Collins Dynamics CRM Blog

CRM 2011 Chart Enhancements

2012-01-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

With the advent of R7/Update Rollup 5 from CRM 2011, the ability to modify charts within the CRM 2011 interface has grown. However, if you want to take the user chart experience even further, there are still some modifications that you may want to make by exporting the chart out to an .xml file and modifying it in Visual Studio and reimporting it back into CRM.

CLICK HERE for a few basic examples....

Early Bird Discount End January 25th!

2012-01-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Convergence 2012 Early Bird Discount Ends January 25th!!

REGISTER NOW to save $300!!

Special Guest Speaker Announced! General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), world leader and former U.S. Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Advisor, will be the featured closing keynote speaker at Convergence 2012. He will draw upon his experience as both a leader on the world stage and as an eyewitness to leadership in action, to illustrate precisely what it takes to be a leader.

Connector for Microsoft Dynamics - Latest Release

2012-01-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

The latest release for Connector for Microsoft Dynamics is available! This release ensures that your Dynamics ERP deployment will have the choice to integrate with Dynamics CRM 4.0 on-premises or Dynamics CRM 2011 in any deployment. This release also resolves some of the key issues that you might be facing with the Feature Pack 6 deployments.

High Level Feature List includes:

Source level filtering (ability to limit the integrated records retrieved from the source based on user defined criteria)<)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 adapter - this adapter now supports Internet Facing Deployment / claims-based authorization / SSL / Office 365 CRM
Splitting of documentation into install and deployment and ERP specific customization documents

Download Info

2011-12-23T10:06:00.001-08:00

Update Rollup 20 for Dynamics CRM 4.0

2011-11-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

General details about Update Rollup 20

Update Rollup 20 is cumulative. However, the Update Rollup 20 CRM Client and Data Migration Client packages require Update Rollup 7 to be installed. For all other CRM components, you do not need to install any previous Update Rollups prior to Update Rollup 20.
The Update Rollup 20 download contains updates for the 40 supported Language Packs. Prior to installing the Update Rollup 20 Language Pack, you must install the original Language Pack.
Information about how to avoid reboots when installing the CRM Outlook Client can be found in the Update Rollup 4 blog posting.
The Update Rollup 20 Client can be deployed before the server is upgraded to Update Rollup 20.
Steps to make the Update Rollup 20 Client available via AutoUpdate can be found in the Update Rollup 4 blog posting. The Link and Patch IDs can be found in KB article 2550098.
Each update rollup could have fixes that require manual configuration. Please see the “Hotfixes and updates that you have to enable or configure manually” section in KB article 2550098.

If you need help installing this update, please contact support@collinscomputing.com.

CRM 2011 Update Rollup 5 is available

2011-11-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Update Rollup 5 is a cumulative update rollup that includes all the fixes for the issues that are documented in Update Rollup 1 thru Update Rollup 4. Exciting New Features include:

Multi-series & multi-category charts
Supported inclusion of lookups & date fields in dialogs & workflows
"Ignore null values" in Duplicate Detection
"Exclude inactive records" in Duplicate Detection
Enhanced Activity Feeds

Go to the Download Center to download the files. Go to the KB Article to read a bit more about the fixes included in the Rollup.

Dates for Future Update Rollups - Microsoft releases Update Rollups every 8 weeks, however there are some scheduling changes that affect Update Rollup 6. The dates below are for informational purposes and may change.

Update Rollup 6 will be delivered on its predefined schedule, 16 weeks after Update Rollup 4, which puts the delivery in January 2012.

CRM 2011 Update Rollup 4

2011-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

General Details about Update Rollup 4

Client packages installed manually by downloading the packages and running install will require administrative privileges. If the client packages are installed via the Windows Update (Microsoft Update) system, they will not require administrative privileges.

Dates for Future Update Rollups
Microsoft releases Update Rollups every 8 weeks, however there are some scheduling changes that affect Update Rollup 5 and Update Rollup 6. The dates below are for informational purposes and may change.

Update Rollup 5 will be delivered earlier than the 8-week cycle and is scheduled to release at the end of October 2011.
Update Rollup 6 will be delivered on its predefined schedule, 16 weeks after Update Rollup 4, which puts the delivery in January 2012.

Fix It Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics

2011-09-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

Great Resource!

Fix It Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics - CRM automated solutions to help you troubleshoot or resolve your issues.

Update Rollup 3 for Dynamics CRM 2011 is available

2011-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Update Rollup 3 for Dynamics CRM 2011 is available.

The links below will take you to the necessary information about Update Rollup 3. If a link does not work, please refer to the Release Channel Schedule below to make sure it is past the release date listed.

Microsoft Download Center: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26912
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2547347
Microsoft Update: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=2547347

General details about Update Rollup 3

Client packages installed manually by downloading the packages and running install will require administrative privileges. If the client packages are installed via the Windows Update (Microsoft Update) system, they will not require administrative privileges.
For help with installation please see the Installation Information section in KB2547347.

The Connector for Microsoft Dynamics

2011-08-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

The Connector for Microsoft Dynamics is a data integration tool that synchronizes the information in your Microsoft Dynamics CRM system and Microsoft Dynamics ERP system – automatically. Now you can eliminate redundant data entry and keep information up to date in both applications easily – right out of the box. Focus time and resources on activities that drive business results, not administrative tasks and fixing misaligned data.

CLICK HERE for more information. Available via your local partner.

Change coming to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online: Internet Lead Capture Service

2011-07-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

On July 19th, 2011, the current version of the Internet Lead Capture Service (ILC) within Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will be migrated to run on Microsoft's cloud-based computing platform, Windows Azure. This change will allow for improved performance and reliability in helping capture leads for organizations using this service.

Depending on how your organization has implemented ILC, you may need to take action to ensure that leads continue to be captured after the migration.

If you are using the "HTML Component" or "Code Snippet" method to collect leads, no action will be required on your part. You should see no change in your lead capture process.
If you are using the "Lead Capture Page" method of collecting leads, you will be required to re-create your Lead Capture landing page(s) to ensure that leads continue to be collected properly after the migration to the new service.

There are essentially two actions you must take to ensure leads continue to be captured properly:

Identification of the landing page names and layout that must be performed BEFORE the July 19th, 2011, migration date
Re-creation of the Lead Capture Page(s) that can only be performed AFTER the migration to the new platform has taken place.

The attached document will help prepare you for this migration and describes the process to follow to identify and then re-create the Lead Capture Pages. CLICK HERE to access the document. Within the document, please refer to the section labeled "Customers who are using the Lead Capture page" for details of the specific steps that must be taken both before and after July 19th, 2011. If you are unsure of which method(s) is/are being used, this same document describes how to make that determination.

**Microsoft will be send out notifications on the day this migration occurs as a reminder to recreate your Lead Capture page(s).

When the actual migration takes place, you may experience a short disruption in the lead capturing process. The rest of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service should be unaffected by this migration of the ILC service.

Power User Tip: End Series for Recurring Appointments

2011-06-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dynamics CRM 2011 introduces the capability to create recurring appointment in CRM and its bi-directional synchronization support with Outlook. "End Series for Recurring Appointments" is one of the enhanced capabilities introduced by CRM which leverages the user to preserve past instances in the user preferred state.

What is the difference between recurring appointments in Outlook and in CRM? In the Outlook calendar, instances of recurring appointments are Virtual based on recurrence rule. In CRM, it follows an expansion based mechanism where actual appointment records are created in the database.

CLICK HERE to find out how this works.

Update Rollup 2 for Dynamics CRM 2011 is available

2011-06-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Update Rollup 2 for Dynamics CRM 2011 is available.

The build number of the update packages for the following components is 5.0.9688.1155.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Server
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for Microsoft Office Outlook
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 E-mail Router
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Report Authoring Extension
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Language Pack
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Reporting Extensions

CLICK HERE for more update rollup information and/or to download the rollup.

