To the Dynamics CRM community,

My apologies for not being as faithful to this blog as of late; there have been big changes!  After five awesome years at Emerging Solutions, I’ve decided to move on and sign up with Avanade.  I’m leaving not just [...]]]>

I jumped like this guy, but I strained something bad.

To the Dynamics CRM community,

My apologies for not being as faithful to this blog as of late; there have been big changes!  After five awesome years at Emerging Solutions, I’ve decided to move on and sign up with Avanade.  I’m leaving not just talented colleagues at Emerging Solutions, but great friends as well.  Due to our combined efforts, the Microsoft practice and especially the Dynamics CRM team has grown tremendously in recent years, and I wish them continued success!

Onwards to the future.  After several weeks at Avanade, they continue to impress.  I really could not ask for more regarding the resources they provide in my role as a Consultant.  They’ve invested in the CRM team by having me attend a CRM Boot Camp with @coloradojules and @davidyack, showing their solid commitment to their employees.  Additionally, their international presence demands a new level of consulting, and I hope to quickly get up to speed and make waves.  Undoubtedly, my goal is to be the best while learning from the best.  Many thanks to the Avanade team for making me feel welcome!

Finally, as many of you already know, the Dynamics CRM Team has been feverishly busy making CRM 2011 even more awesome.  Check out my news roundup below for the latest.

• The Dynamics CRM 2011 Roadmap announced that Service Update R8 is coming soon with big changes this end of Q2.   Download the Release Preview Guide here!  A quick summary below.
• Mobility:  a new cloud subscription service called Dynamics CRM Mobile will provide rich native apps to several mobile devices.  CRM, anywhere.
• Browser Flexibility:  this is a big one.  Dynamics CRM will soon run on any modern browser (IE, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) on various platforms.  Non-Windows users should be pleased (you know who they are).
• Social:  updates to the popular Activity Feeds will be added, with features such as a Like button and filtered views.
• Industry Templates:  new verticals like Life Annuity Insurance, Non-Profit, Health Plan Sales, and Wealth Management continue to address customer needs.
• SQL Server 2012:  the latest version of SQL also is supported for CRM 2011, with significant performance boosts.
• Certifications:  Microsoft data centers and extension Dynamics CRM Online achieved compliance on important certifications regarding cloud computing standards.

• Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 6 significantly improves performance and should be a must-install.  Note: once installed, you can’t roll it back.
• KB Article #2600640 and Release Notes
• Download link
• Improved Upgrade Performance blog post
• The R9 update to Dynamics CRM is coming soon, and brings social analytics and data-enrichment components.
• Social Analytics UI screenshot
• Article by the All About Microsoft Blog

What’s new in Dynamics CRM 2011

More videos, continued. [...]]]> Software Advice sat down with Dynamics CRM General Manager Brad Wilson and discussed a variety of topics in the videos below. It’s interesting to see the man behind the product, as well as discovering his thoughts on the current state and future of Dynamics CRM.

What’s new in Dynamics CRM 2011

More videos, continued.

Dynamics Marketplace

Microsoft’s strategy for marketing automation

Dynamics Partners in the Cloud era

Dynamics CRM vs. Salesforce

Earlier in the year, this company had restructured their staff.  During this process [...]]]> I recently got a call from a company that was having issues running their workflows on Dynamics CRM 4.0.  Despite being configured correctly, their workflows hadn’t processed for more than 4 months!  After a quick remote session, we quickly determined the source of the issue.

Earlier in the year, this company had restructured their staff.  During this process they had disabled the user account of a key former employee that was the owner of all the workflows.

What was the lesson learned?  Disabling the Owner user account of a workflow will disable the workflow jobs as well. Workflows require an active user account to process the jobs. When developing workflows for an organization, make sure all of the published workflows are owned by an administrative account, and not an employee.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 does warn you of this fact while disabling a user (see screenshot below).

Disabling a User in Dynamics CRM 4.0

Unfortunately for my client, all of their workflow activity during the downtime could not be recovered, despite having finally re-enabled the workflows.  Again, as a Dynamics CRM Consultant, be sure to educate your clients of this fact.

