PowerObjects

Service Scheduling Part 2 in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:13:59 +0000

Business Issue

I need to schedule my people and equipment resources to provide a service to a customer.

Solution

One of the most underutilized areas in Dynamics CRM is its Service Scheduling functionality. Service Scheduling in Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps organizations track the service scheduling process including:

Managing different service types and what resources are needed to carry those out (Part 1 of 3)
Scheduling of those services (Part 2 of 3)
Reporting on scheduling levels, performance, customer satisfaction (Part 3 of 3)

In Part 1 we walked through the process of managing different service types, your resources and sites. This month we are going to look at how we schedule those resources to perform services.

Service Scheduling allows schedulers to be current and informed with calendar views that enable the scheduler to clearly view:

Weekly scheduled service activities
Monthly scheduled service activities
Daily scheduled service activities

The service calendar also saves schedulers time by providing current information about their unavailable days and times. Scheduling services in Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides the tools that help users organize and keep track of resources, resource schedules, time off, and company closures.

Scenario

Let’s look at a real life example of a dermatology office needing to schedule their services. This is a complex example that requires scheduling medical professionals who have different skill sets, work with specialized equipment and are located at different sites (clinics). For this scenario, the business must meet the following scheduling requirements:

Various medical professionals have different skill sets, credentials, licenses. Not everyone can do all services.
Employees work different shifts/times.
Employees are working different sites.
Specialized equipment is shared among the medical professionals.

Navigating the Service Calendar

The Service calendar helps users visualize the organization’s scheduling commitments and activities and create and update those commitments. You can see:

Views that provide helpful way to look at the calendar. You can look at the calendar in daily, weekly and monthly views or by resource(s).
Ability to view, edit and schedule items on the calendar.
Ability to distinguish between various types of scheduled activities.

Viewing Details for Resources, Appointments and Service Activities

Users can view the resources, appointments, and services activities for anyone in their organization. In the Type list, select Resource, and then in the View list, select the desired resource view.

To find a specific resource, in the Look for box, enter the first few letters of a name to search for a particular resource. The linear calendar displays the resource’s schedule.

Users can double click on any service activity record to open and view the details.

Use the Calendar Pane to Change the Date Display

The Calendar pane appears on the right side of the calendar. To change the date, click a date in the Calendar control. Use the arrows on either side of the month to change the month displayed. You can also change the number of days that are displayed in the linear calendar by clicking any of the options of Today, Month, Week or Day.

Scheduling Service Activities

Users can either search for an open time using search criteria that at a minimum includes selecting a service, or users can define a more complex set of criteria. The service activity appears as a color block on the Services Calendar.

Scenario: Schedule a patient to see a doctor for a laser procedure at the Woodbury, MN location. They would like the first available time slot with no regard to which medical professional.

Click on Schedule button in the Service Calendar.

On the Schedule Service Activity form, you must enter the following information:
1. Customer – locate and select the patient
2. Service – locate and select the service you want to schedule. For this scenario we are choosing Laser.
3. Site – select the site in which the patient wants to be scheduled. In this case it’s Woodbury, MN.
4. Resources – don’t make any selection here as the patient doesn’t care which medical professional they see.
5. Duration – the default duration for this service will populate from when you set up the service. Don’t change this unless you want to schedule more time than the default duration of the service.
6. Click on Find Available Times. The next available times are displayed.
7. Under Available Times, select the time in which the patient would like.

The Schedule Service Activity form closes and CRM fills in the information from the selected time into the Service Activity form.

On the Service Activity form, enter any additional information about the service activity.
On the Details tab, you can select and locate a record in the Regarding box to link to this service activity. You can also set a Priority for the activity, and record a Category and Sub-Category.
Click Save or Save and Close.

The service activity appears as a color block on the Service Calendar.

Service Activity Conflicts

During scheduling, an alert informs users if there is a potential conflict. You can choose to select another time, or book the service activity anyway. At any time, users can identify any service activities or appointments with conflicts by clicking Show Conflicts on the Actions toolbar on the Service Calendar.

Closing, Cancelling, or Rescheduling a Service Activity

If a service activity is completed, it can be closed. If the service activity is not completed, it can be cancelled. If the customer wants to reschedule the activity, users can search for a new timeslot.

When you are rescheduling a service activity, the flow is similar to scheduling.

