List of deprecated features/capabilities from Unified Service Desk

• • Hosted Control and Web Hosted Application of CCA Hosted Application  For the CCA Hosted Application type of hosted control, there are four types of Hosted App Type. Out of those, Hosted Control and Web Hosted Application are depreciated. If you are using Hosted Control Hosted App Type of CCA Hosted Application, use the USD Hosted Control type of hosted control. Similarly, for Web Hosted Application Hosted App Type, use the Standard web application type of hosted control. Web Hosted Application uses the paradigm of UII Web Application Adapter (UII action protocols) to talk and interact with Unified Service Desk. With the direction to use the Standard web application type of hosted control, we recommend you to use RunScript actions.

• • CRM Dialog hosted control   The CRM Dialog hosted control type is used to work with Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement apps dialog. As Dialogs are deprecated, we are deprecating CRM Dialog hosted control.  As an alternative to Dialogs, you can use Business Process Flows or Canvas Apps. In Unified Service Desk, you can use Unified Interface page or Standard Web Application type of hosted control. For more information see,  Dialogs are deprecated.

• • Interactive Service Hub Page hosted control  The Interactive Service Hub Page hosted control is used to host interactive service hub forms within Unified Service Desk. If you are using this hosted control type, upgrade to Unified Interface forms and use Unified Interface Page hosted control.

FAQs

Pre-requisites

1. Create a Channel Integration Framework hosted control

2. Launch the control

3. Configure Actions calls

CIF Hosted Control Events:

1. RetrieveRecord :
   1. The parameters passed in the event are
      1. entityName
      2. entityId
      3. queryParameters
   2. You can use api mentioned RetrieveRecord (CIF JavaScript API).
   3. Now if you want to pass the details of the retrieved record back to the CIF control, you can use the action call “UpdateCifContext” exposed by CIF Hosted control.
   4. A sample RunXrmCommand function implementation is given below: Example :

      function retrieveRecord(context, CifHostedControl, corrId, entityName, entityId, queryParameters){
      Xrm.WebApi.retrieveRecord(entityName, entityId, queryParameters).then(
      function(res){
      var data = "corrId='"+ corrId + "' %0D%0A";
      data += "action='resolve' " + "%0D%0A";
      data += "result=" + JSON.stringify(res) + "%0D%0A";
      window.top.notifyUSD("http://uii/"+CifHostedControl+"/UpdateCifContext?"+ data);
      },
      
      function(err){
      var data = "corrId='"+ corrId + "' %0D%0A";
      data += "action='reject' " + "%0D%0A";
      data += "result=" + JSON.stringify(err) + "%0D%0A";
      window.top.notifyUSD("http://uii/"+CifHostedControl+"/UpdateCifContext?"+ data);
      }
      );
      }

      In the above function, CIF Hosted Control is the name of the Hosted Control that the event was fired from, corrId is the correlation ID that was passed in the data of the Unified Service Desk event, and other parameters are also from the data from the Unified Service Desk event. The data in the above function call should be in the format (Third line has the name of the hosted control on my org):

      webResourceName=msdyusd_CIFXRMCommandsResource
      functionName=retrieveRecord
      'CIF Chat Control'
      '[[corrId]+]'
      '[[entity]+]'
      '[[entityId]+]'
      '[[queryParameters]+]'

      This way the data can be passed back to the calling API function. (This sample snippet can be modified to suit other APIs as well. Not repeating the same for the below APIs)
2. CreateRecord : Api reference
3. DeleteRecord : Api reference
4. UpdateRecord : Api reference
5. GetEntityMetadata : Api reference
6. OpenForm : Api reference
7. RenderSearchPage :
   1. The data of this event is of the format :

      "entity"="contact"
      "searchString"="cont"
      "corrId"="svwbr"
      

   2. You can navigate to multi-entity search page inside USD using navigate action call with URL like : url = /main.aspx?pagetype=search&searchText=[[searchString]+]
8. SearchAndOpenRecords :
   1. Sample implementation using the API mentioned here.

      function retrieveMultipleAndOpenRecords(context, CifHostedControl, corrId, entityName, queryParameters, searchOnly){
      Xrm.WebApi.retrieveMultipleRecords(entityName, queryParameters).then(
      function(result){
      var res = { data : result.entities, entityName : entityName  };
      try{
      if(result.entities.length == 1){
      if(searchOnly == false){
      var res = result.entities[0];
      var formOptions = { entityName: entityName,
      entityId: res[entityName + "id"] };
      Xrm.Navigation.openForm(formOptions);
      }
      }
      else{
      if(searchOnly == false){
      Xrm.Navigation.navigateTo({
      pageType: "search",
      searchText:
      ExtractParameter(queryParameters, "$search"),
      searchType: 1,
      EntityNames: [entityName],
      EntityGroupName: ""});
      }
      }
      }
      catch(e){}
      // Resolve the pending promise in CIF if needed, you can use
      // notifyUSD like mentioned in RetrievRecord API
      },
      
      function(error){
      // Reject the pending promise in CIF if needed
      });
      }

