TIDBITS on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Within the world of the CRM Industry there is a cutting edge ...

Within the world of the CRM Industry there is a cutting edge ...

AND when it comes to the cutting edge pushing the design of data consumption is right up there with tying the use of CRM to employee motivation. As in they get more motived the more they use the internal CRM application. (yes, really, but I will save that for a future post)

Thanks to Mark for sharing this great post and a free solution on data display design - Perhaps take a few minutes to check it out and comment.

 http://markmargolis.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/crm-timeline/#comment-500

 

http://markmargolis.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/crm-timeline/#comment-500

 

What the heck is ... CRM:53143123 in my e-mail subject line?

The famous Ben Hosk wrote up a great little post about the e-mail tracking token. I like to call it half of the locket or an automation puzzle piece. It clicks a responding e-mail into the e-mail that is being responded to. Offering incredibly reliable threading. On the other hand it is TOTALLY Optional and Dynamics CRM is sophisticated enough to have even more embedded algoritums of success.

If you would like to know more about the e-mail tracking token, take a peek at Ben's writeup which you can find here.

Do you think "CRM"?

Julie Yack has such a great way with words that I just had to share. Take a look at her summary about how you might fit in the world of Dynamics CRM.

READ Here

oh and after you read the above, here are a few more

You might be a Dynamics CRM Power User if…

• You share Dynamics xRM videos with friends because you think the solutions are cool
• You wake up thinking of yet another Excel application that can be replaced *or MS Access

You might be a Dynamics CRM administrator if…

• You have a bookshelf full of more than 5 different Dynamics CRM books
• You know that when it comes ot CRM On-Premise CRM infrastruture support makes a big difference
• Staff augmentation is not in your best interest for CRM extensions and development

 

You might be a Dynamics CRM developer if…

• You would rather developer on the Dynamics CRM Platform then build security and UI from scratch
• You know that a new SDK has been released
• the word Caching and GAC are in your vocabulary
• You roll your eyes at beginner lessons learned because you have been there and done that
• You know where to post and vote on feature and function requests

What do I do?

People who know me that are not in the world of Dynamics CRM and who don't know what CRM or xRM really means might get a kick out of this new little YouTube Video.

A Solution and Story featuring Dynamics CRM

What is a Lead? Isn't that the same as a prospect?

Most worlds have a subset of definitions for terms that perhaps you have another understanding for. In the world of Dynamics CRM the term LEAD and the term PROSPECT are actually very different.

So What is a Lead?

A lead is a hint, a potential and an unqualified set of data. The data usually contains a person's name, sometimes the company they work for and maybe some initial information such as a phone number and address. A lead can can from many sources including purchased lists of name, trade show events, advertising, or direct calling. A lead generally is not HOT, but is still being reviewed. There is not much history on leads; although there might be if you are watching a lead from afar. The structure of a lead in Dynamics  CRM is flat. One record.

And what is a prospect?

 

A prospect on the other hand is more qualified. A prospect is more formal. The structure of a prospect in Dynamics CRM is hierarchical and might contain not only a contact and an account record, but also numerous contacts, an opportunity and even assigned potential products. History can be found on these contacts rolling up to the prospect. You might also have a long list of activities or a sales process that you are following on a prospect. A prospect is qualified, known and many times is being actively worked.

If a prospect is associated to an opportunity then there is an associated timeline that has a process that ends with either a signed deal (as they become a client or customer) or with a loss. A loss that can be reported on, analysized and then used to improve processes. 

And what is an Opportunity? (ah material for the next post)

A day in the life of Enterprise

I can't help sharing when I see stories of companies doing cool things within the world of Dynamics CRM.

Needless to say when this little story crossed my plate today I thought I would share.

Check out Weight Watchers and Dynamics CRM

 

What is xRM?

We intermingling the term xRM and CRM when talking about Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but in all reality the name is talking about exactly the same product. A product that can be customized, configured and eXtended.

Changes DO NOT require a developer, but a developer can add an entirely different option set and layer to your already powerful application. The system is built to be configured or extended or both. Developers who work within the defined methodology are also treated by upgrades and updates seemlessly keeping the base option current and in this really fast paced world this is a real PLUS for businesses.

So what is xRM, really?

Here is one example of Dynamics CRM meeting a very different type of need outside your typical Sales, Marketing and Service.

Constitute Relationship Management

http://www.crmsoftwareblog.com/2013/04/schools-as-crm-users-constituent-relationship-management/ 

 

Reporting Flair

It is a rainy day here in the Northeast so what better way to spend an evening. Yes, Enhancing the Dynamics CRM Charts!

Take a look at this little post on a few quick XML edits that you can do to leverage even more visualization.

