PowerObjects

Dynamics CRM Update Rollup 7: Known Issues

PowerObjects - Doug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:40:28 +0000

There are some siginificant issues with the latest Update Rollup (7) for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. While thankfully, none seem to be of the ’show stopper’ variety, I would certainly classify them as annoyances.

While there are some fairly significant performance and stability improvements in this rollup, CRM users and administrators will need to evaluate the costs/benefits of their particular scenario before deciding to update now or waiting for a possible “version 2.0″ of the rollup.

Please see the following KB article for information about the bugs you may see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976539/en-us

IE8 Developer Tools Missing?

PowerObjects - Doug — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:01:27 +0000

I had a perplexing situation this morning that I am sure some others have come across before.

I was trying to get the ID of an element in my CRM system I am developing. IE8, with the built-in Developer Tools has made this a MUCH easier process than it had been in the past. No more hunting through pages of code; now I can get what I am looking for with a simple click of the mouse. As I have done countless times before, I went to the Tools and selected ‘Developer Tools.’ Usually this would launch the Developer Tools and I would be in business. But this time, nothing – nada. No windows, no messages, nothing.

I then tried to use the F12 shortcut key to get the Developer Tools to display. No dice there either, though the taskbar did indicate that the developer tools were being displayed. I tried clicking on the icon in the taskbar but that did not produce any results either. I was now convinced that I had a much more serious issue on my hand.

First, I tried to re-register iedvtool.dll. This did not work

Next, I completely uninstalled and reinstalled IE8. This did not work either.

Finally, I decided to try one last Hail Mary pass before I resigned myself to hunting for elements the old fashioned way. I would try ALT + SPACE and see if somehow the developer tools area was minimized off the screen. Sure enough, pressing ALT + SPACE and then selecting MAXIMIZE made the trusty IE8 Dev Tools appear once again.

What I discovered was that the developer tools will remain in the state they were in when they were closed. In my case, I had the dev tools minimized off the screen, and rather than reseting when I closed IE, the tools were still minimized off the screen when I opened the program again.

A simple fix to a seemingly complex problem!

JoeCRM loves Microsoft’s new Portal Integration CRM Accelerator

Nyssa — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:07:25 +0000

Drive cost out of everyday business process and interactions by downloading Microsoft’s new accelerator: Portal Integration. This accelerator allows organizations to expose data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to the web through a secure portal. Business analysts can use point-and-click configuration rather than web development to decide which entities and fields will be visible to the portal users.

With the new Portal Integration Accelerator you can create as many portals as you need for multiple audiences. Common uses of the Portal Integration Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM may include a portal for non-employee or contract sales reps to track opportunities, a distributor portal to allow distributors to track opportunities, or a portal for vendors and contractors to collaborate on a project.

The Portal Integration Accelerator is available at no additional cost. Those running in an on-premise environment should contact their Microsoft partner about the external connector license, which is not required for those running Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a hosted environment.

Download Portal Integration Accelerator for Dynamics CRM

CRM Hotfix Auto Update: Part Deux

PowerObjects - Doug — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:27:30 +0000

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote a blog describing the process one would go through if they wished to configure hotfix auto updates for Outlook clients on their CRM server. The process was painful: we had to extract the contents of the hotfix file and do some hunting to extract the LinkID and PatchID for our configuration file, we had to set up a site where the hotfix could be downloaded from, we had to change some setting in IIS, etc. CRM administrators used to fear and dread the day a hotfix was released for they knew a ton of work was ahead of them to get it installed and make it available for users to download and install on their Outlook CRM clients. Thankfully, Microsoft has responded to administrator comments and have revamped the way hotfixes are distributed.

Previously, Microsoft did not make their LinkID’s known, even though the Outlook CRM client was programmed to obtain the hotfix from a Microsoft website and NOT through a local crmpatches folder. Without a registry key change, client machines would try to access http://go.microsoft.com/linkid=KBxxxx.exe, which would result in a failure, as that was not a valid LinkID. In order to solve this issue, admins were forced to create a crmpatches site and apply registry key changes to every client machine to point to this new crmpatches site, rather than Microsoft. Now, Microsoft includes the LinkID directly in each hotfix’s Knowledge Base article. Hooray!

There also was the issue of the PatchID. Each hotfix is assigned a GUID and we must insert this GUID into our XML configuration file. In the past we would have to do a /x command (extract) on the hotfix.exe file and do some searching to find this GUID. This was not necessarily difficult, but it was cumbersome to do so. Again, Microsoft has responded to these complaints and have also included the PatchID in the hotfix Knowledge Base Article! Double hooray!

