Sonoma Partners Microsoft CRM Blog

Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - V2!

Microsoft released an update to their popular Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 white paper.

This release includes the the following updates:

Updated hardware requirements for:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for Outlook

Categorized references/links to external content to by product version where appropriate (e.g. Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008), and provided additional references where available
In the section Optimizing and Maintaining Internet Information Services, added the topic Optimizing the Performance of Integrated Windows Authentication and Kerberos Authentication
In the section Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

In the topic Enhancing Performance by Distributing Server Roles, added the sub-topic Considerations for Distributing Server Roles
In the topic Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Applications, in the sub-topic Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customizations, supplemented the information on disabling auto-complete on lookups with procedural information

In the section Optimizing Workflow, added multiple best practices.
In the section Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Database:

Added note about and reference to white paper Improving Microsoft Dynamics CRM Performance and Securing Data with Microsoft SQL Server 2008
In the topic Optimizing and Maintaining Query Performance, added the sub-topic Enhancing the Performance of the Display of Query Results
In the topic Optimizing and Maintaining the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Database, added the sub-topic Implementing Solid State Drive Technology

Added Appendix B: CRM Performance Counters; created Appendix C: CRM E-mail Router Performance Counters for previously published Appendix B content
Added Appendix D: Summary of Changes in v2.0 Update

Download your updated copy here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ba826cee-eddf-4d6e-842d-27fd654ed893&displayLang=en

Expanding and improving our Chicago office

It seems like just yesterday that we expanded our offices to accommodate additional Sonomans, yet here we are again getting ready to add a few thousand more square feet to our Chicago office. We’ve been running our office space at peak capacity for quite a while but some of our recent hires (and soon-to-arrive college grads) will push us over the edge!

In addition to new office space for employees, we also took advantage of our buildout window to do some improvements in the kitchen and main conference room, while adding an additional conference room. If all goes well, the construction work will be done next week some time (just in the nick of time for those new grads!).

Error Deleting a Record

Recently, a user had trouble deleting a record within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The error displayed was the ubiquitous 'An error has occurred' message:

The user has rights to delete the record and can delete other records within that entity, so what is the problem?

Well, it turns out that the record in question has one or more running workflow rules (in a waiting state) attached to it. The solution was to cancel the workflow instances for that record and then proceed with the delete.

So, if you are receiving a generic error when trying to delete a record and you have rights to delete, check the workflow tab of that record for any running workflow instances.

A major ERP/CRM acquisition for Microsoftgood or bad for Dynamics CRM?

I was speaking with Microsoft sales rep today and he mentioned a rumor that Microsoft was considering acquiring SAP. Sure enough, the Wall Street Journal reported this story today:

“The Redmond, Washington-based software giant - for the first time in its history - sold bonds to investors earlier Monday, capitalizing on its sterling credit rating and investor appetite to raise $3.75 billion.

The move sparked speculation that Microsoft could be planning to use the money for an acquisition - especially since the company already had more than $25 billion in cash and investments at the end of March - as it seeks to revive growth.

Bill Whyman, an analyst at ISI Group, had said Microsoft could use the additional cash to help fund an acquisition in the corporate software market, such as that of a company like SAP AG.”

My initial reaction to this rumor was “hmmm… that might not be good news for CRM partners like us”. However, the Microsoft rep seemed really excited about the SAP acquisition idea for the following reasons:

SAP’s CRM is horrible and everyone knows it.
SAP has a large global customer base using their ERP products.
Microsoft could then run back through those SAP ERP customers and sell those companies oodles and oodles of Microsoft products such as SQL Server, Windows Server, SharePoint and of course…Microsoft Dynamics CRM!

After thinking this over a little longer, I am starting to see his point of view that an SAP acquisition just might be great news for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Of course this sounds good on paper but the process of digesting a company the size and complexity of SAP into Microsoft would be a MAJOR task. If you think there are a lot of Microsoft reorgs now, just add SAP’s 50,000 employees into the mix and let the fun begin! In case you’re curious, SAP has a market cap of $47 billion which is about 25% of Microsoft’s $177 billion. Therefore that $3.75 billion that Microsoft raised today wouldn’t even make a small dent into that $47 billion number.

Steve Ballmer shot down this rumor immediately, but stay tuned…where there is smoke, there is often fire!

Scribe Web Services Adapter Product Launch

Our friends at Scribe are having a webinar to review their latest integration adapter. Check it out!

