when needed. Along with emails, SMS is a hugely popular communication method, and can be utilised for both one-to-one inbound and outbound communication, as well as a broadcast mechanism. The penetration of mobile phones across all sectors of the economy makes it a compelling solution. To send and receive SMS messages requires integration into the local mobile provides and is commonly provided by a 3rd party solution. The most basic of services will allow you to send and receive SMS messages, often by sending an email to a pre-configured email address with the phone number in the subject line and message in the body. This would allow for the scenario where an automated workflow was started by Dynamics CRM that looked for all appointments the next day. For each appointment a web service call could be made to the Boomerang SMS service and a message sent to a user with the question: ―You have an appointment tomorrow at 9:00am, text back YES if you are going to attend, or NO if you cannot attend‖. The user can text back, these reply‘s get correlated by the Boomerang Service and sent back to the Dynamics CRM system. Then for example for each ‗NO‘ reply could start a workflow that added a note to the case about the appointment not being attended, and warned the clinic that they person was not going to attend. By integrating an SMS service like this and utilising it for short questions and answers, many different scenarios can be achieved. Digital Identification With anonymous access, we can offer citizens a number of different services online, however enable us to bring the more complex and high value transaction online will require authentication. Many countries and regions now have their own smartcards that can provide online authentication; these can be integrated into the site so that the certificate can be validated and the unique citizen ID obtained. Once this unique ID has been retrieved then the data that is linked to this citizen ID can be presented to the now authenticated session. It an existing system is not in place, and online authentication is required then a more complex process will be required. The first step that is needed is validation of the citizen; the government organisation needs to ensure that they are dealing with
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the correct citizen. This process is often done offline, where citizens are required to present themselves and supporting documents to an official. Once the citizen has been verified, then a digital ID can be issued. The process of issuance will depend on what authentication technology is being used. If it is a simple user id and password, this can be printed out and handed to the citizen. If it is a certificate on a smartcard, this may have to be created offsite and sent to the user. Internet Forms Having an integrated web presence offering online forms and information is one of the best ways to increase satisfaction and reduce costs as websites are one of the most cost effective channels that can be created. Online forms allow citizens to complete and submit forms, with built in error checking, validation and pre-filling in a way that is just not possible via a paper form. Once the user is authenticated, the form can retrieve common information such as address to pre-fill the form so that the user does not have to complete the information that the service center already knows about them. Depending on the information that is entered, the form can guide the user through the form, not displaying the parts of the form that are irrelevant. Data can be retrieved by calling the web services that expose the data within Dynamics CRM, or calling a back-end system or an integration layer. Only the data that the user is allowed to see will be exposed, and can be used by the InfoPath forms client to pre-fill form fields and make decisions based on data held in Dynamics CRM. It is important to separate the architecture into a separate DMZ that the web server and forms server can sit it. The systems are available over the internet via port 80, and are therefore targets for hackers. These systems should never hold the data that is being requested, they should have to query for that information through a firewall to gain access to the back-end systems. Further security can be added to the information between the citizen and the forms server by using SSL, and between the different servers by using IPSEC managed by Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server. In many cases the information that is required for the form or process is held across many systems. In this case, calling the Dynamics CRM system directly is not going to suffice, and integration and co-ordination is required across multiple systems, each often with its own data formats and integration points. Organizational Productivity Productivity tool integration Although a case management system sits at the heart of a service center, there are a significant number of other tools that are needed to create a productive and efficient center. The integration with productivity tools has a number of different advantages. One of the business problems that the call center faces is a high turnover of staff, so the initial training of staff, as well as retraining as new enhancements are made, is a costly and time consuming business. By utilising common productivity tools and integration with such tools it can reduce training, and also ensure that people are using the best tool for the job.
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For people that do not have to work with the Dynamics CRM system as part of their daily role; for example case workers, integrating tasks into SharePoint and Outlook means that they can get new case information and updates from the Dynamics CRM system, without having to go into system itself. This can be easily achieved by creating a workflow that creates or updates SharePoint tasks when a case is created or updated. Another example of this is the user interface of the Dynamics CRM system itself which is where most operatives will be interacting with it, which can be either a web interface or Microsoft Outlook. This not only allows agents to work offline, accessing and updating data but also provides a common user interface that people are used to working with. Common tasks can also be automated in other Microsoft Office products such as Word and Excel. These can either be produced automatically by the system or placed into SharePoint for storage, printing or further processing. Likewise, Office Business Applications can be created by connecting Word and Excel to Dynamics CRM and allowing data to be queried and accessed from within the tool rather than having to copy and paste information and data between Dynamics CRM and the tool.
