Dynamo with Dynamics CRM

Wow, lots of CRM news to catch up on this week!  Destination CRM Magazine has an excellent piece regarding the history, competition and future of Microsoft CRM.  There’s a Steve Ballmer interview discussing the concept of “xRM”, an interview with Microsoft CRM General Manager Brad Wilson, and more.

Download a PDF copy, or visit the online magazine at the second link.

• Destination CRM Magazine, July 2008, “Is Microsoft Winning the CRM Race?” [PDF] 4.8MB
  
• View the magazine in your browser:
  • http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/crmmedia/crm0708/#/22

As our new CRM Consultant, Speed finds that he gets more thrills out of solution accelerators.

I couldn’t attend the Microsoft Partner Conference in Houston, so I missed what looks to be a very cool announcement.  Microsoft announced that it will soon release some freely-available solution accelerators for Dynamics CRM 4.0!

Solution accelerators are tools designed to save time, increase your productivity, and enhance CRM 4.0 functionality.  I’m looking forward to toying with them soon, as they will be released over the next few months.

The IncreaseCRM blog neatly outlines these accelerators below.

Analytics Foundation: includes marketing, sales and service dashboards, user adoption dashboard and a range of scorecards from Microsoft PerformancePoint

Business Productivity: a range of configuration options commonly requested by customers such as auditing, sales processes and common workflow patterns such as incident management

Enterprise Search: integration with SharePoint business data catalog to make it easier to search for customer data stored in a CRM database from within your SharePoint portal.

Notifications: a range of options for sending notifications and alerts to users via email, Vista gadgets and unified communications

Sales Methodologies: built-in support for popular sales methodologies from the TAS Group (Target Account Selling), Sales Performance International (Solution Selling) and Miller Heiman (Strategic Selling)

Sales Forecasting: improved features for sales professionals to be able to provide forecasts and for sales managers to get insight into forecast trends and patterns

Event Management: extension of campaign management functionality to your website to allow marketing professionals to publish an events calendar online and manage online registrations

eService: a customer support portal to allow customers to submit and review cases, search the knowledgebase and more

www.emergenow.com

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008, Emerging Solutions was recently named to Microsoft’s crème de la crème group of partners… the 2008 Microsoft Dynamics Presidents Club!   My best congratulations to all of my fellow colleagues in the Microsoft Consulting Group.

If you’re looking for a reliable partner to help you with your business and technology needs, please visit the Emerging Solutions Contact Us page.

For more details about this prestigious status, see the press release below.

Microsoft Honors Emerging Solutions for Outstanding Customer Commitment and Sales Achievement

Chicago, IL - July 10, 2008 - Emerging Solutions has been named to the 2008 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club receiving recognition from Microsoft Corp. for its dedicated commitment to customers. This honor reflects the company’s success in extending the Microsoft Dynamics platform to drive business advantages in companies worldwide.

This recognition came during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston. The elite club recognizes the top 5 percent of Microsoft Business Solutions partners worldwide and their constant dedication to delivering solutions that meet their customers’ unique needs, active pursuit of product and technological advancement, and impressive sales performance.

“Microsoft is proud to congratulate Emerging Solutions on being named to this year’s Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners. “Emerging Solutions not only has demonstrated a high level of product expertise, but also has provided a superior level of service and commitment to our Microsoft Dynamics customers, ultimately contributing to the overall success of Microsoft Dynamics and companies worldwide.”

“We draw on a unique combination of competencies in Microsoft Dynamics.  Our comprehensive coverage of these solutions and unique processes allow our consultants to better understand customer business needs and how technologies fit into the big picture of an organization.  We will continue to work closely with Microsoft and the Dynamics suite of products to provide leading-edge solutions for our customers,” said Don Sweeney, Emerging Solutions Co-Founder and Microsoft Practice Lead.

With applications experts focused in Microsoft Dynamics GP, AX, CRM and SL, Emerging Solutions’ consultants provide the necessary guidance not only in individual application strategy and deployment, but also in complete rollout and integration of these diverse solutions.

About Emerging Solutions
Emerging Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is an established professional services firm that helps global and mid-market firms maximize the benefits of business applications through leading technology. We provide strategic guidance, implementation and innovative integration solutions for business and technology applications from leading software vendors. For more information visit Emerging Solutions at www.emergenow.com.

