I always like to hear a good rumor, and seems there have been quite a few circulating about the next version of CRM since around PDC time last year. Alex Katsoulas has been kind enough to put them all together to save you the time of reading them all individually by summarising them here: http://www.changingera.com/2009/07/05/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2010-the-upcoming-release/
An interesting read, I wonder how many of these rumors will end up being actual features?
Also, In the last few days I have seen a few posts that mention some rumors about upcoming release of CRM Mobile Express. I can actually contribute to that one as I have also heard that CRM Mobile Express is due for Full release later this week. :)
But as for the CRM 5 features mentioned in this post – there isn’t anything new there, and I haven't seen confirmation of any of the mentioned features yet, I am just taking the chance to spread the rumors :-)
As true to the planned release of rollups every 8 weeks, late last week the CRM rollup 5 was released. It is a cumulative update that now incorporates additional bug fixes & performance improvements.
You can download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5101d801-976b-4c11-bdfc-000b970ef4a3
I am so excited that Zap Technology, one of our local Brisbane Based ISV’s that I have been working with recently, have been awarded the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Award for ISV/Solutions, Innovation for our Business Analytics for Microsoft Dynamics solutions.
"Zap is totally focused on supporting the Microsoft Dynamics community with analytics solutions that drive profitable, repeatable business for Dynamics partners," said Garth D. Laird, President of Zap. "We deliver solutions that are 100% Microsoft technology, we've scaled up our geographical reach to provide global coverage, we are extending our solutions from NAV and CRM to also include GP and AX, and we are also working with many partners to deliver vertical solutions that provide tremendous competitive advantage."
A big congratulations to the great team at Zap Technology! This is very much well deserved!
In case you haven't had a chance to check out their award winning solution, I have included below a short movie that gives you a bit of a demo:
Zap will have representatives at both the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in New Orleans in July & also at the Australian Partner Conference in September, so if you are heading along to either of these events, make sure you say hello to the great guys from Zap.
Probably the most complex of the CRM Accelerators, the Analytics accelerator has just had its 2 release made available to download on Codeplex: http://www.codeplex.com/crmaccelerators/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=20449#ReviewsAnchor
This release includes the SQL 2008 dashboards that weren't included in the R1 release. It also includes some additional bug fixes & enhancements to the SQL 2005 dashboards that were in R1.
In case you haven't seen the Analytics Accelerator before, here is a bit of info on what it aims to achieve from the Whitepaper that ships with it:
The goal of the Analytics Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is to enrich your capability to bring together data available within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 with the tools and processes available in Microsoft BI products to provide role based actionable business insight.
The Analytics Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is comprised of a set of templates, sample code, documentation, and tools that enable Microsoft partners and customers to leverage several Microsoft Business Intelligence products including Microsoft SQL ServerTM 2005, SQL ServerTM 2008, Microsoft SharePoint®, Microsoft PerformancePoint® and Microsoft Office Excel® to deliver tailored business analytics solutions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It is important to stress that many of the elements delivered with the Analytics Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 do not require any additional software license investment as you already have an these products as part of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 deployment! You already have Microsoft SQL Server and typically you will have Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 and can therefore take advantage of the dashboard reports as well as many of the SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) elements. It has been a key objective of the Analytics Accelerator to deliver business insight value without the need for additional software license investment, however, should you have invested in products like Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) or Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server then there will be additional capabilities you can utilize within this accelerator.
So in English, this means you get some awesome Dashboards now for both SQL 2005 & SQL 2008 as well as some Report Templates to allow you to quickly add some very cool looking reports to your CRM implementation. Some of the screenshots are below (although the prettier reports are clearly on SQL 2008)
Sales Manager Dashboard
Sales User Dashboard
CRM Usage Dashboard
![clip_image002[5]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/ceibner/WindowsLiveWriter/DynamicsCRMAnalyticsAcceleratorRelease2n_F953/clip_image002%5B5%5D_thumb.jpg "clip_image002[5]")
The next release (expected soon) will give you the option of implementing the provided Analysis services Cube & accompanying Integrations services package (that at last check used Change Data Capture!) to start to get some tracking data for how your sales pipeline performs over time. :)
I am often asked by partners about the upcoming training sessions and how they find out about what’s available. I know that this information is often buried deep within the Partner website so the Partner team have been working to expand the communications channels to help partners more easily discover the information they need.