Caseworker Support There are often cases that cannot be completed by the service center itself, it might have to be handed off to a case worker so that the issue can be handled. It is however vital that the history of the case stays in one system, so that it can be tracked from beginning to end. The main data and information about the case may be held in a alternate, specialist system that was designed to handle that case type, it is important not to replicate data between system – otherwise the complexity of ensuring all systems are up to date and secure is too large. However, the case still needs to be tracked and the handoff made smoothly. Integration between systems can be handled by Microsoft Dynamics CRM itself; however, if we are looking at a more complex integration it is better to use Microsoft BizTalk Server as the dedicated integration platform. The case will initially be opened in the service center, once the details have been taken and it is decided that the case needs to be handed off the a case worker a workflow in started to manage the process in a controlled way. This workflow can do any number of actions, however commonly it will notify the Case Worker, for example through an email, and also update the specialist system with the data that has been taken by the service center operative. Depending on the complexity of integration with the Specialist system (or multiple systems), this might be done through Microsoft BizTalk Server as its role as Integration Server. The Case Worker than then perform the actions that are needed; however at key points during the case, it is possible to raise events so that the data can be picked up and recorded in the system. This means that at any one point in time the case can be viewed in Dynamics CRM. If more details are required (and access is allowed), then the data should be taken from the Specialist System.
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Once the case has been completed, it is closed in the Specialist System and the service center can be notified that the case has been completed by the case worker.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform Delivering a joined up Service Center
The capabilities required for a service center are wide and varied, from hosting forms online to supplying business intelligence. It is important that the service center whilst trying to join up siloed parts of the organisation does not create another silo itself. The capabilities that are used to deliver the service center should be available for the whole organisation to use. This can reduce not just training times as people are using the same software, just in a different context; but also reduce the complexity of integrating separate systems to give a seamless experience. Many of the capabilities that are required to deliver a quality service center like Online Forms or Enterprise Search are not capabilities unique to service centers, they are used across the business and should be delivered by common components rather than having each application responsible for delivering it. It is also important to bring in the requirements of the IT department that will have to support and maintain the service center. If it delivers cost and operational savings to the business users, we also need it to deliver savings and benefits to the IT organisation to be a success. Because Microsoft can deliver a service center using its line of business applications, you can consolidate the number of different systems you need to manage and support. All of the Microsoft Servers integrate with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager that can provide an end-to-end service management solution that supports availability and performance across IT services. Dynamics xRM Capabilities One example of this reuse is the capabilities within Dynamics CRM to not only provide Customer Relationship Management but also xRM capabilites. Microsoft Dynamics has a powerful business entity, UI, Workflow and reporting engine. This allows you to create ‗any Relationship Management‘ applications to fullfill business needs; but instead of purchasing more siloed applications, or developing custom applications it can be built, run and managed on the Dynamics CRM platform. Many business have developed custom application over the years, to deliver functionality that is not available from off the shelf products. However, the costs of custom development are significant; not just the cost of development but also the ongoing cost of maintenance and upgrades. With Dynamics CRM customers themselves are developing applications to run on the Dynamics CRM platform, as well as independent software vendors (ISVs) who are migrating their software onto the platform. By deeloping on this platform instead of against an OS and database you can take advantage of not only the core Dynamics CRM features but also things like the Outlook integration, mail-merge, SharePoint integration excel and SQL reporting Services. Implementaion times are reduced, not just because of the speed of development, but also in reduced training and roll-out times as the application platform has already been deployed and people are already used to the User Interface.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform Integration Approaches for a Service Center