Hopefully there will be more to come soon. Let me know if you have a specific Dynamics CRM topic you’d like me to address, and I just might make a video walkthrough based on it. Meanwhile, [...]]]> Here’s my brief video walkthrough of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sales Lifecycle, from initial e-mail to closing the sale.

Hopefully there will be more to come soon. Let me know if you have a specific Dynamics CRM topic you’d like me to address, and I just might make a video walkthrough based on it. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to practice on my demo voice.

Looking forward to your feedback!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is already user friendly and intuitive.  However, there will be times where you want to nudge the CRM users along the road to productivity by providing a nice shiny button that does what they want.  In this case I want to add a button [...]]]>

You know your users want to push your buttons.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is already user friendly and intuitive.  However, there will be times where you want to nudge the CRM users along the road to productivity by providing a nice shiny button that does what they want.  In this case I want to add a button to a custom entity form, where upon clicking would automatically pop open a new related record.  

 A couple potential  case examples off the top of my head:  

• Button to create a new Phone Call activity, related to an open custom entity record.
• Button to create a new Contact record, related to an open Account record.

Since the button can run JavaScript on demand, you can think outside the box and consider other unique scenarios and possibilities.  

See below for the general procedure to get this published.  I’ll try to make it quick and painless.  

Customize your ISV.config file  

All Dynamics CRM deployments include a default ISV Config file.  However, this default file is typically riddled with developer test examples that can clutter your CRM if you’re not mindful.  On the other hand, it may serve as a useful reference to see some customization possbilities.   

If you want a clean ISV Config file with the button I’m creating, I’ve provided a copy here to download.  It’s up to you! 

ISV-button-template.zip  

To export or back up your current ISV Config file:   

1. Navigate to Settings > Customization > Export Customizations.
2. Export the ISV file to your desktop or local drive.

Exporting your ISV Config file

  Use your favorite XML or text editor program to view and edit your ISV customization file.  I particularly like the free Microsoft XML Notepad 2007 and Notepad ++. The code you want to add will look something like the below, nested in the Entities section. 

      <Entities>
        <Entity name=”new_customentity”>
          <ToolBar ValidForCreate=”0″ ValidForUpdate=”1″>
            <ToolBarSpacer></ToolBarSpacer>
            <Button Icon=”/_imgs/ico_18_debug.gif” JavaScript=”locAddRelatedTo(10016);”>
              <Titles>
                <Title LCID=”1033″ Text=”Create a new related record” />
              </Titles>
              <ToolTips>
                <ToolTip LCID=”1033″ Text=”Create a new related record based on this open record.” />
              </ToolTips>
            </Button>
            <ToolBarSpacer />
          </ToolBar>
        </Entity>
      </Entities> 

  In the above code, we: 

• Referenced where we want this button with the Entity name value.
• Made this button available only when a record is saved by disabling ValidForCreate and enabling ValidForUpdate.
• Added a couple ToolBarSpacer spots for neatness.
• Referenced a icon for it at the Button Icon value.  The debug icon works for me.
• Added Title and ToolTip info to let the users know what it does.
• Added a simple JavaScript line to create a new related record.

To make this JavaScript work for you, you’ll need to find out the related entity’s “Object Type Code”.  It’s really easy.  Simply browse to your CRM deployment’s Metadata Browser, which is typically at this URL format: 

http://{CRM_URL}/{Organization_Name}/sdk/list.aspx

Click on the related entity’s details, and you should see “Object Type Code” number.  Insert that number in the parenthesis for this JavaScript snippet:

locAddRelatedTo({Object_Type_Code})

Follow me here: the locAddRelatedTo function will let the button open a new related CRM record of the entity I specified with the Object Type Code.  Simple as that.

 Once you finished customizing your new ISV Config file, make sure you upload it back to your CRM deployment. 

Last Step!  Enable custom menus and toolbars

If you published your new ISV config file and you still don’t see the changes, this is the reason.

By default, CRM disables the custom menus and toolbars.  This means CRM will simply ignore whatever ISV Config file is out there.

To enable your custom button:  

• Navigate to Settings > Administration> System Settings.
• Click on the Customization tab.
• Add the Clients where you want this customization to appear.  The choices?  Web, Outlook, and Outlook Offline.

Custom Menu Settings

  Thanks to Mitch Milam’s blog for pointing me in the right direction.  

