TIDBITS on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Differences: Dynamics CRM Online vs. Dynamics CRM On-premise

There are some very minor differences between CRM Online and CRM On-Premise that are worth mentioning.

The one that tripped me up yesterday was my inability to import a new report extracted from one of the new accelerators. I was thinking about running a quick test and not thinking about my rule changes in the CRM online world. Doing what I normally would do in one of my test VPC images I moved forward only to be stopped.

You can not upload custom reports into the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

You can use the Report Wizard, the Power extraction of Dynamic Excel pivot charts and spreadsheets and much, much more so don't go screaming away. Still there are some benefits to having total control of the source.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Rollup 5 Released

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Rollup 5 (v4.0 R5) has been released can be downloaded here.

"The build number of the update rollup packages for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 server, for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Microsoft Office Outlook, and for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router is 4.00.7333.1644."

Key items within this rollup include tweeks to performance such as fixes for the following

956527  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956527/ ) The Microsoft Dynamics CRM client for Outlook consumes three times as much memory in version 4.0 as in version 3.0

and

959072  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959072/ ) An entity form loads slowly after you add many fields of several different attribute types in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Dynamics CRM Adoption

It lasts about a day for most (when looking at Vanilla Dynamics CRM), but other people get tripped up on it and their impressions linger. This is the first impression of the ease of use of the complexity and depth of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

In watching this (stickiness) I rolled around in my mind this thought.

If it takes 2 minutes and 58 seconds to show a video on a specific feature (advanced find) and this video is fairly comprehensive, is there still a possibility of total rejection by the user community?

The World of Dynamics CRM Help

Microsoft has a world of "XRM" within Dynamics CRM and as more and more of the framework matures we will see growth.

On my latest deep dive I have been looking at modifying Dynamics CRM Help and the general structure around how changes to Dynamics CRM help are supported in a multi-tenant world. In summary they are not (yet). The help files are stored with the application files.

But luckily there is some great reading material to get started with changes you might want to make to help in a single tenant world and customizing help is supported. You can read the complete Microsoft Dynamics CRM Configuration Guide on Technet and when talking HELP you can focus on this section.

XRM makes the big time

Microsoft takes off its xRM platform-as-a-service gloves 

Microsoft has been buzzing about Dynamics CRM as an XRM platform for development and it is a natural fit for the application - Twist on your Dynamics CRM hat and power users can do amazing things including solving complex business needs, add in developer energy and wow! Speedy Ramp Up

The concept is not without risks; (people do have to learn to work differently) however with the right level of training, the right twist to the Dynamics CRM hat and some outside the box thinking and learning by all - many new people can be flying down the relationship management and organizing highway.

It is not always about numbers

Crazy times often increase anxiety and anxiety in the sales management world has often been reduced by more numbers (more leads in the pipeline for instance) and yet this article makes some great points on taking the numeric approach to reducing sales anxiety.

Why Generating More Leads Isn’t the Answer to Greater Sales Revenue 

I particularly like these statement from the article:

"Initial segmentation requires basic research to weed out the prospects that really aren’t a match for your offering, and to group others into related categories you’ll want to target in similar ways."

"By nurturing quality leads over time, companies can forge deeper relationships that ultimately translate to business."

Maintenance

Part of me thinks it is wonderful that I am being alerted that my CRM Online database is going to have maintenance, but after seeing the below message every time I logged in for the last few weeks and then once the maintenance was completed seeing a new message with a date two weeks later I started to get a bit annoyed.

First the Dynamics CRM database does not need maintenance every two weeks even if it is hosted (onPremise database might get touched once every six months) and second this is just one click through that is a bit much if displayed every time someone logs in!

Adding insult to injury you get another message if you default to the administration tab on entry.

- Sigh -

Accounts in the Top 10, 100, 500, 1000 lists

There are some key things in the world that are occassionally interesting to users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. One of those things is which of the current accounts within a CRM database are in the US Fortune 1000 list and another twist on the same might be which current Fortune 1000 accounts are missing from a CRM database.

Given that the Fortune 1000 list changes every year this would need to be updated regularly.

Another area within the world of vendors playing in the AICPA space might be which accounts are in the SourceMedia Top 100 List,

In other worlds and industries there are other Top 10, 100, 500, 1000 lists.