Building a service center will require integration of the Microsoft Servers, along with integration with back-end, legacy and often offsite services. All of the Microsoft Servers are designed to allow integration in a number of different ways, to ensure that they can work with and enhance other systems and do not become another siloed system. This section explains how you can integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and then looks at the different Microsoft Servers and how they can integrate and enhance Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM The main integration point with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is through the extensive Web Service interfaces and is best used for transfer of data, or for notification of events – either other systems notifying it of the event or Dynamics CRM notifying other systems of events. Integration Approach Custom built web services in Visual Studio can be integrated with Dynamics CRM by consuming the web service (CRMService). Consuming the Dynamics CRM web service is achieved by adding a new web reference to your solution and navigating to where the CRMService.asmx file is hosted. This will ‗discover‘ the methods available to you which you can then utilize to perform programmatic tasks. For example, if you wanted to create a web service that could create a new Contact in Dynamics CRM, your custom-built web service, wrapped around the CRMService, would need to be passed the data required by the Contact entity. The web service would then use these parameters to pass into the methods provided by CRMService, which would in turn be used to create the new Contact in Dynamics CRM. Your custom service would therefore have to have a main method that ‗listens‘ for the parameters to be passed in. Once these parameters have been received and verified, the call to create the Contact can be made. This call is dependent on first authenticating into Dynamics CRM within the web service by setting all required credentials and the organization you are aiming at. Without the correct credentials you will not be able to interact with the Dynamics CRM system. These credentials should be obtained from a web configuration file, or passed in with the other parameters to be authenticated over a secure SSL channel. Not all attributes associated with an entity will necessarily need to be passed in for a new version of that entity to be created. As each entity in CRM has its own unique identification (UID), a new Contact could be created by passing just a first and last name. Advantages There are many advantages of using web services to integrate with Dynamics CRM, including: It provides a secure way of connecting to Dynamics CRM You are not accessing the data tables directly A web service can be hosted anywhere The usage is documented in the Dynamics CRM 4.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) It provides catches and warnings for non valid data A web service can be consumed in many different types of application Users can be controlled on what methods they can call in the service by the permissions they have in Dynamics CRM Not all attributes associated with an entity are needed to create a new instance of the entity. Custom web services can consume the methods provided by CRMService to enable the user to perform tasks by just passing in the necessary parameters (e.g. pass a first and last name into a service which would then use these parameters to create a new contact in Dynamics CRM)
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft SharePoint Server Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Dynamics Server together provide a powerful set of features. SharePoint provides an integrated suite of capabilities including collaboration, portals, enterprise search, enterprise content management, business intelligence, and business process and forms logic. SharePoint supports all intranet, extranet, and web applications across an enterprise within one integrated platform, instead of relying on separate fragmented systems. The combination of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint provides a powerful architecture capable of delivering in a number of areas. It would be very effective to consider architecting a connection between Dynamics CRM and SharePoint for purposes such as: Document Storage and Retrieval - Implementing Dynamics CRM with SharePoint adds enterprise-strength document storage and retrieval capabilities. Connecting Dynamics CRM with SharePoint makes the powerful document management capabilities of SharePoint available to Dynamics CRM users, without the need for the user to leave the CRM application – linking together the structured data within Dynamics CRM and the unstructured information sources held within SharePoint. Access for Intranet users to Dynamics CRM information - There are often IT users within functional or service delivery departments who do not use Dynamics CRM application on a day to day basis. These users may however need occasional access to the CRM information itself, perhaps in view-only mode. They may perform tasks as a part of service delivery – these tasks being managed and monitored within the CRM application itself. The tasks can be allocated within CRM and published to the ―occasional‖ user through their usual SharePoint portal page, avoiding the need for them to learn and explore CRM as an application or to alter their work processes to suit the CRM application. Occasional users can view CRM information from within these SharePoint portals when the applications are integrated in this way. Connecting unstructured information to records in CRM - There will be uses to which CRM will be put, that require pictures, photographs, Q&A options and discussion threads. These are core capabilities of SharePoint, and when integrated with CRM, SharePoint can be used to deliver these capabilities to CRM users. Using SharePoint for such unstructured information means the SharePoint capabilities such as full indexed searching and version control are available. Wider Knowledgebase - Knowledgebase capabilities are sometimes required by a wider user group than just CRM users. Take advantage of the SharePoint knowledgebase functionality, and the SharePoint workflow tools which provide KB article approval and document approval, by integrating SharePoint with CRM. Integration Approach Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 can be deployed on the same server infrastructure as SharePoint. CRM 4.0 and SharePoint can also both utilize the same SQL 2005 database server and can coexist in the same environment without any conflicts.