Microsoft Changes SkyDrive's Name to OneDrive

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:19:00 GMT

We all knew a change was looming for Microsoft's SkyDrive, and today the awaited announcement arrived! OneDrive is the new name for Microsoft's SkyDrive. This comes on the heels of SkyDrive loosing the trademark dispute with BSkyB.

For all SkyDrive users out there, no worries, OneDrive will function identically to SkyDrive, and you can continue use with no interruption. Microsoft has assured users that the changes will be purely cosmetic and branding related. To view a demo of OneDrive click here.

Tech Tip: ADFS: What to check for when things go wrong

Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:47:00 GMT

We wanted to write this blog post as we have seen time and time again organizations that have deployed ADFS to work with Office 365, and when the ADFS infrastructure is no longer functioning, our clients are dead in the water and are at the mercy of someone with knowledge in AD FS to bring their business back to functioning.

However, many components to ADFS are actually quite simple, so the purpose of this post is to go through some of the things that may fail or break with ADFS and the steps you can use to correct the issue. The following points will be broken down into the experiences you will encounter with ADFS.

A. Internal ADFS server with ADFS proxy publishing ADFS to the internet: “There was a problem accessing the site.” Internal Authentication works, external does not.

This issue describes that the proxy server cannot establish a secure communication with our back end ADFS server. If you can authenticate internally directly against the ADFS server, but outside users cannot authenticate against the proxy, check the following on the proxy server:

The system clock on the proxy server is not off by more than 5 minutes in relation to the ADFS server.
The service account used by the proxy to obtain configuration data from ADFS is not expired/deleted/had their password reset.
The proxy server can correctly resolve your ADFS service name and the corresponding IP address returned is correct.

B. Internal AD FS server with AD FS proxy publishing ADFS to the internet: “There was a problem accessing the site.” Both internal and external users cannot authenticate. If working previously, this may be related to the Certificates on the machines:

Ensure the token signing certificate is notexpired. Open ADFS management, go to certificates on the left, and examine thetoken signing certificate. See “Update trust properties” at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151809.aspx
Ensure your SSL certificate is also not expired.
IF these look correct, test authentication onthe ADFS server. If that succeeds, try an internal workstation, if thatsucceeds, move to an external workstation, so that you test authentication fromthe inside out.
Depending on where you cannot authentication(Internal/external) you will need to check Event viewer on either the ADFSserver or the ADFS proxy (Or just the ADFS server if you do not have a proxy).Once you have an event ID, can correlate it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/adfs2-troubleshooting-certificate-problems(v=ws.10).aspx

C. Single ADFS server, cannot authenticate. ADFSserver is unreachable.

Ensure that port 443 inbound is correctly NAT’dto the ADFS server for the ADFS service name (sts.contoso.com)
You can test this by doing a certificate test atwww.digicert.com/help
If you installed your SSL, but not getting aresult back from the above link, make sure the SSL cert is binded to port 443and that port 443 inbound is reaching that ADFS server.
If you can access the O365 Portal internally onthe corp network, but cannot login via ADFS externally, or ifOutlook/ActiveSync authentication is not working, the issue resides withexternal routing to the ADFS server.

This was a quick overview of some simple things that you can check yourself without any ADFS experience. Obviously, there may be issues with ADFS not covered in this quick guide, and you may need to reach out to someone with ADFS experience. However, you can find some more information on troubleshooting ADFS at the following links:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2713898 (Problem Accessing the Site)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151809.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732610.aspx (Troubleshooting ADFS)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/adfs2-troubleshooting-certificate-problems(v=ws.10).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/video/Dn189142 (Video Guide)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/adfs2-troubleshooting-guide(v=ws.10).aspx

Tech Tip of the Week - ID Fix Tool & How to Locate Proxy/Email Addresses

Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:18:00 GMT

This week's tech tip is on the ID Fix Tool which searches your Active Directory for Duplicate objects and there attributes. This is a great tool that will assist on preparing a Directory Synchronization deployment with Office 365. To download the tool yourself here is a direct link: http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=36832

Prepare user-related attributes for Office 365 deployment
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh852533.aspx

List of attributes that are synced by the Windows Azure Active Directory Sync tool
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2256198

Scenario:

- User receives error messages referencing to Duplicate Attributes

- Directory Synchronization Completed but not all objects updated accordingly

- Character formatting is not met or character length / invalid character

Solution:

- Run the IDFix to check for Duplicate objects and attributes

How To Locate Duplicate Proxy Addresses And Email Addresses in Active Directory:

The Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in can be used to search for the address. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers “ADUC “

2. Right click on Domain and select Find

3. On the combo box labeled Find select Customer Search

4. Click on the tab called Advanced, and enter the following LDAP Query: proxyaddresses=smtp:tester1@domain.com Click on Find Now. You can also search for attribute mail as shown in Example 2.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Hot off the Presses: Microsoft Makes Big Announcement for Power BI

Thu, 09 Jan 2014 15:04:00 GMT

The long awaited announcement of Power BI has come, and will officially be offered for Office 365 as a part of Microsoft's self-service business intelligence bundle. The pricing announcement came from Microsoft Server and Tools Business President Satya Nadella at this week's Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. This big announcement fills in current Office 365 mobile and cloud BI gaps by using technology from Query and "GeoFlow" (formerly PowerPivot, Power View and Data Explorer). Power BI for Office 365 works in conjunction with Excel and Sharepoint, which allows customers the ability to integrate their on-premise data with Power BI in the cloud.

