CRM 4.0 Automatic Change Attribute Workflow not triggered, why?: Dynamics CRM 4.0 Workflow

by: crm_infoPosted on 2009-02-25 at 12:01:14ID: 23737761

Here are some thoughts on why your workflow isn't running that I hope will help.

(1) Have you published your workflow?

(2) Workflows can take 1-5 minutes to complete running. Have you given it enough time?

(3) Your Scope is set to User - that means it will only run for the user that has published it. Are you trying to run it as a user different than the user that published it? If you want it to run for all users, try switching the Scope to Organization.

Or, it could be a problem with CRM

(4) Check to make sure that the CRM Workflow Service is running on the CRM server. You'll need someone with administrative access to the machine that CRM Server is running on in order to do this check. It appears in the list of services for the machine. Let me know if you need more help in checking this out.

(5) If none of the above works, then try installing the latest update rollup of CRM (currently version 2). You should install it on the server and user machines. NOTE that there is a problem with version 2 that will not allow you to publish your workflows - be careful to read through the entire install document to make sure you correct this error (requires updating web.config). NOTE(2) you will probably need to install the rollup on each user computer too - consult the documentation for the rollup for the correct install procedure. The latest rollup can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details.aspx?familyid=AA671769-61E9-45C4-919F-C88199AA4241&displaylang=en

There are several other things (technical problems with MS CRM) that can occasionally cause workflows to stop working. But the problem usually lies in how your workflow has been developed. If you exhaust the options above, then post again and I'll make some additional suggestions.

by: crm_infoPosted on 2009-02-25 at 12:04:13ID: 23737804

A couple of other items, for troubleshooting:

(1) On your workflow screenshot, try clicking the Workflows link in the navigation. Here, you should see a listing of all the times that this workflow has started. If there is nothing in there, then the workflow isn't even starting. If there are some items in there, open one to see what it looks like - you may see an error message or you may see that it is not passing your Check Condition for some reason. Let me know what you see.

(2) If you don't see anything in #1,above, then in the Settings area, navigate over to System Jobs. See if you see any recent workflows that have ended with a status of Succeeded or not. If not, then there is likely something wrong with the workflow engine that you'll need to look at.

by: Jacques_PretoriusPosted on 2009-02-26 at 05:55:55ID: 23744556

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
1. Yes the workflow is published
2. Yes have given it more than enough time
3. I've changed the scope to Organization
4. There is no workflow service running. Researching I found that in CRM 4.0 there is a Microsoft Asynchronous Processing Service running under Network Service. There is also a Microsoft Asynchronous Processing Service(Client) service running on the CRM server. Dont know if this is a good thing but it's running under Domain\Admin user
5. CRM Rollup 2 was installed a few weeks ago on the server and workstations
6. I do not see any workflows listed under this particular Auto Workflow
6. I do see under system jobs the following entry ...
System Job Type: "System Event"
System Job Name: "Worklow expansion task"
Regarding: "TestInvoice"
Status Reason: "Failed"
Owner: "System"
Started On: "26/02/2009 13:45"
7. This is happening on both the Live and Test database on the same CRM server.
What would you suggest I try next?
Thank you.

by: crm_infoPosted on 2009-02-26 at 06:17:06ID: 23744782

Thanks - that narrows the problem. I do not believe that anything is wrong with your workflow - it has to do with the workflow service that is running on the background (your item #4). Here's what you should try:

(1) Try re-starting the workflow service:

(a) On the CRM Server (assuming you are in Win Server 2003): Start | Administrative Tools | Services

(b) Scroll down to Microsoft CRM Async Processing Service

(c) Double Click. Change startup type to Automatic and then click Start

(d) If that works, then go test your workflow to see if it is now firing

(2) Even if the above process restarts the Async service, you may find that it shuts off again when you try to run your workflow. In that case, check out this KB article: http://kbalertz.com/949844/Async-service-stops-unexpectedly-cannot-start-Async-service-after-import-organization-another-Microsoft-Dynamics-deployment.aspx

(a) You'll need to check the Servers table in the MSCRM_Config database and make sure the SQL Server name matches the name returned by @@SERVERNAME.

(b) Correct the name in the table to match the value returned by @@SERVERNAME (it is case sensitive)

(c) Try repeating #1 again and see if that works.

(3) If that doesn't work, then try this. Although you have installed update rollup 2, there are some hotfixes that require manual configuration. This KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959419 reference the specific item you are experiencing.

(a) Open the above link

(b) Search within the document for this number: 957871 - which describes the problem that you are experiencing

(c) Open the link behind the above referenced number

Although items #2 and #3 do not appear to be the direct cause of a failure, it looks to me like one of them could be related and is worth a try.

by: Jacques_PretoriusPosted on 2009-02-26 at 06:53:07ID: 23745213

1. I found what was causing the Automatic WorkFlow to fail.
2. I wrote a plugin with the help of some articles on the web to show both Active and Inactive items in a entity assocaited view.
3. I came accross the problem because I noticed in the CRM server's application event log a entry at the same time as I ran a test on the Workflow. This error pointed to the Plug-in.
4. I removed the plugin and the workflow sprang back into life.
Thank you for all your help, I've certainly learn from your suggestions and would not have come to the conclution if you hadnt led me that way. Thanks.

by: Jacques_PretoriusPosted on 2009-02-26 at 06:57:59ID: 31551133

Your suggestions really pointed me in the right direction. So thank you for spending the time to look at this for me.

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CRM 4.0 Automatic Change Attribute Workflow not triggered, why?

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