 

Dynamics CRM 2011 Rollup 13 has been released

There are some great posts summarizing this wonderful development effort of updates, features, fixes and new!

Bullets of Interest

• Developers? There is a new SDK
• Visionaries? Dynamics CRM with MarketingPilot and NetBreeze
• Features : First there was Decembers R12 Polaris and then RU13

 

 

Links for More

• The CRM Team Blog summary
• Upgrade Instructions
• The Download Center
• Studying and Extending Dynamics CRM -> Dynamics xRM
• The Report Authoring Extension
• Connecting the Data is talking about it
• Amreek Signh is talking about it
• The xRM.com Writing Team is talking about RU13
• Donna Edwards talking about RU13 Including a Great little Video!

The beautiful world of CRM Multi-Tenant

Rather than dive into writing something again that was so well written by another member of the community I am sharing a post about Multi-Tenant and why this powerful option is now available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users.

Read Here

Polaris: What about Extending these new Forms?

Well another new world has opened in the universe of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and a number of long time Dynamics CRM Guru's have questions.

 

To get you started on what can be extended in the new forms take a look at this great little blog post just released on MSDN

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2013/03/11/customizations-in-december-2012-service-update.aspx 

 

Reporting, Reporting and more reporting #msdyncrm

Time to think differently about this concept of reporting. In some systems your only choice to get the data out of the system is with a report, BUT it is not like that with Dynamics CRM.

In fact it has not been like that for quite sometime, but I find that we often forget to mention some of the "cool" that exists when everyone is buzzing about the latest or next greatest feature.

So thinking about slicing, dicing, analysing,  and looking at the data that is in Dynamics CRM you have a number of choices that do not contain the word "report"

1. Review Data in a Dynamic Excel Spreadsheet or Pivot Table or Chart

    The security on the user opening this in Excel drives the data that is displayed.

2. Review data in a Static Excel Spreadsheet or Pivot Table or Chart

    The data stays static, no matter the user.

3. Use Excel 2013 PowerPivot or PowerView on Dynamics CRM Data

4. Leverage Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

5. Leverage FetchXML to pull data into your choice of BI Tools.

6. Check out Microsoft's Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS)

7. Use Dynamics CRM Advanced Find to pull data from a relationship tree of entities

8. Leverage the built in Dynamics CRM Report Writer

9. Use Microsoft Word Mail Merge to pull Dynamics CRM data into a favorite Microsoft Word Template

10. Tab into the extensive power of the entire Microsoft Office Stack and the integration between the different applications within this stack from CRM -> Excel -> Word  -> Visio -> OneNote and more.

11. Leverage the power of Entity specific Charts and charts on related entities

12. Leverage the built in Dashboards and the dashboard building wizards for individuals or for the entire company

13.  Use the built in Report Wizard

14. And if the above isn't enough to think about you also have a huge MarketPlace of Reporting and Business Intelligence available addin options.

 

Polaris ....

Chris has done a nice quick post on some of the key highlights within the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM v2011 (polaris)

Check out his post here

A day in the life of the Outlook Client

Microsoft Dynamics CRM comes with a number of extras and one of those powerful extras is the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook Client.  (free to all Microsoft Dynamics CRM users)

Not only can you access the entire Dynamics CRM system from within Outlook, but the Outlook Client and the Microsoft Outlook software share information between their data storage systems.

Choices, Choices, Choices to leverage all the powerful functionality of Outlook 2013 on data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM or leverage all the powerful functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM on e-mail, contacts, tasks and appointments and outlook functionality which possibly drives your daily life.

You can run Dynamics CRM without the Outlook Client, but the Outlook client offers you even more features and functionality.

Here are a few of the key ones

• Track E-mail that you receive and respond to in Outlook against the contact's account (or case, or contact record or opportunity or, ... ) in Dynamics CRM, sharing this with your team

 

• Complete a task in Dynamics CRM by checking off the task in the Outlook task list

 

• Use Word Mail Merge to use Dynamics CRM data in letters and word documents or even word templated reports

 

• Take your data offline when there is no internet access for the Outlook Client gives users the ability to take a all or a subset of data “offline”

 

What are your favorite features of the Outlook Client? Colors, Categories, appointment tracking?

 

What's in Your Toolkit?

Anyone who develops within the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has a secret stash of favorite tools.

Want to know what some of those tools are?

Check it out

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11290.microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-list-of-tools-and-software.aspx

Related articles

MSCRM-ADDONS.COM to Exhibit at the Convergence 2013 in New Orleans, LA, USA

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 hassles: asynchronous processing service stopped

Four Little Words: Do you know the difference?

The exact same words, but extremely different concepts. Do you know the difference?