Below is an example of the soon-to-come mobile app designed for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices--although iPad app's are also in the works.

For more information of Microsoft Power BI see this clip from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference to view a demonstration of this product. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsa-5LGx_IY

Cross-Site Silent Redirection for Outlook Web App

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 15:24:00 GMT

While there have already been countless reviews on the new features in Exchange 2010 SP2, one feature has been arguably overlooked. In an article put out by the Exchange team just two weeks ago, the team highlighted one "killer feature" that according to them has gone unmentioned. The Cross-Site Silent Redirection for the Outlook Web App is one great feature, few are taking advantage of. To check out the full article and to get all the details on this Exchange feature, click here.

The Latest Cloud Updates before 2014

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 14:32:00 GMT

Microsoft is bringing you a better service that understands your company’s needs. They have been very busy this end of year - releasing new features and upgrading their Cloud services constantly. Read below for a brief summary on some of the recent updates from Microsoft.

1 Office 365 Admin Mobile App

This nifty mobile app allows for the Admin-on-the-Go to check the service health of your Office 365 service. The app was first released in November for the Windows Phone, but as of December 21^st, iOS (7) and Android (4.2.1+) users now have their own version of the app available.

See the Office 365 Admin App FAQ: http://community.office365.com/en us/wikis/manage/office-365-admin-app-faq.aspx

See the official Microsoft post here: Check the service health of your Office 365 service on the go

2 Yammer in Office 365

With the rise of Yammer in June, and the addition of it to all Enterprise level service plans in November, Yammer is continuing to grow and merge into Office 365.

Break the mental connection that Yammer is just another Social Networking Site for corporations.
Yammer is much more than just a social networking site or community portal for your company, and once you take advantage of it you’ll wonder how your company ever survived without. For those not familiar with Yammer, it is an advanced enterprise social networking tool that allows for sharing, maintaining, and collaborating on content within your company, or via External Networks (across multiple organizations). It allows for you to build a sense of community within international organizations by allowing everyone to communicate and stay
up-to-date in one central location.

Yammer has the potential to integrate or replace many current intranet site configurations, which can allow for you to consolidate where users are going and logging into for company information.

For businesses that aren’t looking to move to Yammer (yet), or incorporate another service, there is still SharePoint Newsfeed. Newsfeed is the default social collaboration setting in SharePoint Online. For more information of the differences between the two features, refer to the article here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/pick-your-enterprise-social-network-yammer-or-newsfeed-HA104037368.aspx

For more information on the features available, see the following: https://about.yammer.com/product/feature-list/

Check out the mobile apps available: https://about.yammer.com/yammer-blog/get-going-new-mobile-apps/

3 Switch to a Different Office 365 Service Family

Instead of being stuck on one of the types of plans available in Office 365, such as Small Business, MidSize, or Enterprise, switch your plan.

This new feature help alleviate stress from company growing pains by allowing for you to rapidly adjust your current service plan to one that best meets your budding necessities; effectively eradicating many painful, and many times expensive, migrations from one service plan to another.

If you’re unfamiliar with the different features and limitations placed on each of the service families, please see the following site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans-FX102918419.aspx

4 Windows Azure Active Directory Premium

Currently in Public Preview (meaning it’s in testing and
currently free), is
Windows Azure Active Directory Premium.

Active Directory Premium provides additional features for identity and access management when using Windows Azure. Some of the new features announced are:

This is not a comprehensive list of features being added. As it is still in Preview, more features over time will be added.

With a one month trial of Windows Azure, enrolling in the AD Premium preview is even easier. Get your feet wet and try out another great Microsoft product - without the deployment cost.

Tech Tip: Add a Non-Indexed Location to a Library in Windows

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 14:07:00 GMT

Recently Champion came upon a request to have a mapped drive be set as a permanent My Documents library location for users on their respective Windows machines. The idea was to make the move to SharePoint as seamless as possible for the company, as they were switching to using SharePoint and SkyDrive Pro more for document storage. Since many companies struggle with user adoption, this Champion client needed a way to keep their users from getting confused and losing track of documents in various locations.

