A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog : General CRM

CRM article for the Dutch speaking readers

mennotk — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:16:00 GMT

You all should know the Dutchie Ronald Lemmen by now. After exchanging only emails and blog comments with him, I had the chance to meet with him on Convergence last week in San Diego. Even though he is technical consultant, Ronald wrote a nice "Sales & Marketing" story on Channelweb. If you are interested in the article you can find it here: http://www.channelweb.nl/artikel.jsp?id=1906469

Maybe I will be contacted in the future do such a column or even better, help with a book...

Microsoft Dynamics CRM V3C to be released on...

mennotk — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:20:00 GMT

Today I was reading an email regarding the release date of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM version that is compatible with Microsoft Vista and Office 2007. As promissed i would update you guys as soon as I was allowed to; today is that day! It is planned to be released at or around December 22^nd. Exchange 2007 compatibility is to be released app. on same date (Update to Rules Deployment Wizard)

As said in one of my previous postings the V3C release is going to Released as a “Re-Release”.

Client Only
Includes Service Pack Roll Up
Compatible with other supported versions of Windows and Office

It will be available via Microsoft Downloads and MSDN on or around the above date!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM on Vista and Office 2007

mennotk — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:00:00 GMT

ICU MSCRM and Sonoma Partners made a nice post about our compatibility release with Office 2007 and Vista. Those blogpostings triggered me to blog as well about our soon to be released optimized "update" for Vista and Office 2007.

The new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, compatible with the 2007 Office release and Windows Vista, enables a range of powerful features:

An enriched user experience based on the 2007 Microsoft Office system. The new release of Microsoft CRM picks up on the new Ribbon user experience of the 2007 Office release, and continues to enable users to access rich, roles-based CRM capabilities through Microsoft Office Outlook®, Microsoft Internet Explorer® and a broad range of mobile devices.
Richer data visualization with Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Rich data visualization and business intelligence enhancements to Microsoft Office Excel® 2007 enable better analysis and decision-making for CRM managers and users.
Desktop action and insight using Windows Vista gadgets. New Windows Vista gadgets allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM activities, analytics and alerts to be placed directly onto the desktop or home page.
Unified communications with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The new release of Microsoft CRM enables users to store voice-mail messages in Outlook and track them automatically in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Enhanced security with BitLocker Drive Encryption in Windows Vista. The new BitLocker™ capability in Windows Vista helps protect confidential CRM data on laptops from being accessed by unauthorized individuals.

The questions I keep hearing from a lot of people: do we have to pay for this release and does it include updates/hotfixes. The new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is categorized as a “re-release” which basically means that we will simply update our inventory with the updated version and start shipping that. In addition the various download sites will be updated so they will have the new bit available (e.g. on MS Downloads).

The new version will also serve as a roll up release of hotfixes and services packs this will simply be the “new” bits to use.

NorCal Microsoft CRM Partners shout out to me!

mennotk — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:40:00 GMT

Hi Guys and Girls....

As you all know by now i am the new CRM Technology Specialist for the NorCal region. I would like to know how many of you actually read my blog. Just as a quick test I am asking all the NorCal Partners that read and of course think my blog is valuable to leave a comment behind on this posting. Name your company, yourself and if you want your contact data.

I hope to meet face-2-face in the near future when I get all my things started.

Microsoft CRM on Dynamics Price Lists!

mennotk — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:56:00 GMT

I thought this announcement would come later, but I happen to get this via email from a co-worker.

Beginning December 4, 2006, Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be available from the Microsoft Dynamics Price Lists. This includes both Business Ready Licensing (BRL) and Modular Based Licensing and will affect partners that sell licenses of Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and SL.

This change will simplify the process of ordering Microsoft CRM along with other Microsoft Dynamics products from a single Microsoft Dynamics business partner, and give customers more options for how they deploy roles-based Microsoft Dynamics within their organizations.