New Statement of Direction with Big "Official" Announcement for CRM 2011+

2011-05-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a post last month Microsoft is looking to make new releases of CRM on a more regular basis. This is confirmed in the recent release of the "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction" from Microsoft. The major announcement is "Multi-browser: provide targeted user experiences that work on different web browsers by utilizing HTML5 for structuring and presenting content." This is long overdue and will finally make CRM on a level playing field for all types of users. Take a download a copy of the details here. There are many new exciting items to come. As the pre-releases become available, more details to follow.

Four Questions Every CEO Should Ask About IT

2011-05-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

There is a great article about IT in the April 25th edition of the Wall Street Journal. It has "Four Questions Every CEO Should Ask About IT". Though this is focused on big business, small business can benefit from understanding the answers to these questions as well. You can read the full article on the WSJ website.

Question #1: Are we using technology to transform our business, or are we just adding bells and whistles to existing processes?
Question #2: Are you ignoring important business differences as you standardize processes
across the company?
Question #3: Who is making sure the company's digital strategy is being implemented?
Question #4: Is electronic data empowering your people or controlling them?

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 with a Mac

2011-05-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (CRM) only works on a Windows based machines via Internet Explorer (IE) as officially supported by Microsoft. Unfortunately there is no change between CRM v4 options and 2011 for working with a Mac. Though Microsoft may change their mind in the future we need to look at alternative solutions. In a corporate environment more Apple Mac’s are showing up on people’s desktops and they want access to CRM related data. In order to accomplish this it is important to evaluate what type of access these Mac users need. Some may need view only or look-up capabilities. Others may require full fledge CRM with no Outlook integration. Many most likely need CRM with the CRM Outlook plug-in. This allows for emails to be easily tracked as well as Contacts, Calendar items and Tasks to be synced between CRM and Microsoft Outlook. Once this evaluation is completed then you can look at options that are available. These options are below and describe the type of access each user would get with each scenario. All options are applicable for a CRM Online or On-premise deployment of CRM.

1. Access CRM via a Terminal Server (TS) via Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and/or Citrix. This would allow a user to be on their normal Mac with the Mac operating system and then RDP to a Terminal Server to access CRM. On the Terminal Server they could access CRM through IE or they could access CRM through the Outlook client. The downside is that they need to manage their email exclusively on this TS desktop or manage their email in two places. Users of TS still have cut and paste capabilities and the ability to move files between their Mac and the TS. Obviously there are some licensing costs to consider with this solution as the Mac user will need access to a Windows Client Access License (CAL), Office CAL, etc. By the way, there is a growing trend in desktop management to centralize all applications and not to run any applications local. This is using these same technologies but instead of some applications being local and others centralized, just centralize the entire desktop.

2. Take the Mac machines (assuming they have an Intel chip) and install Microsoft Windows on them and then use the Mac with Office, IE, etc. This would give them full support CRM/Outlook Client. Though this is an option, not that realistic for Mac users. Most users report that Macs actually run faster with the Windows operating system.

3. Have the Mac users switch to a Windows based PC. This would allow them full support for not only CRM but others Windows based applications in the corporate environment. Though this is an option, not that realistic for Mac users.

4. If the user only requires look-up and viewing capabilities into CRM, then I would have them use Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile Express 2011 out of the box. This solution is “included” with CRM and is a no cost solution. Mobile Express is fully customizable and can be expanded if needed based on the requirements of the system. Unfortunately this solution would not allow for CRM integration with Outlook. There are other third parties like TenDigits, CRW and Resco that also have solutions for mobile that should also work on a Mac. Though these are specifically written for a mobile platform (such as Android, Windows Mobile and iPad/iPhone) they should also work on a Mac. Obviously these third parties come at additional cost and expense to purchase, administer and support. Though on the mobile devices these solutions may have email integration with Outlook available for CRM, it would not on a Mac.

5. The final solution is VMware Fusion 3. This solution allows for Mac users to have locally installed software on their Max to be able to access CRM. This is a similar solution to #1 but allows for more flexibility as they are not connecting to a centralized server. It also adds more administration as each user not only needs a local copy of VMware Fusion but also Windows, etc. installed inside the virtual image. Unfortunately this still has some limitations around the CRM Outlook integration. A copy of VMware Fusion will run you $80-$100 per user. There is also Boot Camp with Parallels Desktop that runs with Boot Camp but from my understanding the VMware solution has less of a performance hit. The cost of the solution is similar.

CRM 2011 "R2" (Coming Fall 2011)

2011-04-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

During Convergence Microsoft let us all know that they will have a faster (more agile) release model for CRM going forward. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 was just released in the last 60 days for online and on-premise. Now the next release will be coming in the fall 2011. There are four main areas they will focus on for this release:

1. Mobile Productivity (my hunch is platform specific apps like Droid, iPhone and Windows Mobile)
2. Social Collaboration & Engagement (my hunch is more integration with social networking and potentially a social platform directly inside CRM integrated with Mobile)
3. Consumerization of Business Applications (my hunch is more integration with other apps like mobile, office, and more)
4. Optimizing Business Decision Making (my hunch is more dash boarding and power related to visualizations in the system)

A new statement of direction is due out from Microsoft before the end of April. Very exciting stuff and more to come.

CRM and Internet Explorer 9

2011-03-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

I recently upgraded to Internet Explorer 9 on my Windows 7 machine and WOW- nice upgrade! Sorry XP users but IE9 will not work for you. The upgrade itself was very easy. Downloaded it directly from Microsoft and literally within 5 minutes (after a reboot) I was up on IE9 with any issues.

Now for my Microsoft Dynamics CRM testing. Tried CRM both in Outlook and directly in IE9. I tried it for both CRM v4 and 2011 and for both on-premise and online. For the Outlook client I have RU16 on my machine for CRM- not sure if that matters. Not only does it run very nicely without any issues but it is FASTER! All of my web applications/site seem to run quicker and serve up pages faster than IE8. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts but CRM and IE9 seem like a good pair for the future!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mainstream Support End Date

2011-03-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mainstream Support End Date is set for April 12, 2011. Extended Support End Date is set for 4/12/2016. More details via this link. CRM v3 was released Dec 2005 and with CRM 2011 being released in February anyone who is still on v3 it is a great time to upgrade. The system will still run and Microsoft will still troubleshoot issues but there will be no new updates to the version. As clients want to upgrade to newer versions of Windows, Windows Server, Office and SQL, CRM v3 will not work properly. Please contact me with any questions and/or to schedule your long overdue upgrade.

CRM 2011 Now Fully Released

2011-02-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Ahead of schedule, Microsoft is pleased to announce the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 On-Premise. CRM 2011 On-line was released approx 6 weeks ago and now the on-premise version is available for immediate download. Over 500 enhancements in the latest version mostly related to end-user functionality but a lot more. Read more about it here and enjoy 2011!

Exclusive CRM 2011 Launch Event - Increase Sales, Reduce Cost, Drive More Revenue in 2011

2011-02-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

As a Microsoft Certified Partner, Collins Computing is pleased to invite you to an exclusive launch event on March 3rd, 2011 where you'll be one of the first to learn how Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 can help you boost sales, improve marketing, enrich customer service interactions, and accelerate line of business application development (xRM).

When: March 3, 2011
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Where: Collins Computing Office
26050 Acero
Mission Viejo, CA 92691

Click here to register.

Would you like to…

• Reduce the length of your sales cycle and the cost?

• View actionable dashboard data that allows you to monitor sales to your best customers (and to your worst customers as well)?

• Create marketing campaigns to your customers that drive additional product and/or service sales?

• Whether in “the cloud” or on-premise, the choice is yours on the best way to deploy the software.

• Best of all, the cost is something any organization can afford, small or large!

In today's economic climate, business productivity has never been more important than it is right now. Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is an integral part of your organization's productivity story. After all, with outstanding customer management and focus, you'll not only retain your customers but be able to better market and sell to them. All the more reason to attend this exclusive event.