      Pass the data that was received from the corresponding event in this RunXrmCommand call.
9. GetEnvironment :
   1. In Web this data is passed by CIF library but inside Unified Service Desk we don’t have any context available to execute this. So it is left to the user on how to pass back the data.
   2. You can again do a RunXrmCommand action on some page that you are sure will be available at that time (I used it on Dashboard).
   3. Sample implementation :

      function getEnvironment(context, CifHostedControl, corrId){
      try{
      var pageUrl = new URL(eval("window.top.Xrm.Page.getUrl()"));
      console.log(pageUrl);
      var data = {};
      for(var entry of pageUrl.searchParams.entries()){
      data[entry[0]] = entry[1];
      }
      var cont = Xrm.Utility.getGlobalContext();
      data["clientUrl"] = encodeURIComponent(cont.getClientUrl());
      data["appUrl"] = encodeURIComponent(cont.getCurrentAppUrl());
      data["orgLcid"] = cont.organizationSettings.languageId;
      data["orgUniqueName"] = cont.organizationSettings.uniqueName;
      data["orgId"] = cont.organizationSettings.organizationId;
      data["userId"] = cont.userSettings.userId;
      data["userLcid"] = cont.userSettings.languageId;
      data["username"] = cont.userSettings.userName;
      data["crmVersion"] = cont.getVersion();
      
      var result = { data : encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data)) };
      
      // Use the notifyUSD function with http://uii like shown in
      // previous sample to send this result back to CIF control.
      }
      catch(err){
      // Reject the pending promise in CIF control
      }
      }

NOTE :

Unified Interface Page (Client) Events:

1. onclicktoact : For this we raise an event OnClickToAct on Unified Interface page inside Unified Service Desk whenever it is triggered, on this you can hook an action call like mentioned above to pass the same event to the CIF control.
2. onsendkbarticle : For this we raise an event OnSendKbArticle on Unified Interface page inside Unified Service Desk whenever it is triggered, on this you can hook an action call like mentioned above to pass the same event to the CIF control.
3. onpagenavigate : You can use the NavigationRequested event on Unified Interface page control to raise this event on CIF control and pass the data as required.

NOTE :

• Chrome Process is available on different Windows OS versions.
• Easy configurations to host the applications in Unified Service Desk.
• Switch easily from one browser to another for your entire organization.
• Chrome Process pooling feature that reuses the chrome processes and mimics inline navigation provides enhanced performance and memory optimizations

Call to action

1. You must be a Dynamics Insider to access the public preview. If you are not, please sign up yourself at the insider portal ( https://experience.dynamics.com/insider )
2. Once you login to insider portal (https://experience.dynamics.com/insider) and you will see option to join the ‘Unified Service Desk preview’. Please join it.
3. Once joined, the ‘Unified Service Desk preview’ will appear in your “My Previews” section. Open it to see the details. Navigate to download section and download files to install.
4. You can report issues in the forum at the insider portal

1. Copy the Dynamics URL you are trying to open.
2. Open the Internet Explorer web browser and paste the URL in the address bar and select enter.
3. The Windows Security dialog prompts to specify the credentials. Select the Remember my credential option.
4. Close the web browser
5. Launch the web browser again and navigate to the same URL.

Solution:

1. Select windows and type Internet Options.
2. Select the Security tab.
3. Select the Trusted sites zone.
4. Select the Sites button.
5. Specify the URL in the Add this website to the zone field and select Add. After adding, select Close.

Why Microsoft Edge? 

• Performance Improvement 

• Outlook 

• Easy configuration to host the applications 

• Support and Reliability 

• Debugging made easy 

 Learn More 

 Call to action 

1. You must be a Dynamics Insider to access the public preview. If you are not, please register yourself at the insider portal ( https://experience.dynamics.com/insider )
2. Once you login to insider portal (https://experience.dynamics.com/insider) and you will see option to join the ‘Unified Service Desk preview’. Please join it.
3. Once joined, the ‘Unified Service Desk preview’ will appear in your “My Previews” section. Open it to see the details. Navigate to download section and download files to install.
4. You can report issues in the forum at the insider portal

Key Value Propositions

• • Visual Representation of Operation Timeline

    Visual representation with the timeline helps to easily identify problematic area and reduce the analysis time.

  • Report for operations performed in the client application.

    You can see a report with the performance session Id in the left pane. Selecting the report, you can see all the operations from various categories, and time consumed for the different percentiles in milliseconds

  • Comparative analysis of the different performance reports

    Use the Reports comparison tab to review the comparative analysis of different operations based on the individual reports displayed in the performance report. The Report comparison tab displays sub tabs that has comparative analysis based on the percentiles. You can view the comparative analysis for 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile. The report shows Operations ID with an alphabet suffix and displays the comparison in terms of percentage. For example, time taken for the Unified Service Desk Cold operation under the category, Unified Service Desk Start Boot from the two different reports shows with the Operation ID. You can see the comparison between these operations displayed as (A) vs (B) in terms of percentage.