If you are a partner and have access to PartnerSource, take a look here: https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/newsevents/news/newsgeneral/MicrosoftIntroducesMicrosoftDynamicsCRMPriceLists.htm

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Solution Accelerator for Siebel

mennotk — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:05:00 GMT

I got pointed in this direction today since an co-worker from The Netherlands asked a question about integration between Siebel and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It seems we have launched a solution for this yesterday. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Solution Accelerator for Siebel provides out-of-the-box integration between Siebel Server 7.5.2 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 for the following entities:

Accounts
Contacts
Account Addresses

NOTE: By using the available schema and code samples, other entities can also be integrated.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is the application used to manage business contacts, track leads, enter sales orders, and perform other sales and marketing activities. Siebel is the application that performs accounting functions and manages your company’s chart of accounts and customer, vendor, item, employee, and other records.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Solution Accelerator for Siebel has three main components:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Adaptor
Siebel Adaptor
Integration System

If you want to learn more about this great tool I would suggest in going to read the files located here: http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/releases/viewuploads.aspx?id=b6499eb0-0eae-4597-b38e-ee9cbc71a404

If you are already convinced, download the solution here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D4D20DDA-3C96-43C6-AA53-165E3421E8DB&displaylang=en

I would really like to see if partners are using this solution and maybe somebody can send me a blog about how they did it, why they did it and how happy the customer got. I will post this on my blog! Look forward to your emails and/or comments.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 – External Connector

mennotk — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 03:17:00 GMT

Just a small story on the External Connector that is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. It seems that a lot of people including myself are getting confused on this item over and over. I hope that this blogpost keeps you and myself on the right track now!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 – External Connector
This is a license only, and does not include any physical software components.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 – External Connector can be used to provide access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 data to customers, partners and suppliers through any application/graphical user interface (GUI). External users should not be using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 applications & GUIs directly. External Connector license is a per-server license, and hence must be purchased for each server that hosts an application that provides external access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 data.

The license type cannot be used for providing access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 data to internal employees, external users acting in an internal capacity, external users using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Outlook or Web Client. ALL such employees must have a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 CAL in order to access/interact with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 data.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 – External Connector does not include licensing for any other Microsoft products. If external scenarios integrate with Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint or any other product license rights for these must be established separately.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 – External Connector enables deployments and solutions to be build and implemented in ways that was not possible with Microsoft CRM 1.2.

Email, Queue, delete...what?

mennotk — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:45:00 GMT

I have been busy with a challenge I got from a customer and today I was pleasantly suprised that one of the Program Managers replied to a similar question.

Updated: Paragraph 4 24 October 2006

The question that a lot of people have or had including myself is the following:
When an e-mail from a queue is accepted by an user it will move to the “in progress” folder. What should happen when we are done with that email, because there seems to be no way to get the e-mail out of the "in progress folder"? You could delete it, but this also deletes the e-mail from the customer activities history.

The explanation:
When an e-mail from a queue is assigned and is accepted by an user, it moves to the user’s “in progress” folder. The e-mail then stays there forever. This is because an e-mail is already a “closed” activity, that is, there is nothing that the user can do to the particular e-mail itself. Therefore, unlike other queue items (which are automatically removed from the “in progress” folder upon completion) e-mails are never removed from the “in progress” folder.

To remove the email only from the “in progress” folder, you need to select the email (without opening it) from the list of queue items - then delete it. This will only remove the pointer to the email activity itself, and the original email activity will remain in CRM. It will just not appear in the queue anymore.

If you want to delete the e-mail activity from CRM, then you need to open it from the list of e-mails in the queue (by double clicking it, for example) and then deleting it.

Scaling Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

mennotk — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:17:00 GMT

There have been some good posts and articles about scaling Microsoft CRM, such as the post of Simon Hutson.

Avanade has developed a whitepaper as well and it describes the Scalability and Performance Testing and Tuning Results for the enterprise.

This white paper summarizes the scaling characteristics of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 with a medium to heavy sales force automation transaction load supporting 3,000 concurrent users. Avanade Inc., a global system integrator of Microsoft technologies, initiated performance testing in 2006 at its technology infrastructure lab in Seattle, Washington.