Seating is limited - Click here to register.

CRM Online 2011 Released

2011-01-15T05:43:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2011 has been released. For new clients that sign-up for CRM through Microsoft's 30 day trial program the latest version is now available. After being part of the beta program for the last 4+ months this is an exciting opportunity. Dashboarding out of the box, new user interface, field level security, Dialoging, etc. Very exciting new features for everyone. Current clients who are currently on CRM online will be upgraded in the next 30-60 days. New clients sign-up today and take a look. Special pricing is available as part of this launch event. New clients will receive 12 month promotional pricing of $34/month per user. Sign-up today!

The on-premises and partner-hosted versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will be globally available on Feb. 28, 2011.

Increase Sales, Reduce Costs, Drive More Revenue in 2011

2011-01-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

Would you like to.....

• Reduce the length of your sales cycle and the cost?

• View actionable dashboard data that allows you to monitor sales to your best customers (and to your worst customers as well)?

• Create marketing campaigns to your customers that drive additional product and/or service sales?

• Whether in “the cloud” or on-premise, the choice is yours on the best way to deploy the software.

• Best of all, the cost is something any organization can afford, small or large!

In today's economic climate, business productivity has never been more important than it is right now. Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is an integral part of your organization's productivity story. After all, with outstanding customer management and focus, you'll not only retain your customers but be able to better market and sell to them.

As a Microsoft Certified Partner, Collins Computing is pleased to invite you to an exclusive launch event on March 3rd, 2011 where you'll be one of the first to learn how Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 can help you boost sales, improve marketing, enrich customer service interactions, and accelerate line of business application development (xRM). Click here to register.

Top New Features of CRM v2011

2011-01-04T21:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the best new features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM v2011

1. Security Enhancements- Audit, Fields Level Security, and Team Ownership of Records

2. Solutions- allow packaged solutions from multiple ISV’s prepackaged for both CRM online and on-premise

3. Dashboards & Charts- Directly created in CRM without customizations

4. Enhancements to User Interface- Ribbon bar (same as Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010) and multiple forms per entity

5. Web Resources – Now packaged as a solution in the system

6. Expanded Globalization – over 40 languages now and more currencies

7. Outlook Expanded enhancements- many new features available especially with Outlook 2010 but not just limited to this version

8. SharePoint integration through the system “out-of-the-box”

9. Developer Tooling- many expanded and updated resources available with Silverlight and Visual Studio

Announcing Product Configurator Webinar

2010-12-30T06:26:00.000-08:00

Experlogix Configurator (Thursday, January 27th, @ 11am PST)

Experlogix is recognized globally as the premier configurator ISV for Microsoft Dynamics. They extend Dynamics CRM and/or Dynamics GP into a sophisticated pricing and product configuration system with native, Microsoft certified integration. Experlogix expertly guides Dynamics CRM users through every aspect of an opportunity, quote and order. For manufacturing applications, Experlogix configures Dynamics GP sales orders and instantly creates bills-of-materials and production orders, eliminating the need for large libraries of pre-built BOMS and routings.

With years of Dynamics experience and a large Dynamics customer reference base which includes small to large organizations in an array of industries, Experlogix is considered to be the go-to configurator ISV by the Microsoft Dynamics community.

CRM 2011 Sneak Peak

2010-12-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who attended the webinar today. I will post some of the follow-up items next week but for now, here is the slide deck we reviewed.

Please contact me if you need more details or if you want to discuss your upgrade.

Save the Date for Convergence 2011

2010-12-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

You’re invited! Attend Convergence 2011 Atlanta, the Premier Microsoft Dynamics Customer Event. April 10-13, 2011.

Mark your calendars now!

This is going to be a big year at Convergence 2011! We at Collins Computing Inc. are excited about the opportunity the event will provide. Plan ahead to join us in Atlanta this April.

Get it all at Convergence 2011
Convergence is the premier Microsoft Dynamics event, where you can experience firsthand how you can optimize your business and improve your bottom line.

You’ll have opportunities to:
• Discover what’s new with your Microsoft Dynamics solution, including details about upcoming innovations and product launches.
• Connect with your peers, partners, Microsoft team members, and industry experts to share ideas and knowledge—all in one place.
• Exceed your expectations for what you can accomplish with the power of your Microsoft Dynamics solution and the full range of Microsoft products.

Plan now to attend Convergence 2011 Atlanta so you can experience the Microsoft Dynamics community in action.

Convergence 2011 Atlanta is cost-effective and easy-to-attend.
This year’s event will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in the heart of downtown Atlanta, which offers many quality and affordable hotel options for budget-conscious travelers. And, as a major air transit hub, the city is a convenient and economical destination.

Sign up for registration alerts so you can begin your Convergence experience early. Plan to register in mid-December!

"The Worst May Be Over" for Nonprofit Giving

2010-11-30T08:33:00.000-08:00

The annual 2010 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey by GuideStar had some promising results. "The results are encouraging: The proportion of participants reporting decreased contributions dropped 14 percent, from 51 percent in October 2009 to 37 percent in October 2010. The percentage who said contributions had increased grew 13 percent, from 23 percent in October 2009 to 36 percent in October 2010." For more details, you can see the article here. You can also download the full survey directly here.

As you know, Collins Computing Inc has been a player in the Not for Profit (NFP) software space for the last decade. In particular related to NFP for GP and NFP for CRM. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM Collins has three primary offerings:
- A general NFP online offering for small organizations who need to get up and running quickly with simple needs.
- A specific offering for churches that can be on-premise or online. This is a full fledged Church Relationship Management system. You can find more details here.
- In 2010 with a strong partnership, Collins has been able to offer Fundraising software for NFP's based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This is a very robust and comprehensive solution.

For more details on any of these solutions, please contact me directly.

New Statement of Direction from Microsoft

2010-11-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

Microsoft released a new Statement of Direction for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This not only covers CRM v4 but also details concerning CRM 2011 (formerly CRM v5) which will be released in the coming months. Many exciting items core to the program as well as Accelerator announcements and integration touch points. Take a look and see the details of the future of the program.

Microsoft CRM Statement of Direction September 2010

Email Marketing Integration in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

2010-11-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

There are many email marketing options out there these days. Many of these solutions integrate directly with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. I get questions all the time about which services are available. I am trying to recap on the most viable options that are out there. The solution that is right for your organization is usually based on your volume of emails and the level of intelligence you are trying to collect about the emails that were sent, received, not received, etc. The value of having integration between the two systems (CRM and your email marketing tool) is important in order not to keep different silos of data and to add more value to the CRM data by supplementing it with direct information concerning the contacts interactions (via email). Some may ask, doesn't CRM do this "out of the box"? Yes CRM has email templates and Yes CRM can blast those emails out to lists of users. That being said, email marketing is not a core functionality of any CRM system (for a number of different reasons). Some enhancements that you get with email marketing tools is open rates, tracking info, subscription centers, easy unsubscribe and not email blasting off your own exchange server. Though there are most likely hundreds of email marketing tools and most likely 10's of email marketing tools that specifically integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I am only going to discuss a few here that are the top tools that should be part of the discussion. Click on the logos for a hyperlink to the integration page of the respective solution.

Eloqua has been a major enterprise player for years. If your organization has enterprise needs (and budget) then this might be the right solution for you. They have had integration with CRM for years.

ExactTarget is the top the top player in the email marketing space and more. They have built a tight integration with CRM and definitely worth taking a look at by customers. It is a tool a number of our clients use and we use internally.

Constant Contact has several third parties that have built integration with their solution. If your organization already uses Constant Contact then these integrations are an easy way to integrate the software quickly and easily with a very little investment. We have worked with one of these solutions and it is very easy. Contact me fore details. Check out this video for a demo of how it works.