Is anyone doing anything creative with the above? 

Comparing CRM Systems

This is an interesting compilation of comparisons between CRM systems.

http://www.180systems.com/CRM-Comparison2008.xls 

 

A Fun v4.0 VPC Month - but

Note that the CRM VPC on MS downloads will expire tomorrow (June 11th 2009).

More Details on Girish Raja's Blog 

Free Training

Just ran across a great post about some excellent available online training and best of all it is free! This made me realize that I needed to blog not only about this, but also about all the incredible resources from Microsoft Dynamics CRM with regards to training material. 

If you are a Dynamics CRM customer make sure you have total access to Microsoft Dynamics CustomerSource! CustomerSource is a great place to find white papers, videos, forums and links to all things Dynamics CRM.  

Additionally the Dynamics CRM Resource center is now packed with great little videos, one page quick help sheets and more. The Dynamics CRM Resource center is directly available from Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

In terms of other free classes and training from great colleges like MIT or via Microsoft and their extensive application stack check out this blog post from John F. Moore.

Give yourself the Advantage

It is hard enough to have success with any CRM application (tons of interesting case studies and white papers on this one), BUT without training and input from experience you are pushing the envelope hard.

Make time to attend a deep dive bootcamp, ask your questions, double check any and all assumptions.

The Future of LOB

Does the future of line of business applications require that you have or have access to developer skills? I would lean towards hoping that this is a temporary phase when it comes to LOB. 

As developer languages have matured they were moving to a level of user friendliness. Moving away from being masters of the language of 0s and 1s to a place where common english such as if-then-else statements allowed you to do some powerful things. As the programming languages mature will there be or has there been a roll back to a time where more specialists are required? Where the sophistication of options is so detailed that you need a masters or doctorate just to get a piece of the pie completed? 

And if you have a masters or doctorate in a specific language is there time to also be a generalist when it comes to various industry mastery? From the mastery of a specific industry vocabularly to the mastery of how the "tool" and the skills around a tool would be utilized to meet some other goal.

It bends the mind a bit.

Time for a Shift in Team Structure

The combination of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint is powerful - Mix in Silverlight, scriptlets, good CRM, web and workflow design techniques and a dash of JAVA and pow and yet I have yet to totally see adoption and the right buzz around it. For instance I have seen Microsoft regional offices doing SharePoint and Office Demonstrations without CRM (confusing for this CRM Lady)  

 

Is some of this because the bundle's icing often takes a developer in addition to other very different team members? 

 

Is it because the vendor culture leans towards Microsoft Partners  "getting it" and "doing it" and bring it together? Yet the requirements push the envelope when it comes to traditional Microsoft partner structure on either the Dynamics or the Information Technology consulting firm (ITC) model. 

 

This new team culture could easily consist of a melding of: 

1) Developer (.Net, JAVA, able to see outside their former development focus to adopt a mixed development platform.  They need to work with built applications (XRM) and they should think like an ISV building libraries of scriptlets, living code that will take care and feeding and source potentially impacted by releases to the XRM platform)

 

2) CRM Industry expert (knowledge and understanding of the CRM industry and what a highly adopted CRM application can do for a business, as well as insight into failures and experience helping to move a company in high technology adoption) Sales process and Sales "think" and/or Service process and Service "Think" understanding is a very valuable addition.

 

3) Web Page Focus (background in the web page industry  - knowledge management, search content key word placement, search engine optimization, usability, serving up )

 

4) Marketing (new edge graphics understanding, Depth of around what Silverlight can do, understanding of what publishing tools are available, Creates graphics and color mastery, creative)

 

5) Project manager to set expectations and who understands the first four backgrounds, skills, habits and how much time it takes for each to do what is requested. Sets budgets and time....

 

6) Business Process Engineering, Usability, Workflow development around how data flows from point A to point B and the corporate asset potential around the time management and data management of this data. Similar to the Manufacuturing process engineers of earlier days.

The new team is different than anything Microsoft has done before and very different from many of the partner cultures.

The To-Do

Jim Glass posted his to-do list today with a question regarding what some of his friends were focusing on. I managed to get so much insight into his world that I thought it was only fair to return the favor. So here are things on my radar and on my to-do.