This is not just dynamics related training either – so if you are a Microsoft Partner, make sure you keep an eye on all the great training & resources these guys work hard to put together for you!
Now you can check the Partner Readiness Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/auspartnertraining/
Or Follow them on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/msaureadiness
One of the first posts is about 50% off CRM Certification courses that CEO Training is running (only up until the 30th of June) http://blogs.technet.com/auspartnertraining/archive/2009/06/23/50-off-microsoft-dynamics-crm-4-0-certification-training.aspx
No more excuses! Now I don't want to hear from anyone else that they would have gone to a training session if they had known about it! :)
My favorite GP guru David Musgrave, has been working tirelessly on the next release of the GP Support Debugging Tool Build and it is now released!
Check out his post about it & links to download it can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/developingfordynamicsgp/archive/2009/06/05/support-debugging-tool-build-11-released.aspx
Great Work David! Congratulations on getting this released! :-)
Continuing through the Business Action World Tour Labs, I noticed a reference to click the “CRM Jewel”. This is not a term I had ever heard before and have to admit I looked blankly at the CRM screen for a while & back at the lab instructions trying to work out what it referred to, or if perhaps it was a misprint?
Eventually I worked out that the lab was referring to the Dynamics Logo in the top left of the screen (in red below).
If you put your cursor over it, you’ll notice it changes colour. Similarly to Office 2007, if you click it with your mouse, a contextually aware short cut menu appears:
I can not believe I have never clicked on this icon before or noticed that it had links to shortcuts!! This one goes straight to the How On Earth didn’t I know about this posts!!!
I am currently working through some of the great content created for the Business Action World Tour training sessions, and as part of that, playing with the great Labs that have been created.
I just came across some code that helps to give you a bit more information when you hit a Soap Error when connecting to the CRM Web services. I think its a great way to bubble up that bit more information about what caused the error to the developer (and any error logging you may be doing as well) & help you work out what has happened, so thought I would share it:
try
{
//do something here that tries to use the CRM Webservice
}
catch (SoapException ex)
{
string errorMessage = ex.Message;
if(ex.Detail != null)
{
// If there is a InnerText message then we will overwrite with this instead. It can be
// more helpful to explain the error.
errorMessage = ((System.Xml.XmlElement)ex.Detail).InnerText;
}
throw new Exception("Something went wrong when communication with the Web Service. Error: " + errorMessage);
}
I grew up watching Magnum PI, it was inevitable as it was my dad’s favourite show! So when I saw this email going around about Cannon PI – I was intrigued.
Watching the you Tube video – I was in hysterics so thought I would share it with you all for some light hearted Friday giggles after a long week!
Cant wait to see where this is going!
I am fortunate enough to be heading off to Tech Ed North America tomorrow! I’m teaming up With Eric Boocock, CRM Online specialist & between us we will be hanging around the Dynamics Technology Kiosk (in the Business Intelligence area) all week answering your questions.
If you are heading to Tech Ed, be sure to come by & say hello! :)
The Call for content for this years Australian & New Zealand Tech Ed has just opened. Andrew Coates has written a fantastic post on how to submit your ideas for presentations and some great tips on what to include.
