TIDBITS on the Microsoft Power Platform

Blogosphere - Performance, SQL and DLL Registration

A couple of great posts today that just spurred me to get back on the blogging band wagon.

OK, there was another reason. Over the last couple of weeks I have found that both in Twitter (follow me @CRMLady) and on Facebook and Yammer I have been having a hard time sticking with 140 characters and I am not about to change my entire language to one letter words soo blogging is a better tool for deeper (or perhaps just more wordy) thoughts.

Credit for the posts that caught my eye goes to Sean Shilling from Customer Effective. (Sean you are going to need to get your name added to the list of authors ;)  These posts motivated me to first start sharing via e-mail and then kicked me back into blogging gear (Thanks Sean!)

CRM and SQL : for those with slightly bigger Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases, performance is something you want to think about. This includes standard performance items like indexing the database. To get started take a look at this post to learn more about the CRM SQL Tables.

CRM Plugin Registration and Un-registration Utility: for those who manage a number of different teams, different developers and different environments. You might want a more graphical interface for plugin registration. You can read more about that here.

 

Why no HTML Editor in Dynamics CRM

ExactTarget offers some great insight about HTML e-mails and the challenges they can cause! Variables such as which e-mail client, which browser and which software your clients are using can have an impact.

As such this area of technology gets to be a lot thicker and more complicated than one would first suspect.

If you then mix that with all the cool new tricks for tracking opens, subscribes, unsubscribes and marketing statistics as well as the international and national SPAM laws you are stepping into an area that requires its own experts.  The experts exist and they are working with Microsoft! Companies like CoreMotives and ExactTarget for instance.

So if advanced marketing is a focus of yours then start at the top of the trees, in the right forest, with the right tools and the right partners and then get into the nitty gritty.

Accelerators for Dynamics CRM

You wouldn't add nitro to just any car without a good bit of knowledge and the same holds true with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators. They are powerful! Just put them in the right hands, with the right knowledge and a little bit of tender loving polish and look out.

My hope is that Microsoft will continue to increase the amount of polish, but for now know what you are dealing with and don't expect to just drop in the fuel without understanding.

Release 2 of The Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator has now been posted. The PRM Accelerator allows businesses to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to distribute sales leads and centrally manage sales opportunities across channel partners.

More Information

Ross Dembecki's Blog Post on This Accelerator

 

 

Form-Scripting

In his continued awesome way, Richard Knudson writes up and shares a nice post on Form-Scripting in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. What is he referring to with regards to Form Scripting?

"placing JavaScript code behind the onLoad and onSave form events, and behind the onChange event of any field on a form"

but he also takes it one step further and describes alternatives to this little technique and yes, there are many times when the alternatives are the better choice.

Read the Full Post

 

Dynamics XRM Bundles? Check out today's xRM Virtual presentation on IP

Join the XRM Virtual User Group today for a Crash Course in Intellectual Property with Jonathon Zuck from the Association for Competitive Technology.

When: Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:00 AM (PDT)

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=9TT4PK&role=attend&pw=rf6r%3DX4%26c

Meeting time: May 27, 2010 9:00 AM (PDT) 

AUDIO INFORMATION

-Computer Audio(Recommended)

To use computer audio, you need speakers and microphone, or a headset.

 

From my "Add to the Library" as I might need these at some point

If you are looking at importing a large amount of data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM then you might want to get caught up with this post Speed up your CRM SDK imports and updates

If you are a Microsoft PARTNER then you will definitely want to check out the current version of the SureStep Project Methodology for Microsoft Dynamic CRM (I think they finally got it) AND have a few of the consultants take the exam

• "Managing Microsoft Dynamics Implementations Exam MB5-858The exam for Sure Step 2010, MB5-858, is now available on Prometric."

Are you looking for more Address Data Validation? How about tying to a Standard Source? Check out PostCodeAnywhere Address Lookup.

Trying to Solve a Problem with Dynamics CRM v4? Did you turn on Trace? Scott gently offers a reminder on problem solving and disk space.

 

Just one Button: LinkedIn and Dynamics CRM

Just a small bit of code placed in just the right place. Sometimes the biggest business benefit is not necessarily the biggest development effort. 

Marco has a great post about how to turn on access to LinkedIn within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

A small little button opening a world of possibilities.

Developing in the world of concurrency

For numerous years developers didn't need to worry about the complexity of creating multi-threaded applications in the PC World.  The availability of hardware and operating systems that supported multi-threaded applications just didn't exist.

Over the last couple of years this has now all changed. Multi-processors and multi-threaded support built into the operating systems of even the smallest computers increases the requirements for creating code that can take advantage of all that power and performance.

You can now, not only create pieces of applications that run concurrently, but you can also create situations where different pieces of the applications overlap, use asynchronus and synchronus services and even tap into different physical processing power at different times.  