Adding a Mapped Network Drive is half the task. For instructions on how to do this, see the article here for a user and here for when using GPO.

Now you just need to include the mapped drive as a library location. Which would be easy enough if you could do it as quick and easy as it is to add a regular folder to a library location.

Attempting to add the mapped drive as a location will leave you staring at an ugly error message stating, “This Network Location can’t be included because it is not indexed.” Which is about as much good as this Error Monster saying it.

So why is Windows complaining at you? Windows wants to be able to index locations for faster search and discovery performance – which is normally great – but right now that isn’t what we want. So to get around this, we will follow these instructions below:

Create a folder on the hard drive. I’m using

the “C” drive.

C:\SomeFolder
Create a subfolder within the folder you just

made.

C:\SomeFolder\Docs
Add the subfolder as a library location to the

library.
Delete the subfolder from the drive.
Run an elevated Command Prompt (as admin). Use a cmdlet called mklink, we will make a symbolic link. Name the link the same as the folder you created above. See two examples below:

mklink /d c:\SomeFolder\Docs \\server\documents

mklink /d c:\SomeFolder\Docs h:

Done. Now you have non-indexed path as a library location.

How to Add Yammer To The Office 365 Global Navigation Bar

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 21:47:00 GMT

Office 365 and Sharepoint +Yammer customers will be familiar with the Office 365 global navigation bar that runs across the top of your portal.

› Tip: This doesn’t apply for Yammer Enterprise standalone customers, as users do not see an Office 365 global navigation bar.

SharePoint Newsfeed is offered in the navigation bar by default, but we recommend switching it to Yammer. This will make it easier for people in your organization to access and use Yammer from within Office 365.

Don’t worry, when you switch your Newsfeed link to Yammer, SharePoint Newsfeed functionality doesn’t go away. People can still access Newsfeed from their Sites page, and they can continue to follow SharePoint sites, documents and tags there.

To Replace The Newsfeed Link With A Link To Yammer:

Sign in to Office 365 using your Office 365 global administrator account.
Choose Admin > SharePoint. You’re now in the SharePoint admin center.
Choose Settings.
Under Enterprise Social Collaboration, choose Use Yammer.com service.
- › Tip: Changing the Office 365 global navigation for everyone in your organization may take us up to 30 minutes to complete.
Click OK at bottom of page.

For additional resources on Yammer, check these out:

Yammer Resources

Yammer provides a number of resources to help your organization successfully plan and implement Yammer Enterprise:

Yammer Success Center contains planning templates, training resources, admin and IT guides, and tools for starting your social journey.

Yammer Customer Network (YCN) is an active community of Yammer champions, all with the goal of making their network successful in their workplace. It’s a place to share best practices with other Yammer customers, ask and answer tough questions, and learn more about Yammer.

Yammer Social Journey is an interactive step-by-step guide that will help you customize an action plan to get the most from your network and start benefiting from working social.

Tech Tip of the Week: Windows Powershell CMDlets

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 21:14:00 GMT

This week’s tech tip is for all you Windows PowerShell users.If you’re using PowerShell, you may already know about CMDlets. If not, this post is sure to excite you, as CMDlets (pronounced “command-let”) are nifty commands that will ease the process of using Powershell.

Here are 5 CMDlets to get you started:

1. Get-Recipient | Where {$_.EmailAddresses –match “user@contoso.com”}
This CMDlet will find an email address that is inside of the quotes.

2. (Get-Mailbox) | ForEach {Set-Mailbox $_.Identity –RetentionPolicy “Contoso-Policy”}
This CMDlet applies a single retention policy to all users.

3. Get-MSOLUser | Set-MSOLUser –PasswordNeverExpires $true
This sets all users passwords to never expire (Requires Azure Module)

4. (Get-Recipient) | ForEach {Add-RecipientPermission –identity $_.PrimarySMTPAddress –trustee relay@contoso.com –AccessRights SendAs –Confirm:$Y}
This gives a single mailbox SendAs rights to all other recipients (groups, mailboxes, external contacts).

5. (Get-Mailbox) | ForEach {Enable-Mailbox –identity $_.PrimarySMTPAddress –Archive}
This CMdlet turns on archiving for all mailboxes

Try out these CMDlets and let us know what you think!

Latest News: How a 30-year-old IBM business partner stays relevant in the cloud

Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:41:00 GMT

Summary: Over the past 18 months, Champion Solutions Group has migrated more than a half-million users into Microsoft cloud solutions.

By Heather Clancy for Next-Gen Partner on ZDNet.com

"Many legacy systems integrators with deep skills in data center integration are recasting themselves as purveyors of cloud solutions and private cloud infrastructure, and Champion Solutions Group -- founded way back in 1979 -- is no exception.