Webcast: Scribe Web Services Adapter Product Launch: Overview and Demonstrations – Thursday, May 14 @ 11am – 12pm EST

This webcast will cover the newly released Web Services Adapter for Scribe Insight and Scribe Insight Enterprise. The webcast will include a feature overview and several demonstrations of the Web Service Adapter enabling integration to Dynamics AX, Microsoft SharePoint and 3rd party commercial web services. Click to read the Adapter for Web Services data sheet.

Scribe Presenters for the webcast will be:

Bob Sturim - Vice President, Products
John Gravely - Vice President, Marketing and Product Marketing
Lou Antonucci - Vice President, Sales
Tomas O’Brien - Product Manager

Please register at the following registration URL https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8001615779/Registration.aspx?pageName=rx9xxrf8tbj9g3rz

Feed Me...CRM Content!

Earlier this year, the CRM documentation team recently asked me if I use the content on the CRM Resource Center. I gave them a sheepish shrug and then conceded, no...I really don't. I do KNOW that a wealth of fantastic information exists there, so that naturally led to the question of why I don't use it more. After hours of therapy, we discovered that, for me, it really comes down to an easy way to find the content and to know that new content has been added.

For those of us who write documentation, we know one of the large challenges is people being aware of the information and then ultimately getting them to read it. One approach that has been working great for me, especially with CRM content, are blogs. So I asked them if they would syndicate their content via RSS and that would be a way I can stay abreast of their new content. Apparently they have received that request many times before, and back in March the new RSS feed went live!

Take a look at the left corner in the Stay Current section of the Resource Center and you will see a Subscribe to RSS feed link.

Now I get all of the CRM Resource Center articles in my blog reader:

For those of you who don't use Outlook for your blog reader, you can access the RSS feed from these links:
On-premise Resource Center RSS Feed: http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/op/feed.xml
Online Resource Center RSS Feed: http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/live/feed.xml

And while you can access the Resource Center directly from CRM, you can also access them from these publicly available links:
On-premise Resource Center: http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/opdefault.aspx
Online Resource Center: http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/onlinedefault.aspx

Happy reading!

Wrapping up another CRM Incubation Week

Microsoft wrapped their 2nd CRM Incubation Week last week at the Microsoft Technology Center in Boston, MA. It was another fun and exciting week. Again, I was just blown away by the amount of work accomplished by all of the teams. The teams chosen for this event were:

Startup	Location	Solution
FourthLink	Newton, MA	Project Management and Resource Scheduling for Professional Services Organizations
Smart Red Pen	Lancaster, MA	OnDemand educational portal for learning 2^nd Language (Spanish)
Skyline Vertical Solutions	Charlottesville, VA	Project Management and Cost Control for AEC Market
myStaffingCRM	Lima, OH	HR Staffing, Recruiting and Leasing
Hippamatic	Houston, TX	Automate Mobile Radiology including Order Entry, Dispatch, Billing and Reporting for Health Care Providers

This time, I had the chance to work a fantastic company out of Lima, OH called myStaffingCRM. Their unique Software as a Service solution really shows off Dynamics CRM xRM platform capabilities by leveraging the native CRM-based functionality with custom functionality built through Dynamics CRM and Silverlight to deliver a truly unique solution for recruiters and HR managers. Further, myStaffingCRM were excited to learn about many of the native aspects of the platform, such as Outlook synchronization, offline capabilities, import data tools, and full workflow and reporting. myStaffingCRM can now focus on the actual business functionality for their vertical market, and not waste resources rebuilding 'plumbing' functionality. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides the ability to build a single solution that can be deployed in a hosted environment or directly with the client in as an on-premise solution. As such, myStaffingCRM can now deliver their solution the way their customers want to consume it!

Jennifer, Sandy, and Tony (pictured with me below) spent many a late night working on their solution and business plan. As a result, they delivered a fantastic presentation, complete with a working demo, on Friday to many notable individuals from the CRM and financial community. Microsoft also recognized myStaffingCRM's solution and efforts with the Best xRM Solution award last week. Nice! They were a fantastic team to work with, and I look forward to seeing their solution in the market soon!

Again, my thanks and congratulations to Microsoft and Sanjay Jain for another well run week. This is a huge undertaking and the level of opportunity and commitment for these companies is extraordinary. I also wanted to give a shout out to our friends at Proteans and Venkat Hari who really helped coordinate our off-shore development effort for the week. And many thanks to the MTC gurus, Rich Crane and Jason De Lorme, for their dedicated efforts, especially with the Silverlight. Be sure to check out Sanjay's blog for additional information regarding this fantastic event.