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Accessing SharePoint information within CRM can be achieved in a number of ways, including: linking to SharePoint document libraries within CRM forms, using the native ability within CRM to add an IFrame directed toward the library passing SharePoint workflow events into CRM, utilizing Windows Workflow Foundation within SharePoint to make web service calls to CRM surfacing specific SharePoint document metadata in custom fields in CRM forms by similarly using workflow from within SharePoint to use the CRM web services. Accessing CRM information within SharePoint can be achieved in a number of different ways as well, including: using the SharePoint Business Data Catalogue: a connection can be established with the CRM database and the relevant data fields within that database can be mapped to and made accessible from with SharePoint. CRM 4.0 and SharePoint both use Windows Workflow Foundation, so workflow that is initiated within CRM can be used to trigger event handlers within SharePoint to action activities. SharePoint web parts are available within SharePoint which will bring data from within CRM to the user‘s page or site. If the user is licensed correctly, the user can click through on data items and open the corresponding CRM application form directly from the web part, as shown in figure 2. Advantages of SharePoint Integration CRM is an excellent relationship management system and database, providing the core engine for case management, customer service and sales & marketing. SharePoint, on the other hand, delivers configured role-based portals and home pages that make it easy for users to be task oriented through a simple presentation of their workload with access to the relevant backup information. Use the CRM core capabilities: Structured relational database Ease of analysis and reporting Engine room for case management, escalation, response management, marketing, and the core database for people, organizations, and properties and the SharePoint core capabilities: Document management Electronic forms User portals Role-based information and task delivery
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server provides all of the functionality that is needed for performance management; including scorecards, dashboards, management reporting, analytics, planning, budgeting, forecasting and consolidation. The application reaches all employees across all business functions. PerformancePoint should be considered for integration with CRM because it enables the full power and capability of performance management over the structured CRM database. Delivery of listing reports and basic 2 and 3 dimension analyses are available within CRM using the integrated SQL Reporting Services capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server. For a wider reach of business information that utilizes the CRM database as a component, rather than the single source of information, PerformancePoint comes into its own. Dashboards and scorecards can be produced using PerformancePoint and be published to the user within CRM forms, within Microsoft Outlook® folders, or via SharePoint portal pages. Data sources for the key measures can encompass other applications in addition to CRM, and the management of key performance indicators can be handled in an effective and consistent manner throughout the organization. Integration Approach Microsoft PerformancePoint Server consists of three core capabilities: monitoring, analytics, and planning. complete and These were designed as a integrated performance
management application, but you can also be deployed independently. The monitoring and analytic capabilities of PerformancePoint are best suited for can work utilize with the CRM. same PerformancePoint
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as CRM and run on the same server infrastructure without any conflicts. Integration between the two products can be undertaken in two main ways: 1. 2. Using PerformancePoint‘s monitoring capabilities to point at the CRM database and report on information within it using native PerformancePoint dashboards (which are generally surfaced within SharePoint). Taking native PerformancePoint dashboards (sourcing data from either CRM or other data sources) and surfacing them within CRM. This is similar to the first approach, however the dashboards appear within CRM rather than SharePoint for a more consistent user experience. Dashboards within PerformancePoint can be created from a variety of data sources, and the CRM database is no exception. When constructing KPIs or other reporting metrics in the PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer, simply select the CRM database as a data source and then choose the relevant data points you want to report on. The relevant dashboard will be generated, referencing that data, and allow you to actively monitor the status of those data points. This dashboard can then be published to a SharePoint site for reference, or embedded in an IFrame in a CRM form.