..... 1 month later .... ok all with the best intentions, but this landed in draft and managed to get stuck. So I am finishing it up with today's to-do flowing into this evenings tasks

1) Update the Business Requirements/Functional Specifications document with input from the technical team meetings completed yesterday

2) Add mocked customizations to vanilla environment for a more bundled reusable package

3)  Finish this mornings draft blog writing and post

4) Review/Confirm join requests for Linkedin Groups

5) Work on chapters

6) Gather more information on CRM Help File structure for extending (anyone want to pipe in on this one?)

7) Tweet

Bing on the Microsoft Downloads Center

The Microsoft Download's center now has a BING search box at the top of the screen making it easier to find exactly what you are looking for.

If you are not sure if you have all the tools you need for Dynamics CRM take a peek here

Dynamics CRM Downloads

Quotes of the Day

"Understanding is increased when you wear the same brand of shoes and you use the same tools to get your job done" - Anne

"It is one thing to eat your own dog food and quite another when your life depends on the substance it provides." - Anne

"It is easy to design, invent and create without practicality, quite another thing when practical is required" -  Anne

Windows Server 2008 Changes

In follow-up to my post yesterday, the key change I was hinting at was the removal of POP3

"POP3 has been depreciated and will no longer be supplied as part of the Windows OS. Although POP3 was introduced with Windows Server 2003, Microsoft removed it after including it in just one generation of the OS."

Various people are starting to bubble up some work arounds. One that I found is listed below.

http://weblogs.asp.net/hpreishuber/archive/2008/04/30/visendo-smtp-pop3-extender-for-windows-2008-server.aspx

What does this really have to do with Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Well it impacts the design of the testing and development worlds. Yet, it is not only Microsoft Dynamics CRM that has a tiny hit. There are also hits to the world of Microsoft Small Business Server and and the new world of Microsoft Essential Business Server (EBS) and add in Microsoft SharePoint.

Oh I am not saying we need pop back, just that it would be nice to have a solution to the change.

The World of Development - XRM Dilemnas

Windows 2008 changes the world of the bundled VPC when it comes to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

If you consider that the current Microsoft offered CRM VPC contains: Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4 and SQL 2008, SharePoint, Performance Point, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook being key), Office Communication, Dashboards, Scorecards, reporting and so much more.

We end up with a pretty sweet bundle!

Now replace Windows Server 2003 with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 - What happens to Outlook integration within the VPC to Dynamics CRM?

The world changes right? So anyone have any suggested this is what we are doing inputs?

Yes, But - Quote of the Day

Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be customized, extended, changed and developed on top of, but

"as much as Dynamics CRM can be customized and changed it is still a packaged solution with a well thought out and vetted design."  - Anne

Sample Reports Book

I had in the back of my mind that somewhere there was a sample reports book available for Dynamics CRM, but despite my efforts today I could not find one.   

One of the best ways to really understand what your client wants to capture in Dynamics CRM is to ask them what reports they want to get out of the system and not only what reports, but actual copies or mocked up examples of those reports.

You might be able to get the same data from a view or from never printing text on a piece of paper, but the goal of the exercise is to find out what the client is looking for, not necessarily how they want it to look.

Personally I find that a sample reports book is extremely helpful when it comes to really understanding some of the captured data and a great tool for training as well.

Go ahead and create a sample reports book - On one page of the sample report book add a short paragraph describing the report on the facing page. Bind it using wire or three ring so it lays flat and use it as a workbook. Feel free to add views, dashboards, mockups of desired reports, printed samples of the custom reports you have created and more.

New Book from Richard Knudson

Building Workflows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a subject that is not often covered and yet it is one of the keystones of power behind the software.

One of my favorite bloggers, Richard Knudson, president of IMG, has recently released a small book called "Workflow in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

If you are interested you can purchase the book here.

Twitter on CRM article on Destination CRM

With so much understandable buzz around Twitter and Twitter's impact within the world of relationships and relationship management I was pleased to see this article about how the various CRM vendors are considering tying to the tool.

What is particularly nice about this article, from DestinationCRM, is that it does not only discuss the concept, it actually lists exactly how each specific vendor is approaching the feeds.