Over the past several years, Champion Solutions has ensured its ongoing relevance in data center infrastructure by building expertise at building private cloud solutions: it is one of VMware's elite Lighthouse partners, who are trained to accelerate adoption of hybrid cloud computing."I can't think of one customer that is not utilizing the cloud in some way," said Chris Pyle, CEO of the integrator, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla. Its clients include the likes of Insurance.com, Moen and the Borgata Casino & Spa.A rather typical example of the sort of work that Champion Solutions does involves a business continuity solution it built for Laurens Electric Cooperative, a 150-person organization in South Carolina. Using VMware vSphere and VMware View, Champion Solutions built a virtual server environment that can fail over to an offsite data center. View was used to streamline the process for managing tablets and desktops used by remote employees.

In addition, Champion Solutions migrated the company's Exchange email into the cloud using Microsoft Office 365."For the VMware vSphere upgrade, Champion conducted a methodical process to document every step and every component," said Bobby Smith, director of IT for the rural electric coop. "In addition to providing our IT team with training, our employees never noticed any change in the functioning of their ssystems -- the process proceeded flawlessly."Although its list of vendor partners is lengthy (including Dell, Brocade, NetApp, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Citrix, Cisco and at least a dozen other serious data center and cloud contenders) and its roots lie in a long-time partnership with IBM, Champion Solutions has become a highly public strategic cloud partner for Microsoft over the past several years: through its 2012 acquisition of MessageOps, it now supports more than a half-million Office 365 seats, estimated Pyle. That includes Champion's own sales organization. "It's extremely hard to sell something that you aren't utilizing first," he said.MessageOps was created in 2009 solely for the purpose of helping businesses migrate applications to Microsoft Online services. But even before that, Champion Solutions was named Microsoft's cloud partner of the year in 2011. Although Champion has extensive technical expertise in data center integration, it chose to focus on selling Microsoft's cloud applications so it didn't have to maintain the cloud infrastructure to host its own, and so that its consultants could focus on solving process-related problems rather than worrying about IT maintenance.

In addition, Champion Solutions focuses its cloud infrastructure services on assisting businesses with private cloud buildouts. Approximately 55 percent of 379 hardware decision makers in North America and Europe plan to prioritize building an internal private cloud, while 33 percent have begun this process, according to Forrester Research's latest "wave" study on this topic from November 2013. The majority of them (30 percent) are doing so using a commercially available software option, rather than a converged hardware/solution or open source software, Forrester reported."

View the full article here: http://www.zdnet.com/how-a-30-year-old-ibm-business-partner-stays-relevant-in-the-cloud-7000024102/

Tech Tip of the Week: Syncing Distribution Groups in Office 365

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:49:00 GMT

Having trouble getting your distribution groups to sync when migrating to Office 365? We recently worked with a customer who had over 300 distribution groups that were not syncing to Office 365. Upon review, we noticed that the distribution groups did not have a Display Name.

Here are the steps we took in order to resolve the problem:

1. Open ADUC “Active Directory Users and Computers “On the top menu click on view and select Advanced Features.

2. Find the Distribution List that is not syncing to your Office 365 tenant > right click the Distribution List > select Properties > click on the attribute editor tab.

3. There are a couple attributes that must be filled out in order for it to Synchronize to Office 365.

Attributes: mail, displayName – if they do not have any data, fill it in. Once completed click ok.

4. Open the MIISClient. This is located on your DIRSYNC Server. The default path is: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell\miisclient.exe”

5. Click on Metaverse Search > input the following:

Attribute: Mail

Operator: Contains

Value: “Email Address of the DG”

6. Once filled in click on search > double click the search results > click on the connectors tab. Note: If you only see SourceAD Management Agent, perform the following:

7. Click on Management Agents > Right click SourceAD > click on Run > click on Full Import Stage Only > click on ok.

8. Right click SourceAD > click on run > click on Full Sync > click on ok.

9. Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Full Confirming Import Stage > click on ok.

10. Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Full Confirming Sync > click on ok.

11. Right click TargetWebService > click on Run > click on Export > click on ok.

We hope you found this week’s Tech Tip useful! Do you have a problem you want us to solve in our Tech Tip of the week series? Let us know!

Microsoft Office 365 Delivers New Customer-Requested Mobile Features

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:45:00 GMT

Microsoft had a very busy October, focusing on delivering “customer-requested features” to Office 365, their cloud enabled productivity software suite. As Microsoft moves along with their overall restructuring effort and transformation “from a software vendor into a devices and services company,” these improvements are a few of the updates which emphasize part of the company’s goal of delivering software releases and updates more quickly.