 

• Bundling ERP with CRM 

 

• Bundling CRM with ERP 

Dynamics CRM Testing: UI Tools

Are you diving into the world of automation testing for extended Microsoft Dynamics CRM projects?

 

Take a look at Visual Studio 2012!

 

There is a whole set of UI Automation testing just waiting to be found!

To get you started you can read about testing for continuous development.

You can also read about What's new in Test Manager 2012.

and then there is the Visual Studio Magazine article on Automating UI Testing and

the list goes on ...

 

 

 

Convergence: It is that time of year again! #CONV2013

I won't be at Convergence this year, but I wanted to go ahead and share some getting the most out of the event tips and tricks. because Convergence isn't just about great sessions and learning, but it is also about

 

1)      Networking

2)      Meeting the Third Party Providers and ISVs who partner with Microsoft on Dynamics CRM
and add value add

3)      Meeting the Microsoft CRM Support Team and technical resources (bring your questions)

4)      Meeting the Microsoft CRM Developers and development team (there are new faces to watch for)

5)      Meeting other Microsoft team members

6)      Communicating with other CRM users (Look for CRMUG)

7)      Listening and learning from Authors, Field Experts and great consultants

 

So In my many years going to and presenting at Convergence I offer you the following

Tips

 

1)  Know which sessions you want to go to before you go and have a backup option
(sometimes sessions are sold out)

2)  Know who the speakers are: Ask or search the net or read their blogs, being great at what you know doesn't mean you are a great speaker. Look for both!

3) Use Twitter during the conference to keep up with the live session buzz and to connect with other CRM tweeters. My guess is the tweet tag will be #conv2013 or #conv13

4) Know the level of the session: They can range from 100 to 400 and have a lot to do
with presenter and audience. Convergence has both sales sessions to show what is new and deep technical sessions to get you up to speed fast so you have to know how to pick them.

5) Go to the parties and don’t stay at one. Roam from one party to the next and check out the culture, the mood, the tone, the side talks, the buzz

6) Talk to Strangers

7) Eat with people you don’t know and when you sit down, talk to them

8) Make time to visit the bookstore (even if to just see what CRM books are available)

9) Make time to visit the booths (I have had more great technical talks with CEOs at
trade shows than anywhere else)

10)  Go to some non-CRM Sessions such as Office, SharePoint and BI – products that work
great together with CRM

11) Go to some business sessions – they have some incredible leaders presenting on
leadership, change management, etc. Many are well recognized business book
writers. (loved hearing Malcolm Gladwell a few years back)

12)  Setup a Meet the Expert Connect session and have a one on one with a developer,
business leader, or other resource. A few years back I met with the development team working on a key feature in the newest version of CRM. What a blast to get their perspective.

13)  Attend the Pre-Convergence CRMUG Day, the sessions are smaller and the content incredible.

14) Bring business cards, share your business cards, collect business cards AND schedule time when you get home to follow up. Not just the week after, but again two weeks after and a again after 2 months, etc. Networking is about meeting and then building relationships that offer win/win value to both people.

15) Share what you know! Evaluations make a HUGE Difference in the world of Microsoft. Peer to Peer sharing makes a HUGE difference in the success of Dynamics CRM.

16) Attend the last session of the day and the event. Those speakers are sometimes the best, because they draw out the day.

 

Social Tips

1) It is New Orleans! Get up on the balcony and share the fun of throwing beads at people.

2) Plan to eat incredible food.

3) Don't plan on sleeping too much, but don't burn up all the brain cells so you don't have time to learn.

 

 

And here it is 3 years later

So in 2008 I posted the below and just out of curiosity I checked out the hyperlinks today. A few of them were 404'ed so I deleted those, but I was pleasantly surprised that the following still work.

Ah the Beauties of the Web

One of the beauties of the web is that much of the valued work that was
released over time, is still available today. 

Articles

The Discipline of CRM, by Anne Stanton and Herb Rubenstein,
iSixSigma Magazine http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c040323a.asp

How much do you invest in Mastering your Accounting
Software? by Anne Stanton, Accounting Software 411 http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=6460

Accounting Software, Maintaining Control, by Anne Stanton
and Joel Eisenhandler http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=6613

Software and Systems
Instant Messaging: Why communication needs new tools, by Anne Stanton,
Accounting Software 411 http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=5900

Other items of Interest

Utilizing Technology to Market Smarter by Melissa Farmer,
Accounting Marketing http://www.accountingmarketing.org/images/2006_UsingTechnology.pdf

CRM making life easier for CPA firms, by Lisa Spinelli,
WebCPA http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=20645&searchTerm=spinelli

5 signs that it's time to automate your customer data, by Jo
Anna Krotz, Microsoft Small Business Center http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/customer-service-acquisition/5-signs-that-its-time-to-automate-your-customer-data.aspx#signsthatitstimetoautomateyourcustomerdata

 

A Second in an Elevator

Do you know how every programmer is a creatively unique person? They like to artistically write and develop their custom code and (to the developers - you then tend to be responsible for it for life). I specialize in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, because I want to see more value for business investments in customized and extended solutions. I work with Microsoft Consulting Services to do this, on projects that are different (and sometimes the same) as standard Customer Relationship Management solutions that solve sales process, marketing process and service process needs.

