While designing a recent Dynamics CRM Online implementation for a call center, I came across what I thought was a troubling limitation. The Subscription Management section for Dynamics CRM Online customers lists a process limit of 200.

Now you might ask, why would anyone have over 200 processes in a CRM implementation? And I would have to agree – chances are, if you have hundreds of workflows defined in your implementation, you probably got carried away.

However, in Dynamics CRM 2011, workflows are not the only type of process you can create. This particular call center is a 50 user 24x7 call center with significant call scripting usage and I knew we would likely go over 200 dialogs.
Luckily, I reached out to Microsoft Support and found out that the 200 process limit in Dynamics CRM Online does not apply to dialogs – it only applies to workflows. And this makes some sense – Dialogs run synchronously with user input, and workflows run asynchronously and can be kicked off automatically, putting high load on the servers where CRM Online is hosted.
We here at Altriva are pretty excited that Dynamics CRM Online 2011 is a viable option for call centers, and I know our call center clients are excited to sink their teeth into some of the new functionality CRM 2011 offers.
- Phil Edry