Hi,

We are in the process of developing an Integration between MS CRM 3.0
and another application suite. It requires a post callout component for
certain entities.

The integration scenario is like this:

Only the matching entities between the two product lines are being
integrated, and the data-flow between the two is be bi-directional for
the respective entities.

As much as I understand CRM Callouts, we will need Post Callout(s) for
the concerned entities whose job will be to recognise whether the data
is coming from CRM or from the other product and if it is from MSCRM
then spit out the incoming XML which can then be used by our
integration to update the other product.

My question is how to recognise in the callout component, whether it is
being called for the data creation / updation occuring within MSCRM or
from the other product. If I don't ignore the callout call for the data
being pushed into CRM from the other product then the same XML will be
re-genarated and sent back for no good reason.

One solution i thought of was to rely on UserContext and always send in
Create/Update data to CRM with a particular user credential which no
one else will use within MSCRM application.

Another solution I thought of was to put in some kind of sentinel value
with each entity data looking at which the callout component can safely
ignore XML generation. Here I don't know which field to pick upon which
will be valid for all the entities concerned. Creating custom fields
for those entities to achieve this is also an option.

Please suggest a good technique to achieve the same, also if possible
refine on the possibilities I could think of from my limited knowledge
of MSCRM.

Thanks in advance,
- Vivek