Solutions can range across a very wide range of needs, but generally flow across numerous different departments.  Integration to Microsoft Office is a common need, tracking of relationships between things or people is a common need and tight ties to Excel for pivoting, reporting and analysis comes up a lot. Document Management with CRM's relationship to SharePoint and so much more.

So if you are still using Access (on speed) or Excel (multipled by 1000s) then maybe it is time to rethink.

To the SQL Guru Audience - Can I write directly to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SQL Database?

If I had a dollar for every time the following question was asked in the field I could.. ! Well here is a much better response then a flat No and my thanks to Steven Vlaanderen Oldenzeel from Microsoft PFE for sharing!

Can I write directly to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SQL Database? 

1. We will support everything you would do when you are using the CRM application layer.
2. For CRM users we do NOT allow direct SQL Server connections, except for excel touching filtered views (but the user might not even know how this technically works).
3. For a DBA, CRM Consultants and other technicians, we will allow anything you do on the SQL Server directly (maintenance, indexes, select statements), but we cannot support it, but your SQL team can support it. This means, test it first and document it properly!
4.  We will NOT allow direct data inserts or updates at all. Do this via the CRM application layer and do not bypass the CRM Security model. This also counts for writing SP’s, Triggers, Functions directly on SQL. Please use Workflows and Plugins.

 

Keep Learning

I am amazed at how I continue to learn more  and more about Dynamics CRM despite focusing on the platform for over eight years. The product team continues to release small and large updates and are amazing in how fast they manage to keep up with the pace of technology change.

Additionally the current product (even before any updates) has a ton of depth and a number of under utilized functionality. When was the last time you decided to add something new to your business processes? What about learning one small area of the software in full?

Consider Goals, or Connections - take a peek at subjects or perhaps you want to become a FetchXML guru

Did you know you can tie web sense into charts?

There is so much that can be done.

Given this I offer this link and suggestions: Go review the Microsoft Dynamics CRM v2011 IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE. You might not have looked at it for a few years, a few months or even ever and it is packed with great information. So take an hour for study, each day this week - shoot make it a team effort and start up a Dynamics CRM brown bag lunch or book group. You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

Unit Testing CRM v2011 and Enterprise Development BP

1)      Unit testing CRM – Some interesting food for thought  

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/devkeydet/archive/2012/10/31/how-i-develop-and-unit-test-crm-2011-plugins.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/devkeydet/archive/2012/11/27/unit-testing-crm-2011-javascript-web-resources.aspx

 

2)      Enterprise CRM team development – Feedback from the field from Shan (CEO of ADX) and more good food for thought –

A special 2 hour XrmVirtual presentation on Enterprise CRM team development focusing on change management and application lifecycle management (ALM) tools.  Here is the event page:  http://www.xrmvirtual.com/events/team_dev_ShanMc_CRM2011

Dynamics CRMOnline and the SLA

When it comes to all things SLA the Dynamics CRM team posted a great blog post a couple of years ago complete with a number of great hyperlinks. I was re-reading this today and I realized that it was definitely worth a reshare!

So if you have questions about CRMOnline's Service Level Agreements START HERE 

 

To the Dynamics xRM Developers in the World

SureStep has a little file that is not always that easy to find, BUT it is a very powerful document for any developer ramping up on or learning Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The specific file name within SureStep is 1.5.1 Development Standards XRM

Additonally any new and old xRM developer should know about the following resources

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Development Best Practices (available in PartnerSource and MSDN)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK Documentation (available in PartnerSource and in MSDN)

MSDN: Design Guidelines for Class Library Developers, Microsoft Corporation, 2004 (MSDN Library)

 

 

Number 94 within the Top 100 in 2009

I was doing a bit of searching to find a recording of a talk that I felt would be good to share again and I found this old list.

I must admit I love that certain IP lasts forever in the world of the Internet.

 

 

CRMSoftware.TV : A new way to decompress?

Although most of us would not like to admit it, we all like to crash and decompress in front of the TV. Please welcome a new way to decompress CRMSoftware.TV.

This week Lauren Carlson, CRM Analyst, interviews David Pennington on exactly where Microsoft is investing when it comes to the many social marketing venues and applications. As well as how this plays in the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

A quick lick of the upcoming ice cream!

