Use ChatGPT to Talk to Your Dynamics CRM Data via CData Connect AI

Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism

Leverage the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server to enable ChatGPT to securely answer questions and take actions on your Dynamics CRM data for you.

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer conversations through natural language processing. ChatGPT's developer mode, available to Plus and Pro subscribers, provides full Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for connecting to external data sources and tools.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for connecting to Dynamics CRM data. The CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server enables secure communication between ChatGPT and Dynamics CRM. This allows you to ask questions and take actions on your Dynamics CRM data using ChatGPT, all without the need for data replication to a natively supported database. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Dynamics CRM. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Dynamics CRM data.

About Dynamics CRM Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics CRM data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

Read and write data in the Dynamics CRM 2011+ Services and Dynamics CRM Online.
Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
Authenticate securely with Dynamics CRM in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.

CData customers use our Dynamics CRM connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics CRMa data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).

Getting Started

Step 1: Configure Dynamics CRM Connectivity for ChatGPT

Connectivity to Dynamics CRM from ChatGPT is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with Dynamics CRM data from ChatGPT, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics CRM connection in CData Connect AI.

Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

Select "Dynamics CRM" from the Add Connection panel

Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics CRM.
The connection string options meet the authentication and connection requirements of different Dynamics CRM instances. To connect to your instance, set the User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, to valid Dynamics CRM user credentials and set the Url to a valid Dynamics CRM server organization root. Additionally, set the CRMVersion property to 'CRM2011+' or 'CRMOnline'. IFD configurations are supported as well; set InternetFacingDeployment to true.

Additionally, you can provide the security token service (STS) or AD FS endpoint in the STSURL property. This value can be retrieved with the GetSTSUrl stored procedure. Office 365 users can connect to the default STS URL by simply setting CRMVersion.
Click Save & Test

With the connection configured, we are ready to connect to Dynamics CRM data from ChatGPT.

Step 2: Connect ChatGPT to CData Connect AI

Follow these steps to add a CData Connect AI connector in ChatGPT:

Sign in to ChatGPT with a Plus or Pro subscription.
Navigate to Settings > Connectors.
Under the "Advanced settings" section, toggle on Developer mode.
Once developer mode is enabled, return to the Connectors page and click Create.
Enter a name for the connector (such as Connect AI MCP).
In the Remote MCP server URL field, enter:
```
https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
```
Set Authentication to "OAuth."
Check I trust this application and click Create
You will be redirected to CData Connect AI's OAuth authorization page. Sign in with your Connect AI credentials.
Review the permissions requested and click Authorize to grant ChatGPT access to your Connect AI resources.
After successful authorization, you will be redirected back to ChatGPT.
The Connect AI MCP Server will now appear in your available connectors list where you can manage the connector and enable/disable actions (tools).

Step 3: Explore Live Dynamics CRM Data with ChatGPT

Start a new conversation in ChatGPT.
In the tool picker, enable "Developer Mode."
Enable your Connect AI MCP Sever.
You can now start exploring your data with natural language prompts. ChatGPT will use the Connect AI MCP server to query your live Dynamics CRM data. Example prompts:
- "Show me all customers from the last 30 days"
- "What are my top performing products?"
- "Analyze sales trends for this quarter"
- "List all active projects and their current status"
Refer to CData's prompt library for more prompt ideas.
ChatGPT will translate your natural language queries into SQL and execute them against your Dynamics CRM data through the Connect AI MCP server.

IMPORTANT: ChatGPT's developer mode provides full read/write MCP access. Be cautious when allowing write operations to your Dynamics CRM data. Always review and confirm any data modifications before allowing them to proceed.

NOTE: Developer mode is in beta and only available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. Refer to OpenAI's documentation for the latest setup information.

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