A few highlights of the new capabilities:

An update for the Lync mobile app permits users to participate in Lync Meetings, even without Lync accounts, and allows them to initiate impromptu, multi-user Lync IM or video conversations on mobile devices. Scheduled meetings can be seen and connected to straight from the mobile app via Exchange calendar integration and users can join full voice and video meetings using the connection on their mobile devices (3G, 4G or WiFi).
For a more consistent experience across devices, SkyDrive Pro for iOS now has better “support for viewing and editing documents stored on your iPhone and iPad, and OneNote files open directly in the OneNote app for their respective device.” Notes will appear the same and the OneNote file remains connected to SkyDrive Pro in Office 365 which allows users to keep track of all their notes in one place, even when on the go.
New Lync reporting abilities give administrators access to new usage statistics and metrics including active users, total audio and video conferencing minutes, and total audio or video minutes.
Users can now purchase a custom GoDaddy domain name directly within Office 365 and it will automatically set it up. For organizations that already have a GoDaddy managed domain name, users can now start using that domain name directly within Office 365.
“Other updates include a redesigned, Office developer site, new cross-site collection publishing tools and a Content Search Web Part for SharePoint Online and Office.com Store enhancements including support for subscription-based apps.”

For more information, check out the following article: http://www.eweek.com/cloud/microsoft-office-365-mobile-updates-cap-off-a-busy-month.html/

New Office 365 Features for Consumers and Business Users

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:42:00 GMT

It’s been over 6 months since Microsoft launched Office 365, but the company has continued rolling out new features to the Office apps. For those who may not know, Office 365 is Microsoft’s subscription-based version of Office for consumers and businesses and it has soared in popularity, becoming the company’s fastest growing business. Recently, Microsoft added three more exciting features, two for consumers and one for business users.

Microsoft added “real-time co-authoring to the Office Web Apps,” the apps that allow users to edit Excel, Word and PowerPoint Presentations in SkyDrive. Up until now, the apps were lacking effective collaboration tools, but moving forward, the company believes the web apps will be viewed not only as important companions to the client apps, but also as standalone apps. Even non-Office 365 users can enjoy this new feature and as a bonus, Microsoft also added an autosave function to the Word Web App.
The second new feature for consumers gives subscribers to Office 365 access to benefits that were previously only available to Home Premium subscribers. These features include 60 minutes of free Skype calling anywhere in the world and 20GB of extra SkyDrive storage.
The new feature for business users involves a major licensing change to Yammer, Microsoft’s social enterprise tool. In the past, Yammer was only available in the top end enterprise stack of Office 365, but moving forward, all Office 365 enterprise versions will contain Yammer. Social is fast becoming a vital way for companies to engage with employees, partners and suppliers, and this change will apply to new and existing customers. Yammer customers will also have the right to grant Yammer access to external users.

What do you think about these new Office 365 features?

For more information, check out this TechCrunch article.

Check out the Review on 365 Command for Office 365

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:15:00 GMT

Martin Heller from InfoWorld recently did a review on 365 Command. Here are some highlights we wanted to share: Most businesses that move their email to a hosted solution, such as Office 365, usually do this to decrease downtime and reduce operating and administrative costs. In the Web-based GUI for Office 365, several administration and reporting options for Exchange are unavailable and many users bypass this problem by running complex PowerShell scripts. 365 Command, a Microsoft Windows Azure Web app available at a modest monthly fee, offers a much more inclusive GUI for administration of Office 365 Exchange than was previously available. Now, users have access to powerful Exchange capabilities without running
Powershell.

Some of the key features of 365 Command:

Provides administrative capabilities not exposed in Office 35’s Web interface
Provides a useful dashboard
Created useful reports
Allows for auditing of Exchange Online
Allows consultants to switch among client sites with a single sign-on

Costs of 365 Command:

Up to 50 seats: $19.95 per month
51-250 seats: $19.95 + 25 cents per seat per month
251-1,000 seats: $19.95 + 15 cents per seat per month
More than 1,000 seats: $19.95 + 10 cents per seat per month

365 Command is a great administrative tool for businesses that have Office 365 users and the cost is easily justified in reduced administrative expense.

Have you used 365 Command? Let us know what you think.

A New Office 365 App for On-the-Go Service Checks

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 04:08:00 GMT

A new Office 365 App is officially released, titled, "The Garage Series." The app was created to provide on-the-go service health checks for Office 365 users. Anyone with an Office 365 subscription and administration user rights can utlize this app to achieve optimal Office 365 service checks, quicly and easily on your phone. The new provides administrators the ability to view service health information and maintenance status updates from their mobile device, making Office 365 maintance more streamlined and efficient.