Locate and select the service activity to reschedule from the Service Calendar.
On the Actions toolbar, click Schedule.
On the Schedule Service Activity form, change information as needed.
Click Find Available Times and again CRM returns a list of all the available time slots that meet the criteria on the form. If you don’t find a suitable time slot, change the criteria and try again.

When you are closing or cancelling a service activity:

Locate and select the service activity to close or cancel from the Service Calendar.
On the Service Calendar toolbar, select Change Status and a drop down will appear.
Select the appropriate status of close or cancel.

Setting Service Activity Preferences

You can provide personalized customer service for customers by recording their preferences regarding services and service times. These preferences become the default criteria the next time that a service activity is scheduled for the customer and they are offered in the Form Assistant pane.

Navigate to the account or contact in which you want to designate their preferences.
On the Administration tab, under Service Preferences, select the customer’s preferred time and day for appointments, preferred service, facility/equipment or user.
Save.

Summary

CRM Service Scheduling can help you track the service scheduling process. The Service Calendar saves schedulers time by providing current information about their available days/times, resources and conflicts. The scheduling process allows you to designate criteria such as site, resource and time and find available times that fit into our resource schedule. You can also provide personal service by adhering to your customers preferences.

Next month we will have our final segment (Part 3 of 3) on Service Scheduling – Reporting of your Scheduled Services.

Happy CRM’ing

Global Search for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:51:14 +0000

CRM is an awesome tool for storing your leads, contacts, and accounts. But one of the items it is missing is a search box to quickly search leads/contacts/accounts. This is actually a fairly straight forward component to build to customize CRM. One of the tools we have created and use often is our ‘global search’. By integrating it into our reading pane, we can quickly search for accounts, leads, and contact, but without double clicking we can ‘preview it’ in a nice reading pane. This is just another example of a Custom CRM screen that can be built in Dynamics CRM.

Happy CRM’ing

Install and Configure the Data Migration Manager for Hosted Clients on MSCRM

JoeCRM — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:33:45 +0000

Overview

Using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager, you can convert and upload data from another customer relationship management (CRM) system to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. At PowerObjects we have 100′s of clients on Hosted Dynamics CRM and are often helping with the migration of data.

The Data Migration Manager includes default data maps to convert source data from several common CRM systems to the data format expected by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. During the conversion and migration process, you can create any necessary custom entities or attributes to ensure that you do not lose legacy data during the migration

This document includes the necessary steps to install and configure the Data Migration Manager for Hosted clients of PowerObjects.

The Data Migration Manager is only available in 32 Bit and is supported for IFD (Internet facing deployment).

Download

The Data Migration Manager for CRM 4.0 can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6766880a-da8f-4336-a278-9a5367eb79ca&displaylang=en

Configure Data Migration Manager

Setup Known Issues

This section describes known issues that may occur when you install the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager.

Data Migration Manager cannot be run at the same time as Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook

You cannot run the Data Migration Manager while Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook is running. �

Temporarily disable Microsoft Dynamics CRM

In the notification area, click the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application Host icon, and then click Disable CRM. The icon appears grey.�

Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be re-enabled the next time you start Outlook.

The version of the Data Migration Manager must exactly match the version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to which you are connecting

If the version of Data Migration Manager you are using does not match the version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to which you are trying to connect, Data Migration Manager may stop responding or the sign-in screen may go blank. To connect Data Migration Manager to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the build numbers for both applications must be an exact match (for example, 4.0.7333.3). If the versions do not match, no specific error message will be displayed.

If the Data Migration Manager sign-in screen goes blank for an extended period of time, the versions may not match between Data Migration Manager and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Verify that you are working with identical versions of both applications.

Data Migration Manager should not be installed on a shared computer

Do not install Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager on a computer that is shared by multiple users.

Help for Data Migration Manager Setup may not be displayed in the correct language if you uninstall the application and then reinstall it in a different language

If you install Data Migration Manager in one language, uninstall the application, and then reinstall Data Migration Manager in another language, Help for Setup may be displayed in the language of the first installation.

To resolve this issue, delete the EnviromentDiagnostics.chm file from the temporary folder.

Start Windows Explorer and locate the temporary folder.

By default, the temporary folder is located in the following folder, where User is the name of the user that installed Data Migration Manager:

Drive:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp

On Windows Vista, the folder is located in the following folder, where User is the name of the user that installed Data Migration Manager:

Drive:\Users\User\AppData\AppData\Local\Temp
Right-click the file named EnviromentDiagnostics.chm, and then click Delete.
Run Data Migration Manager Setup again.