ClickDimensions is a newer player in the business but their solution is CRM specific and worth taking a look. They have a lot of CRM experience and look to have a very strong product. This tool is built exclusively for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

SalesFUSION is another solution that has CRM integration. Take a look. SalesFUSION is an established email marketing company and more. It has integration that is at no cost between CRM and their solution. Some pricing info can be found here. SalesFUSION is making a big push in 2011 for Microsoft CRM clients. Their 2011 product is ready for prime time and worth considering. Here is some updated info.

CoreMotives is a lesser know but Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution and is worth taking a look at.

Pardot wrote an integration to Microsoft Dynamics CRM a few years back. They are a mid-level player in between SalesFusion and Eloqua. It does more than just email blasting. Their starting price is at $1,000 per month and their pricing plans are based on the number of emails sent monthly. The integration that have with CRM is at the Contact and Lead level but Campaigns are managed in the Pardot tool. They have some marketshare with CRM customers as well as with other CRM systems. They are based out of Atlanta.

VerticalResponse has an integration through a partner. The solution is ready for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. You can find some info about their solution here with their Email2CRM solution. This is a lower end email marketing tool with simple integration.

The only reason I am mentioning this small player is that one of our clients has this solution. Though MailChimp is based out of Atlanta, the only integration I know if has been written by a small firm overseas. You can find more info on the integration here. I would only use this integration if you have MailChimp already and don't want to switch. Looks like it works for on-premise and online for v4 and 2011.

Again the only reason I am mentioning Campaign Monitor is because one of our prospects uses it. They do have an integration available and you can find more information here. Only consider if you currently use Campaign Monitor.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or if you want more details on any of these solutions.

Microsoft Office 365 - The Next Big Cloud Computing Offering from Microsoft

2010-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today in San Francisco, Microsoft announced Microsoft Office 365, which brings with it a transformational moment for Microsoft and the solutions they provide to companies around the world, as well as outlining a new frontier for our Microsoft Office business. According to Kurt DelBene, President of the Office Division, “Microsoft Office 365 is the best of everything we know about productivity, all in a single cloud service.” Microsoft Office 365 brings the full power of Microsoft’s business productivity platform to organizations of all types and sizes and will define productivity in the cloud for the next generation.

Microsoft Office 365, which replaces Business Online Productivity Suite (BPOS), Office Live Small Business, and Live@edu, enables customers to bring together Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Lync, and Microsoft Office in an always-up-to-date cloud service offering, 24 hours per day, 365 days per week. This symbolizes our commitment to deliver the industry’s most complete cloud service for customers of all sizes and Microsoft Office 365 is tailored to meet our customers’ unique needs, including offerings for professionals and small businesses, enterprises and educational institutions. In addition, Microsoft Office 365 also provides a new way to get Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software, on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Now many of you may be wondering when you will be able to take advantage of Microsoft Office 365. Here is some information on the Microsoft Office 365 rollout and availability timeline:

Microsoft Office 365 will be available worldwide in 2011
Starting today Microsoft Office 365 beta program with a few thousand organizations in thirteen regions around the world. Over time, we will expand the beta to more organizations
Interested in participating in the Microsoft Office 365 beta program? Sign up for the Microsoft Office 365 beta and learn more at http://www.office365.com/

Microsoft Office 365 will expand to include Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in 2011

Want to learn more, go to http://www.office365.com/

Mobile Options for CRM v4

2010-10-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to access Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 and growing by the day. Android, Windows Mobile, iPhone or Blackberry- they all have options to access very light and very rich CRM data either inately on the device or through a web browser. I will attempt to give the current, relavant options in this email. If someone has any other options, feel free to leave your comments and I will update.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Outlook Client (and Laptop Client)
This out-of-the-box "included" functionality of CRM v4 is great. It allows for Calendar, Contacts and Tasks to be synced from CRM to Outlook and visa versa. Most mobile devices are already synced with Outlook so all of the data will then show up there. With two way functionality it makes it very nice. For example, if you create a Contact in CRM, it can sync to your Outlook Contacts and that Outlook Contact can sync to your mobile device. If you change a phone number for example, on your mobile device now for that Contact, that information will sync back to Outlook and then back into CRM. Thus anyone who has a copy of that Contact from CRM will now receive that update. Very useful. This works for both CRM on-premise and Online.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile Express
Since CRM v4.0 RU7 this comes "included" with CRM. Meaning if you do a new install and/or install RU7 or higher it will automatically be installed and you can now find it under Settings, Customizations, Customize Mobile Express in CRM. This will allow a system admin to define the entities and the fields within each entity to be exposed on the mobile platform.

Then once published, this data will be available on any web browser and on any web browser on most mobile devices (Blackberry, iPhone, Android, Windows mobile, etc). It is mostly for viewing, searching and editing exisiting records in CRM. It has some limitations around adding new records (activities in particular) and definitely does not have anything for "Tracking in CRM" of emails sent from the mobile device. That being said, you can occassionaly go into your Sent box on your desktop and highlight multiple emails and "Track in CRM". This works for both CRM on-premise and Online. It can be accessed at http(s)://organization name/m. Small settings on your firewall may need to be changed in order to enable access and an SSL certification is desired for security. As a matter of interest, these same settings can be utilized to IFD (Internet Facing Deployment) anized your CRM deployment (which is very useful. Final point, since on a desktop CRM only works with Internet Explorer (IE) it does not work on a iPad. But if you use CRM Mobile Express on your iPad, it is a nice start.

Speaking of iPad there is Mobile Edge for Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0. Mobile Edge for Microsoft Dynamics CRM software and the iPad takes wireless access to an entirely new level, offering higher productivity to your mobile professionals and true anytime, anywhere access to Microsoft CRM on a iPad device —even when you don’t have Internet access. This way, they can close more business, be notified of and resolve issues immediately, and can provide better customer care wherever they may be. Click on their logo above or here for more details.

As a smart client application for field sales and service people, CWR Mobile CRM leverages the power of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system and the advanced connectivity of the Windows Mobile, iPhone and BlackBerry Platform. Click on their logo or here for more details.

MobileAccess is comprised of multiple components working together to provide a comprehensive mobile CRM experience. MobileAccess Server software is deployed in the customer’s CRM environment. This software enables the creation of a role-tailored CRM user interface, one that reflects an organization’s unique CRM configuration by reading native CRM forms and automatically creating corresponding ‘mobile optimized’ forms and data.

The MobileAccess smartclient framework that is installed for each licensed smartphone leverages the device capabilities and navigation nuances of each smartphone operating system. The one-time framework installation can be delivered to smartphones in several ways, including over-the-air software distribution. Each user’s role-tailored CRM experience and relevant always-available data†, also referred to as local data, can be delivered wirelessly into this smartclient. Users can access and update CRM records online when they have a wireless signal–more importantly, they can also create new records and instantly access and update their local data, whether or not they have a stable wireless signal.

This is the most robust option available for mobile CRM. Click on their logo or here for more details.

This has a pay per user per month hosted model that may be attractive.

For questions about any of these options and more, feel free to contact us and we will help right away.

Updated Rollups for Microsoft CRM (#13)

2010-10-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back Rollup 13 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 was released by Microsoft and can be found here. The latest release has some fixes for the latest version of IE9 Beta as part of the release. It has been a while since I posted the summary of the roll-ups. So here it is:

Cool New Things in CRM 2011

2010-09-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here are just some of my initial observations for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta release. Some items are long over due, some items are just cool and others are very useful for end users.

First it is important to know that 2011 is certainly very cool with Outlook 2010. Richer Outlook experience that is "fully" integrated CRM and Outlook together. All new charts, functionality and

Role based forms-Very nice and long overdue. It will allow different users in the organization to have a tailored experience for CRM - especially when using entities beyond the standard Sales, Marketing and Service related.

Personalization- yes there are dashboards right out of the box for both CRM online and CRM on-premise. These dashboards can be system wide or each users can have their own. Small but cool thing, is to allow users now to set their own default view per entity. For example, this will allow a user to set the default Account view to "My Active Customers with $500k plus Revenue". Very cool! This will include, through Outlook, allowing to change order of sections (formerly tabs but no longer) cand remove them if desired. Through the "People Pane" you can view history items similar to Outlook related data. Both of these features are with the CRM Outlook client in Outlook 2010 exclusively.

