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PowerFax - The Power of a Fax for CRM Dynamics 4.0

Post Author: Joe D365 |

The fax machine became common place in the 1980s. Now almost 30 years later in the era of the Internet one would think that the fax machine would now be obsolete. Unfortunately faxes are not out of the picture yet and many of our small/mid sized clients face a dilemma. Do they invest in an expensive fax equipment/software or is there an affordable solution?

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 does not come with an out of the box fax capability. It has a 'fax activity' but there is no out of the box integration. PowerObjects has now created a small component that enables fax integration out of the box. As with other components we develop, this is free to any of our hosted crm clients and is offered at a nominal fee to other clients.

So how does it work?

It is very simple – simply create a fax activity. Our fax activity has been customized to be a bit more user friendly ( we simply moved fields around.

Then enter the subject and text. You can also add one or more attachments. T0 add an attachment – save the fax, then click the add attachment icon. You can attach one OR more attachments. We use a fax provider that allows attachments of: pdf, excel, word, rtf, etc formats.

Once the fax is ready to go, simply click 'save as completed'. Be sure to save it as 'completed'. Open faxes will NOT be sent.

Now our component will pick up this fax and will deliver the fax. It is that simple.

How does it work behind the scenes?

PowerFax is a component that runs when faxes are 'completed'. When the fax is 'completed' our components sends the fax via smtp to an Internet based fax server via smtp.

How do I know when a fax is sent?

PowerFax will change the status from 'completed' to 'sent'. However, actual delivery notification will be sent to your 'fax email address'. When the fax is sucessfuly delivered OR after 3 failed attempts an email is sent to your 'fax email address'.

What other parameters are configurable??

PowerFax has many configurable parameters available. These are only used when PowerFax is used with an existing Email To Fax gateway or other custom applications. These Settings are listed in the PowerObjects Configuration in the settings area: Settings, PowerObjects Configuration

FaxServerEmail

This is the domain for your fax to email gateway. Emails with fax content will be sent to FirstName.LastName.PhoneNumber@MyEmailToFaxGateway (i.e. John.Doe.6125555555@MyFaxServer.com)

EmailToNumberOnly

Set this flag to yes to created the email TO with only phone number and not append the FirstName.LastName in the format: PhoneNumber@MyEmailToFaxGateway (i.e. 6125555555@MyEmailToFaxGateway.com)

SmtpServer

This is the ip address of the smtp server that PowerFax when generating smtp messages.

DefaultEmail

This is the FROM email address that PowerFax will use when generating smtp messages.

DebugLevel

Used for debugging. Please leave it at 'no'. Only change it if there is an issue.

How does it work behind the scenes?

PowerFax is a workflow extension plugin. This means you can configure when PowerFax actually sends the fax. Our default configuration is to send the fax when the status is set to completed, but you have full control.

What is the cost?

The component is free for our hosted customers as it is included in our PowerPack.
Other users can purchase PowerFax for $799 + $10/user.

Is support included?

Free support is included only for our hosted customers. Non-hosted customers support is offered at a time and material bases with our standard billing rates

Interested in PowerFax – contact us today.

 

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

4 comments on “PowerFax - The Power of a Fax for CRM Dynamics 4.0”

  1. Hi,

    This sounds great. Just one question: Does it receive faxes? If so, where are they stored in the CRM?

    Thanks

  2. Hi,

    I have a customer who is going to implement Dynamics CRM with AVAYA IP Office 500. The customer is interested to Send and Receive Fax in Dynamics CRM. Can you please help me in this scenario. Please let me know about the commercials as well.

    Regards

    Jawad Shafi

  3. Hi Jawad - PowerFax could probably work, but it may need to be tweaked to work with your fax depending on its capabilities. Feel free to contact us for a quote.

  4. Awesome...I run a fax broadcast service if you are ever interested in using our services for the back end delivery. We are very flexible code and doc format wise and interested in marrying our fax servers with CRMs. Please visit our page if you are interested in using our fax delivery servers at http://b2bfax.net

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