If the software development experience with Dynamics CRM 4.0 had to be summarized with one word, it would have to be flexibility.  Let’s say there’s some type of functionality that Dynamics CRM can’t immediately address from within the application; there’s a good chance that there are development tools ready to make CRM work for your business, not the other way around.

Enter the Developer Ramp-up Kit for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.  It’s a nice collection of videos, labs and other resources to get you up and running with the various tools available in CRM 4.0.  To get the most out of the kit you’ll need some familiarity with the following:

• .NET Framework
• Microsoft Visual C#
• Javascript
• Microsoft SQL Server
• General Web development

For those looking to get familiar with Dynamics CRM’s extensibility, this is a one-stop shop for all the tools you need to get started.

MSDN direct link
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc720132.aspx

To see the full list of contents in this kit, click on the below link.

Read more »

Huzzah! I passed my CRM 4.0 Applications exam today with flying colors this time!  I’m feeling as elated as Spain winning the Euro 2008 Cup yesterday… minus the jubilation of the whole country, but I’m working on it.

Thanks to ‘Second Shot’, I was able to try my luck again without consequences. I was glad to have had the opportunity to take it at least once before, to get familiar with the exam questions and get a feel for what the test writers were looking for.

So to assist you in your quest for certification, I’ve outlined five tips that will help narrow down your choices when taking the Applications exam.

5 tips to help pass some questions on the CRM 4.0 MB2-632 exam

• There is no drag-and-drop functionality in CRM 4.0.  That would be a nice feature to add to the future CRM 5.0, though!
• Each single Marketing List can only contain one type of record/entity.  So if you’re planning a Marketing Campaign that will include Accounts, Contacts and Leads, you will need to add at least three separate Marketing Lists to the Marketing Campaign.
• Relationship Roles in CRM 4.0 are very useful for defining relationships that are not so cut-and-dried.  You’ll probably see Relationship Roles come up a few times in the exam.
• Ask yourself what types of CRM records are synchronized with the Outlook Client, and how to create new records from there.
  Also figure out what records are related and available to each entity.  An example: you wouldn’t go to an Opportunity record to find related Cases.
• Find out how the Service Scheduler shows or does not show conflicts in the Service Calendar.

Hopefully with these tips, you’ll share the glory too… at least in the Dynamics world. 

Good luck!

As I mentioned in a previous post, bummer on my first CRM exam.  Luckily I had registered for the Second Shot promotion, which allows me to take it again for free.

However, time is running out.  It appears I need to register and take my second exam before June 30th, when the Second Shot voucher expires.  Needless to say, I’m registering today, whether I’m ready or not!

Links

• Second Shot Offer Homepage [microsoft.com]
• Second Shot Offer FAQ’s [microsoft.com]
• Contact Prometric - North America [prometric.com]

Some Questions and Answers from the FAQ page are below.

Q. What is the timeframe for taking my first exam and then retaking that same exam if I do not pass on the first try?
A. If you registered for the Second Shot offer before May 31, 2008, and have an exam voucher, you have until June 30, 2008, to complete your first exam or any retakes of exams you did not pass.

Q. Did I need to register for this offer before I took my initial certification exam?
A. Yes, you needed to register for the Second Shot offer on the Microsoft Web site to receive your free exam voucher by May 31, 2008. If you registered for the Second Shot offer before May 31 and have an exam voucher, you have until June 30, 2008, to complete your first exam and any retakes of exams that you did not pass.

Q. Can I call the call or test center toll-free?
A. The call is toll-free in some countries and regions. In some countries and regions, a fee is required for the call.

This ICU MSCRM blog article reminded me of the little known SDK website called the CRM Metadata Browser, where you can access a nicely summarized view of your CRM metadata.

This is perfect for data migration planning, when you’ll need to see the list of attributes (aka fields) per each entity, along with their existing relationships. All of this data is neatly formatted per entity page. Hope it turns out useful for you!

Whether for CRM 3.0 or 4.0, browse out to…

• http://YourCRMWebsite/sdk/list.aspx
• Example: http://crm/sdk/list.aspx

CRM Metadata Browser: screenshot of the Contact entity

One of the most frequent questions I’ve come across from new clients is: “What’s the difference between Leads, Contacts and Opportunities in Dynamics CRM?”

This topic comes up because older contact management systems typically don’t have separate repositories for Leads, Contacts and Opportunities. These clients are used to having all that information lumped together in one table (usually Contacts), which may make it difficult for them to conceptualize the way CRM works. That setup can create a rather messy database to decipher when it comes down to managing the sales pipeline.

