Interview questions for Dynamics 365 developer role for 2+ year experience
1. Basic Interview Questions
2. More Technical Questions
3. Plugin Question with code
(Scroll Down for Answers)
1. Basic Interview Questions
**Dynamics 365 Technical Expertise:**
1. Can you explain the difference between Dynamics 365 CE (Customer Engagement) and Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations?
2. What are plugins and how are they used in Dynamics 365?
3. Describe the purpose of Business Process Flows in Dynamics 365 and how you've utilized them in your previous projects.
4. How do you handle data migration and integration tasks in Dynamics 365 projects?
5. Explain the concept of custom entities and how you've designed and implemented them.
6. What are Web Resources in Dynamics 365? Provide examples of scenarios where you've used them effectively.
7. How do you ensure security and data privacy within Dynamics 365 applications?
**Development and Customization:**
1. Can you walk us through your process of designing and implementing custom workflows in Dynamics 365?
2. Describe your experience with creating and maintaining custom reports and dashboards in Dynamics 365.
3. Have you worked with JavaScript and TypeScript in Dynamics 365 development? Give examples of how you've used client-side scripting to enhance user experience.
4. How do you approach designing and implementing solutions that involve both on-premises and cloud-based Dynamics 365 instances?
5. Have you integrated Dynamics 365 with external systems? What tools or methods have you used for this?
6. Explain how you handle version control and deployment in Dynamics 365 projects.
7. Can you discuss an instance where you had to optimize the performance of a Dynamics 365 application? What approaches did you take?
**Problem Solving and Troubleshooting:**
1. Describe a challenging bug or issue you encountered in a Dynamics 365 project and how you went about identifying and resolving it.
2. How do you approach debugging and diagnosing issues in a Dynamics 365 environment?
3. Have you worked with Azure DevOps or similar tools for managing Dynamics 365 projects? Describe your experience.
4. What strategies do you use to ensure the reliability and availability of a Dynamics 365 application during updates and maintenance?
**Communication and Collaboration:**
1. Can you provide an example of a situation where you had to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders?
2. How do you collaborate with functional consultants, business analysts, and other team members in a Dynamics 365 project?
3. Describe a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities or requirements within a Dynamics 365 development project.
**General Knowledge:**
1. What are the latest updates or features in the most recent version of Dynamics 365? How do they impact development?
2. How do you stay updated with the latest trends and best practices in Dynamics 365 development?
3. Can you discuss any experience you have with Microsoft Power Platform and its integration with Dynamics 365?
--------------------Answers --------------------
**Dynamics 365 Technical Expertise:**
1. Dynamics 365 CE focuses on customer relationship management, while Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations deals with enterprise resource planning. CE handles sales, customer service, and marketing, while Finance and Operations manage financials, supply chain, and manufacturing.
2. Plugins are custom code snippets that extend the functionality of Dynamics 365. They are triggered by specific events and can interact with data and perform actions, allowing for custom business logic.
3. Business Process Flows guide users through predefined processes, ensuring consistent and organized data entry and interactions. For instance, I used them to streamline lead-to-opportunity processes.
4. Data migration involves transferring data from one system to another, often using tools like Data Import Wizard or Data Migration Assistant. Integration involves connecting Dynamics 365 with external systems, usually utilizing APIs and middleware.
5. Custom entities are data structures tailored to specific business needs. I've designed custom entities for specialized objects like equipment, projects, or events.
6. Web Resources are files like HTML, JavaScript, or CSS that can be used in Dynamics 365 forms, dashboards, and other areas to enhance user experience and functionality.
7. Security roles, field-level security, and record-based security are methods to control access to data in Dynamics 365, ensuring that users see only what they're authorized to.
**Development and Customization:**
1. Custom workflows automate business processes by defining a series of steps. I've used them to automate lead qualification and approval processes.
2. I've used tools like Power BI to create custom reports and dashboards in Dynamics 365, providing insights into sales trends and customer interactions.