So what does that mean for you, the intrepid CRM admin? Essentially, you can take the sample XML file that is printed below, insert the new LinkID and PatchID into the file (from the Knowledge Base Article) and upload it onto your server. Easy as that!

Two Notes on this Process:

1. Don’t forget to add a node into the XML file in order to make previous hotfix/update rollups unavailable for download. Since Update Rollups are cumulative, you don’t want to have your users downloading Update Rollup 7, followed by 6, 5, 4, etc. This is a frequently missed step.

2. The LinkID will contain an ampersand (&) in it, and ampersands are handled a little different in XML. Instead of just using &, we need to use &. For example, if the KB article says the LinkID is: 157191&clcid=0×409, you will put 157191&clcid=0×409 as the LinkID in the XML file. If you do not do this, users will receive a An error occurred parsing EntityName error. Again, this is a criminally overlooked step.

My sample XML configuration file is below. As a reminder, we need to run this via clientpatchconfigurator.exe on the server. Please see my previous blog if you need clarification on how to run the clientpatchconfigurator.exe.

Happy CRMing!

{THE PATCHID FROM THE HOTFIX KB ARTICLE}

This is what the User Will See as the Title

Not required, but I put in a short description of what the fix is for

false

true

OutlookDesktop,OutlookLaptop

157191&clcid=0×409

{PREVIOUS UPDATE ROLLUP GUID HERE}

JoeCRM is Downloading Update Rollup 7 to Dynamics CRM 4.0

Nyssa — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:32:29 +0000

JoeCRM is excited to announce rollout seven of Dynamics CRM 4.0. Vast improvements have been made with special attention paid to both the mobile client and the interface with Microsoft Outlook.

There are a few things to note before you download. You don’t have to install previous updates to install update seven, but all updates going forward require update seven. So it’s a good idea to install this one. When update eight comes out it will not update if update seven is not found.

After you download, there will be some improvements to you CRM application that will make your life easier. These improvements were focused on Dynamics CRM Mobile Express and Dynamics CRM Outlook client. There are many enhanced features to Dynamics CRM Mobile Express and Outlook client, but I’m just highlighting the few things that will matter the most to you.

Reduced sign in time. This improvement will be significant for users with a lot of information offline.

Uses less battery power on your laptop. In earlier versions of Dynamics CRM Outlook client the offline database would continue to run even when the computer was in online mode. Now that this application is only running when needed, it causes less wear and tear overall on your laptop.

Restart Outlook less often. In earlier versions when the laptop would go to sleep, Outlook would have to be restarted. After downloading the update, you will notice the Dynamics CRM outlook client handles transitions seamlessly.

Faster synchronization time. The update allows Dynamics CRM Outlook client to synchronize more records per minute with Dynamics CRM main database.

Supports Outlook Delegates. After installing update seven you will be able to delegate rights to others inside Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook. If an additional user has rights to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, they can keep an eye on your e-mails to make sure specific e-mails are tracked properly in Dynamics CRM. They can mark items to track if necessary.

For a complete version of every feature that was enhanced within Microsoft Dynamics CRM visit:

http://bit.ly/1BF3r8

For complete downloading instructions and the download links visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a4893988-7804-4e23-ab58-740441cc696e

JoeCRM Loves Windows 7

Nyssa — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:12:35 +0000

Just like a fish needs water, PowerObjects needs technology. We live and breathe technology and, of course, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. So, naturally, we get pretty excited about all types of technology. Whether it can do something better, or faster, or help us organize our messy desktops, or it’s just plain cool, we’ve got our hands in it.

Today PowerObjects is excited about the new release of Windows 7. We admit, we’ve been using the new platform for a few months, but we are so excited that everyone can start using Windows 7 today. We hope it will bring PC users everywhere increased productivity and less headaches. Here are a few comments made by the PowerObjects team, kings of technology, about why they think Windows 7 is cool:

“The first word that comes to mind when you say Windows 7 is fast. It works at faster speeds and helps me work at faster speeds.”
“When people install Windows 7, it’s like making an old computer into a new computer.”
“It’s faster than Vista and XP.”
“It’s much easier to multi task in between windows. It’s easier to see what programs I have open and see where the open documents are that I need to open.”
“The infrastructure is much nicer. I can customize the programs I use most often to show up on the task bar and open recently saved documents right from the task bar.”
“It works. They fixed all the problems from Vista that made it tough to work with.”

Windows 7 has a lot of other neat benefits but it’s the daily work benefits that make us the most excited about its release. We realize our Dynamics CRM applications can only work as good as the environments and computers they are operated on. We want all businesses to use technology to be successful. Dealing with a slow, locking up, freezing, crashing environment is no good for anyone. So, give your computer and your work productivity a little pick me up and go out and experience the cool features of Windows 7 yourself!