Twitter on CRM

CRM vendors are beginning to find ways to put the microblogging marvel to work -- for themselves and for their users.

By Joshua Weinberger

Posted May 1, 2009

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs SugarCRM

Although I read a number of blogs I have to admit that I can't keep up with all of them and as such I have been leaning on Twitter (in the CRM world) so that I catch items that my fellow CRM passionate enthusiasts might catch and share.

A few days ago this little tidbit hit my radar and I just had a chance to go look. 

Agree that there are some interesting points to Why Dynamics CRM vs. SugarCRM within this post on a totally different subject so am resharing here.  

Third Parties

I have been keeping an eye on what some of the third party vendors have been doing that run parallel or within the world of customer relationship management software. 

Take for instance HOOVERS - For anyone in sales, Hoovers is one of those resources that at some point over the life time of their career they have probably had access to it. A wealth of core information on public companies to support the Enterprise sales effort.

Well Hoovers has been busy and is now offering both touch points of import/export on key company information from Hoovers to Dynamics CRM and the ability to serve up the Hoovers information in the Dynamics CRM Resource center.

To read about what is new with Hoovers take a browse at some of their new white papers - Oh and before you roll your eyes and think now how much more is that going to cost me.. If you are already a Hoover's client you might be very pleasantly surprised ! Now that is what I call customer service - new value add without new value add prices.

Data Migration

Microsoft Dynamics CRM has the builtin tool to import data; however this is not always the right choice when consider your first initial data migration.

Data Migration is packed with risk, unknowns, data cleansing opportunities, layers and eye opening potential. Needless to say there are numerous tools on the market that make data migration that much less painful. Additionally Microsoft also offers a Data Migration toolkit to support the developer and database crowd in their efforts to create a custom experience.

How have your experiences with data migration been? Feel free to comment and share - Perhaps you will help someone else just getting started.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Rollup 4

Microsoft has released the latest update to Dynamics CRM and is proving their promise to stick to a regular schedule of updates as well as a regular schedule for major upgrades. Congratulations Dynamics CRM Dev Team!

Given that each update and upgrade comes with both risk and opportunity I was pleased to see a shift away from the silo mentality that has tripped Microsoft up in the past. "Silo" development is a big issue for  the Dynamics CRM product as the product works with so many other Microsoft products (Server, Exchange, Word, Excel, SharePoint, Outlook, and more)  

In additon to a shift away from "silo" many, many departments within Microsoft now depends on Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a core internal line of business application. My assumption is that this contributes to and does amazing things to the feature set, testing and over all quality control concept. It is one thing when strangers report a bugs and quite another when the person you sit next to at lunch rags on you developer to developer because you did something foolish.

As much as "eating your own dogfood" in beta and before releases can be an impact to internal production it also has huge benefits to a class of products. When it comes to "CRM" there is no other product that can cross over and meet so many different corporate and individual needs. If you then also tie in the XRM components the opportunities (and perhaps the issues) are endless.

Active Directory Groups

Tying Active Directory Groups to Microsoft Dynamics CRM security roles - Now there is a thought. 

Capturing Culture

Two things on my mind tonight.

1) Twitter is proving it's value in a key area. Immediate alerts to information long before I pick it up on the blogs. For instance the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 2009 VPC has been posted and I found out about the final post via Twitter.

2) Outside the box Customer Relationship Management thinking (while traveling). Each area has a certain feel, a certain culture, a certain tone. What are people's thoughts on capturing this information as a variable in approaching contacts or customers incorporated into different communities?

Certainly this comes into play when the International variable comes into play, but even within the US - each town, city, state and community have a particular flavor.

Are you a Service Provider considering hosting Dynamics CRM?

Download the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: Planning and Deployment Guidance for Service Providers

"Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: Planning and Deployment Guidance for Service Providers contains the following documentations and tool:
1. Deployment Walkthrough Guide for Service Providers
2. Planning Guide for Service Providers
3. Development Guide for Service Providers
4. Microsoft Software License Terms
5. Deployment Configuration Tool"

 

The Agent Communications Panel for Dynamics CRM

Are you ready to dive into something new with Dynamics CRM?