Dynamics CRM Integration Continued

Yesterday's post generated some nice feedback. As it turns out there is a nice list of Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration options on the Microsoft TechNet Wiki (A great totally under appreciated resource)

You can read more on Integrating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM here

Integration: the joys, pains and options

One of the core design philosophy's of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and the labeling and use of this application as an xRM platform, is that the application is built with the expectation that developers will extend the functionality and teams will integrate other applications into it. This is particularly common within the world of large enterprise.

The joy of integration for the user:  User's can not only see all their data in one place, they also have options to add external data into that one place!  Data that is display only, window frames that peek into other applications within the same interface (like Google or Bing), data that is synchronized realtime (such as SharePoint) and in batch (like Active Directory integration) and even more derivatives of the same!  

Now to a customer, the term integration can have many, many different meanings. One of the first steps for anyone when faced with the term "integration" in a project meeting is to ask for the business process. What is the true need? Visibility, modification, creation? 

"systems integration is the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole"

The key term "to act as a coordinated whole" which does not necessarily mean duplicating data between two systems nor does it imply simple. Distributed system integration is one of the most complex data coordination needs a team can face. In this mobile world, the risk that distributed data is needed on any given project, increases.

Dynamics CRM has some distributed processing built in. When you take your data offline using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook client you are stepping into the distributed world. For instance the timing of when you go back online can impact your data and the coordination and rules around this dip into distributed thought.

OK So integration is a fact of life, so what are the options?

There are some very interesting third party vendor options. Some are loved, some hated, some are loved and hated and others are well brand new and unrated.

One of the new players (at least to me) is Synchronicity Systems out of the UK. They have a product called ECHO. I would be interested in any feedback from the field on ECHO.  They have niched an offering for moving an on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM v3, v4 or v2011 to the cloud.  

Another well known player is Scribe Software.

If you are tying into DynamicsGP (Great Plains), eOne is a vendor who has deep DynamicsGP history and Dynamics CRM connecct. 

and there is also always the totally custom route using SSIS or BizTalk.  

Klout, Social Media Experiences

As a hobby I spend time learning about new social media trends, technology and tools. I tend to try many of the new products out and then personally judge if they are valuable to me and sometimes perhaps not valuable to me, but good to know about when talking to others.

If you are following me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the other various roadways I drive upon, you might have seen some new shared posts on Klout. I am testing and using Klout to learn about this new technique and tool.

Share your thoughts and comments!

A Writer Never Knows

A writer never really knows the impact of their book until it is out in the field and feedback is coming in. They can judge if it was helpful by the number of sales, but that is more a matter of publisher marketing than general "Did it make a Difference". They can also judge based on the internal editing process and the critical eyes of the editorial teams, but it isn't really the same.  

I have now moved past, that unsure stage, that most writers experience when a book is released. The book Teach Yourself Microsoft Dynamics CRM v2011 in 24 Hours feedback is excellent, people are getting value out of their investment in time and dollars, and a few more hundred souls are more efficiently getting more bang out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

I was motivated to write this little post today, because the newest Microsoft BizSpark webpage included my book within their FURTHER READING section (bottom right). I am now helping the worldwide economy in one tiny way by supporting Entreprenuers and Microsoft in growing new business seeds of success!

For a gardener like me - this is just as exciting as the new sprouts peeking their heads out of the Spring soil outside my window!   

 

All it takes is a stamp, a card and five minutes

A good friend of mine from high school has had quite a wild and tough road in life and currently she is recovering from a battle with illness. I won't get into the details BUT if you have the following you could make a huge difference in someone's life.

 1) Five Minutes

2) A Stamp

3) A card

Write a note of energy, send a small joke, forward a smile and/or a bit of news and intresting perspective and distraction from your world and send it to the following address

Ms. Lily Ordway

Regency Oaks

3850 E Esther Street, Room 27

Long Beach, CA 90804

 

Sharing CRM, Sharing Contacts and Collaborating

CRM is highly personal just like each of our own direct relationships. It must also meet corporate and team shared needs. This post dives into this concept.

Take for instance the tracking of details on a relationship between two people. The USER of CRM (such as a sales person) and their prospect or client (such as a key contact at a prospect site) 

Some details of a relationship are as unique as each person within that relationship and others are common for all relationships with a specific person no matter who is in that relationship.

These details of a "relationship" can include an incredible list of variables.

What would be considered common and easily shared and valuable to a team? Personal characteristics such as a specific job title, the contacts features (height, gender, eye color) or perhaps even the name of a contacts spouse and friends.

Other variables are unique to a specific relationship and might or might not be valuable to the team.
 