Check out the whole Microsoft article on the new Garage Series App http://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech/archive/2013/11/21/check-the-service-health-of-your-office-365-service-on-the-go.aspx

Streamlined CRM 2013: More Than Just a New Look

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:33:00 GMT

The Microsoft CRM 2013 makeover is more than just a new look for Microsoft's customer relationship management program. Microsoft has ensured users that the new CRM will be faster and more efficient than ever before. One way they are ensuring this for users is through new activity feed features. In CRM 2013 users can create appointments, emails, and custom-created activities all from teh activity feed. This simplified process is just one example of success for CRM 2013. New filters are also a new feature found in CRM 2013, one notable new filter being "In Progress." This filter can display those activities that are not complete or haven't been closed. Not everything has been changed though, the navigation pane is now the navigation bar but feature the same navigation options users are accustomed to seeing in CRM.

To learn more about CRM 2013 click here to read an extensive article.

New Microsoft Office Remote App for Windows Phone 8

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:19:00 GMT

Windows 8 phone handsets can now be transformed into the most sophisticated and easy to use remotes for meetings and presentations. The app, called Office Remote, allows users to now move freely around the room during a presentation, using just thier phone to control Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Office Group Program manager, Ber Van Hoof, said this of the app, "You can start your PowerPoint presentation, advance the slides, see your speaker notes, and control an on-screen laser pointer with a touch of your finger—all from your phone."

Read more about this app and hear more of Van Hoof's interview here.

Compare SharePoint 2010 and 2013

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:05:00 GMT

Compare the features found in SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 in this extensive article highlighting the upgrades. Not only does this article describe in detail the differences between the two, it also explains in detail why each change was made and how each change was made. This article is a must read for both seasoned SharePoint users and those new to SharePoint.

Here is the link to this great SharePoint resource!

Hot off the Presses: A Microsoft Announcement for Yammer

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:10:00 GMT

On November 6^th Microsoft announced that Yammer Enterprise is now included in all Office 365 enterprise versions. Prior to this change, Yammer was a tool sold at an additional cost to businesses with Office 365 and only available in the top-end enterprise stack of Office 365. This change applies to all new and all existing customers.

Yammer Enterprise is a tool designed for internal social uses, which companies all over the world have found successful for increasing communication and harnessing a stronger community, even within large companies.

Yammer has also been redesigned to include the ability for the administrators within any given company to invite partners or suppliers to join in on the Yammer community. Any external users will have to be granted the rights from system administrators in order to access the internal social site, but with the option now available, the Yammer community can widen its net more so now than ever before.

To read even more about Microsoft Updates and the Yammer addition to all Office 365 enterprise versions check out this article. http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/06/microsoft-updates-office-365-brings-real-time-collaboration-to-free-office-web-apps-adds-yammer-to-all-enterprise-versions/

More Mobile Updates for Office 365

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 15:53:00 GMT

Microsoft has been busy incorporating updates and making changes to their Office 365 features to better serve their users. This most recent update comes on the heals of several other noteworthy updates, including recent Lync updates, which you can read more about here.
These customer-requested features aim to improve the Office 365 experience for all users, and this most recent update does just that. The update was announced on November 1st by an Office 365 Product Manager, stating new changes allow anyone to join Lync mobile meetings, including people without Office 365 accounts.
To read more about this update check out the latest blog and hear first hand from Office 365 Product Managers.

Office 365 Tools and Resources

Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:21:00 GMT

Ever have a complicated Office 365 question? Do you ever find yourself stuck, and uncertain what to do next with any number of your Office 365 tools? Would you like assistance in the end user adoption of Office 365 products?

Look no further than our hub for Office 365 Tools and Resources. Here you will find a wide variety of links, videos, and step by step explanation of Office 365 tools. These user friendly guides can answer any and all of your questions, and aid clarifying Office 365 programs. Links with guides and tutorials are available for: Lync, SharePoint, Outlook, OneNote, SkyDrive, and more.
Click here to visit out resources and tools hub to meet all of your Office 365 adoption needs.

SharePoint Online: Fantastic Features

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:50:00 GMT

Introducing Windows Explorer Features in SharePoint Online

The Windows Explorer feature in SharePoint Online is the backbone of two tools we will be talking about today. They are the Open with Explorer and Mapped Network Drive tools. Both of these are very powerful, but often times they don’t function as we expect them to, and that can lead to frustration – especially for our end users.

Whether you’re rolling out SharePoint, or introducing your users to new tools, we’re here to help you take advantage of this fantastic feature!

What is it?

The Open with Explorer tool allows for you to view and manage documents within SharePoint Online through Windows Explorer on your computer.

The Mapped Network Drive is similar in comparison to the Open with Explorer tool. It requires the same configuration, and uses the Windows Explorer feature to function as well.

How can I use it?

You can use this feature to quickly accomplish any of the following tasks through the Windows File Explorer:

Drag documents into libraries. Create folders. Move or copy documents in one library to another library within the same site collection or between site collections. Delete multiple documents at one time.

Where can I find it?

You can find the option to use the Open with Explorer tool within the Connect & Export section of the Library tab in the Ribbon.

There are multiple ways through the Windows OS interface to create a Mapped Network Drive. The creation steps are listed here.

