Dear all
We have an own entity called "Periodic Mailing" which can be associated to a Contact. (1:N relationship).
Business now requested a Periodic Mailing bulk functionality based on Marketing Lists. Which means the bulk job should automatically create a Periodic Mailing record for each Contact member of an existing Marketing List.
What we did:
1. We have created a Periodic Mailing Template entity which can be associated to a Marketing List. Here you define the values for the Periodic Mailing records to be created against all Contacts of this List.
2. We have a button on the Marketing List Form. When you press this button it triggers a Workflow Action against which there is a plugin registered.
3. The plugin does all the work. It will iterate through all Contacts of the Marketing list (be it dynamic or static). It will create a Periodic Mailing record for each Contact based on the values of the Periodic Mailing template (if there is not already one with the same key). The plugin is set up as synchronous sandbox plugin. We decided to write a plugin because the logic is too complex in order it could be implemented via Workflow.
The issue is now if the Marketing List has a lot of Contacts associated the bulk job takes more than 2 minutes. Which causes to Plugin to timeout.
Now - which options do I have to overcome this restriction? Would it help if I triggered the plugin code from a workflow Activity assembly? Or does the 2min timeout apply to plugin in general regardless from where/how you call a plugin? If yes, what other options do I have?
We are using CRM2013 on premise.
Many thanks
Alen