TIDBITS on the Microsoft Power Platform

Dipping my toe into the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 OnPremise installation and a couple of key tips to remember (posting them here so I can find them).

Thanks to the Microsoft Consulting Services CRM Consultants: Thymio and Salvador who shared their knowledge and continue to make incredible wonderful happen for clients working with Microsoft and clients working with Microsoft Partners and Microsoft Consulting Services. 

1) When you create your service accounts - create them in the SAME Organizational unit (OU)! If you create them some where else and copy them you are not going to be a happy camper and you will spend hours trying to figure out why you are getting issues.

2) Don't forget about the SPN's. To read more about the Service Principal Names and what SPN's mean, take a look at this great TechNet Article.

3) Do you host your own web page? Most likely not and Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a very powerful web application with numerous options and offerings. So before you decide you are going to do your own Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise Install - Do some reading and get the help and buy in of the right people from your team. The guru network guys who are swamped (get on their calendar)

A few resources and there are more:

• Deploying Dynamics CRM  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45022
• The Dynamics CRM 2015 Server https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45012
• Setting up the Dynamics CRM E-mail Router (if you are going to use this option) https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699800.aspx

If this is not something you want to tackle there are many options.

1) CRM Online

2) CRM Hosted by a third party partner

3) A certified in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Infrastructure partner or MCS team who can work with your IT Department to get CRM Installed and running smoothly.

4) Leverage the incredible of your professional Field Engineering contract. The CRM PFE Team is so impressive! They really offer a huge amount of experience and lessons learned particularly when it comes to smooth operations, performance and getting this running right.

Interesting Press Release:  Lithium and Microsoft

"SAN FRANCISCO – June 2, 2015 – Lithium Technologies and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have signed a strategic alliance agreement to integrate Lithium social interactions and community data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM"

Read More

Check out the new LINQPad 4 Driver for Dynamics CRM REST and API and Kenichiro Nakamura great post explaining some of the features.  

As we work hard to strive to be our best selves one of the key areas that I am focused on is leveraging my natural transparency, while also adding some polish, so that the red flags don't immediately start waving. I have great experience at pushing that magic button that makes the flag pop up. It doesn't always pop for everyone, but in large audiences having the bell start to ring with just one person can cause noise for the rest. Settling down this noise is also not easy.

This is an interesting challenge in this demanding (and noisy) world of technology and constant learning. We each must continually stay current with all the new business processes, software features, functionalities and most recent versions,  but we must also maintain and grow our soft skills.

In terms of Technologies in my CRM world? Consider the huge suite of pieces that can be connected together to meet an incredible number of customer needs!

• Azure (many different blocks)
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM v7.0.0 OnPremise 
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM v7.1.0 Online
• Parature
• Microsoft Social Engagement (MSE)
• Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM)
• Microsoft Excel PowerBI
• Microsoft Office 365 (which keeps delighting me with new apps)
• Unified Service Desk (Call Center Extension)
• Windows 10 (oh look! Cool!)  
• and this list can certainly be longer (Skype for Business, SharePoint, ...),

but the point is there is so much incredible that it is hard to remember to keep this in perspective when working with your peers. It is also difficult for customers, because so much choice is overwhelming.

As such we have a certain obligation to push each other to be even better than we would be on our own. This is not expecting others to change, but more about encouraging debates, disagreements, and differences of opinion, because this is what raises the bar for all. This is what solves tough problems. The coming together of great minds. It forces each of us to be uncomfortable which then drives questions of our own assumptions and motivates improvements, growth and sometimes change.   

We live in a world of constant change, and so I embrace this, and want all to know that you are incredible and that you are unique.  I value this! I value your opinions, your offerings of thought and your option to listen.

Mistakes are for learning: I recently rained on one of the young associates parades. He had just developed a new application using SharePoint and I was so sad that he had not used CRM that I voiced my disappointment. I immediately saw that it might not get used. Yes, in a large team forum. Hindsight (not one of my smarter moves) The associate however was appreciative, we had a talk after the call and he encouraged me to keep sharing my opinion and to push him to think, but many of the others on the call were shocked. How could I do such a thing to a young growing associate? Needless to say it is still a thinking point for me. I can learn to delivery differently, but there are also trade offs.

Needless to say my efforts to continue with transparency, but to keep thinking and growing with the messaging and with who the audience is.

Major Update: My deepest thanks to David Hurtado for sharing these slides with me, for letting me share them with the world and for supporting all of his peers inside at Microsoft via the Microsoft Yammer Network (Yammer rocks).

What is incredible about this presentation is that putting the PowerPoint together took or takes longer than helping your customers understand how easy it is to use PowerBI and Dynamics CRM.

So Start Here:

Pull up your favorite View such as a view of all your bubbling opportunities

Now confirm your view has account information

Choose to Export this View of Data to Microsoft Excel (not the only way to do this, but a familiar way)

Now Open the Excel Workbook by clicking Open

Have you noticed this new feature in Microsoft Excel?

 
Now Select your locations

And Use your Date Fields as Time Dimensions

PRESS PLAY

And Play, and play and play ... with visual immersion into your data

I remember when it was difficult to find answers to the easy questions. The "How Do I ......?" Questions.

This difficulty has now been resolved with the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Center. Check out the Top Tasks that a CRM Administrator might perform.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/top-tasks.aspx 

Related articles

Hosk's Top CRM Articles of the week - 2nd June

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers so much choice that it is good to take a deep dive around some of these choices and features. Additionally the features keep on improving and growing with speed unseen in any previous years. Please take information provided to you with a grain of salt and do your own research.

Never make the assumption that the product can't do something for if it can't do it today, it might be available tomorrow. Additionally Services (MCS) is doing incredible on every project (as are many of the partners)

Incredible Happening!

Dana Martens offers a great deep dive presentation on Hybrid mixing of CRMOnline and SharePoint OnPremise and other configurations.  

Found this tiny little video that shows some SharePoint plus Dynamics CRM Love.

Comments?

There is so much great content out on the web and BING offers such a powerful search engine to find it.

Calling All CRM Users: Please send feedback on the new DYNAMIC HELP Features!

"This feature was introduced in the Dynamics CRM 2015 for Outlook Client and is referred to as “Dynamic Help”.   Prior to this feature, the Outlook Client included a help link that always directed you to the same troubleshooting page regardless of which error you encountered.  For each error code that occurs during configuration, Dynamic Help can now direct you to a KB article designed to help resolve that specific issue.  This feature was also backported to CRM 2013 Update Rollup 1 for Service Pack 1 and CRM 2011 Update Rollup 18.  The Dynamic Help feature is also included in the new CRM App for Outlook. "

To Read More and To provide Feedback CLICK,

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