The MTC was extremely gracious again and is just a great place to prototype and design solutions. They run envisioning sessions, architecture design reviews (ADS), and proof of concepts (POC) for all sorts of companies on all types of Microsoft technologies. What's more there are numerous MTC's all over the world. If you have a need or challenge with your Microsoft solution or architecture, definitely consider this resource.

Finally, if you are starting a technology company or would like to be a Network partner, you must check out the Microsoft BizSpark program. The resources and software provided is simply astonishing to me and really will help any startup accelerate their solution to the market.

Speed Up the Newsfeed Business Productivity Accelerator Query

I have been recently playing with the Newsfeed Business Productivity accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM on our production system. The implementation is pretty interesting and much simpler than I anticipated. Basically the newsfeed accelerator consists of a few workflow rules and an SRS report. The report brings back all closed activities, active announcements, and any notes that are prefixed with the word 'Newsfeed:'. The workflow rules are used to create these 'newsworthy' notes and can be configured against any workflow supported entity that has a relationship to Notes.

I had no trouble getting everything installed, but found that the report took around 35 seconds to run in my production environment and sometimes timed out on me. I traced the bulk of the time to the activity portion of the query which was surprising since we only have around 200,000 activities and 800,000 activity party records (i.e. not that much).

One of my colleagues, Brian, suggested I change the order by from modifiedon to modifiedonutc. Sure enough, the query was now coming back in a few seconds. The final report query now looks like:

SELECT     TOP (25) newsfeedid, createdby, createdbyname, modifiedbyname, modifiedon, modifiedonutc, description, regardingobjectid, subject, activitytypecode, 
                      activitytypecodename, regardingobjectidname
FROM
    (
  SELECT activityid AS newsfeedid, createdby, createdbyname, modifiedbyname, modifiedon, modifiedonutc, description, regardingobjectid, subject, activitytypecode, 
         activitytypecodename, regardingobjectidname
  FROM          FilteredActivityPointer
  WHERE      (activitytypecode IN (@Activities)) AND (statecode = 1) 
  UNION
  SELECT     annotationid AS newsfeedid, createdby, createdbyname, modifiedbyname, modifiedon, modifiedonutc, notetext as description, 
             objectid as regardingobjectid, subject, objecttypecode as activitytypecode, objecttypecodename as activitytypecodename, 
             filename as regardingobjectidname
  FROM         FilteredAnnotation
  WHERE     (subject LIKE 'newsfeed:%') AND (objecttypecode <> 4703)
    ) AS derivedtbl_1
ORDER BY modifiedonutc DESC

I am sure other optimizations could be made, but the changing the sort to use the UTC date value is a quick and easy one to improve your report performance immediately.

Mass E-mail Options in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Laura Robinson and I contributed on a recent post describing some of the ways you can send mass e-mail with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Here is a quick summary of the native options.

Dynamics CRM Mass E-Mail Summary

The following table outlines some key differences of the mass e-mail options for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Each of these options is also available for Dynamics CRM Online as well! Please see the full article for further details on each of the native options.

	Direct E-mail	Quick Campaigns	Workflow	Direct E-mail via Mail Merge
Uses templates	Yes, E-mail templates*	No	Yes, E-mail templates*	Yes, Mail Merge Templates*
Can include images and hyperlinks in the e-mail message	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Available entities	Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Accounts and Quotes	Only Leads, Accounts, Contacts and marketing lists	Most entities including custom entities	Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Accounts, Quotes, and any custom entities
E-mail recipient selection	All or some of the records in a view	All or some of the records in a view	Can only apply manual workflow to all records in a page (250 records max)	All or some of the records in a view
Can include a file attachment	No	No	Yes	No
Works with campaign responses	No	Yes	No	Yes**
Tracks e-mail opens	No	No	No	No
Tracks hyperlinks clicked in the e-mail message	No	No	No	No
Provides unsubscribe information	No	No	No	Yes**

* See the Email Templates v. Mail Merge Templates blog post for comparison.
** These options are only available when the direct e-mail via mail merge is started from the Outlook client.

Although the out-of-the-box options for mass e-mailing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can meet many organizations’ needs, companies like ExactTarget offer an add-on product for Microsoft Dynamics CRM that includes many additional e-mail marketing features and benefits. ExactTarget offers its e-mail marketing services on a hosted basis, and provides direct integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise product so that users can send e-mail through the ExactTarget service directly from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM interface.