Find out if your PC is ready for a Windows 7 upgrade at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx

Getting started with Windows 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help

For a list of new Windows 7 shortcut keys visit:

http://productivity.ben61a.com/windows/windows-7-shortcut-keys.php

CRM 4.0 Very Slow on some, but not all workstations

alexf — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:42:39 +0000

We had an interesting scenario the other day. A CRM 4.0 system that has been running fine for many months all of the sudden began to run slow on a specific workstation. The workstation had all the latest and greatest patches, tons of memory, IE 8, and windows 7.0. This was not a system wide or server issue, but clearly an issue with the specific workstations.

The Symptoms

Internet Explorer was running very sluggish when accessing the Dynamics CRM web site. Clicking from item to item sometimes took 3-10 seconds. All browser settings were correct and we had tried all the usually debugging methods: clearing the cache, rebooting, url is in trusted sites, etc, etc.

The Cause

After trying many things and getting close to just FDISK the workstation, we decided to try to turn off the AVG antivirus. This still did not help. However, in addition to disabling AVG also disabling its two Internet Explorer plugging did the trick.

Why is this strange?

This is very odd as we have other folks using the same version of AVG antivirus and accessing the same CRM system with no issues at all.

What to do now?

After doing a bit more research we are now recommending that if an antivirus has a url scanner, script scanner, (or some method of scanning web sites), the crm url should be added to a white list or bypass list.

This definitely appears to be the case McAfee and CRM 4.0
http://www.tekoppele.com/Blog/post/2009/05/20/McAfee-ScriptScan-Solution-for-Dynamics-CRM.aspx#comment

And now sporadically with AVG and CRM 4.0

CrM 4 – Large DuplicateRecordBase Table

alexf — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:40:01 +0000

Dynamics CRM 4 has great capabilities in helping to keep a crm system relatively duplicate free by using duplicate detection rules. However, care must be taken when creating these duplicate detection rules. Each time a duplicate detection rule runs and a match is found, the matches are written to the ‘DuplicateRecordBase’ table. If the rules are poorly written this table can drastically grow in size thus causing large database growth, async service issues, and duplicate detection issues.

A few items to keep in mind when writing duplicate detection rules.

Watch for blanks. For example, if 90% of your contacts do not have an email address, do not create a duplicate detection rule on email address as it will be triggered 90% of the time.
Turn off duplicate detection rules during import.
Do not create a ton of rules. Think careful about how you can possible detect duplicates and even examine the existing data before creating the rules.

So what do you do if you do encounter a large DuplicateRecordBase table?

The first step is to identify the rule that is causing the large growth. Run this query:

select
COUNT(1)
as NbrRows, rules.name, rules.duplicateruleid from duplicaterecordbase as recs , duplicaterulebase as rules
where recs.duplicateruleid = rules.duplicateruleid
group
by rules.duplicateruleid, rules.name

This query will list the Number of Rows, followed by the duplicate detection rule name and guid.

After identifying the culprit, fix or delete the rule. If your table is not super large, deleting the culprit rule will delete the matches from the ‘DuplicateRecordBase’ table.

However, if your table is massive, this will timeout. You now have two choices: the supported method, and the unsupported method.

The supported method:

Open a ticket with Microsoft as you aren’t supposed to delete anything manually from the crm database.

The unsupported method:

First, drink a good cup of coffee and don’t do this smack in the middle of business hours.

Second – identify the ‘bad rule’ by running the query above.

Third – delete away.

delete
from DuplicateRecordBase
where DuplicateRuleId =
‘945E3FD2-3E93-DE11-9EEE-00215AF2E1A2′

Good luck.

CRM 4 Email Templates – Adding Graphics, Images, and formatting

alexf — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:36:17 +0000

One of the frequently asked questions we get asked related to email templates is how to include images or graphics or attachments in crm 4 email templates. Well, the short answer is that you can’t include attachments in email templates, BUT, you can still create very nice and professional looking templates by using image links.

In fact, by using image links your emails will be much smaller then embedding the images right in the emails, thus saving crm database space, and email resources.

Here’s a short blog creating email newsletter containing graphics and images and nice formatting.

The first thing you will need to do is create a public facing web page with your newsletter. If your company has a public facing site this can be a subfolder in your public site. For example, our Sep 09 newsletter is a single page:

http://www.powerobjects.com/newsletter/Sept09/sept09_newsletter.html

You can use any web site editor – FrontPage, Dream Weaver, etc.