What would be considered unique? The level of trust between two people, an inside joke, their shared history, perhaps a specific experience and shared networks. This could even extend to likes and dislikes that a person has and their level of likes. A person who is great at skiing might love skiing with a person at their same level, but hate it with a beginner. We could even go so far as to look at other unique traits such as what job or what role is taken as part of a specific relationship. If I think of one person in my network as an example, this same person is a contactor, a developer, a senior software developer (language being a factor), a software engineer, an architect (role being a factor), a speaker, a reference, a father, a son, a coach, a builder and more. So how are all these different variables tracked and shared?
 
Within the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM these variables are handled in a number of different ways and at various different companies extended with different styles. Partner extensions to the software, customer driven extensions to the software, base use of already available features. This one subject is a great one for the user group! (www.crmug.com) 

Depending on the version of the software choices within the software change significantly between version 4 and verson 2011.

In the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.

Contacts are people who have a set of shared fields and these include not only what shipped out of the box, but also any other fields you wanted to add. Out of the box fields include title, gender, e-mail addresses, and how the person likes to be contacted. User defined fields might include if they are a referral source or if they are an influencer within a prospect account.

Microsoft also offered a table in v4 for relationships. This is a two column list where a CRM user could custom define that a specific person (such as person A) was a vendor contact and that a specific second person (person B for instance) was the customer of that vendor contact. You could also choose a company and put it in this relationship table such as company A was a vendor for person B as the customer contact. This relationship feature offered both company and contact cross reference choices. 

The feature had/has an interesting set of powerful potential, but it also had limits and I would dare to say it is under utilized inthe field and as such in the world of Dynamics CRM version 2011 a whole new world of options was born under the CONNECTIONS umbrella. Relationships exists in 2011 but has been retired and replaced with connections.
 
If you have not discovered CONNECTIONS then you want to take time to REALLY understand the power before you architect it into your business process.

So with those thoughts and my writing time ended I open up the idea for discussion and perhaps a few more posts over the next few days.

How does your company track all the variables between all the different relationships for each prospect or client contact that you have?

What happened at Convergence 2012? Twitter happened!

The fastest way for you to find out about the hot trending topics from Microsoft Convergence is to go on over to Twitter and to search on #conv12, #conv2012 and (to get a few missed items) #con12. You can also search on #CRMLady (that is me) and #msdyncrm.

The buzz during the event was hot, fast, real time and enlightening. I can't tell you how many times I smiled while reading 140 characters. A quick glance, a smile and back to 100% listening to content.

What was great was to post a thought and then to see all the reviberating thoughts on the speakers while the speaker was still speaking.

In fact at one of my presentations. Someone TWEETED a question, I read it (yes, while speaking) and responded to the entire group. How did I do that? Well there were two of us presenting so the back and forth gave me a chance for a quick peek.

Talk about an entirely different way to present to geeks and introverts - Look out future tomorrows, the power of the introverts enabled!  

My world of field notes: the blog vs. twitter

I just had an incredible four days at the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference. The time was incredibly well spent and included a huge amount of value. What fascinated me however was that unlike in years past, instead of capturing my notes here on the blog I was tweeting them in real time.

So now I have a dilemna - I would like to capture and save those notes. The wonderful #conv12 and #conv2012 items, but how to get them from there to here?

Looks like I am about to embark on a bit of research. Stay Tuned!

A Big Thank You to John O'Donnell

A big shout out of Thanks to John O’Donnell, ISV Architect Evangelist and incredible Dynamics CRM Community resource. John patiently read through and did the technical editing on the Teach Yourself Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in  24 Hours Book.

If you are just learning Dynamics CRM or if you are experienced developer and want to tap into a bit of an above the trees perspective on the product. If you are overwhelmed by what comes out of the box and what is "a configuration" versus a "customization" versus an "extension" or if you just want to read up and have another great reference for your reference library then grab yourself a copy of the book at your local bookstore or Amazon or Sam's Publishing or any of the other various options.

What you are going to Convergence? Well, maybe the book will be in the Convergence bookstore.

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/operating-systems-and-server-administration/microsoft-dynamics-crm/9780132682138

AND if you do read it please leave your comments, ratings and feedback.

 

The Book and a Goal

Teach Yourself Microsoft Dynamics CRM v2011 in 24 Hours has been released and I have held the paper printed copy in my hands. Definitely a good feeling.

The graphics have all been updated (better high resolution screen shots) AND I have five new Dynamics CRM guru voices who have contributed by reviewing, writing and updating between 1 and 3 chapters each.

If you have a copy I would love your input on my Amazon Author's page either through a new discussion thread or by posting a review. OR feel free to comment via your own blog, twitter or Facebook. 