By using the ExactTarget service for sending mass e-mail, Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can enjoy the following additional benefits:

ExactTarget sends the e-mail messages through its servers, not through the outgoing e-mail server configured for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This allows users to send a large volume of e-mail without affecting their internal network. Outsourcing the message delivery to ExactTarget also helps improve message deliverability because ExactTarget works with the various e-mail companies to ensure consistent delivery.
ExactTarget automatically captures response data such as e-mail opens, clicks in messages, bounces, and unsubscribes. Almost all of the response data downloads into the Microsoft Dynamics CRM user interface so that you can report on it, access it using Advanced Find, and so on. The default ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM installation includes data such as unique opens, total opens, unique clicks, deliverability rate, and bounce rate.
Users have more control over the delivery of their mass e-mail messages because they can schedule a specific date and time to start the message send. In addition, users can throttle the e-mail to send only a certain number of messages per hour.
ExactTarget offers a proprietary user interface in which users can create and design their e-mail messages to include images and hyperlinks.
ExactTarget Email Marketing Automation functionality allows marketers the ability to create and manage programs that will automate email campaigns using the native Microsoft CRM workflow capabilities. Common scenarios for the Email Marketing Automation functionality include:

Automatic confirmation responses to customer feedback, purchase completion, whitepaper downloads, etc
Welcome message when someone completes a subscription or membership.
Customer alerts based on activity with their account.

ExactTarget Smart Capture will allow marketers to configure landing pages on ExactTarget’s site that will capture information, perform optional logic, and read and/or write data to and from Dynamics CRM.

2nd Dynamics CRM Incubation

Due the overwhelming success of the first Dynamics CRM Incubation Week, Sanjay Jain and Microsoft will be holding the event again. This time, it will be at the Microsoft Technology Center in Boston, MA during the week of April 20th. I will again have the opportunity to participate as an advisor helping start-up companies build out their visions using the Microsoft Dynamics Platform.

If you are interested in the event, please visit Sanjay's blog and nominate your team and ideas!

ISV.Config not showing up in the Web...check if Outlook is running

One of my colleagues, Kris, came across an odd occurrence with a client. Apparently, all of our custom ISV.Config settings were not displaying in the Web interface for some users. We checked the settings (we had selected that they display in the Web) and the user's computer and couldn't deduce initially what the problem was. After some iterations with CRM support, we determined the source of the problem...our old friend, the CRM cookie and its interaction with the Outlook CRM client. Apparently, the ISV.Config configuration of Outlook overrides the Web's configuration. In our specific example, we configured the ISV buttons to display only for the Web client. Since our user had the Offline Outlook client installed, the buttons didn't show even when she accessed from the Web.

After we corrected the situation with our user (see below for some possible fixes), we did some more testing internally. Thanks to Neil, another fantastic Sonoma colleague, we came up with the following matrix of test cases and whether the buttons displayed or not:

Note: The display is referencing the grid and record-level buttons and settings. The application level menu always seemed to correctly display in each test case.

The cells highlighted in yellow are ones that the behavior of the application doesn't match the configured settings, thanks to the sharing of the cookie. As you will see, when Outlook is open, the Outlook setting drives the display.

So what are your workarounds? Here are a couple...

Use a different URL (such as an alias or fully qualified domain name) for the configuration of Outlook than what you use when accessing from the Web. Then, Outlook and IE won't share the same cookie and all is well.
Add all of options (the settings Web Application, Outlook, Outlook Offline) and then it will display no matter what. This might be less desirable as you would have possible buttons/links displaying in Outlook (or the Web) when you don't want them to, but this is better than not showing at all!

What confused us with the original case was my incorrect assumption that the Offline Client setting pertained to the state of the Outlook client (ie whether the user was online or offline). Apparently, this setting applies to the Offline Client itself. Since it seems to be more useful for this setting to be targeted for the state of the offline client, I am hoping this might be changed (or added) in the next release of CRM.

CRM Rollups and WF Declarative Workflow Rules

We recently received an e-mail from a gentleman who was having trouble publishing a workflow rule from our Advanced Workflow Programming chapter from our recent Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 book. This chapter showed how to create custom declarative WF XAML workflow rules and install them within Dynamics CRM 4.0.

While this technique was never officially supported, early SDK documentation existed that demonstrated how to create custom WF XAML workflow rules and install them to Dynamics CRM 4.0. Further, multiple books (including ours) helped to further demonstrate the power of WF within CRM.

However, sure enough, we tried out our example this week and discovered the same "Workflows created outside of CRM are not supported" error. The only change that we noticed was that our system was now on Update Rollup 2 (as was the system of the individual who originally e-mailed me). I checked with the product team and apparently this ability was disabled with Update Rollup 1 due to some stability issues. We generally used the more customary workflow activity assembly approach in most of our implementations, so we hadn't yet noticed this change with the rollup installation.