There are 13 great tracks this year – and I’m looking after the Dynamics Track. Andrew puts what that includes so well so I am just going to quote him:
The Microsoft Dynamics suite of products provide a comprehensive platform for developing and deploying applications and services for retailers, manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and service companies, doing business domestically or in multiple countries. With these tools in hand, people in every key position in your organization can contribute to the success of your company. Microsoft Dynamics enhances all lines of business in your organization and delivers exceptional benefits. Come and hear how to deploy enhance and leverage the base Dynamics products and integrate them with Line of Business Applications through the extensive services interfaces provided.
I have already had some great suggestions on presentations people would like to do – so keep the ideas coming!
If you have got some ideas on what you would like to present, feel free to contact me – or submit your proposal online at the Call for Content tool and register with your email address and the RSVP code TechEdANZ. Fill in all the details and hit submit. You can come back to the site at any time to update or review the progress of your submission.
I am looking forward to working with the great talent we have here in Australia & New Zealand in the Dynamics space to have more developer focused sessions at this years Tech Ed than ever before, so put in your proposals & lets ROCK IT!! :)
There just seems to be no stopping the guys in the CRM product teams these days! The next part of the business productivity Accelerator has been released!
There has been hints at the new Auditing functionality coming up in some of the already released Accelerators (like the eService module), but now there is a full Plugin Based solution available for you to download from Codeplex: http://crmaudit.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=26998
The plugin allows field level change auditing and can be quickly installed & configured using the plugin registration tool & importing the entity customisations field.
Happy Auditing! :)
Lego & Sydney Girl Geeks combine for the first Australian Women Build Event, the May Geek Girl Dinner hosted by Microsoft!
I have just this minute received confirmation that the Women Build Lego Serious event is confirmed as being run as part of this months May Sydney Geek Girl Dinner! [REGISTER HERE]
I was so lucky to attend the first Women Build Lego Serious Play event at PDC in LA last year, and since then I have really wanted to bring the concept to Australia. I am so excited that we have been able to get all of the resources & wonderful people available to help out to make this a reality!
The topic for this Lego Serious Play, Women Build Event is focused around encouraging women to study technical subjects at University, and also the ways in which we as a community can support them once there.
We have some fantastic Industry role models already lined up to facilitate a table each at the event including Kate Carruthers (Silicon Federation), Damana Madden (Thoughtworks), Lisa Herrod (Scenario Seven), Penny Hagen (Self Employed & Phd Candidate at UTS), Claudia Mikaelian (Yahoo), Alice Boxall (Google), Cathie McGinn (Geekdom) and more. Each of which have achieved amazing results in their area of chosen focus within IT.
We will have a special guest attending from Microsoft US: Lindsay Rutter who also attended the first Women Build in PDC and is a trained facilitator. She is here for holidays & has been kind enough to offer to pop in & help us out!
Of course, our local Academic Evangelist Andrew Parsons will be helping to make sure everything runs smoothly on the night & to help connect our Student guests to the role models they are interested in chatting to. Please let him know in advance if there's anyone you’d like him to make sure you meet!
The Women Build event will be followed up with the entertainment and networking component of the evening, where everyone will have the opportunity to get hands on with the Xbox 360 games system. It will be MC’d by the lovely Ashley Jenkins, F
ragdoll extraordinaire, site manager for Xbox.com and programmer of the Xbox LIVE interface.Finger food and drinks will be provided.
This event wouldn't be happening at all without the support of our local X-Box team – especially Mariana Cidade. Much thanks to them!
I would also really like to thank Denise Meyerson from MCI for volunteering her time & experience as a Lego Serious Play Facilitator to run the Women Build component of the evening. Without her help & the kind donation of her time – this event wouldn't be happening either.
So what is Women Build?
The WomenBuild program is specifically designed to address the decline of female talent and leadership in the computer science industry. Microsoft partnered with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) through Robert Rasmussen & Associates to create a unique interactive workshop, using LEGO® Bricks to model solutions for growing strong female leaders in the software industry.
WomenBuild is not only a program but a growing community that provides accessibility to female role models, access to resources, and an open communication path to the Microsoft Women in Technology community.
