TIDBITS on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

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.

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)  

Dynamics CRM and Security

One of the coolest features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the slicing and dicing you can do with security roles. It is also one of the more complex features of the software.

Microsoft uses the concept of a Business Unit as a core security feature. I often explain business units as a rock wall divider within any given database, but given that Microsoft allows for a tree factor this is not necessarily a black and white rule.

The reason I emphasis "rock wall" is because once you create a business unit it becomes difficult to share data across business units without a more complex design. For those firms who do not have complex security needs I recommend keeping business units to a minimum. They are easy to abuse and can create some long term pain.  

Do you use check boxes or activities?

One of the most common mistakes I see in CRM is the decision to use a checkbox as opposed to a completed activity.

A checkbox is easy to add and easy for a user to "click on", but it totally bypasses the ability for the system to track historical information. It is also a feature that is harder to audit trail as the checking of or the unchecking of a checkbox is not easy to track.  (although with creative workflow it is possible)

So if you are thinking about "adding a few fields" to increase the communication from your teams and people around what has and has not been done than you might want to think a bit more about the whole picture.   

Tracking work associated with a Project

One of the most frequently requested items when it comes to  a slight enhancement to Dynamics CRM is the enhancement to track activities and associated time to a specific client project.

To do this you can configure Dynamics CRM using what I like to refer to as the modify functionality. You do not have to write big custom extensions or .NET or JAVA code to do this (thank you Microsoft).

Utilizing the "Customize" menu in Dynamics CRM create a new Project Entity (this is a new database table and entity is a word you customizers want to add to your vocabulary)

Add appropriate attributes to the project entity (the data you want to capture on the head project record such as the project name, project budget, and timeline)

Create a relationship between Activities and Project: For any given project you can have many activities (unlimited actually)

Create a relationship between Account and Project (For any given account you can have unlimited projects)

Presto! You can now track activity records to a specific project in addition to direct to the Account, Contact, Ticket, User and more. Within the ACTIVITY RECORD is the ability to capture a start time, end time, duration and more.

Mapping Fields

One of the comments to this blog today was asking about how to push custom field data from LEAD into CONTACT or ACCOUNT once the lead is converted to a prospect.

To do this using  CRM Customization, you drill down into the specific RELATIONSHIP  within the entity (in this case LEAD to ACCOUNT) and then you can add a MAPPING that maps a custom field in the LEAD to a similarly designed custom field in the ACCOUNT. This map pushes data from one to the other when the Account is created. It is not ideal and can be supplemented with some workflow (for instance if the account already exists), but it is similar to how the current system fields are being populated during convert.

If you are still unsure as to how to approach this make sure you talk with your Dynamics CRM partner technical specialist. There is SO much that can be learned and mastered within Dynamics CRM! Tap into all that experience that surrounds you!

Interesting Dilemna

If a relationship is defined as the interaction of two people; how would a company track all the numerous relationships between perhaps a single person at a company and the various staff members within the servicing firm.

So John Smith works for ABC Corporation and ABC Corporation purchases services from PSI. PSI has 5 technical people who at any given time work with John Smith.

You want to document these relationships and perhaps unique notes from each PSI tech, but you also want want historical flow for John Smith.

This can be done with the opening and closing of activities and you can also use the Relationship feature of Dynamics CRM to build the relationship table.

Mapping Complex Accounts

Let’s look at a specific account and discuss how it can be documented in Dynamics CRM. One of the incredible (and many times underutilized powers) of DynamicsCRM is its ability to track what I would consider the spider web of relationships. Rarely are, say a 100 people with relationships, easily dropped into a tree format. Sure it works for families, but larger companies are not always truly hierarchical in nature. They are much more likely to intertwine and have multiple touch points.

Let’s look at Microsoft Corporation for instance.

In getting to know the new contacts here in Houston I was immediately faced with how should I track these in Dynamics CRM. You see I use Dynamics CRM heavily to do what I do and as such have to apply the framework to my own intertwined world.

Now of the 10 blue badges (Microsoft Employees) I have met to date in the Houston area I have at least 5 different addresses, 3 different departments and definitely different individual success points. Each of the people I have met is driven by different factors. Understanding these success points allows me to continue to not only get from Microsoft, but to continue to give in return. A Win/Win.. As opportunities cross my plate that might help any one person meet their success point I can add a little sugar, but I digress.

Now before I share with you how I tackled this, let’s look at the options (for this “word problem” and for now I will not include the international offices). So we have Microsoft Corporation (Infrastructure) and Microsoft Business Solutions. These two main lines of thought tend to be unique in their culture. There are overlaps and yet in the partner world there are also distinct differences in model in those that focus on one or the other.

We also have divisions under the two above such as the SMS&P division. Now would you make Microsoft SMS&P an Account in DynamicsCRM or would you make Microsoft Houston an Account or perhaps just Microsoft Corporation and let every Microsoft contact be simply a contact and yet if you only had contacts how would you build the relationship map to show which of the contacts were related to which of the other contacts. There are peers, umbrella divisions, regional groups, and more.

Would you use the relationship table (certainly an option) and one that is not flat if you really think about it?

What about the third party vendors who compliment the Microsoft solutions OR the third party vendors who are contracted by Microsoft and as such are listed under Microsoft Corporation (often seen as an e-mail address starting with a v-)?

These are the challenges and yet challenges that can be met with numerous options by using Microsoft DynamicsCRM.

Setting up Microsoft Dynamics CRM by Industry

One of the nicest features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the ability to configure it to different industry types and with the right hardware and knowledge this process is relatively fast.

Recently I presented Microsoft Dynamics CRM for the Information Technology Professional industry at SMB Nation. I was given a couple of hours on the Virtual Server machine prior to the presentation and with some speedy fingers and the concepts I wanted to apply I was able to pull together a complete working demonstration of the IT Pro Firm.

Unfortunately I can easily talk about Microsoft Dynamics CRM for a good 4 days and there was soooo much I was not able to get to in my 90 minutes. :(  Still the crowd was a buzz with questions and answers came easily.