So, I am sorry to say that at this time you will be unable to create custom declarative WF rules, even in an unsupported state, if you install any of the CRM rollups. For on-premise and partner hosted deployments, you will need to continue to use custom workflow activities approach. For Dynamics CRM Online, your workflow rules will be limited to what the workflow editor from CRM user-interface allows.

Drowning in Outlook Reminders? This hidden registry setting might help

(Note: this post also appears on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team blog)

One of the GREAT new features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is the ability to get pop-up reminders in Microsoft Outlook for activities created in CRM. Our company Sonoma Partners uses Microsoft CRM on a day-to-day basis for our own sales, marketing and service and we have a lot of workflow automation setup on our customer records to automatically create follow-ups activities such as tasks and phone calls. By default, Microsoft CRM will create reminders for every record it syncs into Outlook that has a due date. Consequently, a large number of customer records and a large number of automated activities means a large number of pop-up reminders!

Personally, I have found that sometimes these reminders were a bit too much for me and I found myself wishing I had less pop-ups. This is especially true if you don’t include the customer’s name in the activity subject because otherwise you will see a reminder dialog that looks like this (not terribly useful because all the records look identical).

Fortunately, I picked up a neat little registry setting trick from former CRM Product Manager Michael Lu. By adding the registry setting OutlookSyncDisableTaskReminders to your client computer (not the server) at HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/MSCRMClient and setting its value to 1, the Outlook client will not create reminders on activities it syncs into Outlook.

This solution won’t work for everyone, but I find that it works pretty well for me.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Only administrators will have the necessary permissions to perform this modification. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk.

IFD and the IIS Require SSL Checkbox

A nice article exists to help you make the client-to-server communication with Dynamics CRM 4.0 more secure. A section configuring IFD and SSL can also be found in this article.

We followed the Configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM client-to-server communication for Internet-facing deployments section in this document with one of our hosted clients. We setup IFD, SSL, and enabled the Require SSL check box in IIS. Once we enabled that checkbox, we discovered we had authentication issues with plug-ins. Upon debugging further, we found the plug-ins were receiving the following service Url from the plug-in context:
https://localhost:80/MSCRMServices/2007/CrmService.asmx

Since the https port was really 443 in this case, we were getting an error. We played around with the settings and once we updated the LocalSDKPort value to 443 and the plug-ins started working again.

So, if you find yourself with this problem, ignore the bolded part in step 5 and continue to update the LocalSDKPort with your SSL port as the rest of the step describes.

5. If the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web site is configured to use the default http (80) and https (443) TCP ports, you do not have to modify the LocalSDKPort registry subkey value, and you can skip this step.

CRM Update Rollup 2 Musings

As most of you know by now, Microsoft CRM Support has released Update Rollup 2 for Dynamics CRM 4.0. Here are some quick findings that we have discovered that I hope can be useful for some of you.

Exporting and importing customizations
Update Rollup 2 made some schema changes to the customizations and the rollup documentation provides a general warning about only export/importing customizations from system with the same rollup installed. This approach is painful for our development environment and for ISVs, as it is not easy to guarantee that all customers will be on the same rollup. What I learned from the product and support teams (and confirmed with some quick testing) is the schema changes to the customization file in UR2 is confined to just Templates and Outlook Synchronization areas.

Therefore, if you need to import/export between different rollup deployments, you should be ok provided you excluded those two customizations from your file.

I am hoping that CRM Support will be more specific with the customization schema changes on future rollup releases, or better yet, allow them to be backwards compatible between rollups.

Manually configured steps
There are a number of hotfixes that require manual configuration. I didn't see these documented too well (although I could have missed it). Anyway, here is a list that we have discovered. Note that this could just be a partial list.