Field Level Security & Auditing- long overdue but right out of the box without using work flow or third parties.

Advanced Excel exports that are two-way accessible. It allows a user to export data, make changes (additions and potentially deletions) in Excel and then import it quickly back into CRM. In some situations, this will be very helpful.

Sales Literature through Outlook 2010 with the CRM client, is available to be emailed directly out of CRM without cutting and pasting- long overdue.

Guided Processes/Dialogs- This allows users or administrators to build wizards in CRM to allow for a seamless experience for users to cross sell, up sell, etc or handle customer service related issues quickly and easily. Also expandable with Work flow automation. Also Queues can be worked into this as well because Queues can be used across all entities now (Leads, Contacts, Activities, etc).

Team Management- long over due. This allows all records (entities) in the system to be "owned" by a team versus just a user. This will for team selling very easily.

This is just a start of cool things to come with CRM 2011. Live demos coming at upcoming CRM 2011 CollinsWERKS sessions.

SharePoint Integration with CRM Presentation

2010-09-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a great presentation on integrating CRM with SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft CRM

Please contact us if you have any questions!

LinkedIn Functionality for CRM

2010-08-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

With the growing popularity of LinkedIn and its use in the business world, there is a growing need to incorporate it into your day-to-day life (as a sales and/or marketing person. We have created/leveraged some of the uses of LinkedIn in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In particular around Leads, Accounts and Contacts. Though many of these features do not require you being a LinkedIn member nor having your Company profile on LinkedIn, why not. It is free, easy to use and beneficial both personally and professionally. Sign-up today and not only received the benefits of LinkedIn but also the enhanced functionalities that will be available with the features below. If you work at a company that does not currently have a company profile, you can create on in minutes here.

Leads
After saving a new Lead record or looking one up in CRM, you can then quickly view the LinkedIn info hyperlinked directly from the Lead form (related to the Company info from LinkedIn). The picture below shows when you are not logged in to LinkedIn but if you were it would show how many connections you had to the company and the people that you were "linked" with.

Accounts
After saving a new Account record or looking one up in CRM, you can then quickly view the LinkedIn info hyperlinked directly from the Account form (related to the Company info from LinkedIn). The picture below shows when you are not logged in to LinkedIn but if you were it would show how many connections you had to the company and the people that you were "linked" with.

Contacts

After saving a new Contact record or looking one up in CRM, you can push the Search LinkedIn button at the top of the Contact form and it will search LinkedIn for the Contacts in LinkedIn for your person. It searches the Advanced Search in LinkedIn and populates the first name, last name and the zip code from the Contact record. If you find your person, you can then cut and paste the link back into CRM for future reference. This functionality could be enhanced as well, when a user opens a Contact in CRM it would show what type/level of connection you were with the Contact in LinkedIn.

Though the screenshots above are on v4 we are currently developing on CRM 2011 and will be available shortly. Contact us for more info.

CRM vNext or v5 now known as CRM 2011

2010-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, the next version of Microsoft's customer relationship management software, will be released to beta in September and officially released by the end of this year, Microsoft recently announced.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM code name V.Next will have release name Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

To sign up for beta notification for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, visit this site.

CRM v4 Access Methods

2010-06-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 architecture is a Microsoft SQL server database with a .net user interface. The application is separate from the database. This allows for easy upgrades and expandability of the system.

Though there are two primary ways to deploy CRM (on-premise and online (hosted by Microsoft)) and the code base/functionality for both are the same, this document specifically discusses CRM on-premise access options.
This design allows for easy upgrades and availability to customize quickly while leveraging key built in features regardless of how a user connects to the system (besides mobile), such as:
- Outlook Interface
- Export to Excel
- Mail merge with Word
- SQL Report Services
- AD user authentication
- Mobile solution
- Off-line solution
The primary ways to access CRM as a user are as follows:
1. CRM Web Client (IE) internally & externally (via IFD)
2. CRM Outlook Client
3. CRM Laptop Client (off-line)
4. CRM Mobile Client (via Mobile Express)

1. CRM Web Client (IE) internally & externally (via IFD)

CRM is a web client. It can be accessed exclusively (if desired) on a desktop/laptop using Internet Explorer (IE). Internally it opens in IE as a favorite or an IE icon on a user’s desktop using the users AD/Network login (no additional login is required). Integration with Excel and Word is standard with this option for most functions. This deployment method can also be used on a Citrix/Terminal server.

Externally CRM can (if set-up) be accessed from any computer outside the company via IFD (Internet Facing Deployment. This allows for users to securely (via https) access CRM (without the Outlook plug-in) via any computer running IE 7 or 8. It allows for a secure log-in and log-out to as well as users to edit, look-up and view data the same way they can internally after logging into the system. This is similar to Microsoft OWA for Exchange but it is the exact same client instead of a lighter client. The user name and password are the same as their AD/Network user name and password.

2. CRM Outlook Client

The Outlook client allows for users to access CRM through the Web Client but using Outlook plug-ins. This works with Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010. Once the plug-in is installed, it adds additional functionality to Outlook and the interaction with CRM. In particular this is allowing for Emails to be tracked in the system and Calendar items, Tasks and Contacts to be synchronized between CRM and Outlook seamlessly/bi-directional. Some increased functionality with Excel and Word also come along with this access option. Though Exchange is preferred to share calendars, it is not required as the Outlook functionality is client-side. This deployment method can also be used on a Citrix/Terminal server. Below is an example with Outlook 2010.

3. CRM Laptop Client (off-line)

The Laptop Client looks and acts exactly the same as the Outlook Client just has an additional button on the tool bar at the top which says “Go Online” or “Go Offline”. The interface is the same but it allows the user to take records they have access to in the system “offline”. The user specifies how many Account and all their related records. This uses SQL Express (SQL 2005 or greater) on the local desktop to store the data. The data is encrypted and secure but local. This is ideally designed for users who travel on planes with no Wifi access. They can “Go Offline” in the office and then travel to a hotel with hi-speed internet access and “Go Online”

4. CRM Mobile Client (via Mobile Express)

As part of the standard installation of CRM server components, CRM comes with a mobile solution. This is called Microsoft CRM Mobile Express and is included with CRM. This allows users to access CRM on any browser on any mobile device (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android, iPhone, etc) to mainly search and view data (though there is some write capabilities). The data is via a secure (https) web connection, so no data is stored locally. The user interface is scaled down from the main CRM UI but even custom attributes and entities are available. There are other third party applications that allow for CRM mobile via off-line mobile clients with more functionality.

CRM v4 and Outlook 2010 Great Combination

2010-05-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

It has been about 30 days now that I have been using the final release of Office 2010. It has a great user interface and Microsoft has done a nice job with it. Of course, Office 2010 came out "officially" May 12th along with many other Microsoft business related applications- Dynamics GP 2010 (I added this one), SharePoint 2010, SQL 2008 R2, Visual Studio 2010 and more. I have been using Windows 7, IE8 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4 so no change there.

With CRM v4 and Outlook 2010 they have changed how the ribbon incorporates CRM. Basically instead of an additional menu items and buttons, it separates them into an "Add-Ins" section of the Ribbon and then you can see the buttons there. Though it is one additional click (which is not ideal), having them separate is great. I can see in "v5" how this can be heavily leveraged.

Collins CRM Team is now on Twitter!

2010-05-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

By TwitterButtons.com

Become a follower and check us out on our new Collins CRM Team Twitter site.

Manual configuration for Rollup Hotfixes

2010-05-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Did you know that each rollup update package for Microsoft CRM 4.0 have some features that require manual configuration?