The thinking behind separating Leads and Contacts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is to separate the unqualified sales leads from the qualified sales opportunities. The goal is to keep your sales team from spending time on disinterested leads, and focusing on getting real results for your Sales Pipeline report.

For the fundamental differences between CRM Leads, Contacts and Opportunities, see below. Keep in mind that this is how a “vanilla” version of CRM looks like; these records and processes can be easily configured to the way you do your business.

CRM Leads

• Contacts or companies that are essentially un-qualified sales leads. In general, there is no current or past relationship history with these leads.
• CRM Leads should be qualified as a potential customer before they are “promoted” to a CRM Contact and/or CRM Opportunity.
• CRM Leads are NOT synchronized with the Outlook CRM Client, therefore they will NOT be listed as Outlook Contacts. Leads can only be managed via CRM.
• Examples:
  • Web visitors who had submitted a website questionnaire, and additional follow-up is needed.
  • Imported contacts from a third party list.
  • Business cards procured from an event or tradeshow.

CRM Contacts

• In a nutshell, CRM Contacts are the people that your company will have or already has an on-going relationship.
• CRM Contacts typically had been qualified as a potential sales opportunity at one point. Contacts may also have different types of relationships with your company, such as a vendor.
• CRM Contacts are synchronized with the Outlook CRM Client, therefore their contact information can be available in your Outlook Contacts.
• Examples:
  • Existing Clients.
  • Potential Clients going through the sales process.
  • Vendor Contacts.
  • Any contact where your company has the need to record activities and relationships.

CRM Opportunities

• The CRM Opportunity signals the kickoff of your company’s sales process with a potential or existing client.
• The history of Open, Won or Lost Opportunities can always be found in the related Account or Contact record.
• All metrics related to the opportunity are measured here, such as:
  • Estimated Revenue.
  • Percent Probability of Closing.
  • Sales Stages.
  • Rating (Hot, Warm, Cold).
  • Follow-up activities related to the opportunity.

Lately I’ve figured the new tricky CRM 4.0 exams deserved their own lolcat picture (right). Luckily, I’ve found some study resources that may help for my Second Shot exam.

In a slightly hidden section on the PartnerSource website are links to download the Student Manuals for the CRM 4.0 certification exams. Obviously they don’t give any questions away, but they do provide good guidelines on what to expect. Unfortunately, you will need a PartnerSource login to access these links.

Good luck on your exam!

Links to the downloads in PartnerSource (login required)

• MB2-632: Applications in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - Student Manual (PDF, 2.3MB)
  
• MB2-631: Customization and Configuration for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Exam - Student Manual (PDF, 7.3MB)
  
• MB2-633: Installation and Deployment for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Exam - Student Manual (PDF, 3.6MB)
  

The CRM 4.0 certification exams are now available! I admit, I was a bit overconfident before I took the CRM 4.0 Applications exam. I’ve been working with Microsoft CRM for many years now, so I wondered: “Really, how hard could it be?”

I took Exam MB2-632 last Friday and got an unfortunate 60% grade. I needed a minimum of 70% to pass. This new Applications exam, along with the other two CRM exams (Installation and Deployment & Customization and Configuration), can be surprisingly tricky, from what I’ve seen and heard. There are many “gotcha” questions which at first glance seem to have multiple correct answers, but you’ll have to use your best judgment to pick what is deemed as the most efficient answer.

This does make the exam feel incredibly tough, and apparently I’m not the only one. In the comments section of Larry’s MSDN CRM Blog and at Phil’s CRM Blog, some test takers posted negative feedback regarding some exam questions.

So to wrap this up, make sure you revise the Exam Topics, which I’ve included below. For the Applications exam you will need to focus primarily on the newest features in CRM 4.0. You can also safely disregard CRM 3.0 study materials, as most of the questions deal with newer concepts. And you will need to log some practice time with the application, so download the VPC image if you don’t already have it.

Finally, don’t forget to register for a “Second Shot” voucher number, which lets you take the exam again for free in case you have trouble on the first round. Register as soon as you can, this program is valid only until June 30, 2008.

Good luck! Let me know how it went for you.

Exam Details:

• 50 total questions with a 70% passing grade (you’ll need at least 35 correct to pass)
• 100 minutes to complete the exam
• Multiple Choice and Multiple Answer Questions

Exam Topics for all three Dynamics CRM 4.0 exams are found in the below link.

Read more »