A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog : Customizing Microsoft CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Books

mennotk — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Well if I have the believe Steve Jobs, nobody is reading anymore and I should not type this post! I'm disagreeing with the "almighty" Steve, though, as I believe that many people actually started reading more due to Internet and inventions such as RSS and email.

I'm sure you've seen many blogs talking about the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 books, what I'm trying to with this post is, though, to give you an overview of all of them, in no particular order. I actually hope this time to get some autographed books, as I know most of the writers...perhaps I'll be a technical editor / reviewer with CRM vNext, who knows...

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 "Unleashed"

Working Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Programming Microsoft Dynamics(TM) CRM 4.0 Developer Reference

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Step by Step

I am expecting to see the book Microsoft CRM 4.0 for Dummies but they haven't announced it yet. Will update once I get that information. If you know a book that should be listed here, drop me a comment and I'll update the list.

P.S. For the writers, just sent me an email to obtain my mailing address :)

Available: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Sample Data

mennotk — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:33:42 GMT

As of two days ago, you now can download Sample Data for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

You can use sample data in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Sample Database in marketing and sales presentations or for training people to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

The sample database includes a set of comma-separated value (CSV) files that contains the sample data and an XML map file that maps the data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. To install the sample data on your on-premise installation or VPC, you must use the Data Migration Manager.

Available: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Language Packs

mennotk — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:56:55 GMT

As you might have noticed, we have released localized versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in English, German and Spanish.

When are the language packs available? This was a great question asked in the comments by Jeffrey from CWR Mobility. Well as of today, we are releasing the English, German and Spanish language packs.

By installing a Language Pack on the server that is running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and then enabling the language in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Web application, users can view Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in a language other than the base language of the installation.

Follow these instructions to get the packs:

Access the download page (display languages are available for each 4.0 language version)
Select the ‘Language Pack’ from the “Change Language” dropdown in the Quick Details section on the download landing page.

Webcast: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Multi-Currency

mennotk — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:43:00 GMT

You hear everybody and their brother talk about all of our new features and often they do sound complex and you wished they had a video or something around that particular feature. I believe Multi-Currency is one of those enhancements...

A screen-cast was posted today on Channel9 by Sanjay Jain a Microsoft Dynamics ISV Architect Evangelist. In this screen-cast Sanjay will walk you through this powerful enhancement in CRM 4.0 covering Setup, Usage and Customization aspects.

Go check it out here

CRM 4.0 Workflow with Praveen Upadhyay

mennotk — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:49:36 GMT

Yet another webcast about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. In this episode Praveen Upadhyay, Program Manager, walks Ben Riga through Dynamics CRM Workflow.

Praveen breaks the CRM workflow investments into 3 basic areas:

Making Workflow substantially easier for the end-user
Providing a rich framework for business logic construction
Leveraging the power of Windows Workflow Foundation (“Giving Workflow Foundation something to do”).

Click here to view this webcast.

CRM 4.0 Deep Dive with Phil Richardson

mennotk — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 01:24:00 GMT

Check out Phil's latest attempt to get noticed by Hollywood......(read more)

CRM 4.0 Overview with Phil Richardson

mennotk — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:20:00 GMT

I was going through my usual 100's of RSS feeds and my eye got caught by Ben Riga's post. Ben pointed me to Channel 9 where they have a video about a sales guy, err I mean Senior Program Manager Lead talking about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

This webcast is part one out of four around Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. In this segment, Phil Richardson (Senior Program Manager Lead) gives us a fast tour of the Web and Outlook UI. He also gives a nice overview of the Dynamics CRM platform including the ease with which a developer can customize a solution’s metadata (creating custom entities and attributes) as well as creating and customizing forms.

Enjoy!

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 - Workflow

mennotk — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:36:00 GMT

New and improved workflow capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0...(read more)

Pre-order the Titan book at Amazon.com

mennotk — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:01:00 GMT

If you liked the book "Working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0." you will like this post......(read more)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM VPC - Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK

mennotk — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 01:10:00 GMT

Did you know that the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK 3.0.7 is included on the new August 2007 VPC? It can be found in the following directory C:\CRM Tools\SDK or of course on our download page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9c178b68-3a06-4898-bc83-bd14b74308c5&DisplayLang=en

Happy coding and extending!

Searchable?

mennotk — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:01:00 GMT

Ever wondered why you don't see certain fields in Advanced Find? I didn't realize this was happening until I got a question about it via a Partner. To test this I started my brand new image, opened Advanced Find and tried to search on Business Type. As you can see in the screen shot below, it is not showing up as a possible option.

Why you might ask? I don't know, but apparently after upgrading to Rollup 1 the Product team added an extra option on attributes called "Searchable". Look at this support article for detailed information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912061

So in my example I noticed that Business Type was set to No. Changing this to Yes, saving the attribute and publishing the changes made the attribute Business Type searchable.

Java, Jscript, JavaScript ....

mennotk — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:58:00 GMT

No I am not talking about coffee!...(read more)

Vertical Templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

mennotk — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:09:00 GMT

As you know we announced some very nice things at the WPC in Denver last month. One the things beside pricing was that we were going to release vertical templates to be used for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Well today is the day that we have released two Microsoft Dynamics CRM vertical templates; manufacturing and municipal government.

These templates include data models, user interfaces, user roles and workflows that showcase how Microsoft Dynamics CRM is relevant to customers in these industries.

Microsoft field marketing and partner communities should utilize these templates for demonstration purposes and as well as to expand and enhance vertical focuses.

Each vertical template includes the following materials:

README File
CRM Configuration XML Files
Workflows
User Roles
Demo Data
Demo Script

These templates are designed to work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 today and will be updated for the upcoming release at the end of the calendar year.

The downloads are offered at no charge to partners and customers via Microsoft’s shared source initiative at www.codeplex.com/crmverticaltemplates.

Drop me a comment to tell me which vertical should be next. I will make sure to bring that message across.

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Marketplace

mennotk — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 06:09:00 GMT

"You click a button and suck [Microsoft's template] into your system." ...(read more)

New Microsoft Dynamics CRM VPC (update)

mennotk — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:34:00 GMT

I can now proudly announce that we will have the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM VPC available for download in a few ...(read more)