While the majority of CRM admins are good about applying the rollups, they often miss the manual configuration section. While these may not always apply to your organization, it's good to get into the habit of reviewing the manual configuration section after applying the rollups. Sometimes even if the issues the manual configuration will resolve may not be applicable to your business right now, it could be in the future so I see it as somewhat of a "preventative" measure.

Most of these are pretty simple configurations, just requiring a single registry entry on the server and/or client computer.

Check out the latest Rollup 10 update, and review the section called "Hotfixes and updates that you have to enable or configure manually". This shows the manual configurations for not only Rollup 10 but also all the other preceding rollups as well.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=979347

CRM Statement of Direction

2010-05-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

The latest Statement of Direction for Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been released by Microsoft.

Some of the highlights:

New CRM Accelerators available in Q2 - Portal Accelerator and Customer Care Accelerator.
Non-Profit vertical solution available for CRM Online now
CRM adapter release timelines for integration with Dynamics GP, AX6, and NAV2009
CRM "5" roadmap and info

We're very excited about the future of CRM! The investment Microsoft is making into the product just reinforces their confidence and commitment to the Dynamics line.

Check out the document yourself here:

Microsoft CRM Statement of Direction April 2010

Validating account and contact information in CRM

2010-04-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

We often get requests for ways to validate account and contact information in CRM. Typically, there are 3 ways I suggest people accomplish this:

1. Manually contact and validate each account or contact.

2. Integrate a third-party validation service to do the validations automatically (c360 and QAS are two such services we’ve used for this in the past).

3. Have the contacts verify their own information for you.

Option #1 is very time and resource intensive. While it offers a no-cost solution as far as investment into third party software, CRM, or professional services, it would require a significant amount of time from internal resources to accomplish effectively. This is typically not a very desirable option.

Option #2 is a very effective, but often very costly and administration-heavy solution. This solution is typically only considered if having accurate contact information is critical to your business functions. In other words, in some businesses we see that inaccurate address or contact information can not only be a major interruption in the business process flow, it can also actually cost the business money (e.g. running credit scores, sending out materials to incorrect places, etc.)

Option #3 is probably the most frequently utilized. It offers a relatively low-cost solution that can be done quickly and be done without the need to purchase any additional software or hardware. While it may not be quite as effective or accurate as options 1 or 2, if done properly, it can greatly improve your data accuracy without a huge investment in time or resources.

For the purposes of this article, I will dive a little deeper into one particular solution we have done using option #3. We’ve done this using a combination of out-of-the-box CRM workflow and some custom web pages that access CRM (all the code was done using the CRM SDK guidelines).

First, set up the workflow:

· Create an on-demand workflow for the contact record. This workflow will send an email to the contact’s email address. I use the Business Productivity Workflow accelerator (download for free here) which allows me to add a dynamic GUID to a URL I will add to the email.

· Add the contents of the email. I’ve just put in some basic contact info, a line asking the recipient to verify the info, one link to update if the info requires changes, and a link to verify if all the info is correct.

· Next, create a web page that will accept a contact URL and display them on a form. Add a “save” button to write to the CRM contact record when it is complete.

Some other notes:

· We also have added a “verified date” field on the contact record that records the date/time the record is updated by the contact. This will kick off another workflow that notifies the sender the record has been updated. This is an optional, but nice to have feature.

· You’ll need to publish the website to an IIS site that is accessible to the public and allows anonymous access (and it must have access to your CRM server).

· Using this form will require a CRM External Connector license. If you don’t already have one, you will need to purchase one to utilize this.

· We recommend publishing this to an IIS site with an SSL certificate applied to ensure secure transfer of data.

Convergence 2010 Kick Off!

2010-04-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Microsoft opened Convergence 2010 in Atlanta Sunday with Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Business Solutions Kirill Tatarinov demonstrating how the company is delivering on its vision of the Dynamic Business by providing customer-driven advancements across Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP applications to help organizations embrace change and seize opportunities that drive enduring business success. More than 40 people from Collins and our clients are part of the event that last for three days and allows clients to interact directly with Microsoft, ISV's and Collins. More details and a review of the conference can be found here.

CRM v4 RU10 Now Available

2010-04-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

Roll-up 10 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 is now available. This is the latest in a long string of improvements to performance, stability, etc for CRM. You can find all the details here.

Sharing Data across Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deployments

2010-03-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

While using a single CRM instance is probably the simplest way to accommodate the data sharing needs within an organization, using multiple instances of Dynamics CRM may be preferable in a number of scenarios. This article references a white paper focused on sharing data across multiple CRM organizations. The white paper provides an overview of the levels of integration available for sharing data across multiple Dynamics CRM organizations, together with details about the techniques that are used for integration at the Application and Data levels, which include Web Services, Web Services-based solutions, Filtered Views, and SQL Server Replication. The configuration demonstrates how to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to maintain referential integrity between multiple organizations by leveraging Microsoft SQL Server 2008 transactional replication. You can download the whitepaper here.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance and Scalability White Papers

2010-03-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Enterprise Performance and Scalability

These white papers provides an overview of the results and benefits of performance and scalability enhancements in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Performance and Scalability – User Scalability for the Enterprise

These benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to meet the needs of an enterprise-level, mission-critical workload of 24,000 concurrent users while maintaining performance at sub-second response times. Test results were achieved without customizations to simulate an out-of-the-box Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment. This white paper describes the goals, methodology and detailed results of this performance benchmark.

Performance and Scalability – Database Scalability for the Enterprise

These benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to data volumes of over 1 billion database records while maintaining performance at sub-second response times. Test results were achieved without customizations, and minimal optimization to simulate an out-of-the-box Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment. This white paper describes the goals, methodology and detailed results of this performance benchmark.

Performance and Scalability – Bandwidth Utilization Improvements

Microsoft Dynamics CRM showed network utilization improvements of up to 94% in version 4.0. This white paper details the test results comparing version 3.0 to 4.0.

Microsoft CRM v4 Outlook Client Build Numbers

2010-03-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

When managing several Microsoft CRM v4 installations I need to know which Rollup version is installed.

I compiled this table of build numbers by version, maybe someone else finds it useful.

I’ll update this as new rollups come out. If you find a bug, let me know!

And while we are at it… Here is how to find out SQL Server version by build number.

CRM Backup Strategy

2010-03-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

Great presenation on Microsoft CRM Backup Strategy today by Todd.

You can view the presentation here

Sign-up Now for Convergence 2010 Atlanta

2010-02-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

2010 Convergence promises to be an exciting time with a lot of new information on CRM and more. REGISTER NOW!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Workflow Authoring Best Practices

2010-01-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM workflow engine provides powerful functionality for implementing custom business logic in a CRM deployment. However, it also lends itself to complex problems and design mistakes which can result in expensive maintenance and confused users. This article explains in detail a few important considerations when implementing workflows and custom workflow activities in CRM.

1. Composition with child workflows.

The workflow pattern is in general one of composition of smaller steps. Therefore, when creating a workflow, think about which parts of the workflow can be generalized as a "sub-process" and be reused in multiple workflow definitions. By isolating these smaller processes, one can define child workflows which can then be called from multiple workflow definitions. The advantage is that the child workflow can be easily modified as opposed to modifying multiple workflow definitions. It will also make it simpler to define future workflows that might be a composition of smaller processes or business logic. One important consideration is that child workflows are executed asynchronously with respect to the parent workflow. Therefore, you should not make use of child workflows for sub-processes which require sequential execution.

2. Awareness of persistence points in workflow definitions.

If you have a long workflow that might take a long time to execute you will need to consider whether the workflow will persist and what that implies. A workflow can be persisted because of multiple reasons: The workflow instance is waiting for some event to occur, the CrmAsyncService is stopped or the workflow instance explicitly requests to be persisted by executing an activity with the PersistOnCloseAttribute. In any case, the workflow engine unloads the workflow instance and persists it to the database until a user manually resumes the workflow or an event occurs which resumes the workflow automatically. The important considerations are

1) At what point does the workflow persist? The workflow will persist up to the step when the last activity is marked as a persistence point. Therefore, when it resumes, it will re-execute all the steps after the last persistence point. This is important if you have logic in your workflow which you want to guarantee does not execute more than once. Note that workflow instances are automatically persisted after the following CRM steps: create, update, send email, send email from template, assign, change status, child workflow and stage. For custom activities you can add [PersistOnClose] attribute to the activity class. (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.workflow.componentmodel.persistoncloseattribute.aspx).