If creation of a new custom attribute fails during migration, data in that attribute is not migrated

If you choose to create a custom attribute for a column of data in your source CSV file but the Data Migration Manager fails to create the attribute during the migration process, the data in the source column is not migrated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

However, the Data Migration Wizard may display a message on the Conversion Errors screen stating that you can continue the migration “without migrating the rows that have errors.” Because the custom attribute could not be created for all rows in your source CSV file, this message implies that none of the data will be migrated. In reality, if there are no other errors, data in other columns will be migrated successfully.

To correct this issue, create the custom attribute in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application and add the missing data manually to the records that were migrated. Alternatively, resolve all the errors resported on the Conversion Errors screen before uploading any of the data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The default SalesForce.com data map for the Contract entity must be customized to migrate contract data successfully

If you migrate contract records from SalesForce.com to Microsoft Dynamics CRM without data for the CustomerId and BillingCustomerId attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Data Migration Manager displays errors. SalesForce.com data has only one AccountID column that corresponds to these two attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Both attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are required. However, the Data Migration Manager does not support direct 1:2 column mapping for Reference attributes.

To resolve this issue, you can map one source data column to one of the attributes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and then use a transformation mapping to map the same source data column to the second attribute in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Alternatively, you can use a transformation mapping to map the source column to both target attributes.

The sample SalesForce.com data map for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager includes an example of this type of mapping. To successfully convert contract data from the format that SalesForce.com uses to the format used by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you must customize the default SalesForce.com data map.

To prevent errors during conversion, customize the SalesForce.com data map to use a transformation that copies AccountId attribute data to both CustomerId and BillingCustomerId.

          Microsoft.Crm.Transformations.AssignValue

          Process

                Reference

                AccountId

              billingcustomerid

                  Account

Id

                  Source

                  Process

                  account

                  accountid

                  System

                  Process

    Microsoft.Crm.Transformations.Replace

        Process

            Reference

            AccountId

            Value

            000000000000000AAA

            Value

            customerid

                Account

Id

                Source

                Process

                account

                accountid

                System

                Process

Some records are migrated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM with a default status

Some entities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM include business logic for the transition from one status (state) value to another. Status (state) values in many entities are associated with specific status reason (status) values. Similarly, some records can only be associated with other records when each record has a specific status or status reason. This type of behavior varies greatly from one CRM system to another. Therefore, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager provides only partial support for setting the status (and corresponding status reason) for certain entities.

By default, all records are created with their default status. Data Migration Manager then attempts to set an appropriate status for these records, based on the status of records in your source data or the status of records related to the records you are migrating. However, if this is not possible because of differences in business logic, an error occurs and the record remains with its default status.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes special business logic for status and status reason transitions for the following entities:

Quote
Order
Invoice
Article
Contract
Case
E-mail
Opportunity

For all entities except the Opportunity entity, data migration errors can cause records for these entities to be created with default statuses. However, full business logic is supported for the Opportunity entity.

“The Data Migration Manager encountered an error while setting up the temporary migration database. Restart the Data Migration Manager, and then try migrating the data again.” error message displayed in Data Migration Wizard

One possible source of this error message may be the UserReplicationID registry key. You can resolve this issue by deleting the registry key, restarting Data Migration Manager, and signing in again.

You can find this registry key in the following path (depending on your system type):

32-bit systems: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Data Migration Wizard
64-bit systems: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Data Migration Wizard

User data with inconsistent capitalization may not be migrated correctly

Mapping functionality in the Data Migration Manager is not case sensitive. However, the conversion process itself is case sensitive. Therefore, user data that had been mapped without any errors may be converted incorrectly later in the migration process. Similarly, record ownership may become incorrect due to inconsistent capitalization of user data in the source data.

For example, in source data in which unique users were identified by their e-mail addresses, data maps would consider the following values to be identical: Name@example.com, name@Example.com, and name@example.com. You would be able to map all three of these values to a single user in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. However, the conversion process would treat these three values as unique, and may display an error or convert the user data (including record ownership) incorrectly.

Make sure that the source data you choose to migrate does not include user data with inconsistent capitalization. Similarly, if you are using a data map, make sure that the values specified in your data map are consistent with the capitalization in your source data.

