New Dynamics CRM Accelerators! Portal Integration and Partner Relationship Management

Two new Accelerators were released yesterday, and they look a lot more practical than the last one I reviewed.  Note that the PRM Accelerator requires the Portal Integration Accelerator to be installed first.  Be sure to try them out on a VPC or test deployment of CRM 4.0 and think how they can benefit your organization.

Links and release notes from CodePlex are listed below.  Hey Microsoft: I’m still waiting on the Social Networking Accelerator you promised.  Any updates?

• Portal Integration
  • CodePlex link: http://crmaccelerators.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=29992

The Portal Integration Accelerator easily connects Microsoft Dynamics CRM to an organization’s Web experience. This release builds on the eService portal engine and expands to allow customers to configure and expose any CRM entity to an external facing portal.

The installation package contains all source code, documentation and a step-by-step installation video.

• Partner Relationship Management (PRM)
  • CodePlex link: http://crmaccelerators.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=29990

The Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator allows businesses to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to distribute sales leads and centrally manage sales opportunities across channel partners. It provides pre-built extensions to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM sales force automation functionality, including new data entities, workflow and reports. Using the PRM Accelerator, companies can jointly manage sales processes with their channel partners through a centralized Web portal, as well as extend this integration to automate additional business processes.

The accelerator installation package contains all source code, customizations, reports, workflows, assemblies, documentation and installation videos.

Note: In order to utilize the Partner Portal you are required to install the Portal Integration Accelerator first!