De amount of data in the tests is, according to Avanade, representative for the number of records that is being generated in one year with intense salesactivities. The most important numbers of the test were:

- 22.260 CRM-transactions per hour;
- Average response of 355 milliseconds;
- No authenticationerrors;
- 66,77% load on the database server.

Check it out here:
www.avanadeadvisor.com/reportregistration/reports.aspx

Status Report on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

mennotk — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:43:00 GMT

Hello CRM Freaks!

Status Report on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 (Gartner Research, Inc., August 17, 2006) A recent Gartner report analyzes Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

Yet again a nice and recent report published by Brian Prentice of Gartner http://www.gartner.com/) that provides their independent assessment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. The report, entitled "Status Report on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0”, August 2006, discusses its first year on the market.

http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/article9/article9.html

Additional reports by Gartner and other firms can be found here: www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx.

Have fun reading!

The initial size of Microsoft Dynamics CRM

mennotk — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 17:15:00 GMT

I got this question to many times and it made me search to much as well. So I thought lets put it onhere so every one including myself can find it quick and easy.

Initial size of the Microsoft CRM 3.0 server installation
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\crm = approximately 25 MB
C:\Program Files\Microsoft CRM = >approximately 100 MB

Initial size of the Microsoft SQL Database
C:\Microsoft SQL Server\Data\databasename = 50 MB

Microsoft CRM Caching tool update

mennotk — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 01:14:00 GMT

Hello freaks!

I was surfing through my collection of CRM blogs and I came to the conclusion that I missed an update on the tool I use a lot on Demo VPC's and such. Now the tool runs as a service and it will be more friendly to you when giving a demo.

You can get an updated version of this great tool at Joris's blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/joris_kalz/archive/2006/08/09/Caching_Tool.aspx

Some nice sections and the new SDK for Microsoft CRM

mennotk — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 23:35:00 GMT

Version 3.0.5 of the Microsoft CRM 3.0 is now available on MSDN online! This version of the SDK includes new sample code, consolidated attribute information, topic enhancements, and bug fixes. Get a full look at it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0microsoftcrmv3d0sdk.asp

You might want to see specific items so i would suggest in taking a look at these sections of the SDK:

ISV Programming Guide: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0isvguidelines.asp

Support and Certification: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0supportandcertification.asp

Customization Points: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0customizationpoints.asp

Develop and Deploy: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0developanddeploy.asp

Best Practices:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/CrmSdk3_0/htm/v3d0bestpractices.asp

Microsoft Dynamics CRM on Zune...

mennotk — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:56:00 GMT

Since todays hype is showing a leaked picture of the Zune together with some specs I thought it would be fun to post about it.

As we can remember the Marketing guys from Microsoft demonstrated our new mobile client at the World Wide Partner Conference (WWPC) on a PSP....

Our new mobile client lets users browse to the CRM data through an Internet-enabled device such as a cell phone or a PDA. Users do not need to install any software on the device, they just need Internet access to browse to the mobile CRM website! Because the mobile software outputs standard HTML 4.0, almost any Internet enabled device should be able to access Microsoft CRM data using this software.

So I think my new project is going to be if I can get the new mobile client on Zune, I think that should be possible! Just look at the size of that display and what about the option to play music while you are browing some account details...or am I to freaky now?

What would you think about this guys? Let me know.

Joining GP and Microsoft CRM..

mennotk — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:06:00 GMT

We all know how well Microsoft Dynamics CRM and GP interact with each other.

In this interesting article you will read that a "Californian based" company wants to leverage the full functionality of Microsoft Dynamics GP’s data management solutions to move to a paperless model, which it projects may reduce order processing and SKU setup time by up to 50 percent.

They chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM for its customer and vendor relationship management functionality, as well as the way in which the solution provides a natural way to add these capabilities for employees already familiar with Microsoft Office Outlook^® and other programs.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/aug06/08-11SPYOpticPR.mspx

In the future I hope to see these kind of pressstories about joining Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Microsoft Navision or Axapta.