"The Agent Communications Panel for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is an application add-in to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and enables agents to manage their communications (make calls, receive calls, conference, and chat) from their Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

The Agent Communications Panel is an XAML browser application (XBAP). It is published to a Web server and opened from a Web browser. "

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0d689f13-4953-40ea-995e-49469dae559e 

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What is CRM?

Wikipedia has a very interesting article that starts like this

"Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM software is used to support these processes; ........................."     Read More

but goes on to really look at many different perspectives on this powerful three letter term and the industry surrounding it. It is worth the reading time.

A Key Thought: "CRM" has been around for a lot longer than technology and the number of white papers, discussions, disbutes, successes and failures offers a very rich history. As you tackle diving into the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM you might want to take a bit of time to also look at the entire CRM industry space.

A Bit of News that came out of Convergence

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Latest numbers: 18,000+ customers, and 900,000+ users

 

Quote of the Week

"For your next CRM Solution, consider breaking the project into [much] smaller phases and evolving in a phased approach, rather than doing it all at once." Steve Noe, Biz IT Pro

    in his article An Evolutionary Approach to CRM Implementations

Considering the CFO's focus

I read the below article, provided by Craig Bailey of Customer Centricity, Inc. in his eNewsletter, and I had a major aH Ha moument. The material just rang true with some of my experiences over the years. I realized that a paradigm shift for many departments could solve some pain in the field and offer some clarity and as such with Craig's permission I am resharing the article.  Take a minute, Open your mind and consider 

To the CFO:

Listen to the Voice of the Customer by Tim Althof

The Opportunity

"It is not always a natural act for the CFO to have direct contact with customers except perhaps as part of negotiations or contract discussions. Sometimes it's just not a priority in the CFO's packed schedule, and sometimes it's simply that customer contact is viewed solely as the purview of sales and customer service. In this environment, customer satisfaction feedback reaching Finance is indirect at best. Many issues can be lost in translation or their implications not fully appreciated. "

Read More

Why?

The battle continues as Microsoft dives into branding what they have had for a number of years. xRM, both a development platform and a CRM Application.

Can you using Microsoft Dynamics CRM without writing one line of code? Oh definitely!

If you write code are you strapped into a box limiting the tools you use and the creative juices so often found in the 20 year programming veterans? Definitely NOT!

Are their competing products with different zing? or the same xRM concept? Of course.

So why Microsoft? One simple word: Choice

Choice of partner

Choice of where you place and manage the actual software

Choise of where you put the data

Choice of internal staff with skills that can be utilized as it applies to the platform

and the list can go on ...

Walk a Day

In these tight economic times many a business is looking to improve efficiencies using a variety of techniques. One of the key terms that I learned and adopted from Convergence 2009 is "the Anthropologist." This isn't necessarily new to me, but it is something that is worth re-emphasizing. 

When trying to improve a process the first step is to first ask the right question (explain to me and show me exactly what you do on a daily or monthly basis) and then document and listen (Visio is very help for this - for a picture validates a 1000 words all on one page)

So the next time you are talking with someone who is asking if Microsoft Dynamics CRM does A, B, or C and the next time you are trying to figure out what someone wants as you design and configure - step back and put that anthropologist hat on. 

Find out exactly how the person is working, what technologies and applications they really using and how are they using the tools available to them.Have them show you versus tell you. You might be very surprised. (They might be as well)  

The concept of an Opportunity

It seems that the concept of an "Opportunity" is one that trips a number of people up and as such I wanted to post some thoughts on this. The core concept of an opportunity is that it is the "thing" that you would consider closed when a sales process is completed.

For instance the opportunity is the tracking of a dollar amount, a close date, a sales stage and a probability percentage. When closed the dollar amount is set in stone, the sales stage is "the end" and the close date is firm and the probability percent is 100. You also have a win/lost concept to consider. 

Now for any given Account you can possibly have multiple opportunities. The key here is that as you close these opportunities you are building a historical context. You are also doing analytics and analysis on these open things. You might report on where an opportunity is in the funnel or how likely it is that this opportunity will close.

An "Account" (a client or prospect or other) is ideally a relationship with a company that you maintain forever, but what you are doing with that account might change.

Why would you have multiple Opportunities? 