2) When is the workflow going to resume? If the workflow will wait on an event that might never happen or take years to occur, then the database will soon contain thousands of waiting workflows which could affect performance. You should consider a design in which this situation is minimized. For example a workflow that waits on an opportunity to be marked as “won” can wait forever and the condition never meets. Instead wait on the opportunity to be closed and then check the status reason once it is marked as closed; if it was not marked as “won” you might want to add a Stop Workflow step at that point.

3. Write "atomic" custom activities.

Custom workflow activities should not implement the entire logic of the workflow, they are ideally small "atomic" steps that will make part of larger workflows. Because custom activities don't have the ability to control persistence, they should never cause the workflow to go idle or persist in the middle of a custom activity. Generally, it is better to have multiple custom activities that are called in sequence from a parent workflow than one large custom activity that implements all the logic in sequence. This also follows from the principle of workflow as a composition pattern. For example if your process is to take custom actions A, B and C when an account is opened, it is generally better to write a custom activity for each A, B and C separately and add a step for each activity in your workflow as opposed to writing a custom activity that implements A, B and C sequentially and then add a single step to the workflow to include this custom activity.

4. Correct use of "Execution Time".

The CRM workflow designer provides a property called "Execution Time" which can be used in dynamic expressions such as "if Account(CreatedOn) + 10 days < workflow(ExecutionTime)". The meaning of this property is neither the time at which the workflow is published nor the time the workflow instance starts. The actual value of this property is the real time when the workflow evaluates an expression that contains this property. Therefore, expressions such as "Wait until 1 day after workflow(ExecutionTime)" will never succeed and the workflow will wait and resume once a day forever causing performance problems. If you want your workflow to wait for a specific amount of time you should use the wait step and configure the condition as: workflow – timeout – equals – {Duation}. This will unload the workflow and resume execution after the specified time duration has passed.

5. Plugins Vs. Workflows.

This is a common dilemma in CRM and there is no exact formula to find the best implementation method for a specific situation.

Article Courtesy of the Microsoft CRM Team Blog.

Rollup 8 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

2009-12-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sustained Engineering team released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 8 on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Details can be found here:

Microsoft Download Center
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article

Update Rollup 8 is cumulative. However, the Update Rollup 8 CRM Client and Data Migration Client packages require Update Rollup 7 to be installed. For all other CRM components you do not need to install any previous Update Rollups prior to Update Rollup 8

The Update Rollup 8 download contains updates for the 40 supported Language Packs. Prior to installing the Update Rollup 8 Language pack you must install the original Language pack.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router
Update Rollup 8 adds support for Exchange 2010. However, the Update Rollup 8 Rule Deployment Wizard does not yet support Exchange 2010. Microsoft is working to add that support in future Update Rollups.

Save the Date for Microsoft Convergence 2010!

2009-12-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

Convergence 2010 is set for April 24 - 27, 2010 in Atlanta, GA at the Georgia World Congress Center. Visit the agenda page to see what’s in store for you. To be sure that you're one of the first to register for this premier Microsoft Dynamics customer event, sign up for registration alerts.

Field-Level Security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Options and Constraints

2009-12-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

Microsoft recently released a white paper Field-level Security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Options and Constraints, a component of the broader CRM Nuts and Bolts article on Security and Authentication in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center

This document provides selected aspects of the conceptual application of the Dynamics CRM security model, with details about the various options and constraints that are associated with using supported custom logic to control of access to data at a more granular level than is provided by Microsoft Dynamics CRM out-of-the-box.

Update Rollup 7 for CRM (major client release)

2009-10-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the availability of Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise from Microsoft. This Rollup is a major client side release for Microsoft. It has some key items to improve the experience for users that utilize the Microsoft CRM Outlook Client. Though the user interface is identical to previous versions, the experience will be substantially improved. This includes but not limited to:
- New support configurations
- Improved machine performance
- Quicker Outlook startup
- More efficient Outlook performance and tagging process
- More effective state management
- Optimized background sync
- Streamlined client set-up
- New Contact Wizard for CRM Online (coming in November 2009)

For details specifically on the CRM Outlook client improvements see the slide deck for many interesting enhancements/improvements.

For more details and information please see the KB Article. For advise and information, please contact Collins directly.

CRM Online update (known as R4) announced and coming in November

2009-10-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

We just received an email from Microsoft officially announcing an upcoming update to CRM Online:

“As part of Microsoft's commitment to ongoing innovation and customer success, we are set to deliver our next Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service update in November 2009. This update will provide your organization with increased business benefits that accelerate time to value in areas such as:

- Access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online through a range of mobile devices
- In-page help and how-to guidance to provide an even richer experience for new users
- The ability to add additional storage capacity to accommodate even larger customer databases
- The introduction of a Home Page dashboard that gives improved visibility into data through embedded charts
- A new release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook with improved performance and usability
- Enhanced data import capabilities through an updated import wizard experience

We will begin upgrading existing organizations in early November.”

Sales Methodology Automation in CRM

2009-09-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

The Sales Performance International (SPI) accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is for customers who have invested in or are looking to invest in the SPI Solution Selling sales methodology and would like to leverage this investment through Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This accelerator provides advice and guidance for customers on their options for managing Solution Selling through Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Customers have two options when integrating Solution Selling into their Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

Specifically the two options for integrating Solution Selling into Microsoft Dynamics CRM are:

1. Basic Edition: provides a fully-featured Solution Selling sales process template for Microsoft Dynamics CRM but it is restricted to 3 users. The basic edition is available for download at no cost. You can download your free copy of the basic edition as well as the installation guide and user manual.

2. Professional Edition: provides the same solution as the basic edition but has no limitations to the number of users and additionally you will benefit from the Solution Selling Pain Chain™ and Strength of Sale Check functionality. The professional edition requires customers to purchase licenses for on-premise deployment or subscribe to an on-demand service. Contact us at Collins to get more details.

Tips & Tricks for CRM v4.0

2009-09-22T11:47:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who attended todays webinar. For those who wanted a copy of the presentation on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Tips and Tricks you can view it here and click on the title of this blog to view online and then you can download it if you would like a copy.

Updated Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction is now available!

2009-09-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is bringing new innovations to customer relationship management (CRM) software with Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. It is a flexible CRM solution that fits your people, fits your business, and fits your environment. This document outlines the future direction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM through to the next major release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM “V.Next” which is targeted for release in 2010. Microsoft expects to update this document with further details periodically.

The latest edition of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction white paper is now available. It is the primary communication mechanism for all things relating to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM roadmap.

The document can be downloaded from here.

Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft CRM 4.0

2009-09-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The update includes bug fixes and performance enhancements packaged together for easy deployment.

Update Rollup 6 is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base

Important: This update is not necessary for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. All updates are installed automatically. We recommend customers install the update rollup to keep your software performing at its best. Installing previous update rollups is not a requirement to installing the current rollup.

CRM Accelerators

2009-08-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who attended the webinar presentation yesterday on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Accelerators. You can find the presentation here.

Update Rollup 5 for Microsoft CRM 4.0

2009-08-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 5 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The update includes bug fixes and performance enhancements packaged together for easy deployment.

Update Rollup 5 is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base

Important: This update is not necessary for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. All updates are installed automatically.We recommend customers install the update rollup to keep your software performing at its best. Installing previous update rollups is not a requirement to installing the current rollup.

Microsoft CRM Reporting Options

2009-07-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who attended todays CRM webinar. For those who wanted a copy of the presentation on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Reporting Options it can be found here and you can download it if you would like a copy. Please email Robert at rfitzer@collinscomputing.com with any questions/comments.