If your company does not have an easily maintainable public facing site, use one of the many free services that allow you to create a public facing site – for example Microsoft Office Live offers free hosting of public facing sites and they have a good online editor.

http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-us/
Once you have a public facing one page web site newsletter, select all on the page, then copy. Using keyboard short cuts, you can click on the page, then control-a (for select all), then control-c (to copy). Do this on a browser while browsing the public facing web site newsletter.
In crm, create a new email template. In the body of the email, we can not right click and select paste. However, we can use the control-v, keyboard shortcut to paste.
The last step is to verify all links. We need to verify both image links and hyper links to make sure they have the a ‘fully qualified path’. This means that the URL is complete. Simply click on the link or image, and enter control-K. A link image box will then appear. Verify the url is complete and if not enter it fully with http://www….

That’s it – you can now email blast your newsletter. You can now use crm email template with very nicely formatted newsletters. This process may appear a bit cumbersome, but after you create a couple newsletters you will notice it is not bad at all.

Alex Fagundes

Measuring Customer Satisfaction in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:17:23 +0000

At PowerObjects we have been busy with a little xRM application to measure our customer satisfaction (CSAT) inside of Dynamics CRM. When we started looking at the issue we first had to decide the timing of our survey and how long they should be — I don’t know about you but I’m not a huge fan of getting these surveys that take 15-30 minutes of my life to fill out after the vendor is done and gone. Maybe my attention span is too short, but I think I’m like most people and if takes much longer than a good tweet — forget it… the phone has rung, an important email popped up, or someone has walked into my office. I also feel like these lengthy surveys are not a two way street. It seems like they are just trying to suck information out of me and before I get to the end, I’ve quit reading the questions closely, and am just hammering in answers to finish because I’ve already got 10 minutes invested.

So with these thoughts in mind we set out to build a better survey tool, and surprise surprise, we just happened to do it in our Microsoft CRM system. Makes sense seeing as how all the people I want to survey are already in CRM and what better place to write reports on the data.

To make sense of the survey we created, I need to introduce the PowerObjects Proven Process. We do one thing and one thing only — we implement kick butt systems in Dynamics CRM. Having done this hundreds of times, we have a process we use and constantly refine to make sure each project is a success. Although there are many little steps in each major step, we have broken it down into five major steps: Evaluation (this is our sales process), Plan for Success (this is our process of hand-off from sales to delivery), Design, Build & Validate (process to deliver the defined implementation), Train & Deploy (I’ll let you guess this step) and Lifecycle (everything that happens after we go live with a project).

We decided the best way to measure satisfaction is at the end of each step in the Proven Process. This way we could ask fewer questions and take up less of the contacts’ time and have questions related to the specific step in the process. This will also give us valuable data about what part of our Proven Process needs work. If we see scores drifting down during a project, we’ll still have time to step in and get everything on course. Make sense? I hope so because now I’ll talk a little bit about how we do it in CRM.

So when you think about a survey in our world, it is comprised of a group of questions that get tied to a specific survey. This survey is tied to a contact in CRM once we decide to send it out. First you must create questions — creating good questions is harder than you think!

We have designed this so we can choose a number of different types of questions. In our surveys I’m just using a one to 10 rating and a comment box. I do this so that everything has a numeric rating with our goal of striving for a 10 on every question. I also like to put a comment box at the end of each survey so people can let you know about other things that aren’t captured in a rating. We did build this with other applications in mind — think of the power of the data you could capture with these types of questions above and beyond a CSAT application —really any survey or questionnaire could be pushed out with the application.

So let’s talk about the survey we sent after the first step of our Proven Process, the Evaluation Process. Below you’ll see the survey questions we came up with.

Evaluation Process:

How well do you feel your account executive understood your business?
How would you rate the solutions demonstration we provided?
How would you rate the proposal that was presented?
How would you rate PowerObjects ability to meet your needs?
Please provide any other comments you would like (this is my text box question)

Next I need to create the survey in CRM

And then I need to assign questions to the survey

This pretty much lays the ground work for the survey. The next step is where a little of the programming magic comes in to play. What we do is create an email template inside of CRM that is specific to a certain survey. When we are at the end of a step in the PowerObjects Proven Process, we select the individuals in an account to receive the email. They get a short email asking them to take the survey. A link is provided that is unique to them and when they click it, it takes them to a webpage to collect the survey.

One of the many neat things we’ve added is the ability to specify what it says for the low and high value — this helps give context to your question. You can also add a ‘N/A’ for an option.

Once a contact submits the survey they can’t submit it again. You can see above that this should take no more than a minute to fill out.

Well that our two cents on measuring CSAT in Dynamics CRM — if you have questions or comments please post!

Happy CRM’ing