3. Yes, I've used JavaScript to enhance the client-side functionality of Dynamics 365 forms. For example, I've implemented form validation and dynamic field updates.
4. For hybrid environments, I've integrated on-premises Dynamics 365 instances with the cloud using Azure Service Bus or Azure Logic Apps for data synchronization.
5. I've integrated Dynamics 365 with external systems using RESTful APIs and Azure Logic Apps. For example, syncing customer data between Dynamics 365 and a marketing automation platform.
6. I use solutions and version control tools like Azure DevOps to manage changes and deployments in Dynamics 365 projects, ensuring a controlled release process.
7. I optimized performance by using caching mechanisms, optimizing queries, and minimizing the use of synchronous plugins. For larger datasets, I employed batch processing.
**Problem Solving and Troubleshooting:**
1. In one project, a synchronization issue caused data discrepancies between Dynamics 365 and an external system. I debugged the integration code, identified the root cause, and applied necessary adjustments to ensure data consistency.
2. I use platform tracing and debugging tools to identify issues. I follow a systematic approach, analyzing error messages, reviewing logs, and isolating the problematic code.
3. I've used Azure DevOps to manage project tasks, code repositories, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, enabling seamless collaboration among team members.
4. During updates, I ensured high availability by utilizing rolling updates, performing thorough testing in a staging environment, and monitoring the system closely after deployment.
**Communication and Collaboration:**
1. I conveyed complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders by using clear analogies and visual aids, focusing on the business impact of the technology.
2. I collaborate with functional consultants to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions. Regular meetings and shared documentation help maintain alignment.
3. When facing conflicting priorities, I initiate open discussions with stakeholders, emphasizing the importance of balancing immediate needs with long-term system integrity.
**General Knowledge:**
1. In the latest version, Dynamics 365 introduced AI-powered insights, enhanced integration with Microsoft Teams, and improved mobile experiences, among other features.
2. I stay updated by attending conferences, participating in online communities, and reading Microsoft's official documentation and blogs.
3. I have experience with Power Platform components such as Power Apps and Power Automate, using them to create custom solutions that extend Dynamics 365's capabilities.
2. More technical questions
**Dynamics 365 Customization and Development:**
1. Explain the differences between real-time workflows and asynchronous workflows in Dynamics 365. When would you choose one over the other?
2. How do you register a custom plugin in Dynamics 365? Can you provide an example of a scenario where you've used a plugin to extend functionality?
3. What is the purpose of the FetchXML query in Dynamics 365? Provide an example of a situation where you would use FetchXML.
4. How would you implement client-side validation for a specific field on a Dynamics 365 form? What are the advantages of using client-side validation?
5. Describe your experience with Business Rules in Dynamics 365. When would you use Business Rules versus plugins or custom code?
6. How do you secure sensitive data in Dynamics 365? Explain the process of implementing field-level security for specific records.
**Integration and Custom Web Resources:**
1. Can you outline the steps to create a custom Web API endpoint in Dynamics 365? What are some scenarios where you might use a custom Web API?
2. Discuss the process of integrating Dynamics 365 with an external service using Azure Logic Apps. What considerations should be taken into account?
3. How would you embed a custom HTML web resource into a Dynamics 365 form? Provide an example of how you've used custom web resources to enhance user experience.
4. Explain the purpose of virtual entities in Dynamics 365. How would you set up a virtual entity to display data from an external system?
**Performance Optimization and Troubleshooting:**
1. What are some techniques you've used to improve the performance of Dynamics 365 forms and views, especially in scenarios with large datasets?
2. Describe a situation where you encountered a plugin causing a performance bottleneck. How did you identify and address the issue?
3. How would you approach troubleshooting a situation where a Dynamics 365 workflow isn't firing as expected? What tools or methods would you use?
**Advanced Dynamics 365 Concepts:**
1. Explain the concept of Business Process Flows branching and stages in Dynamics 365. How have you implemented complex branching logic in your projects?