If you consider a former tool to be one instrument (like a violin), then in today's development world, whole orchestras (violins, cellos, trumpets, sax, etc.) are being managed with symphonies of success being deployed.

Needless to say the failures can make quite a racket and the people who can detangle and fix this racket are a special breed.

Tools, Tools, and more Tools.

The Microsoft Research teams have been looking at some of the concurrency problems and are interviewed on Channel 9 about their discoveries.  Microsoft Research: Tools to Help Resolve Concurrency Problems 

Two little applications might be of interest for further analysis and learning. These include Cuzz and Featherlight

Feature Driven Development

For those of you who work within a Feature Driven Development model (FDD) there are a number of great resources on the whole subject area on this website.  

The CRM Configuration Manager

A big shoutout thanks to Daniel Halan for creating this little toolkit (CRM Configuration Manager) and for sharing it!!! and thanks to Joel Lindstrom over at Customer Effective for point it out as something useful to have.

Builds

Given our focus on builds and deployments to different environments I found this post by the team over at Inetium of interest.

Environment-Aware Custom Workflow Configuration

Duplicate Checking

Alas I received bad news today about duplicate checking. As it turns out if you have duplicate checking set to check on create and update AND you find a duplicate the system does not acknowledge or save your response. Needless to say the system will continue to check for duplicates even if you told it that the two items found are NOT duplicate.

There is a way to get around this.

1) Make your duplicate checking rules a bit more sophisticated.

2) Tap into some of the 3rd party code to "pimp" your duplicate checking rules.

Anyone else have any great solutions? I know we are not the only ones to run into the statement "that is how it is designed" 

Thanks!! 

Hiding a Section

We recently had the need to hide a section on a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Form. After review of four or five different options it was decided that this offered the best approach.

Why?

The number one reasons is because the option supports the need to move code between different environments and as such is much more Enterprise centric.

A big THANKS to Adi for posting.  

One small note: Just be aware that if you move sections around you might break the code.

More on Duplicate Detection

A few weeks back Duplicate Detection was quite the focus in parts of my world and as per usually someone pointed out that Soundex wasn't an option.

Low and Behold - Check out this recent post called "Pimp your Duplicate Detection"

Are you new to Microsoft XRM Development?

For anyone new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM – This recording is a great start on how to modify the UI without writing a line of code. It also has one or two tips that are helpful for those a bit more experienced.

 

http://www.xrmvirtual.com/events/uitipsandtricks

Enterprise Architecture: New Article on R7 Outlook Synchronization

The Nuts and Bolts article Outlook Synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, which is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Outlook synchronization enables Outlook users to view Dynamics CRM information, including contacts, tasks, phone calls, letters, faxes, appointments, and e-mails, within the Outlook interface. This document describes the client synchronization process that is associated with Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 or later (for on-premise deployments) and with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online November 2009 Service Update or later (for online deployments).

Maximum Number of Attributes

The maximum number of attributes within the world of Dynamics xRM is defined by any limits within the world of Microsoft SQL Server.

Here is a post that touches on this great Enterprise Level consideration.

To Quote "Eg: SQL 2005 & 2008 is 1024. Which means you can have 1024 attibute[s] per entity creation."

Developers Tip of the Day

CNTL N

When on a specific form Cntl N gives you the internal URL for any Dynamics CRM displayed form. You can then use this with variables in an iFrame to do some interesting things.

Databases

Back in the pre-Microsoft SQL days I spent a good amount of time thinking about databases. There were databases that needed constant tweaking and maintanence and there were databases that were like chunks of granite that rarely had trouble, but when they did have trouble they could be a monster to fix.

I am curious as to if anyone out in the community has run across any favorite Microsoft SQL Server database tools and Dynamics CRM database maintanence best practices.

Are you using the Stunnware toolkit?

We ran into a bit of a snag yesterday and it was a bit difficult to figure out. One of the filtered lists that had been setup was showing perfectly in an iFrame, but it was not working off the left nav bar. Go figure.

The solution turned out to be that we were using ID as a filter. So instead of using ID (protected and used) AccountID or ContactID is preferred and solved the problem.

What you don't know about Stunnware's toolkit?

It is well worth checking out.

Working with Attributes

Just finished up doing a bit of attribute work. There are a few things to keep in mind that I thought I would share.

1) If you do not want to have an attribute show in Advanced Find then you want to set the SEARCH flag on that attribute to NO. By default the search flag is set to YES.

2) You can use the comment field to help organize your work in addition to the display field and the internal attribute schema names. For instance you might want to map your internal schema names to the system you are integrating with, the display names to something that makes sense to users who are using advanced find and the labels on the form to something that works well for data entry. The comment field can also be used by placing a flag at the start of the comment so you can sort by comment during your reviews.