  • Ease of access to the reports for future reference. Report can be shared with other individuals via email.

    Call to action You are encouraged to be part of the Dynamics Insider Program to test and validate the feature and provide your valuable feedback. To be part of the Dynamics 365 Insider Program, visit Dynamics 365 Insider Portal. (This blog has been authored by Karthik Balasubramanian and Deepa Patel with the inputs from Kumar Ashutosh, Sankar, Namrata, Kaviarasi and USD feature team)

Reason

Solution

• What's new for Administrators
• What's new for Developers

Download the latest version of the product:

• Unified Service Desk 4.0
• Web-Client Unified Interface Migration Assistant
• Best Practices Analyzer for Unified Service Desk

The highlights of the release are as follows:

Unified Interface in Unified Service Desk

With the release of Dynamics 365 (online), version 9.0, we've introduced a new user experience -Unified Interface- which uses responsive web design principles to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience for any screen size, device, or orientation. Unified Service Desk supports the apps built using Unified Interface framework. That is, you can load a URL or page from Dynamics 365, which is built based on the Unified Interface framework.   For more information, see Support for Unified Interface Apps in Unified Service Desk

Web Client- Unified Interface Migration Assistant

.Web Client - Unified Interface Migration Assistant for Unified Service Desk, a tool that helps you to seamlessly migrate your existing Unified Service Desk configurations from Dynamics 365 Web Client to Dynamics 365 Unified Interface App. For more information, see Web Client - Unified Interface Migration Assistant

Prevent Accidental Closure of Unified Service Desk

While working on Unified Service Desk, accidentally if you select the X Close button, you may lose all the unsaved work. The Close Confirmation Window is introduced to prevent the accidental closure of the Unified Service Desk client application. For more information, see How to configure close confirmation window to prevent accidental closure of Unified Service Desk

Unified Interface KM Control

The Unified Interface KM Control hosted control is introduced for your knowledge base search experience with Unified Service Desk. You must configure the Unified Interface KM Control when you are using a Unified Interface App in Unified Service Desk. For more information, see Unified Interface KM Control (Hosted Control)

Preview Feature: Unified Service Desk Administrator App 

With Unified Service Desk 4.0, you can use Unified Service Desk Administrator App built on the Unified Interface framework to administer and manage the Unified Service Desk client application. The Unified Service Desk Administrator app is built on the Unified Interface framework, which has a new user experience - Unified Interface - which uses responsive web design principles to provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience for any screen size, device, or orientation. The Unified Service Desk Administrator app brings rich experience to administer and manage your Unified Service Desk client application. For more information, see Preview feature - Unified Service Desk Administrator app

Preview feature: Unified Interface Settings

Unified Interface Settings is a new configuration element introduced in the Unified Service Desk Administrator App. This configuration elements lets you configure a default Unified Interface for your agents so that when they sign-in to Unified Service Desk, straightaway the agent lands to Unified Interface App. This configuration saves time and enhances the agents sing-in experience to Unified Service Desk. For more information, see Preview feature - Set default Unified Interface App using Unified Interface Settings

Preview feature: Stack notification in Unified Service Desk 

You can configure stack notification notifications in Unified Service Desk to display popup notification messages to your customer service agents that contains general information or some customer or process-related information that the agent can act on. This facilitates simultaneous toast notifications in a multi-session environment. For more information, see Stack notifications

Preview feature: Switch between local sessions, and between local and global session 

When you are working on a case (local session) and want to review your Dashboard (global session) or another case (local session), you can easily switch from the case to Dashboard or another case, without affecting your session timer. That is, when you switch from local session, your session timer will not be counted until you switch back to the session. This helps in efficiently measure the agents' productivity.

Call to Action:

• What's new for Administrators
• What's new for Developers

(This blog has been authored by Kumar Ashutosh and Karthik Balasubramanian)

Issue:

Image 1: Hosted controls (tabs) opening to the right side of the previously opened tabs.

Reason:

Image 2: Hosted control configuration with Sort Order

Solution:

Image 3: Unified Service Desk hosted control configurations in a Dynamics 365 (online) instance.

Image 4: Dashboard and My Work hosted control applications

Image 5: Debugger hosted control is opened as per the Sort Order.

Open hosted controls to the right side of previously opened tabs

Note: The Sort Order of the Connection Manager and CRM Global Manager hosted controls are by default with values as 1 and 2. You must not remove the Sort Order configurations for these two hosted controls.

(This blog has been authored by Karthik Balasubramanian  with inputs from Aniket Marlapalle and Kumar Ashutosh)

Guidelines:

Use the latest versions of Unified Service Desk

Pilot to Production

Use Best Practices Analyzer

Adhere to System Requirements

Test and Benchmark

Train for Diagnostics

(This blog has been authored by Kumar Ashutosh, and Karthik Balasubramanian)