To view the drives that are mapped on your machine, open My Computer and refer to the network location drives. Refer to the image below:

System Requirements

Browsers: Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10 (32-bit only)
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or any Windows Server that allows for the WebClient (Desktop Experience) feature to install.
You must have an internet connection.*
You will need to have the Microsoft Online Sign-In Assistant installed.

*You can enable Offline Files to keep documents from a Mapped Drive available even after disconnecting from the internet, or from the network.

Configuring your machine:It’s important to preemptively go through each of the steps below for each machine you plan to use. Without each of the following completed below, knowing where the tool is broken if it stops working is crucial.

Because rolling out to each individual machine can be time consuming, I suggest taking a Group Policy approach. You can deploy updates using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Group Policy (GPO) for Windows and Microsoft updates. For all other computer settings, you can also manage these via GPO with or without having Active Directory in place.

Bear in mind that some steps must be taken each time on an individual level for the feature to work correctly.

Apply All Windows and Microsoft Updates: For an individual user machine, make sure that the latest Windows updates are applied by checking for updates on the machine. If you are deploying for your organization, I recommend using the Windows Server Update Services with Group Policy to manage updates efficiently.

Don’t forget to apply the Hotfix for Windows 7 found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2846960

Download and install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant

You will need to ensure that the Microsoft Sign-In Assistant is installed on the machine. Many times it is already included in other software, so if you attempt to install and it is already on the machine then you can continue on to the next step.

If you don’t yet have the application, you can download and install it from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=28177

Configure Internet Explorer: Set Internet Explorer as your default browser if it isn’t already.

Make sure that the SharePoint Online URLs have been added to your Trusted Sites zone in Internet Explorer.

You can do this in two ways for an individual: Run the Office 365 Desktop Setup tool (this is not an option for Windows 8 machines). Login to Office 365 (https://portal.microsoftonline.com)Click on the gear symbol in the top right hand corner, then Office 365 Settings. On the Office 365 Settings page, click on the section for Software.

In the Software section, access the Desktop Setup option, then click Set Up and allow for the application to run.

Add the sites manually by following this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2828701

For deploying the Trusted Sites: among your company employees, my preferred method for this is through Group Policy (GPO). If you decide to use the GPO method, there are ways to still
allow for your users to manage their own safe sites and receive the managed list as well.

Check and Enabled the WebClient Service: Make sure that the WebClient service is running and set to automatically start. To do this, follow these steps:

For most Windows OS: Click Start, type services.msc, and then press Enter.

Locate the WebClient service, right click and select Properties. Make sure the startup type is Automatic, and that the Service Status is set to Started.Apply your changes, then press OK.

You can also set this via GPO for your organization to automatically start.

Sign in to Office 365. Make sure that you're authenticated to Office 365. To do this, follow these steps:Sign in to the SharePoint Online site by using your Office 365 credentials, and make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box. Open a document library in Explorer View.

Using the Windows Explorer Feature: To start using the Windows Explorer Feature – either with a Mapped Network Drive or the Open with Explorer tool, you will need to start off by first authenticating to Office 365. To do this, you will just need to login to, or access, your SharePoint Online site.

Once you’re authenticated you can add a Mapped Network Drive, or use the Open with Explorer tool. Whenever you login or start up to your machine, you will need to re-authenticate with Office 365 before the Mapped Drive(s) reconnect. To do this, just login to your Office 365 SharePoint site.

Sometimes, you may need to open a document with the Open with Explorer tool first to kick start the connection if it doesn’t automatically. You can also enable Offline Files on a Windows XP Pro, Vista (Pro, Ultimate, Enterprise), 7 (Pro, Ultimate, and Enterprise) or 8 (Pro and
Enterprise) machine. This feature on the machine creates a copy of all of the files or folders within the Mapped Drive(s) on your computer, making it possible to access files when you are not online or connected to the network.

For more information or steps on how to do this, please see the following articles:

Understanding offline files: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/understanding-offline-files

Working with network files when you are offline: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/working-with-network-files-when-you-are-offline

Sync Center FAQ for Windows Vista: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/working-with-network-files-when-you-are-offline

Windows XP Pro: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307853

Limitations

There are some limitations using the Windows Explorer feature. Something to keep in mind is that Windows has no way of knowing the limitations in SharePoint Online – so even if Windows Explorer is up for the challenge of moving 300 word documents at once, SharePoint Online is not. When uploading large files, or many files that have a large total size at once, you may receive errors depending on what piece of the puzzle is failing. It could be caused by the file size limit in SharePoint or even from timeout errors caused by Internet Explorer.

Here are some best practice steps to take to minimize issues:Upload up to 100 files at a time. Uploading more than 100 files at once isn’t supported or recommended. Try to avoid uploading files larger than 2 GB, which is the maximum file size by default. For large or multiple files, it’s recommended to use theSkyDrive Pro sync client instead.