A specific example of leveraging CRM data within PerformancePoint is that of case management. PerformancePoint can be used to generate a dynamic pie chart listing the number of cases resolved and in progress currently within the CRM system. Another pie chart showing the case origin by type could also be displayed, which could then be drilled down further into to
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
see the lower level information. These charts can be easily created in the PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer by pointing to the CRM database as the data source and creating the relevant charts from the surfaced data. Charts, tables, KPIs and entire dashboards can be created in Dashboard Designer from the CRM data. This data can then be made available to end users. Advantages of PerformancePoint Integration PerformancePoint brings close integration with Microsoft Office 2007 and presents a more familiar look & feel to business users who may not be analytical experts. This immediately enables effective use by a wider user community, and without the need to understand the CRM application or its own tools to any serious degree. Use of the specialist business information management tool brings consistency of reporting techniques, appearance, and functionality across the entire organization. Integration with CRM ensures that the critical front office functions are fully included in any such measures and management.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft Forms Server Microsoft Forms Server and Microsoft InfoPath Forms delivers intelligent electronic forms to users easily, reducing redundant data entry whilst improving the quality of data collected. InfoPath forms provide real-time validation for field data, are capable of pre-populating fields and connect directly to important sources of information. InfoPath is an appropriate solution alongside, and integrated with, CRM where data would have been historically captured on a paper form and, in some cases, typed in via a data entry screen. However, tailoring data entry screens to multiple different data and information collection scenarios is a highly inefficient process and can be cumbersome for users. A typical example would be within case management scenarios where the information that needs to be captured may vary widely depending on the particular case type. In this instance, if the data would have suited a form it is likely to be more appropriate to use an electronic version of the form. With InfoPath, the form can be delivered through an IFrame in CRM. In the example below, additional information is needed within a case management scenario to make progress on a resident‘s planning application. InfoPath is used to collect this additional specific information. Integration Approach InfoPath can be integrated with Microsoft CRM in a number of ways. Standard InfoPath forms stored in a file system can be linked to directly or attached as a file in CRM which then allows them to be launched with the InfoPath client and filled in. This attachment functionality is standard within CRM. However, this doesn‘t allow for a very scalable approach. Publishing InfoPath forms to a SharePoint site and accessing them via CRM, or creating web based InfoPath forms and accessing them via SharePoint Forms Services, provides for a more robust integration. This process is illustrated in the diagram below. Figure 7, below, illustrates this process, by showing how InfoPath can be used with Forms Services ,CRM and SharePoint to surface data from CRM systems and other applications up through the different systems to the end user. By using different combinations of options from the Application Services, Productivity and Presentation layers, the base data can be provided to the user (and captured from the user) in a very powerful and flexible manner.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
CRM/MOSS Internet Portal
CRM/MOSS Intranet Portal and Outlook Access
CRM Case Management
CRM Web Service
InfoPath Forms Services is a server technology built on SharePoint that enables users to fill out Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 forms by using a Web browser instead of, or in addition to, the Office InfoPath 2007 client program. InfoPath web forms can be linked to from within CRM forms in IFrames. These allow the rich functionality of InfoPath to be accessed seamlessly within CRM and centrally controlled and managed. The ability to add an IFrame to a CRM form is a native capability within the CRM toolkit. The data that is used within the forms can also be pre-populated from existing CRM data sets by using the InfoPath Data Connections to pull the CRM field data into the InfoPath form. Once the form is completed by the user it is then stored for future reference and can be linked to from the CRM form. The inputted data from the form can also be used elsewhere in the CRM system to populate other fields. InfoPath functionality can also be integrated with CRM in another manner; with InfoPath forms being used (either within SharePoint, or as a web form on a standard webpage) to capture data in a consistent and structured manner. The information captured in these forms can then be used to populate CRM fields, acting as another way in which information can be inputted into CRM. This enables end users to fill out forms and input data that will ultimately populate the CRM system without having to use CRM itself at all. In this example we take advantage of Windows Workflow Foundation to pass the data into CRM using the CRM web service. Advantages of InfoPath Integration If the data and/or information to be captured depends on a particular scenario rather than on the CRM entity itself, the use of InfoPath becomes a real advantage. For example, if a resident requires a service to be provided, or is making a particular benefit claim, then there are forms to be completed. The power of CRM is harnessed when all service types are managed at the highest level in a consistent manner – so with CRM this means a Case is created for each. The data to be gathered is completely different, so to retain use of the standard Case entity, we use a selection of InfoPath forms to capture the servicespecific information. Using InfoPath supports a central SharePoint repository for standard forms which can be delivered either on paper or electronically through either SharePoint or CRM. The forms need only be updated in one place, and all applications delivering the form are automatically brought up to date at the same time. This retains consistency and version control.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Massive initial customization and maintenance effort to keep CRM entities and forms in line with paper forms is saved by simply using the InfoPath forms directly. If data fields within CRM are used instead, then every change to a form requires fresh configuration of the CRM application. A user who is familiar with the form can easily and simply adapt to using the form delivered through a CRM IFrame. The form can still contain information and explanatory text to assist with its completion. The data captured within the form is available for use and analysis within CRM or other applications if required. It is entered once only. There is no scanning or re-typing of information into Line of Business applications.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft® Office Communications Server Office Communications Server (OCS) delivers streamlined communications for users so that they can find and communicate with the right person, right now, from within their applications such as CRM. When OCS Presence information is made available within CRM, it is immediately available where users require streamlined direct communication with colleagues and external contacts. Where a task is to be assigned to a colleague, or a question needs answering, use of Presence indicators and OCS means an instant message or phone call can be initiated, rather than an exchange of emails which dissipates elapsed time. The Presence indicators clearly inform users which colleagues or contacts are online and available right now. If a customer service advisor needs very quick support to deal with an issue, the ability to know who is immediately available can help with speedy resolution.