The link to the Amazon Page is below.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annestanton

If you don't have a copy, can you help me with my goal? Get a copy and share it.

My goal? To increase the knowledge of the greater Dynamics CRM community of partners, developers, customers, administrators, consultants and users while also continuing to enhance and expand my own individual knowledge on the product family.

Banter on Twitter - Why Dynamics CRM for Development?

SNECRMUG - Information Share, Information Gained utilities continued

During the December 15th Southern New England CRM User Group meeting, which was focused on Dynamics CRM development utilities, we had some great interactive discussion and I captured some of the tips from the group. Here are those goodies shared.

1. Dynamics CRM v2011 Visual Ribbon Editor - Definitly make use of the Visual Ribbon Editor and be aware that Office 2010 and it's ribbon are packed with features and a very deep well of opportunity.
2. Tap into the ODATA Query Designer
3. Take a look at FetchXML Builder
4. Don't underestimate the power of the Visual SiteMap Editor (and remember that when editing sitemap you want to use the Microsoft CRM Editors)
5. The JavaScript Web Resource Manager is a good utility to check out when upgrading v4.0 Javascript to v2011.
6. Advanced Find can be used to generate FetchXML in v2011 (oh AND in v4)

Other Tidbits

1. Solutions are well ... just released in v2011 so consider them v1.0 features and study accordingly. Lean more towards UNMANAGED solutions as opposed to MANAGED solutions. Know what is available and what is not.
2. ODATA IE8 JSON, JQUERY and Required Libraries - totally have no clue what we were talking about around this as my notes trailed off, but perhaps my audience of readers can fill in and add comments.

CRM and the Holiday Opportunities

Now that it is the holiday season and everyone is distracted with high stress, extra after work errands (or lunch time runs to the local toy store) perhaps utilizing your CRM system is not top of mind.

BUT

there are a number of different opportunities that are not present (or presents) at other times of the year.

Take for instance sending out holiday cards (either electronically or via a hand written note) an address is needed (e-mail or postal) and what better time to confirm that all your addresses are correct then right before sending out a caring thought.

There is also the tracking that you sent something, as there is nothing more embarressing (or perhaps more business limiting) then sending the same card to the same person twice. You definitely want to complete and activity once you get those messages out to your audience. Lastly well how about those great responses or the people who send you a gift or card who you did not send a gift or card to!! A thank you note, a reach out or even simply adding them to your list for next year.

CRM is not just about management or BOD statistics, it really is about helping you to be more organized, more connected or simply a bit kinder because you can remember the small details a bit better.  

Dynamics CRM Utilities, utilities, utilities

For anyone ramping up on Dynamics CRM development make note

There are a TON of utilities to make your life easier available in codeplex, Microsoft Downloads, and in the SDK. Some of these utilities are version specific and some are good for all verisons

Go check them out and to get you started here are just a few to wet the appetite

CRMDiag

– Diagnostics Tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 or v4 which helps CRM developers and administrators to enable trace and devErrors on a CRM server.  It also generates an HTML report file with information about the CRM deployment.

 

Microsoft CRM 4.0 Picklist XML Generator

–A small to tool which Generates CRM 4.0 Picklist Customization XML. This tool allows you to cut and paste a comma separated list of values and descriptions into a text box and then generate a set of XML picklist options which can be pasted into your Customization.xml file.

CRM Documentation - from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Documentation team’s famous Jim Daly

–Automatically generates technical documentation from a CRM Database Metadata

CRM Demo Toolset

A large set of tools that includes a Sitemap editor, a tool for Dynamics CRM icon resizing (for custom entities), The ability to generate test data quickly and more

Customization Compare

–Takes two customization.xml files and compares and reports on the differences

View Replicator

–For those projects where numerous similar views are requested within any entity. This tool offers replication of the Layers, columns and width increasing consistency.

Searchable Property Attribute Updater

–The tool allows you to display the list of all attributes and select if you want them to be searchable or not. In only one action, you can set all attributes searchable property for one entity. 

Access Checker

–With this tool, you can:

•Indicate which entity you want to inspect

•Enter the identifier of the object in question

•Searching for a user with its name or its unique identifier

•Click the “Retrieve rights” button and the program will tell you what rights the user with respect to the record

CRM Role Import/Export

Support for all out of the box privileges - By default the export utility will export ALL privileges, including custom privileges.

202006 Lifetime views

Numbers are well numbers, but I thought 202,006 lifetime views was a pretty nice number.

Trends in Dynamics CRM v2011

The buzz is fascinating on the grapevine of Dynamics CRM partners, users, and Microsoft and right now the "big" new tip of the iceburg features are all about social media integration, customer service and social analysis. 