Lync 2013 Update Overview

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 13:38:00 GMT

September was a big month for Lync 2013, as Microsoft has released a lot of updates to its Lync 2013 Client as well as some notable fixes.

Click to Download Update (15.0.4535.1002)

A lot of nice new features are present, but in the attempts to add these features, unfortunately they had to remove a feature.

Let’s discuss the good before the bad in the Lync 2013 Update Overview:

Added Features to Lync 2013:

Spell Check has been added
The notification Icon for Lync now updates with presence status

Lync 2013 Fixes:

You can now drag a contact from Lync 2013 to another application
Proxy Authentication dialog box should no longer appear
Messages sent from Lync Web App should no longer display incorrect symbols to Lync 2013 clients
A user can now sign into Lync 2013 when signing into a domain joined workstation with an account from a different AD forest
Proxy authentication box should no longer appear after uploading a PowerPoint presentation in Lync 2013
Corrected an issue where users on Windows 7 could not sign into Lync 2013
Extended Characters now display correctly in Lync 2013 disclaimers
You should now be able to start collaboration applications that are integrated with Lync 2013

Features Removed from Lync 2013:

When you have a meeting scheduled, Lync will now no longer update your Lync status to “In a meeting.” This is a known issue which is being corrected, the work around is to manually set yourself to “Busy.”

Quite a lot of fixes! Unfortunately with the introduction of these fixes they had to break the In A meeting status update, but this should be resolved in the near future.
Make sure your client machines have the following updates:

Update	Download Link
MSO (KB2727096)	Download the 32-bit MSO update package now Download the 64-bit MSO update package now.
MSORES (KB2817624)	Download the 32-bit MSORES update package now.Download the 64-bit MSORES update package now.
IDCRL (KB2817626)	Download the 32-bit IDCRL update package now.Download the 64-bit IDCRL update package now.

We hope your Lync 2013 Update goes smoothly. If we can support you during this process, please let us know.

The Difference Between Microsoft SkyDrive Pro and SkyDrive

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:52:00 GMT

So you're confused about the difference between Microsoft SkyDrive Pro and Microsoft SkyDrive. In this post we're going to break down what SkyDrive Pro and what Skydrive actually is. We've also got a video you can view with more info.

http://youtu.be/W_GndOO_uK4

Skydrive Pro is a way to store documents and access them anywhere, at home at the office or on the go. It serves a space for users to store their files for later use, collaborate and save multiple versions. The confusion comes from a similar named Microsoft product known as SkyDrive. Skydrive is a free service that anyone can use. Skydrive Pro is bundled with Office 365, Office 2013, downloadable from the Microsoft website and acts as a service.

SkyDrive Pro is installed on a desktop and will automatically sync your documents accessible from Windows Explorer. This service lets you sync any document from Sharepoint 2013 or Office 365.

. Accessible via Sharepoint 2010, 2013 or Office 365

. Only available to web browsers and Windows

. Sync up to 20,000 files

. Individual files cannot exceed 250 MB

. Max storage space is 7GB without a current option to purchase more

SkyDrive is not meant for use with Sharepoint 2013 or Office 365, but allows the ends user to share links to files with other users. This service is very similar to Drop Box. It allows users for 7GB of free storage with the option to purchase more.

. Accessible from any web browser or device with an internet connection

. Nothing to do with Sharepoint

. Documents are not available for editing within SkyDrive. It is only meant for sharing.

. None of the SkyDrive Pro file limitations

The distinction between the two is that SkyDrive Pro is primarily geared towards business and SkyDrive is targeted for the average consumer. While the names are similar, there are significant differences between the two.

Tech Tip of the Week: How to Enable ADFS Tracing Logs in Event Viewer

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:48:00 GMT

We recently received a request from a customer wanting to know how to enable ADFS tracing logsin event viewer. Are you wondering why someone would want to know how to do that? The key benefit of knowing how to enable ADFS tracing logs in event viewer is that when you are trouble shooting user authentication scenarios, event viewer provides you with a more detailed description on why the failure is occurring which can be extremely helpful in getting to the root of an issue. For additional information on this topic you can click here.

Here are the 4 simple steps on how to enable ADFS tracing logs in event viewer:

Open Event Viewer > Go to Applications and Services Logs > AD FS 2.0
Right click and select View, Select Show analytic and debug Logs. You will see a new node for AD FS 2.0 Tracing.
Navigate to AD FS 2.0 Tracing, Right click Debug, and select Enable Log.
Start the ADFS Service and refresh the ADFS 2.0 Tracing Logs.

That's it folks. Four simple steps to enable ADFS tracing logs in event viewer. Got any issues you want us to cover in our weekly Tech Tips? Let us know.