Sync SharePoint list with CRM entities via BCS (on-premises)

Question

all. I have a task to implement one-way synchronization from a custom list on SharePoint to specific type of entities on Dynamics CRM. The case is pretty simple to explain. There is an App (Add-in) which is used to add items to the list. All I need is to promote new items from the list into CRM as new entities. Seems like there are at least two ways to do it.

• Implement a tool that connects to SharePoint, reads data from the list and creates new entities in CRM. Configure it to run periodically (e.g. in Task Scheduler, why not).
• Implement ECT in Business Connectivity Services for entity type in CRM so that BCS will be responsible for synchronization. Something like this:

I don’t really have a great experience in BCS, so I prefer to ask community about possible pitfalls. What do you think? Please feel free to share any ideas, advices, and tips; ask any additional questions if needed.

Answer 1

If you intend to use BSC External List to fetch data you should be aware of this important point

If the retrieving items from CRM list / database are more than 2000 items you will face performance issue so I advise you to check external list limitation before you try to use BCS even if you increase its default max (2000 items)to absolute max via PowerShell that will increase it to only 25.000 items.

Regarding CRM integration with SharePoint, I advise you to follow the best practice mentioned from MSDN to achieve that