1) Multiple years - Such as a software licensing renewel

2) Multiple projects to close and complete

3) Multiple products to sell to different people

4) Different departments selling different things to different locations

Convergence 2009

SQL Server data mining toolkit for Excel might be an interesting tool to add to the CRM Toolkit. 

The CRM SDK has some new hidden gems to explore such as a new dynamic picklist creator 

The CRM Demonstration toolkit has some hidden gems including    

• The schema builder – customize without going through the CRM UI (great for many entity xRM projects.

• More advanced editor for sitemap.xlm that prevents typos which often happen in Notepad

The Developer Ramp up Toolkit is a must have for the experienced developers

Performance Point will be released free to all Enterprise MOSS accounts in April.

The Statement of Direction for Dynamics CRM v5.0 has been updated

Microsoft Business Solutions is in Fargo, ND

Mother Nature is showing her fury in Fargo, ND and causing many of the CRM community located at the Microsoft Business Systems campus much pain, headache and heart ache. My thoughts go out to all of those in both the CRM Community and the community surrounding the Red River! May your efforts not be well rewarded with sunshine and dry weather!

 

 

 

 

Custom Entities

Microsoft creates over 150 entities when the Microsoft Dynamics CRM software is installed; however that does not mean you can not add more without donating an arm and leg to a team of developers. In fact you can add an almost unlimited number of custom entities and the possibilities of what to do with them is a very, very, very long list; however there are some limitations that you might want to be aware of.

1) Merging custom entity records together can not be done.

2) You can not create a custom entity that has a relationship to a existing system composed entity (such as the select from either/or Account or contact in a single lookup)

3) When looking at an Entity rollup, Custom Entities do not appear.

4) Parental behavior with system entities cannot be done with custom entities

The Asynchronous Service

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous processing service runs constantly behind the scenes. This services is very tied to workflow and when workflow is not happy you will find that the Asynchronous service can turn itself off. 

You will notice this happening a lot if you have a workflow that gets stuck in either a wait state or an infinite loop.  

New SDK - Have you really thought about this xRM concept?

There is an update to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM software developer kit (SDK) which can be downloaded. One of the key things to keep in mind is that Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed to be extended, changed, updated, and worked with using the highest level skills available. It is not just an application, it is a whole new way of solving business problems with technology.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Development Center

Are you thinking about using Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a development platform? Have you checked out the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Development Center on MSDN?

Getting the Most out of User Groups

I am a firm believer in information shared, information gained and as such over the years I have participated in, created, moderated and invented many a user group. I have also seen both success and failure when it comes to the time invested.

Here are some top tips for really finding that sweet win!

1. It is not just about joining. Time invested = higher returns on the investment

2. Although you might be an incredible wealth of information it is highly likely that most people in the room know something that you do not know. Egos need to be checked in at the door.

3. If you feel like you are constantly offering information and not getting much in return then perhaps you are talking too much :)

4. A user group is not a training session. It is an interactive discuss. Come to the meetings ready to have a conversation.

5. Never hesitate to follow-up after any meetings with those that you met. If you didn't get a specific card or e-mail address reach out to the organizer.

6. If a side conversation was of value  to you, then it might be valuable to the rest of the group. Share.

7. Preparing for a user group meeting by gather tidbits of interest during the week helps jump start a meeting that might consist of a crowd of strangers.

8. The best presentations are the ones where you get to work with real software or solve real problems and the solving is a team activity. Share the keyboard, mouse or choose a driver that gets input from all.

9. Providing pizza and soda tend to be a necessary evil that works ;) 

10. Go ahead and stick your neck out - there are no dumb questions and someone else in the room will be thankful that you asked.

 So you ask what about Microsoft Dynamics CRM User Groups? Are there any available in my area? What do they offer? Can I participate even if there is not a group close to me?

The answers Yes, very possibly, tons of resources and yes! For more details check out CRMUG.

Testing the Extended Sales Forecast Accelerator

First - Thanks team for providing both the Installation documentation and the Installation video. The mixed media makes installing the accelerator fairly easy.