2. What are Business Units in Dynamics 365? How can they be utilized to manage security and data access in a complex organization?
3. Describe the use of Power Automate (previously Microsoft Flow) in Dynamics 365 integration scenarios. Provide an example of a flow you've created.
--------------------Answers --------------------
**Dynamics 365 Customization and Development:**
1. Real-time workflows execute immediately after a specified event occurs, while asynchronous workflows are queued for background processing. Choose real-time workflows for immediate user interaction and asynchronous workflows for non-urgent, background processes like sending emails.
2. To register a custom plugin, you create a class that implements the IPlugin interface, compile it into a DLL, and then use the Plugin Registration Tool to deploy it to Dynamics 365. An example scenario could be a plugin that triggers on opportunity creation to validate data and perform additional calculations.
3. FetchXML is a query language used to retrieve data from Dynamics 365. An example scenario is querying for all accounts where the industry is "Technology" and the revenue is greater than $1 million.
4. Client-side validation can be implemented using JavaScript. You attach an event handler to the field's onchange event, perform validation logic, and provide user-friendly error messages. Client-side validation reduces server round-trips and provides instant feedback to users.
5. Business Rules are used for simple form logic without writing code. For complex logic or scenarios requiring data manipulation, plugins or custom code are preferable.
6. Field-level security restricts access to specific fields for certain users or teams. You enable field-level security, define security profiles, and associate them with users or teams. This prevents unauthorized users from viewing or modifying sensitive data.
**Integration and Custom Web Resources:**
1. To create a custom Web API endpoint, you define a Web API function in a custom action, create a custom plugin to handle the action, and then expose it through the Web API. An example scenario could be creating a custom Web API to retrieve related contact information for an account.
2. Integration using Azure Logic Apps involves creating a workflow that connects to Dynamics 365 and external systems through connectors. Considerations include authentication, error handling, and data transformation.
3. To embed a custom HTML web resource into a Dynamics 365 form, you create an HTML file and upload it as a web resource. You then reference this web resource within the form. An example scenario could be embedding a custom map visualization using HTML and JavaScript.
4. Virtual entities allow you to view and interact with external data in Dynamics 365 without physically storing it. You set up a connection to the external data source, define the entity structure, and map attributes. For instance, you could use a virtual entity to display recent social media posts related to an account.
**Performance Optimization and Troubleshooting:**
1. Techniques to improve form and view performance include optimizing fetch queries, using filtered views, enabling caching, and minimizing the number of visible fields and columns. Implementing asynchronous plugins and leveraging data virtualization also help.
2. If a plugin causes performance issues, I'd start by profiling the plugin's execution time and resource usage. I'd review the plugin logic for any unnecessary actions, database queries, or loops that could be optimized. Profiling tools like XrmToolBox's Plugin Trace Viewer can be valuable.
3. Troubleshooting a workflow involves checking the workflow's activation conditions, logic, and related data. Using the built-in workflow tracing and enabling tracing in the Dynamics 365 settings can provide insights into why the workflow isn't firing as expected.
**Advanced Dynamics 365 Concepts:**
1. Business Process Flow branching allows different paths based on conditions. Stages represent a phase within the process. Complex branching can be achieved by defining multiple paths within stages and using conditional branching at the stage level.
2. Business Units in Dynamics 365 are logical containers that help organize data and security settings. They're useful for managing different divisions or departments within an organization. Security roles and data access can be configured based on the business unit hierarchy.
3. Power Automate can be used to automate processes across different systems, including Dynamics 365. An example flow could automate lead-to-opportunity conversion by triggering a flow when a new lead is created and then creating a corresponding opportunity in Dynamics 365.
These answers aim to showcase a deep understanding of the technical aspects of Dynamics 365 development and customization. Keep in mind that you can elaborate further based on your own experiences and project contexts.
3. Plugin Question with code
1. On Opportunity form
When the Opportunity is saved do a simple check using Plugin that Customer’s Monthly Salary is Defined and is more than $5,000.