Standalone migration of user data is not supported

User data is necessary to determine ownership of the records that you are migrating. Migrating only user data by using Data Migration Manager without migrating associated records is not supported. Always migrate user data together with the other types of records that the users own.

Source data files must be smaller than 32 MB

Each source data file that you are migrating using the Data Migration Manager must be less than 32 MB in size. If any of your source data files are larger than 32 MB, split the data into multiple files that are smaller than 32 MB. Make sure to include the header row in each file before you begin the migration process.

Note: You can increase the default file size limit of 32 MB by editing the web.config configuration file. However, doing so can degrade the performance of Data Migration Manager. We recommend that you split the data into multiple files instead of increasing the default file size limit.

Custom datetime attributes with Date and Time format cannot be created from the Data Migration Wizard

You can create custom datetime attributes of Date Only format by using the Data Migration Wizard. However, you cannot create datetime attributes with the Date and Time format in the Data Migration Wizard.

If you have source data with an attribute that includes date and time data, you can migrate this data to a custom Microsoft Dynamics CRM datetime attribute set to the Date Only format during migration. The format you select only affects how date and time information is displayed in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM user interface. None of your data is lost during the migration process.

You can resolve this issue by changing the display format to Date and Time in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application after your data has been migrated. However, if you want to avoid changing the format after migration, create the custom datetime attribute you need in the Web application before migration, and then migrate your date and time data into this new custom attribute.

Configuring Data Migration Manager fails for users without Administrator privileges when using a remote SQL Server

If Microsoft SQL Server is not installed on the same system as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager and if you do not have Administrator privileges on the system where you are running Data Migration Manager, you will not be able to configure Data Migration Manager.

Before configuring Data Migration Manager, check to make sure that you have the necessary privileges and that the SQL Server Browser Service program is currently running.

Users created by previous migration processes are not available until you close and reopen Data Migration Manager

If you create user records from Data Migration Manager, complete the migration process, and then try to migrate additional user records without closing Data Migration Manager, the users you created in the first migration process do not appear in the list of existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM users during the second migration process.

Similarly, users created directly in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application while the Data Migration Manager was running do not appear in the list of existing users. This can prevent you from mapping additional user data to these new user records, and may affect mapping of record ownership information.

If you have created user records in one migration process and want records that you migrate during a second migration to either map to or refer to these user records, you must refresh Data Migration Manager by closing and then reopening Data Migration Manager.

Source data cannot be migrated to custom drop-down list (picklist) attributes if you choose not to automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values

Using the Data Migration Manager, you can add custom drop-down list (picklist) attributes and you can add new values to existing drop-down lists. On the Get Started page in the Data Migration Wizard, you can choose whether or not to automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values. If you leave the To accommodate the source data, automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values and length of attributes check box for this option selected, Data Migration Manager automatically detects unmapped custom drop-down list values in your source data and adds them as custom drop-down list attribute values to existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM attributes.

However, if you clear this check box, custom drop-down list attribute values are not added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, causing migration of some records to fail.

To prevent this problem from occurring, do one of the following:

Leave the To accommodate the source data, automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values and length of attributes check box selected on the Get Started page before you begin the migration process.
Create the custom drop-down list attributes with their values by using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application, and then migrate data to the custom attributes.
Create a sample file that includes your custom drop-down list attribute values and custom drop-down list attributes. Leave the To accommodate the source data, automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values and length of attributes check box selected, and then migrate the sample data by creating custom attributes. This will customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the custom drop-down list attributes and their values. Remove the migrated sample data, and then migrate your complete source data, clearing the To accommodate the source data, automatically customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM list values and length of attributes check box before you begin the migration.

Source data intended for the Service attribute in Campaign Activity and Campaign Response entities cannot be migrated

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the Campaign Activity and Campaign Response entities both include a Service (serviceid) attribute that does not appear by default on the forms for these two entities. The Service attribute is a reference (lookup) attribute. However, there are no valid entities that this attribute can reference.

Therefore, if your source data includes data that you want to migrate to the Service attribute in either of these two entities, you will not be able to do so. In the Data Migration Wizard, you will see a blank screen where you would otherwise be prompted to map the column in your source data to a referenced entity.

To avoid this issue, do not map source data to the Service attribute in the Campaign Activity or Campaign Response entities.