955452 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955452/ ) Line feeds are not used when you send an e-mail message that uses an e-mail template to render data that has line feeds in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
955745 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955745/ ) Error message when you try to configure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client for Outlook: "This implementation is not part of the Windows Platform FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms"
956527 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956527/ ) The Microsoft Dynamics CRM client for Outlook consumes three times as much memory in version 4.0 as in version 3.0
959248 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959248/ ) Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 slows to unacceptable levels when you process e-mail messages by using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router
957871 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957871/ ) The Workflow Expansion Task records cause the AsyncOperationBase table in the MSCRM database to grow too large in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Miscellaneous Notes/FAQ

When you install any rollup, it will affect the entire deployment. For those of you that leverage multi-tenancy (as we do in our client development environment), you need to be aware of this and plan the release accordingly. Pay special care to the customizations changes and quickly review each hotfix within the rollup to ensure there won't be compatibility issues with your custom code. Naturally if your custom code follows the supported SDK, you should be ok from rollup to rollup.
Update Rollup 2 may screw up your existing CRM web.config. I recommend you make a backup of the CRM web.config file prior to running the rollup. Here are two errors we have seen:
- Publishing workflow rules fails. This error is now documented in the release notes. You need to update the CRM web.config files and add the following line to the <authorizedTypes> section:
  <authorizedType Assembly="mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" Namespace="System.Globalization" TypeName="CultureInfo" Authorized="True"/>
- We had our IFD settings wiped out from the CRM web.config. To correct, we used the IFD tool to reset the values.
Microsoft recommends that you keep the update rollups between the Outlook client and the CRM server in sync. I am not sure this is always a hard requirement, as we have some internal Outlook clients on the latest rollup, prior to updating our server. This is something you can test, if rolling out to your Outlook clients users is not always easy to do.
Each rollup *should* be cumulative. This means that you can install UR2 on a system that hasn't been patched with UR1.

Update (2/12/09)
It looks like Microsoft re-released the Update Rollup 2 hotfix and it *should* address some of the web.config issues noted above. Check out the MSFT blog post for more information.

Utilities for Comparing Customizations and Transferring Configuration Data

We recently had the opportunity to collaborate with the Microsoft Product Team with two fantastic utilities, and I am happy to say they are now finally available! The two tools are:

Customization Comparison Utility
Configuration Data Utility

Customization Comparison Utility
The Customization Comparison Utility allows you to take two exported customization files (either xml or zip) and display all the differences between the files. You can review any two valid customization files and also export the results to Excel for additional analysis or documentation needs. Similar to many source control systems, the tool displays to you the following:

What is identical between the systems
What has changed between the systems
Exists in the source system, but not the target
Exists in the target system, but not the source

This tool can be extremely handy when reviewing or validating a system for changes or alterations from a base or development system prior to importing a new set of customizations. Independent Software Vendors (ISV) can use this tool to help manage their version releases to existing clients' systems. However, anyone using Dynamics CRM 4.0 with multiple environments (such as development, staging, and production) can quickly and easily log the differences between those environments for planning, troubleshooting, and documentation purposes. And since the tool merely looks at the customization files, it works for all deployment models, including CRM Online!

Configuration Data Utility
In most of our implementations, we use the power of Dynamics CRM entity extension capabilities to create configuration-based entities. This allows our clients to configure their system with data instead of requiring expensive and time-consuming code changes. One of the current dilemmas of this approach is when you need to apply your configuration data from one environment (such as development) to another environment (such as testing or production).

For instance, the Field Level Access example from the Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 book shows you how you can use a couple of custom entities with JavaScript to create a dynamic form. This approach allows a non-technical user to easily configure a form's security with custom data. However, once this is properly configured, there was no easy way to get the setup data from our development environment to our production deployment. Currently, you would need to write your own methods to extract and import the data or use a combination of export to excel and import processes. Now those challenges are a thing of the past! Enter the Configuration Data Utility!

The Configuration Data Utility allows you to quickly and easily transfer configuration-based data in one Microsoft CRM organization into another organization with a few simple steps. The utility steps you through a set of wizard steps that has you select the custom entities that contains the configuration data you wish to export. Once complete, the utility will create a single data file with the exported data, ready to imported into the destination environment.

When importing the data, if the application finds records that already exist in the destination system, it will simply update all of the information in the existing record. If data is in the destination system but does not appear in the Export Data File, the record will not be changed in the destination system. Lastly, if relationships to other records exist in the imported data, the application will first resolve by GUID and if no matching GUID is found, it will resolve by the primary attribute of the related entity record.

Also note the following:

The entities in the destination system must have the same schema as the source data system.
You also have the opportunity to save this configuration file to be reused, saving you additional time for repetitive exports/imports.
The tool preserves the source system's record id (GUID), which comes in convenient when referencing entities in Workflows rules.
This utility IS NOT a replacement data migration tools and options out there. It is meant to migrate basic data setup between environments.
The import tool can be run in command-line mode, making it usable for installers as well.
At this time, the export/import tool is available for on-premise deployments only. However, since you have the source for this tool, you can quickly convert it for CRM Online.