Create a field Monthly Income of type currency on the Contact entity to capture its Monthly Salary.
If the Salary is less than $5,000, then the Opportunity should not be created.
2. To create a plugin for a button that enables bulk edit of records in Dynamics 365, you can follow these general steps: (chatgpt solution)
- Create a custom button on the entity form where you want to enable bulk edit.
- Create a new plugin using Visual Studio or any other development tool that supports .NET framework and the Dynamics 365 SDK.
- In the plugin code, define the steps to retrieve the records to be bulk edited, and perform the desired operations on those records.
- In the plugin registration tool, register the plugin to execute when the custom button is clicked.
3. Pre-populate field
4. Plugin to update all the related contacts of a specific account when a specific field on account record has been updated
Description: Following are the details of what needs to be covered:
Make sure we have Account to Contact (1:N) relationship setup calling the subgrid as
Related Contacts
Create a new field in Account and Contact both called as “Payment Type” which is an
optionset field having options as {Cash, Debit Card, Credit Card}
Create a plugin on the Account entity which will be registered on the “Update” of the “Payment Type” field.
Plugin logic will include the following steps:
Retrieve all related Contacts corresponding to Account in context
Update “Payment Type” field on all the Contacts same as what has been set on
the updated Account record
Plugin code
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using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query;
using System;
namespace MyPluginNamespace
{
public class BulkEditPlugin : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
// Obtain the execution context from the service provider.
IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
// Check if the plugin is executed from the custom button click event.
if (context.MessageName.ToLower() != "my_custom_button_name")
return;
// Obtain the organization service from the service provider.
IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);
// Define the query to retrieve the records to be bulk edited.
QueryExpression query = new QueryExpression("my_entity_name");
query.ColumnSet = new ColumnSet(true); // Include all columns.
// Add any necessary conditions to limit the records to be edited.
// For example, you might want to retrieve only records that meet certain criteria or that belong to a certain view.
// Retrieve the records to be edited.
EntityCollection results = service.RetrieveMultiple(query);
// Perform the bulk edit operations on each retrieved record.
foreach (Entity record in results.Entities)
{
// Update the record as needed.
// For example, you might want to set a field value, clear a field value, or perform some other operation.
// You can use the service.Update() method to update the record in the database.
}
}
}
}
Note that you will need to replace my_custom_button_name with the name of your custom button, and my_entity_name with the name of the entity you want to bulk edit. You will also need to add any necessary conditions to the query to retrieve only the records you want to edit. Finally, you will need to test the plugin thoroughly to ensure that it behaves as expected and does not cause any unintended side effects.
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using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;
using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Query;
namespace KervDemo
{
public class UpdatePaymentTypeInAssociateContact : IPlugin
{
public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
ITracingService tracingService = (ITracingService)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ITracingService));
IPluginExecutionContext context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));
IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = (IOrganizationServiceFactory)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IOrganizationServiceFactory));
IOrganizationService crmService = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(context.UserId);
if (context.InputParameters.Contains("Target") && context.MessageName.ToUpper() == "UPDATE")
{
Entity entity = context.InputParameters["Target"] as Entity;
OptionSetValue paymentTypeValue = entity.Attributes.Contains("kerv_paymenttype") ?
entity.GetAttributeValue<OptionSetValue>("kerv_paymenttype") : null;
int paymentType = paymentTypeValue.Value;
//Fetch Contact Records using Query Expression
QueryExpression qe = new QueryExpression("contact");
qe.Criteria.AddCondition("parentcustomerid", ConditionOperator.Equal, entity.Id);
EntityCollection relatedContacts = crmService.RetrieveMultiple(qe);
if(relatedContacts != null && relatedContacts.Entities.Count > 0)
{
foreach(var contact in relatedContacts.Entities)
{
Entity entity = new Entity(contact.LogicalName, contact.Id);
entity1["kerv_paymenttype"] = new OptionSetValue(paymentType);
crmService.Update(entity1);
}
}
}
}
}
}