3) Don't have time to enter comments? A few extra seconds per attribute and you can go so much further with documentation and communication. Makes someone elses life easier, include comments.

CRM v5.0 (or 6.0) Wish List - Better Late than Never

I still need to get these into the Microsoft Request engine, but here are a couple of the hot ones on my plate that bubbled up in thought when I was reading Richard Knudson's blog post today on the same subject.

What would be great to see in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0

1) Business Unit Ownership
2) Enterprise scalability for Team ownership
3) Performance Tuning/Improvement for Form Assistant
4) Outlook Client Configuration Flexibility including the locking down by user of configuration options
5) Menu management/Navigation Pane management without editing XML files
6) From a "It is a CRM application" support for common field functionality so programming doesn't have to bother with this such as Country lookup, SIC and NAICS code management, Zip Code options, etc.

7) From the perhaps this would be a cool utility category: a tool to rename all the New_ prefixes to something else.

8) A super easy, don't need to be technical advanced find option to create views. Yes, the one we have today is powerful, but it is still "techie" and frustrating for some business users. In this same light let them pick any field from any entity to include in the view.

9) A really advanced report writer with a really super easy interface. There are some pretty cool third party  BI tools on the market that meet this need, but talk about a blow a few users away feature.

10) User definable portals and dashboards

11) For the developers: The Developer toolkit which is so cool that traditionally trained advanced software developers can't keep their hands off it. Creating a situation where they would rather write in "xRM" than in .NET only ;)

Developers are a Unique Breed

Developers are a unique breed with strong opinions, creative talent and a deep  understanding of tools that many of the people they work with do not necessarily understand. They also come in two groups - those that are confident and open to other expertise, opinions, input and getting pushed out of their comfort zone and those who are so excited about the tools that they use and that they have a deep mastery of that pushing them out of their comfort zone to learn something new is almost impossible.

Now introduce Microsoft Dynamics CRM (xRM) into this crowd. A fairly new way of thinking that both pushes senior developers out of their comfort zone and introduces the concept that perhaps some of the "requires a programmer" techniques now can be done by someone who might not have the history, scar tissue, experience or vision to do the techniques right.

The other variables it that depending on the Microsoft Dynamics xRM framework to build out intense and robust solutions with senior developer talent also requires that those senior developers trust the teams who design, update and maintain the Microsoft Dynamics xRM framework.

An interesting cultural challenge being faced and WON (and unfortunately sometimes lost) across the country.

I share the virtual stick in this post. 

This stick can be used to smack one or two people upside the head, it can be used to poke people and it can be used to build bridges of connect between people and even backend systems and databases to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It can also be used to draw stick people to outline requirements and can be the base for any number of graphical demonstations.

  

Lastly the stick's real purpose is to sprinkle a bit of humor in to it all, because change is hard even when it makes a ton of sense!

 

Messages

One of the best things about working with experienced developers (new to the world of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is that they see things that remind you of things known and perhaps forgotten.

When you create a custom entity there are now messages.

Check out an existing entity - Settings, Customizations, Customize Entities, Choose an Entity

(See the item Messages?)

Now check out one of your custom entities

(See no Messages)

No, the system does not offer you a way to add them through customization.

Cool Tools: Entity Mapping

Given that I placed this little tool on my desktop and then totally forgot that perhaps I might build using it into our project I thought I would share it here.

Once you have a Designed Microsoft Dynamics CRM system the following Entity Map Drawing Tool can be a great resource for documenting (or even debating) architecture and relationship design.

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?

Active Directory Groups

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

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

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?

When does a developer consider the CRM Framework?

If you do not know Dynamics CRM and yet you get applications and .NET here are some things to think about. 

If you are looking at a project consider these two big picture questions.

1) Does the project require the need to track any type of relationships?

If yes then the CRM Framework is definitely something to consider. These relationships can include relationships between two people, relationships between companies, relationships between a person and a company, relationships between things, relationships between animals, relationships between parts and a final product, relationships between things and people,  and more.

2) Does the project require the need to automate and/or document process?

If yes then the CRM Framework is definitely something to consider. These automated processes can include  standardizing the steps  that need to happen to get a project done. Scheduling and completing specific steps, historical reference to the completed steps, the application of specific steps to specific people. The tracking of specific steps associated with a specific person. The automation of alerts and notices and more.

Additionally there is another core reason why including CRM as part of your development might make a lot of sense. This core reason is that built within the Dynamics CRM framework is a multi-layered configurable security system that helps you control who can do and who can access what and pre-built authentication options. Items you do not have to write. You also have the long term upgrade and update support from a maturing product, the development control and the CRM SDK. AND .. the added features that you might not have time to write such as duplicate checking, User Friendly Reporting, Integration to MS Office and layers of data import options.