As with all out blog posts the Team at PowerObjects is here and willing to help! All we do is Microsoft Dynamics CRM – whether it is hosted – On premise – or Microsoft Online – we have the tools to help you get more out of your system quickly.

Happy CRM’ing

Using Workflows To ‘Fix Stuff’ on thousands of records in Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:58:19 +0000

Workflows in dynamics crm 4 allows us to easily manipulate records, change data, and do various things. In addition to being great for automation, they are great for ‘fixing stuff’. For example, let’s say after a big data migration you forgot to set the primary contact on your accounts. You could then re-write the whole migration OR run a workflow in batches of 250 records at a time. But, with a small unsupported sql change, you can run this same workflow in much larger batches. This is unsupported and we are explaining here only for test purposes.

So here’s the workflow. In our case, it is a simple workflow that checks to see if the contact’s parent account has a primary account. And if not, sets this contact as the primary contact.

Now we have to make a small change behind the scenes to allow us to run this on many contacts. In this case I set it to 2000 rows at a time.

UPDATE UserSettings

SET PagingLimit=2000

WHERE SystemUserId IN

(Select SystemUserId

from SystemUserBase

where FullName like
‘system administrator’)

Now you can run the workflow in all 2000 records at a time:

To reset the max number of records back to normal, just go to ‘personalize workplace’ and pick one of the standard options: 50, 100 , etc.

If you need assistance feel free to reach out to the CRM Experts as PowerObjects – the only thing we do is Microsoft Dynamics CRM and with 100′s of customers we found solutions to most anything you can think of.

Happy CRM’ing

Tips for End User Training Success for Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:58:41 +0000

Is your CRM go-live date fast approaching? Are you struggling with how to organize and plan for your upcoming training sessions?

At PowerObjects, not only do we design, build and implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM and XRM solutions, we also do quite a bit of end user training for these solutions. A lot of this is common sense type advice, but many times these important items are overlooked. Often this is for sales pipeline management or sales process management and we have created two fixed fee programs that include training to help ensure success with your new MSCRM system. One is called PowerSFA and is geared towards an organization that is using MS CRM for sales automation, and the other is called PowerAssist and this is geared towards do it yourselfers and provides the minimum needed to ensure success – including the training!

Let us pass our experiences onto you…

Before your Training Day

For a trainer, most of the work is done before you even set foot in the meeting room. A good trainer has a clear agenda, is confident in the system and the technology and knows the system through and through.

Test, Test, Test (The Process!) – You will want to make sure your solution is 100% ready to go for the training date. Nothing derails training quite like uncovering a bug in a workflow or report! This will also cause your end users to get a BAD first impression of your new system!

Test, Test, Test (The Technology!) – Are you performing training in a large conference room or auditorium where you will be using a projector, microphone, video conferencing or other technology? Make sure beforehand that you can connect to the wireless network, your laptop is displaying on the projector properly, etc. If training starts at 1pm, you don’t want to find out at 12:55 that you can’t connect to the wireless network and dial out on the phone!

Set Your Goals – Have a clear understanding of what will qualify as a successful training. Is the goal to have each rep enter 10 of their opportunities into the system by next Wednesday? Is each manager supposed to get the weekly sales report out CRM from now on? Clear goals will help to guide your agenda.

The Agenda, Your Friend – Create an outline of the main points you want to hit during your training session. You want your training to follow the business process from start to finish. It may be helpful to split up your training into smaller, focused groups of end users to be sure that their specific training needs are met; a session for Sales Reps may focus on entering opportunities and activities while a session for Sales Managers may focus on reporting and dashboards.

Training Day!

The big day is finally here! Today is the day where you bring it all home. If you have done your due diligence you should be prepared to go out and execute your plan with confidence.

Common Courtesy – Distractions should be kept to a minimum during training (obviously). Ask that all phones be turned on silent if it is a live meeting; ask others on the conference call to mute their lines, etc.

Be Helpful, But Don’t get Sidetracked – Make sure to answer any questions that a user may have, but also be sure to stay on topic and on track. Don’t let one person derail the rest of the group.

Keep it Simple! – We all know that Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a broad program with a lot of capability, and sometimes that power can overwhelm a new user. You may not want to explore certain areas of the program in your initial training session (marketing lists, advanced finds, etc)

After Training

You didn’t think you were done after just one training session, did you?