Within CRM, this screen shows a task being assigned to a colleague. The green icon is an OCS icon indicating the user, Jeff, is currently online.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Integration Approach Microsoft Office Communications Server integrates with Microsoft CRM 4.0 out-of-the-box to provide presence information within CRM. Advantages of OCS Integration CRM users can understand immediately which colleagues are online and available NOW for instant communication, aiding speedy resolution of cases and issues. It is another productivity tool within the Microsoft solution portfolio that adds most value when it is used within a business process and avoids the need to stall and queue tasks when they could otherwise have been dealt with immediately. The integration is also seamless with out-of-the-box functionality allowing quick and easy deployment.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft® BizTalk® Server Microsoft BizTalk Server is a business process management application that provides comprehensive integration and mapping capabilities through the use of ―adapters‖ which are tailored to communicate with different software systems. BizTalk provides functionality such as Business Process Automation, Business Process Modelling, Enterprise Application Integration and Message Brokering. It is particularly useful when data sources and integration points reside within thirdparty non-Microsoft Line of Business products and when business information needs to be exchanged within or across organizational boundaries. BizTalk should be considered for use with CRM to simplify the integration with major Line of Business applications particularly when they reside in different domains Integration Approach BizTalk uses XML based data mapping to allow for data feeds from external sources to be accessed and manipulated by CRM. Microsoft has released a ―Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 adapter for Microsoft Dynamics CRM‖ (available from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4628fca6-388d-45bc-a154-453b920dbcb8&displaylang=en) that enables integration between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and non-Microsoft business applications. This adapter accelerates the ability for organizations to harness the power of BizTalk for use with CRM. The adapter lets you do the following operations: 1. 2. Use Microsoft Dynamics® CRM as a send adapter. Discover and use the schema of any Microsoft Dynamics® CRM actions and entities.
With the adapter you can integrate Microsoft Dynamics® CRM with any other non-Microsoft business applications using the BizTalk server 2006 mapping capabilities. The BizTalk Server adapter for Microsoft Dynamics® CRM processes the XML sent from BizTalk Server and performs the Create, Update, and Delete actions of any entities and all other possible actions supported in Microsoft Dynamics CRM based on the values present in the incoming XML. Advantages Using BizTalk simplifies some integration requirements because the business process automation and message broker engine take care of most of the integration work. Users wanting to harness the integration capabilities within BizTalk, particularly using the CRM adapter, only need to focus on the data mapping while the BizTalk server handles the other processes. BizTalk also simplifies authentication issues because it handles all of those requirements within the server, so the user modelling the integration doesn‘t need to worry about it. When configuring the CRM adapter and the BizTalk server the authentication details are included, thus when looking at the data mapping those issues can be largely ignored. Finally, BizTalk is a good choice when you need a scalable approach for handling large numbers of transactions because of its enterprise grade Business Process Management and Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) capabilities.
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Microsoft Citizen Service Platform Appendix
Microsoft Product Information SharePoint Server http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint Dynamics CRM http://www.microsoft.com/crm BizTalk Server http://microsoft.com/biztalk Office Communications Server http://www.microsoft.com/ocs Microsoft Customer Care Framework http://www.microsoft.com/ccf Windows Workflow foundation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663328.aspx Bing Maps for Enterprise http://www.microsoft.com/maps/developers/ Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server http://www.microsoft.com/isa
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