TIDBITS on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

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

Tracking the Competition

One of the features that many a firm forgets about is the tracking of competition. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM you can build and then associate complete competitor profiles against any given opportunity. As you work the opportunity you can also unassociate competitors as perhaps they become less of a threat.

In Sales, Opportunities : Open an opportunity

In Sales, Competitors - Use the feature ADD Existing Competitor

Save and Close - It is that easy

Thinking about upgrading to CRM v4.0? Are you currently using SBS 2003 R2?

You cannot run a report in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Article ID	:	946753
Last Review	:	January 25, 2008
Revision	:	2.0

SYMPTOMS

You cannot run a report in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. This problem occurs if the following conditions are true:

•	You run Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 on a server that is running Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 (Windows SBS). Note Windows SBS 2003 R2 contains Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition.
•	You use an Internet-Facing Deployment (IFD) of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services is required to run a report when you use an IFD of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. However, SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition does not support custom data extensions. Therefore, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services does not work against SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition. If you use an IFD of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, you cannot access the report.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, upgrade SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition to one of the following editions:

•	SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition
•	SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition

MORE INFORMATION

When you use a local intranet, you can configure Kerberos authentication and configure trust for delegation. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services is not required when you use a local intranet.

The Report Scheduling Wizard does not work when you use SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition because SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition does not support snapshots.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 only supports SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition when SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition is used together with Windows SBS 2003 R2.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 IFD setup scenarios, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/f/e/8fe2d0e8-62a5-4d7e-b041-5e49a7194ae2/Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 IFD Setup Scenarios.docx (http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/f/e/8fe2d0e8-62a5-4d7e-b041-5e49a7194ae2/Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 IFD Setup Scenarios.docx)

Tip of the Day - More Canned Reports

There are 1342 downloadable Dynamics CRM reports for customers from the Microsoft CustomerSource website. A benefit for Software Assurance clients.

Reports are easily importable into CRM so this might be an easy way to meet a need.

• Log Into CustomerSource (www.microsoft.com/dynamics)
• Choose Downloads on the left hand side menu
• Choose Reports Menu
• filter on Dynamics CRM

What Version?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM v3.0 had a couple of full bundled updates.

We had

Version 3.0 Original (Jan. 2006)

Version 3.0 Rollup 1 (Dec 2006)

Version 3.0 Rollup 2 (July 2007)

and like any application a heavy rain of incident specific hotfixes and requested changes. 

One of the difficulties that I have run into is the aged old question of

"What version is this new client really running?"

In Dynamics CRM - Help About helps and is a good place to start, but it does not necessarily get down to the nitty gritty in terms of exactly which tiny version to the fourth decimil place is running. In order to check the version of Dynamics CRM v3.xxxxxx you can do the following.

1. Open regedit (Start -> Run -> regedit).
2. Open the path: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM
3. The Database Version value is the exact version of CRM installed.

Build your own Library of information

Given that I tend to participate in numerous pools of experts on the internet, I often find that I have an e-mail or a thread that is full of information I don't want to forget. This might be a key tip on SharePoint, a configuration best practice on Dynamics CRM or a "don't do it this way" warning from someone who was burned by, well doing it the wrong way.

All this great information quickly becomes difficult to manage if saved into a folder in Outlook and as such my goal of retaining the intellectual capital for later retrieval is not met with Outlook Folders.

What to do?

Use one of the libraries in Dynamics CRM. You can setup a Knowledge Base with your own pre-configured template. The template creates the buckets that you can drop data into and the powerful Dynamics CRM SQL database offers a strong house with search to place this critical information. 

Using Campaign's in CRM

Yesterday I wanted to do a reach out to my network. I wanted to find out which of my contacts within my CRM system might be attending Microsoft Convergence.  What I did was as follows

1) I created a Marketing List of all the contacts in our Internal TRG CRM System who I was the owner on and who were active.

2) I setup a quick campaign to use that list.

3) I created an e-mail that I wanted to use and when doing the campaign I used that e-mail body..

4) I sent out an e-mail campaign.

5) As people response I close the activity and choose a campaign response of Yes, attending if appropriate or No, not attending. I can then make sure to invite those selected people to other appropriate sub events that are happening in Orlando.

In doing the campaign it also tickled up other opportunities of win/win where working together is mutually beneficial and it also alerts me to incorrect e-mail addresses that need my attention.

Have you started to use the CAMPAIGN feature of  Microsoft Dynamics CRM? It is so cool!

Here is a link to a couple of Videos and white papers on Campaigning.

Getting the Word Out Video

Campaigns from Start to Finish

What is the Difference between a Campaign and a Quick Campaign

4 Ways to put Campaign Responses to work for you

Setup the Campaign Template Library

Just a tiny bit of Learning

If you want to focus on one specific item in Dynamics CRM to learn take a look at the USING CRM website. It is packed with great little white papers and snippets of pictures that make using the entire system that much easier.

HTTP://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using

Tracking more contacts at existing accounts

Now those of you who know me realize that I am going to tell it like it is and if the product doesn't offer an immediate solution to a need then the option is to either write the solution (sometimes not a big deal), find a different product, find and partner with a partner who has the addon solution or do something creative.

To solve my immediate need to push an e-mail into a new contact record in CRM this is what I did. I downloaded the free LinkedIn Toolbar which has the application often OEM'ed into products called GRAB.EXE. (of note I did mention this to a couple of the development team so maybe we will see it has a part of future CRM rollouts ;)

When an e-mail comes in I highlight the signature, click on the GRAB button and immediately have that contact parsed in Outlook Contacts. I then click on the CRM button which promotes the new contact to the central CRM database and I choose the parent account.

Scheduling

Do you know about Microsoft Dynamics CRM Scheduling? Many firms do not realize how powerful this feature of the product is. There are times when a firm wants something and it has to be created, and there are other times when the product has depth and functionality that just has not been discovered. This is the case when it comes to scheduling, the power is there, and it is not only for the scheduling of staff it also handles the scheduling of resources.

Take for instance the scheduling of your conference rooms, the shared projectors and/or the use of traveling laptops. Each of these resources can be tracked and scheduled using the power of Dynamics CRM.