The highly anticipated Social Networking Accelerator was released today!  It was last announced this past July, promising Twitter integration out-of-the-box and future enhancements for other social networks.

Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 [CodePlex.com]

To view all the features this new Accelerator provides, review [...]]]>

Dynamics CRM and Twitter combined. You cannot escape.

The highly anticipated Social Networking Accelerator was released today!  It was last announced this past July, promising Twitter integration out-of-the-box and future enhancements for other social networks.

Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 [CodePlex.com]

To view all the features this new Accelerator provides, review the video below or at this link.

Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

The document can be downloaded from [...]]]> The latest statement of direction was recently released by Microsoft, and it outlines the roadmap and future plans regarding Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Check it out! It includes mention of future Accelerators and details on the next major release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM “V.Next” (aka 5.0), scheduled for release in 2010.

The document can be downloaded from the following locations:
PartnerSource: https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/marketing/statementofdirection/MD_CRM_SOD.htm

CustomerSource: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/documentation/whitepapers/MSD_CRM4StatementOfDirection.htm

SPI Accelerator screenshot

A new accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM was released today, and you could say it’s a unique one.  If you go to the CodePlex site, [...]]]>

Update: Mondo had declared itself bankrupt late 2009, but appears to have merged with another Danish MSCRM consulting company called KeyZone.  Here’s the Google translation link.

SPI Accelerator screenshot

A new accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM was released today, and you could say it’s a unique one.  If you go to the CodePlex site, you’ll only be able to download a whitepaper from this page; that’s because this sales methodology is proprietary.  There’s a separate registration page for the actual download.  So, if your firm or client subscribes to the Sales Performance International (SPI) Solution Selling sales methodology, then this one is right up your alley.  Oops, I almost forgot the ®.

What I like about this accelerator is that it incorporates other Microsoft technologies like Silverlight and Windows Workflow Foundation to add value to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  What is not so nice is that it requires a pricey subscription, in comparison to the other free Accelerators.

One option is to deploy it On-Premise.  It’s free for 3 users or less, but as a proprietary sales methodology, you’ll have to start paying to get more users.  This accelerator will be available for On-Demand (hosted by Mondo from Denmark).

Subscription options for this sales methodology:

1. Hosted by Mondo (on-demand), customers pay a license subscription fee per user per month which includes a Mondo hosted subscription to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
2. On-premise customers may download and install the accelerator on their own servers. On-premise customers have two solution options: the basic and professional editions. The Basic edition can be downloaded and deployed at no cost. The Professional edition requires a license to be purchased for each user; this license fee includes a 2-year software assurance (support) package.

To download the free copy of the basic edition, as well as the installation guide and user manual, go to this Mondo.dk link and register.

The SPI "Pain Chain". Ouch!

SPI "Strength of Sale"

According to this Gartner press release, the worldwide market for CRM solutions has grown 12.5% since last year in 2007.  Looks like there’s now solid evidence businesses are catching on to the benefits of a CRM solution… or even better, xRM.

But one of the highlights [...]]]>

The Wayans bros. were the first CRM Consultants

According to this Gartner press release, the worldwide market for CRM solutions has grown 12.5% since last year in 2007.  Looks like there’s now solid evidence businesses are catching on to the benefits of a CRM solution… or even better, xRM.

But one of the highlights of this story is that Microsoft Dynamics CRM revenue grew 75% last year.  Much of the success was attributed to the trend in SaaS, with the likes of Microsoft CRM Online and Salesforce.com.

Software as a Service (SaaS) continued to drive the market forward, representing nearly 20 percent of total CRM software market revenue in 2008, up from just over 15 percent in 2007. Interest in social networking and social software also escalated in 2008 as businesses were confronted with the sales, marketing, and serviceability impact of increasing consumer participation in online forums.

SAP continued to be the market leader accounting for 22.5 percent of worldwide CRM software revenue in 2008 (see Table 1), but this is down from a 25.5 percent share in 2007. Microsoft experienced the strongest growth rate among the top 5 vendors, as its revenue increased 75 percent in 2008.

I’ve been busy on a couple projects lately, so I’m predicting there will only be more in the near future!  Let me know if you’ve personally seen more CRM business too.