How Did You Do? – After training has completed, it is helpful to go back to your original list of goals and make sure that each item was given its due diligence. This review is often the basis for additional training sessions and clarification.

Follow Up! – As was mentioned above, MSCRM is quite a broad system with a lot of capability. A successful trainer will be sure to create additional training sessions to teach additional areas of the system. It may be beneficial to schedule a weekly call where one specific topic can be covered at a time.

Create a Community – Create an environment where discussions and feedback on the CRM system is encouraged. It may be useful to have a weekly CRM User Group meeting to share tips and tricks on using the system or composing a weekly email to users outlining recent changes and enhancements to the system.

If you decide you do want assistance – PowerObjects is here to help! We offer a basic CRM101 class that is great for new users, as well as specific classes around driving value out of your CRM system with reporting. Our basic CRM reporting class covers advanced finds, export to excel, and the report wizard – this is a two hour web class…we also offer a complex reporting class that focuses on SSRS for those advanced users.

Happy CRM’ing

Shortcuts Rock for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:48:08 +0000

One of the things that sets MS CRM apart from some of the other options that are available today for CRM is the native integration – or as I like to call it – the “super duper embedded-ness” of Dynamics CRM into Microsoft Outlook. It seems like integration with, or the ability to “work with Microsoft Outlook” is at the top of the list of wants for like 99% of the prospective customers that we talk with. Simple reason for this is that Microsoft Outlook is by far and away the de facto standard for email, contact, calendar, and task management amongst organizations large and small. Millions of people rely on Outlook to manage their professional and often time personal lives. So, it stands to reason that when considering a business tool like a CRM system, they would naturally expect and demand that it work with a tool that they are already so heavily dependent on – Outlook. For today’s post I won’t go into ALL of the reasons why the Dynamics CRM “embedded-ness” in Outlook far out paces the competition in its ability to let users “work the way they work” – instead I will just highlight one of the ways in which you can make each users experience seamless and personal with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Outlook Shortcuts Rock: So a little known/used capability of Microsoft Outlook is the ability to use “shortcuts” to build your own personal version of Outlook and Dynamics CRM in one easy to use interface.

Here’s where to find “Shortcuts” and the default folders it will include:

Here is how you add groups:

Once you add a Group, then you add Shortcuts to Dynamics CRM folders:

Then add shortcuts to Dynamics CRM folders

In just a minute our two your Outlook + Dynamics CRM shortcuts area could look like this:

Well we hope the you find this helpful – because Microsoft CRM is the only thing we do – we are always looking for way to make it a more valuable tool in any organization!

Happy crm’ing

The best Microsoft Dynamics CRM event ever!!

JoeCRM — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:17:07 +0000

Well for all of you anxiously awaiting the release of the official agenda – here it is. We decided it was about time to put on a local event that focuses on Dynamic CRM and to bring our community together. We took the approach of what all we could pack into a day of learning that would drive the most value for our user community – we did some surveys – put our heads together – and this is what JoeCRM decided the day would hold. This will be an event you do not want to miss if you are remotely interested in MSCRM. To learn more about the event follow this page on our site. I would also suggest that you register soon – the first couple of days we took over 50 registrations and the room won’t hold much more than 150….Look forward to seeing you in October.

Agenda Overview: The agenda for the day will be a morning key note about the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and 2 general sessions centered on customer case studies and reporting. We will take the afternoon to split into two tracks; Business and Technical. We will also be hosting a Customer Panel to conclude the one day learning event.

Detailed Agenda:

Start Time	End Time	Topic & Description
8:00	8:30	REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
8:30	8:45	WELCOME – Agenda Briefing and Housekeeping Items
8:45	10:15	KEYNOTE – DYNAMICS CRM 2011: The release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, formerly ‘CRM5′ is coming soon and promises to deliver The Power of Productivity to customers and partners through familiar, intelligent and connected experiences. We will begin to prepare you for this monumental new product.
10:15	10:30	BREAK
10:30	11:15	EXTENDING CRM TO FIT YOUR BUSINESS: There’s more to CRM than just managing your customers. Our panel of business leaders, featuring Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers, will share their perspectives of how they leverage the flexibility and extensibility of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to expand beyond core CRM scenarios and manage the relationships that are most important to their businesses. Key Learning Objective #1: Hear examples of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM is being used in real life scenarios. Key Learning Objective #2: Understand how the tools provided within Microsoft Dynamics CRM to allow for extensible customizations to enable a variety of business processes. Key Learning Objective #3: Find out how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be used to manage a broad range of customer relationship management scenarios Key Learning Objective #4: Learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM integrates with other applications like Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Dynamics ERP and other ERP and others to provide a comprehensive CRM solution for the entire organization
11:15	12:00	GOT DATA?: Got data in your CRM but struggle to create the reports you need to analyze and make effective business decisions. Did you know that there are four main reporting options in Microsoft Dynamics CRM that are quick and easy to use? Have you taken full advantage of SQL Server Reporting Services for more of your complex reporting requirements? We will show you how to easily create the custom reports you need and review PowerObjects report writing services available to you. Key Learning Objective #1: Learn which options are available for reporting within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0; how to present reports to users where and when they need it; how to make reports more relevant to individuals; and how to increase business performance with your business data. Key Learning Objective #2: Learn how to create effective reports using the end user tools available with Dynamics CRM and PowerDashboard. Key Learning Objective #3: Learn how to build interactive and compelling reports using Microsoft SQL Server Report Server.
12:00	12:45	LUNCH
1:00	2:00	BUSINESS – A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS… TIPS, TRICKS AND FAVORITE FEATURES FOR ALL: Dynamics CRM is packed full of features and functions. It’s virtually impossible to know them all. In this session we plan to review some tips, tricks and features that will enhance your experience and productivity in using Dynamics CRM.
		TECHNICAL – CRM 2011 TECHNICAL OVERVIEW: In this session we’ll go over the highlights of CRM 2011, formerly known as CRM 5. CRM 2011 has some fundamental architectural changes and rich set of new set of features. One of the highlights is the new Outlook CRM client which offers many new features such as reading pane and pinning capabilities. We will go over all the new features and will leave plenty of time for Q&A and to deep dive into any specific area. Key Learning Objective #1: See the new features in CRM 2011 Key Learning Objective #2: Learn about the new Outlook CRM 2011 Client Key Learning Objective #3: What considerations need to be made when upgrading CRM 4.0 to 2011
2:00	2:15	BREAK
2:15	3:15	BUSINESS – DELIVERING MORE VALUE WITH ISV SOLUTIONS: Come and Learn How these Successful ISVs can Enhance your CRM solution. More than 500 ExactTarget clients use the ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration to power data-driven marketing efforts. The seamless integration allows organizations to transform customer data housed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM into targeted email marketing campaigns for lead nurturing, life cycle marketing and automated alerts and notifications. Experlogix extends Microsoft Dynamics CRM into a sophisticated pricing and product configuration system by expertly guiding users through every aspect of a Dynamics CRM Opportunity, Quote, Order or Service Contract. It even works off-line, so your traveling reps are never at a disadvantage. Built on the same .NET / SQL Server platform as Dynamics CRM, the two systems integrate seamlessly to provide a natural and intuitive user experience.� TenDigits Software Inc. is a recognized expert in the CRM mobility sector, and is committed to creating intelligent products that help customers meet their key business objectives. It’s flagship product, MobileAccess securely extends an organization’s Microsoft Dynamics CRM configuration and capabilities onto smartphones (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone) in the hands of mobile workers and executives. MobileAccess combines a superior user experience with powerful user capabilities in a platform that offers unmatched adaptability, reliability, and manageability.
		TECHNICAL – PORTALS: In this session we will talk briefly about the benefits of building a portal and value it brings to an organization. We will look at some examples of exposing CRM data to customers and partners as well as development techniques. We will discuss key elements in every portal and explain the pros and cons of using the portal accelerator verses building a custom portal. We will show techniques for developing Live ID for authentication into a portal. We will talk about design patterns for authorization and of course we will spend some time on navigation and screen layout. By looking at authentication, authorization and navigation you will be in a position to move forward on your own portal to allow your customer, partners and vendors to interact with your CRM data. Key Learning Objectives: What is a portal, why would you build a portal, what is the portal accelerator, what is need to build a custom portal, what is a CMS, what is Microsoft Live ID and why use it.
3:15	4:15	CUSTOMER PANEL: Our panel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers will share their perspectives of how they leverage the flexibility and extensibility of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to manage relationships and carry out day to day business processes. Key Learning Objective #1: Hear examples of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM is being used in a variety of organizations Key Learning Objective #2: Understand how the tools provided within Microsoft Dynamics CRM allow for extensible customizations to handle non-traditional CRM applications Key Learning Objective #3: Ask questions directly to a panel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers
4:15	4:30	WRAP UP

Dynamic System Views in Microsoft CRM 4.0

JoeCRM — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:32:22 +0000

“How can I have my own default view open automatically?”