Summary
These tools can be run on any machine (i.e. doesn't have to be the CRM server) that has .NET 3.5 installed and access to the CRM environment. Each tool contains a full users guide (currently located within the main project folder). And as mentioned briefly above, Microsoft also provides the source code for each of these utilities, allowing you to further extend them to fit your own needs!

While these tools were developed with ISV's in mind, they are extremely valuable for anyone implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. We have been using both internally for a few months now have been extremely handy numerous times.

Feel free to download these tools at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd442453.aspx

Watch out NOLA, here we come!

There’s been a lot of talk about Convergence and New Orleans at our office over the past week or so. First, we just sent out email invites to our customers and prospects encouraging them to attend the conference, and highlighting the benefits of attending.

Join us at Convergence 2009 New Orleans
We know that travel budgets are tight this year, so if you can only attend one conference this year we HIGHLY recommend that you choose Microsoft Convergence! This year's Convergence conference will be held in New Orleans from March 10th through 13th.

If you've never been to Convergence before, you should know this event is unique because it is designed exclusively for Microsoft Dynamics customers (CRM and ERP). With more than 10,000+ people in attendance, this is a first-class learning and networking opportunity that you shouldn't miss.

Some of the agenda highlights include:

Monday: welcome reception at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

Tuesday: keynotes from Microsoft Dynamics executives and breakout sessions

Wednesday: Sonoma Partners' Customer Appreciation party

Thursday: More sessions, networking and learning opportunities

With more than 28 Microsoft Dynamics CRM sessions already scheduled (and more to come), you won't find a better chance to roll up your sleeves and really learn the product inside and out.

Second, we’re in the process of securing a location for our customer appreciation party. We hope to have those details finalized soon, but please contact us if you’re interested in registering now. Microsoft employees are welcome to join of course. We had a great time in Orlando last year, and this year’s party should be a blast too.

Convergence is an absolute “must attend” event for me, but I’m also excited about New Orleans as the host city. I spent a weekend in New Orleans last February and I had a great time, there is really no other city like it. One of the most distinct memories of my last trip to the Bayou was this crazy “gold man” who would stand absolutely still (no blinking even) for 15 or 20 minutes at a time! I wonder if I will bump into him again this March?!

Of course, if you’re into culture and stuff like that you can always check out the St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square, but I thought the gold man was way more interesting. :)

Microsoft releases earnings. Sky does not fall.

Microsoft released their quarterly earnings on Thursday, and the news wasn’t great. Sales were up just 1.6% year over year, but profits slid 11.3%. Microsoft also announced that for the first time in their entire history, they will layoff some employees. They cut 1,400 jobs on Thursday and will cut another 3,600 jobs over the next 18 months. They also cut travel and entertainment budgets by 20%. I talked with a few people from Microsoft on Friday, and I didn’t hear that there were any layoffs in Dynamics.

Believe it or not despite the bad news, there was some good news in the earnings call:

Microsoft announced they are planning to HIRE an additional 2,000 to 3,000 employees. Therefore the actual net effect of the 5,000 layoffs and the new hires means headcount will be down 2,000 to 3,000 employees. These numbers do not include contractors who might not be renewed for additional engagements.

Bill Koefoed, General Manager of Microsoft Investor Relations said "Microsoft business division revenue was up 1% to $4.9 billion. Business revenue grew 7%, driven by continued strength of the annuity business across Office, SharePoint and Client Access licenses suites, and benefited from strong deferred revenue recognition. ...From a product perspective, SharePoint, Office Communication Server and CRM, all grew at double-digit rates."

It is great to see that Microsoft CRM received a positive callout!

Later on Thursday, we received a nice email from Kirill Tatarinov. It was a pretty simple email, but I thought it was a nice touch just reinforcing the “keep your head up” message.

From: Kirill Tatarinov [mailto:Kirill.Tatarinov@microsoft.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:31 PM
Subject: Microsoft Dynamics

Presidents Club Partners,

By now many of you are aware of actions Microsoft has taken in response to the difficult economic climate we currently face. The press release can be found here.

I wanted to use this opportunity to reassure you that Microsoft Dynamics remains an important business opportunity for the company. Despite challenging economic times our shared investment in Microsoft Dynamics will allow us to outpace the competition by rapidly innovating and advancing all of our core products forward.

We are committed to our strategy and we continue to execute. From the ERP side, we remain focused on enabling simplicity for midsized organizations. In CRM, we continue to target midsized and enterprise organizations, emphasizing the Power of Choice. Becoming truly industry focused, fully embracing Software + Services, and building on the unique strengths of the Microsoft platform remain key tenets of the overall Microsoft Dynamics strategy.