Social Media has long been a passion of mine from the early days dabbling with Ryze, to the exercise of first trying Twitter and then really understanding what it was offering. Mix that in with the addiction to Facebook by so many and it all ebbs and flows. 

Personally technology sometimes feels like a Lazy River often found at some of the resorts. There is always something new around the corner and sometimes that new feels very familier.

You like how Dynamics CRM is working: Why Change, Why Upgrade?

There's a Talk for That!

The Microsoft Dynamics landscape is changing quickly – new technology, new platforms, new implementation strategies, new partner challenges—and the changes mean major new opportunities, and major new risks. Decisions that you make now about your Dynamics solution will have implications for years to come.

Who Should Attend Decisions Fall 2011?

Decisions Fall 2011 is a virtual event for...

• Business decision makers seeking expert advice on implementation strategy
• IT managers looking for technical insight and advice
• Power users who want to learn more from the experts and share their knowledge
• New users making the switch or contemplating the switch to Microsoft Dynamics.
• Dynamics professionals who want to learn, network, and investigate ISV solutions
• Anyone in the Microsoft Dynamics community looking for an exciting new platform to network and learn!

 

Decision Virtual Conference Fall 2011

It's Free

It's Virtual

It's Soon

Have you Registered?

Rollup 4 for Dynamics CRM 2011 Released

Greg Nichols does a GREAT job of summarizing all the new goodies here.

Dynamics CRM mature

You know that Microsoft Dynamics CRM has really come of age when not only are their over 1 million licenses sold for the product, BUT you start stumbling on information on Dynamics CRM in places like eHOW.

Take for instance this little video on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Certification

or this one on How to Work with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM eBook 

and of course YouTube is PACKED with more Dynamics CRM information and noise than most people know what to do with.

Extending CRM - Organization Messages

I just stumbled upon a nice xRM/CRM developer resources blog: Jamie Miley's Life and Technology - Take for instance this post

http://mileyja.blogspot.com/p/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-sdk-index.html 

Sept 20th, 8-11am - Southern New England CRMUG Meeting

Have You Registered Yet?  @crmug: #msdynCRM

Next week is the Southern New England CRM User Group meeting in the Waltham, MA Microsoft Offices.

Come On Over to share in the joys and pains of INTEGRATION!

REGISTRATION

Utilization and Dynamics CRM

You have rolled out your project or you are working on it and that "I hate change" and "What? I have to learn something new?" are tripping you up and getting in your way.  These mindsets create speed bumps and the more speed bumps the harder the change.

So what can you do and if you know what to do how can you get the attention of your users in this noisy, noisy world so that they understand what is available to them?

The Top 7 Ideas

1. Using an experienced and trained Dynamics CRM resource, present Dynamics CRM regulary. This does not necessarily mean training, this is much more focused on sharing ease of use and the potential for the tool to meet an existing needs. Only present what you have delivered or are delivering.

2. Present audience specific information that meets the interests and needs of a very defined small audience. Don't try to meet the needs of customer service, sales and marketing or the needs of managers, sales people, marketing experts and developers all in the same 1 hour presentation.

3. Adopt the DRIP mindset. A one hour presentation a few times a month, focused on two specific features, is much more powerful and useful than eight hours of overwhelming rain showers.

4. Listen to your audience without trying to change their opinion. Different functions are easy or difficult depending on the user's perceptions. It might be easy for you, but it could be hard for them. Avoid that word EASY. Do you Golf? Consider how hard it is to change your golf swing if you have been swinging it the same way for 10 years. It might improve your game BUT

5.  First impressions are not usually lasting impressions particularly when it comes to Dynamics CRM and the flexibility and multitude of choices it offers. Offer as much training in as many different formats as possible.

Consider that anyone over 30 was trained on applications that let you do one thing at a time. One open account record for instance. Dynamics CRM allows you to work on 5 Accounts at the same time. It fits in your kids world - You know the world where kids have 5 IM windows open on their machine which are current conversations and they are working on their homework and they are listening to music. Dynamics CRM offers the flexibility to fit in this multi-tasking world. Choice makes for more complexity, raising the learning curve. Allow people the time to adjust off of their first impressions through good training.

6) Try to discover mindsets and relationships with the software that cause frustration. "I just tolerate that it has to be done that way" applies to many different tools in use today. Just as in Outlook people fall into pattern and habit which is not necessarily the easiest or the best way to use a tool. Watch how your users use the software to do their tasks. Be a detective, document that business process and then step back and consider and discuss with management what the best options are. Many time these options do not require dollars or huge effort.

7) Remember that in the world of technology and business software the tools and base foundation never stop changing. It is our habits, training, busy lives and reluctance to change that delays the goal of the highest utilization possible with the tools available in any given point of time.