Since the fall of 2008, we’ve run events WomenBuild events in the following cities: in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Boston, Washington DC, Orlando, Dallas, San Francisco, and Seattle . The WomenBuild workshop first piloted at PDC (Professional Developers Conference) and then continued on for the 11 city MSDN Developer Conference (MDC). WomenBuild has generated interest from the press, culminating with a story sharing the Washington Times coverage with President Obama on inauguration day in Washington DC. (Copies are available on Ebay!) And soon, LEGO fans will hear about WomenBuild, when BrickJournal publishes its feature story in its glossy magazine, and Microsoft presents the general session at the leading US LEGO fan conference, BrickWorld, with expected public attendance of 10,000.
Every WomenBuild workshop builds upon the foundation of the last. In the last WomenBuild, Microsoft took the findings and suggestions from these 11 cities and reviewed them at TechReady8, an internal Microsoft conference held in Seattle, February 1st as part of their own internal WomenBuild event! Over a hundred Microsoft women employees took time to prioritize the top suggestions provided during PDC & MDC and design solutions to address these needs. These solutions will serve as a call to action on what Microsoft can do to help address the issue.
The WomenBuild program has attracted interest from similar large corporations looking to run a WomenBuild workshop internally. Academic institutions from elementary school to high schools are looking to adapt the soon to be launched, GirlsBuild and Kids Build programs, to help capture science and technology passions in early ages.
The WomenBuild program incorporates a hands-on process that draws on the power of creative thinking to shift group conversation from talking heads to focused minds. Each team will be run as a facilitated conversation with physical Lego brick constructions that will powerfully shift a group to more productive outcomes by accomplishing a deeper mining of the diverse wisdom within the group and a clearer shared conclusion on inspirational career paths for women in the technical field. Through this workshop, attendees will share real life experiences, discuss challenges, network & build on-going relationships with other women who are attending the PDC conference. Ultimately, attendees of this workshop will find ways to unleash their creative thinking and transform ideas into concrete concepts.
In this workshop, attendees participate in an environment of rich, interactive experiences by modelling real-life business challenges and solutions with LEGO® Bricks as part of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY Program (LSP). WomenBuild opens minds to exciting and inspirational ideas on how to be a thought leader in the technical field. We work together in small groups to brainstorm and problem solve in a collaborative and productive way. The workshop includes people in various responsibility areas in teams. This way each role can impart their own unique perspective to the group, while collectively creating shared understandings that direct future activity effectively. WomenBuild workshops are not exclusive to women, as these topics apply both to men and women.
Microsoft took the findings and suggestions from the 12 city tour and reviewed them at TechReady8, an internal Microsoft conference held in Seattle, February 1st as part of their own internal WomenBuild event! Over a hundred Microsoft women employees took time to prioritize the top suggestions provided during PDC & MDC and design solutions to address these needs. These solutions will serve as a call to action on what Microsoft can do to help address issues such as:
o Lack of accessibility and visibility of female leader roles in software industry
o Proclivity towards math/science/technology is not encouraged for girls early on in academic institutions
o Technology/computer science appears dry and boring and not worth the work-life balance investment
o Software applications are not relevant to females. They are designed by men for men
o Lack of support, flexibility and career opportunities make it tempting for women in technology to get out
o Software development is not creative with little no interaction
The community is continually growing on Facebook! Join now!
Please contact wbboard@microsoft.com for more information.
Our next in the Geek Girl Blog Podcast Series is now online! :)
Check out this months interview with Interactive Design Guru Donna Spencer here: http://wpmu.thepodcastnetwork.com/geekgirlblogs/2009/04/28/podcast-donna-spencer/
Somewhere in between her overseas trips to present at world class conferences, organising a UX conference here in Canberra Australia, writing a book, freelancing, mentoring & being a mother, she took 30 mins out to have a chat with me about it all!
Hope you enjoy it! :)