I also want to use this opportunity to reinforce that we remain highly committed to YOUR success as a critical part of this business. Together we can use the opportunity in front of us to gain share through customers that are looking for solutions from a vendor that will be in the market for the foreseeable future. We will continue to support you in delivering outstanding value to Microsoft Dynamics customers. Over the past months, we introduced initiatives like 0% financing to help our customers gain immediate access to capital and invest in their business in uncertain economic times. Over the following months we will be unveiling additional actions to support our customers.

I look forward to seeing many of you in person at Convergence New Orleans. We will weather this storm together. We will endure. We will prevail.

Thanks,

-- Kirill Tatarinov
Corporate Vice President
Microsoft Business Solutions

Can't publish a workflow after installing a Rollup Update? Read on...

If you have installed the Microsoft CRM Update Rollup 1 or Update Rollup 2, you might experience an error where you cannot publish a workflow rule anymore. According to Microsoft this might happen if you modified the web.config file in your deployment:

If you have modified the Microsoft CRM website web.config file, then you need to manually open the Microsoft CRM Web site web.config file in an editor like Notepad and add the following section to it in order to continue being able to publish workflows:
In the section <authorizedTypes>
…multiple lines here
<authorizedType Assembly="mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" Namespace="System.Globalization" TypeName="CultureInfo" Authorized="True"/>
</authorizedTypes>

Microsoft said they are looking at modifying the install notes to include this warning and/or revising the Update Rollup 2 installation files.

Microsoft CRM running on Windows 7 through Internet Explorer 8

Last Friday Microsoft released a beta version of Windows 7, and of course being a software geek, I was curious to check it out. CNET really got my interest going when their Windows 7 review stated:

"Windows 7 could be one of Microsoft's greatest operating systems, if it fulfills the promise shown by the unofficial beta version (build 7000) we have been testing for the past couple of days. I have been pleased to discover over the past several days that Microsoft appears to have built on Vista's strengths and addressed most of its weaknesses with the beta release of Windows 7."

The Windows 7 beta includes a new version of Internet Explorer 8 so I was particularly curious to see how Microsoft CRM would run in that version of the browser. The Windows 7 download site wasn't available on Friday due to high volumes, but I was able to access the download on Saturday. I installed Windows 7 on a old desktop (Pentium 4 2.40 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM), and it went through without a hitch.

The first thing you'll notice in Windows 7 is the cleaned up desktop (no sidebar!) and the new taskbar at the bottom. I even kinda like the new default wallpaper too. :)

Firing up Internet Explorer 8 and browsing to a Microsoft CRM website appears pretty much the same as usual.

After you sign in, the activities page and the other pages appear to behave the same as Internet Explorer 7. I clicked around to a few different records but didn't notice anything different. However after opening a few windows, I did notice that the taskbar is quite different. Instead of adding "rectangles" (for lack of a better word) in the taskbar, Windows 7 simply updates the IE icon. After you add multiple windows, you might notice that Windows 7 adds vertical lines to the right of the IE icon to indicate the multiple windows are open. If you hover over the IE icon, you'll see a preview of the open browser windows (complete with page titles)! This guy from Wired was really excited about that.

I found that the text on the preview records was too small to read. However it is nice to be able to close individual records through this preview without having to open the browser window (simply click the red X in the upper-right corner of the preview). Also, if you hover your mouse over a preview window it brings that record to the top so that you can read it. I have only played with this new taskbar for a little bit but I think I will actually use it (unlike the Flip 3D feature in Vista which looks great but never gets used).

Right-clicking the IE icon in the taskbar presents you with a Jump List that includes your browsing history which is nice and convenient. You can select previous Web pages and back up from there.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 seemed to handle Microsoft CRM just fine! The only time I was able to get it to act funky was by playing with the compatibility view setting (the button to the right of lock icon in the address bar) and toggling it off and on repeatedly. By doing so, I noticed that the left navigation got screwed up a little, but a quick F5 refresh cleared up the issue immediately.

In summary, I am really excited about Windows 7. Apparently a lot of people are as excited as me because Microsoft just announced that they dropped the 2.5 million download limit so anyone who wants to check it out can do so. Microsoft does not plan on releasing a 2nd beta of Windows 7 so you might as well evaluate this version. You can get the goods here. The Windows 7 release timing is up-in-the-air, but it could be anytime from this summer through December. Here's hoping for sooner rather than later! I think that Microsoft CRM users can really benefit from some of the new enhancements in the taskbar and user interface.