“Can we hide some of the system-defined views as we are not using them?”

I have had to answer similar questions in almost every CRM project I have done, especially in XRM implementations as the out-of-box system views are aimed for traditional Sales Force Automation. After all, Dynamics CRM should be Dynamic!

The main challenges are:

If you attempt to delete out-of-box system view in CRM, you will receive message “System-defined views cannot be deleted.” and the delete fails.
You have no access to modify the filtering criteria of the system-defined views in CRM, to re-purpose them in any way.
You can set any system view to be the default view in CRM, but this default applies to everyone in your organization. There is no way to set different default view for your sales force, helpdesk/services team, executives, etc.

Hiding system-defined views can be solved through a plugin that runs just before system views are retrieved by MS CRM. In plugin like this, we have access to the query before it has actually run. We add additional filter to it, for example to exclude any views that are prefixed with “To Be Removed-”. Now we can simply rename any system view to be prefixed and they would disappear from our view list.

For example Account System Views cluttered with Campaign and Order specific views:

We prefix some of the views and publish the changes:

And the result is a clean view list:

Setting Default Views dynamically can be solved through a plugin that runs right after the list of system views has been retrieved by MS CRM. At this point, we have access to the retrieved collection of system views before it is rendered to the end-user. We can query user’s role, team or custom preferences and set the Default System View dynamically.

For example assume a custom entity where user can define their own default view for each entity:

Now when this user navigates to account screen, instead of default “My Active Accounts”, he will get his defined default “Active Accounts”:

This has allowed us to give more dynamic, actionable content to end-users, serving their precise roles and needs in more diverse organizations and custom Microsoft Dynamics CRM/XRM implementations. At PowerObjects we strive to give our customers systems that meet their needs – if you are looking for help with a Sales force automation or Sales Management system or a full blown XRM development projects give us a ping!

Updating Attributes that are not being used in Dynamics CRM

JoeCRM — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:28:31 +0000

Have you ever tried using the advanced find tool, only to find yourself staring at a REALLY long list of field names? On one hand, this is great because it truly gives you the ability to search every field within the CRM system to define exactly what it is that you are looking for. On the other hand, it might be nice to remove the fields that are not being used by your Organization to make this a little less confusing to the average CRM user.

Note: There are times where you may want to leave fields that are not on the form set as “Searchable”. (Example: If you have an Integration to your CRM system using fields that are not on the form, or if you don’t display fields like “Created On” …etc…)

We found this tool on the MSCRM Tools blog HERE. The Searchable Property Attribute Updater allows you to set an attributes “searchability” in bulk! This tool can search using a filter that determines if the field is currently being used on the published form, then allows you to choose which attributes should be set to searchable/non-searchable!

There are a few other tools that are posted on his site, but this one stood out as a real time saver! (P.S. Another really cool one on this site is the View Layout Replicator – Used to quickly make all “Views” for an Entity the same) – I digress… J

The tool works great for the most part. We did find that for some reason the Email field on the Contact got set to “Non-Searchable” the first time the tool was run, but re-running the tool corrected the mistake.

See the two screenshots below for an example result!

MS Dynamics CRM installation ASP.NET 2.0 is not installed

JoeCRM — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:20:32 +0000

We first encountered this error while reinstalling mscrm on a server that had changed by being demoted from a single server domain controller with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, joined to a new domain and had the server name changed.

We first tried reregistering ASP.NET via the command line below with no success in fixing the issue.

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i –enable

We finally figured out that the installer checks for a specific filter in the IIS settings, which is replaced when .NET 4.0 has been installed on a Windows 2003 server.

The Solution:

In IIS Manager, right click Web Sites, and select Properties.

Under ISAPI Filters, Add a new filter you call ASP.NET_2.0.50727, pointing to C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_filter.dll

Dynamics CRM should now install without issue.

Please post comments if you are having other issues of contact the Dynamics CRM Experts at PowerObjects.