CRM as a Solution Platform

2009-07-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

It is easy to customize Dynamics CRM using built-in customization tools. These customizations include adding new attributes, entities and views. However, sometimes customers are looking to automate their existing business processes or replace and enhance legacy applications using the latest technology without having to spend a fortune.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a sophisticated business application platform that provides the basic services required by developers and even business analysts to build upon. A wide range of applications can be created with this platform. These applications may be based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM but are not limited to CRM-type applications.

Microsoft partners and customers have taken advantage of this platform to build several industry specific solutions. These industries include education, government, financial services, manufacturing, distribution and many more.

Dynamics CRM is designed with the following goals in mind:
• Connect your company's "business model" and "software model": Dynamics CRM reflects more of the business model in the software model so that when changes occur within your organization or its business processes, the software can adapt to these changes more easily and affordably.
• Adaptive process: It enables you to customize the solution to adapt to the model of the business instead of forcing the business to adapt to a process built into the application.
• Focus on users: Users can access Dynamics CRM (including any customizations) from within Microsoft Outlook client or using the web browser. This provides the user experience that is tightly integrated with how they work today.

Customizations

Based on Microsoft CRM security roles, users, managers, system administrators, system customizers, and software developers can take advantage of the flexibility provided in Microsoft CRM to customize the application's appearance and behavior. Here are some examples of how users with different roles can customize Dynamics CRM:

End users can configure the way they view information and their personal options.

Company managers (executives, sales, marketing, customer service managers and other business managers) can customize user permissions, business unit settings, and workflow processes.

System customizers can customize the schema, including adding, modifying, renaming, or deleting entities and fields. System customizers can also modify the user interface by changing form and view content and defaults, adding or modifying reports, and changing the default filter for reports. System customizers can use the Workflow Manager tool to create workflow rules.

System administrators can do all the tasks system customizers can do, plus modify any record in Microsoft CRM.

Developers can customize and extend Microsoft CRM functionality by using the Workflow and Deployment Manager tools on the Microsoft CRM server, and by using the processes defined in the Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit. These developer features include the following:
. Client side scripts and server-side plug-ins and custom Workflow assemblies
. Integration with other applications using web services based APIs and integration tools
. Integration with custom web pages and portals
. Integration with SharePoint Workspaces and Document Libraries
Dynamics CRM System wide features

Dynamics CRM provides the following features and capabilities you can leverage in your application without having to build them from scratch.
• Access within Microsoft Outlook or from a web browser
• Import data using built-in data import tools in Dynamics CRM
• Integrate with other applications using web services based APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)
• Export data in various formats such as Excel (including dynamic PivotTables and worksheets), PDFs and Word documents
. Email templates and mail-merge
. Multiple currencies and languages

For a Fun video on xRM go here

This is a great article using Microsoft technologies written by one of our Senior Business Analysts for our Development/CRM team Abi Shende.

Create Browser Based Dashboards Using Excel Services

2009-07-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Using the new “Convert to formulas” feature in Excel 2007, you can convert the cells in a PivotTable to formulas. This feature converts the cells to formulas that use Cube functions. Once you have done that, you can then take full advantage of all Excel features (such as layouts, formats, coloring, annotations, charts, etc.) to produce a report the way you desire. You are no longer limited by the PivotTable’s rigid predefined structure. In addition to converting PivotTable cells to formulas, you can also enter new formulas using Cube functions to create a custom report from scratch or add information to an existing report converted from a PivotTable.

Having created the Excel reports and charts, you may want to make them available to a wider audience via a Web browser. You want to enable users to filter the worksheets and charts to suit their needs. You also want to prevent your master Excel workbook from being edited by certain users while allowing only specific users to edit the master workbook. What is the solution?

Welcome to Excel Services! Excel Services is an interactive Web view for spreadsheets - a way for people to see data in their Web browser instead of using Excel. In fact, to look at the report or dashboard in Excel Services, users do not even need Excel installed. However, if they do have Excel installed, they can use the “Open Snapshot in Excel” feature of Excel Services to open the limited version of the workbook data in Excel and use the standard Excel features such as auto sum, formulas and charts for further analysis. However, this does not change the master version of the workbook saved in Excel Services.

In order to make your Excel workbook available in Excel Services, you publish your Excel workbook to Excel Services. To publish workbooks to Excel Services, you need:
• Excel Services set up with SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise.
• A SharePoint site based on SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise. This is where you can save your workbooks, and where others can see your workbook data by using their Web browsers.
• Excel 2007 installed on computers through one of the following: Office Professional Plus 2007, Office Enterprise 2007, or Office Ultimate 2007.
Again, to look at a worksheet in Excel Services, users don't need Excel installed at all. All they need is a Web browser.

If you would like to learn how to set up Excel Services and publish an Excel workbook to Excel Services, there is a good tutorial available here.

This is a great article using Microsoft technologies written by one of our Senior Business Analysts for our Development/CRM team Abi Shende.

Dynamics CRM 4 Mobile Express Released!

2009-07-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available as a free download and supports the product's full customization and multi tenant capabilities. Those capabilities allow organizations to deploy a CRM solution for one set of workers and, using the same software licenses and hardware, develop instantly mobilized xRM solutions for a wide variety of other business needs using point and click tools.

Read the fine print and download Mobile Express. Look for details on the Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM roadmap in the next Statement of Direction coming next week.

Customization tools are embedded within the application and use the same user roles you already have to provide role based experiences on the device. Click on the title for the hyperlink to the download.

Monitoring Queue Data with the CRM Queue Gadget

2009-07-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a convenient way to monitor queues, be sure to read our new article on MSDN, Monitoring Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Queues with a Windows Sidebar Gadget. It shows you how to use Windows Sidebar, also known as “gadgets”, to monitor the information in Microsoft Dynamics CRM queues. The CRM Queue Gadget application lets you view queue data in a small lockable panel on your Windows Vista desktop.

Tips & Tricks for CRM v4.0

2009-06-26T14:40:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who attended todays open house/lunch. For those who wanted a copy of the presentation on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v4.0 Tips and Tricks click on the title of this blog to view online and then you can download it if you would like a copy. Please email Robert at rfitzer@collinscomputing.com with any questions/comments.

Collins Computing Recognized As Elite Scribe Software Partner

2009-06-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Scribe Software Corporation provides cost-effective, no-coding data migration and integration solutions for Microsoft Dynamics business applications. Scribe solutions are simple to configure and provide ease of modification as business processes change.

Please join us for our Collins Customer Annual First Friday of Summer BBQ!

2009-06-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Every year Collins Computing celebrates the first Friday of summer with a company BBQ for our team members. This year we want to change things up a bit and as a Thank You for your business and loyalty, we would like you to join us in starting the summer in typical Collins fashion! Speaking of fashion, this is a summer casual affair, so keep those fancy shoes and dress clothes in the closet and get out those Hawaiian shirts, shorts and slaps!

Come by anytime between 9:00am to noon to take advantage of FREE GP/CRM/DEV/IT consulting time with our team members. Please contact your favorite consultant by June 22 and give them a "heads up" on what you might need, for we are anticipating high attendance and want to make sure they know you are planning on coming by and are prepared for your visit.

The FREE consulting time will be in a casual atmosphere throughout the building and we hope you can take advantage of this fun and free opportunity to meet face to face with the Collins Team. Use this great opportunity to get that nagging question answered, get some help writing a report or anything else that comes to mind.

We'll fire up the grill at noon, serve up some cool drinks to kick off summer and we'll have fun, fun, fun, 'till your Daddy takes the T-Bird away!

Welcome to our new CRM BLOG!!!

2009-06-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

We hope to provide important tips and tricks on Microsoft Dynamics CRM along with current information about CRM and other related products as well as on the Collins CRM practice. Please subscribe or check back often for the latest information.