Next if you want to install the Accelerator onto the Microsoft VPC to test, try and overall get a feel for the process you might want to add the following to the tail end of the installation instructions:

1) Login into the VPC as Administrator

2) Select All Programs, Windows Administrative Tools - Active Director Users and Computers

3) Change the password on Paul West and so you can login as Paul West, a sales person.

4) Login to CRM as Administrator

5) Turn on the Display Goals and/or Goals Audit in the Sales menu so you can get to the menu items

6) Change the Salesperson security role to include the ability to add goals and access goal audit.

7) Logout of administrator and login as Paul West (Paulw)

- Of note you also have to add some configuration information such as entering a Fiscal Year End Date.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators

They might be version 1.0, but the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators are redefining the concept of click and play. These core bundles basically are developed and released by Microsoft to add enhanced features to your Dynamics CRM environment.

Take for instanced the Extended Sales Forecasting Accelerator which quickly adds the ability to include sales budgets and forecasts for comparative reporting.

Convergence is Coming

Convergence is just around the corner and I am planning on being there. If you are planning to be there and want to try to meet up to attend a session together, have breakfast or just catch up drop me a note.

Tackling Performance

When it comes to performance the list of variables can be quite long and the solutions do not always bubble up to be what you think they should be.

For instance we can start at the user  level and trickle all the way up to the SQL or Application Server, but you can also have application, custom code and network bandwidth that comes into the formula. Mix that in with CPU, Memory Utilization and Disk I/O and the battle is on.

User's Machine

If we start with the user's machine then we must realize that Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a web application that is authenticating and using IE. There are key settings that you can make to insure that things are not slowing on the user's machine and Microsoft has provided a number of white papers and recommendations regarding these. (see below)

When using the CRM Web Access option these include items such as insuring the web pages are in the trusted zone, understanding your latency and confirming that your anti-virus software is not fighting with the application. 

When looking at the user machine and the CRM Outlook client the volume of  variables expands. You want to take into consideration all the different "other applications" that can impact Outlook. For instance the numerous toolbars that can get installed or the size of the Outlook data footprint and  if the user has numerous PST files in addition to their Exchange mailbox. You also want to check  the settings on the anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-yuck software which often wants to interact with anything going on. Another consideration is the version of Outlook that you are using. Outlook 2007 is significantly different than Outlook 2003 for instance.

For both of the above another consideration comes into play and this  has to do with the amount of memory and the hardware being used by the user. Despite the fact that many times hardware is not the solution, hardware can make a huge difference if limited.

We also have the User's Operating system as a variable. Outlook 2007 for instance was built and designed for VISTA and yet many companies are running Windows XP. This means that Outlook 2007 must take into consideration a completely different platform than it was designed for and although I have not seen any specific issues related to this it is a variable. 

Now despite all these factors you might find that one small thing makes a huge difference. From my personal experience I have both run the outlook client without issue (perfect performance) and have run into massive headaches (resulting in extended effort to fix things).

Here are some links that might help if you have to dive into this area.

First the Microsoft White Papers and posts

Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Optimizing the Performance of MS Dynamics CRM 3.0

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance and Scalability White Papers

Improving Microsoft Dynamics CRM Performance and Securing Data with Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Boost performance with Pre-generated XmlSerializers

Best Practices for Better Performance from Your Custom Code

Performance Odds and Ends

Investigating CRM V4 Performance

Performance Study - Dynamics CRM 4.0 WAN Performance using Cisco Wide Area Application Services

Tips for faster and better performance on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Then

Other Blog Posts on Microsoft Outlook and CRM Performance

The CRM Outlook Client Diagnostic Utility

http://blog.customereffective.com/blog/2008/02/extremely-slow.html

Improving the Outlook Experience with CRM

You receive Outlook sync messages when you view a shared calendar or a shared contacts folder in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Outlook

and Blog posts on Performance with a Server Focus 

http://billoncrmtech.blogspot.com/2009/01/tips-for-faster-and-better-performance.html 

Enterprise Scalability and Performance with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Ronald Lemmen on CRM Performance

MS Dynamics CRM and Perfmon

Optimizing IIS Performance for Microsoft CRM, Part 1

Improving the Performance of IIS 6.0 Applications

What is interesting is that you can easily get into tuning on SQL or IIS that really can make a difference and yet are significantly far away from CRM Expertise.