A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog : Microsoft CRM

My last post!

mennotk — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:59:00 GMT

Don't let the title confuse you, it's only my last post here at MSDN! As most of you know, I've been blogging on MSDN since 19 December 2005! It is time to move on...

I made the decision to move my blogging addiction to my very own domain. On the new location you can continue reading about freaky CRM stuff, but I'll mix it up with some additional topics that interest me and hopefully you guys as well.

Please update your bookmarks, RSS Readers and OPML files.

Blog: http://www.tekoppele.com/blog

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/crmfreak

It took me a lot of time and effort to design my new blog from the ground up. I want to thank Alex Vermeule, Scott Barnes Jaap Steinvoorte and Jron for their help and advice. Over time, I will slowly migrate all of my posts and comments.

AVAILABLE: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 RTM VPC

mennotk — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:27:00 GMT

We have released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 back in December 2007 and did not immediately provide you with a new VPC. Why did it takes this long? I don't know, but I can tell you that as of today we have a new VPC with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 RTM on it. I actually did not built this particular VPC, a partner did. However, I did provide feedback and ideas what needed to be on this new VPC and did intensive BETA testing.

Ok I see you think, now tell me what is on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 VPC Menno! It actually has a ton of software on it, which some of you might like, and some of you might not. For the ones that don't want to read further, you can download it here

The RTM VPC Contains the following:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (RTM)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Desktop Client
Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (SP2)
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft Office Professional 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Performance Point Server
Microsoft Office Communication Server
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
POP3 E-Mail Services (No Exchange)
English, French, German, Danish and Dutch Language packs

This partner-ready download includes account and contact trial data and is ready to be populated with locale-specific data via the associated demonstration tool. Once complete, please copy the Demonstration tool to the virtual machine, and follow the instructions to populate activity, opportunity and other entity data and e-mails in Outlook. Refer to the demonstration documentation for detailed information.

For example, you may create seed data in any language to create opportunities, activities, cases, etc. that will be randomly assigned to the existing accounts.
You may also enter seed data for e-mail generation. Random e-mails (using your seed subject and message data) will be created using the contacts found in the existing contacts list.

Thanks for the scoop Michael!

MUI Provisioning failed - Workaround

mennotk — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:52:00 GMT

I got a couple of people leaving comments regarding an error they where encountering while applying a language pack on a supported environment.

They were able to install a MUI (language pack) but were not able to enable it, if any entity has had its form settings edited. When activating the language pack, a SQL error is returned: “Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.LocalizedLabel' with unique index 'ndx_LocalizedLabel_ForSingleSelect'.” The error that was shown in the event viewer.

At the time I did not know of a solution, but today I was looking through some things and noticed a comment with the same solution/workaround as what I found. Note that a proper hotfix is being developed.

Before using this workaround, make sure you have the exact same error and situation. If that's the case, make sure you have a backup of your CRM database before you execute the following T-SQL query:

DELETE FROM MetadataSchema.LocalizedLabel WHERE customizationlevel = 2

Puhutteko te suomea ja CRM:ta?

mennotk — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:28:51 GMT

Not sure if the title is correct Finnish, but I did my best to find an online English to Finnish translator, which was hard!

We have released the Finnish language pack Please read this post for details on how to download it.

Currently we have released the following languages:

English
German
Spanish
Dutch
Danish
Finnish
French

Expect more languages in the upcoming weeks!

Training: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 courseware

mennotk — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:00:21 GMT

If you're a partner you can access PartnerSource, if you're a customer you can access CustomerSource and use a lot of the benefits we offer there. One of these benefits is having access to tons of e-Learning courses, learning plans, downloads, documentation and now also Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 courseware. If you click this link you will be directed to the E-Learning catalog filtered by CRM 4.0. Below are the links to the courseware that are currently available.

What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8910
This one-day training material provides individuals with the knowledge and skills to begin planning for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Installation and Deployment in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8911
This three-day training material provides individuals with the tools to install and configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The training material focuses on the components used within a Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment, the hardware and software requirements needed to successfully deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and the installation instructions for the primary Microsoft Dynamics CRM components: the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server, the E-Mail Router, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Office Outlook.

Customization and Configuration in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8912
This three-day training material provides individuals with the tools to configure and customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Configuration topics include setting up business management functions such as: Business units Users Teams Security privileges and roles System Settings Multilingual User Interface Language Packs Currency Exchange Rates Multiple Organizations. The training material also focuses on using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Customization tools to customize the following system components: Forms Views Entities Attributes Relationships Entity Mappings The following customization topics are outside the scope of this training material, but are introduced here to provide individuals with insight into potential advanced customization features: Application Event Programming Client Extensions Workflow SiteMap URL Addressable Forms IFrames SDK

Applications in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8913
This three-day training material explores the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application from a user's perspective. Application functionality covered in the training material includes: Sales Management Marketing Automation Service Management Service Scheduling

The Content Publishing team is continuously working to provide you with new stuff, so make sure you check once in a while to see new training content and material.

Webcast: CRM Knows where you are part deux!

mennotk — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:04:46 GMT

Remember my post that linked to the article talking about OCS integration a little while ago? Based on my stats you all liked it and are ready for more ....right?

Well, you don't have to wait any longer as our US ISV team have, once again, posted a video / screen cast on Channel 9. This time they are talking about the integration points between Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Office Communication Server 2007 (OCS).

Click here to watch it

Article: Bill Gates talking about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

mennotk — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:01:23 GMT

Just saw an email from my buddy Umang in the East. Interesting article where you can read how Bill Gates will talk about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 while visiting the UK on his farewell tour and how analysts look at our CRM story.

Read it here

Microsoft Convergence 2008 - Orlando

mennotk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:00:55 GMT

Yes, it is that time of the year! I went thru my blog posts and I noticed that I typically blog about Convergence but I haven't done that this year at all. Probably because I have been busy with a lot of things and just "forgot" about it, even though I'll be there.

This year, Convergence will take place in Orlando, Florida and Copenhagen, Denmark. This is your opportunity to participate in an exceptional program including a variety of speakers, detailed product demonstrations and hands-on learning sessions. You will learn how to enhance your Microsoft investment now and in the future, and gain a stronger sense of community through interacting with industry leaders, Microsoft team members, partners and other customers.

Useful Links!

Convergence 2008 - Orlando

Session Overview

Convergence Blogger's Feed (really hard to find + register)

I normally used the "Networking" option on the Convergence web site to set up meetings with Partners, but I cannot find a working link on the site! So, for everybody that is going to Orlando and wants to drink a beer, uhm... I mean, wants to talk about CRM with me, either drop me a comment or send me an email through the email form on the blog and we can work something out.

Look forward to see all of you there!

Taler du Dansk og CRM?

mennotk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:08:51 GMT

Ok, this one took me a little longer as my Danish is not up to sniff! (Thanks Nicolai!) But as of a few days ago you now can download the Danish language pack. For details on how to do this, read this post.

Add-ons: Filtered Lookup for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

mennotk — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:55:00 GMT

Just bumped into Stunnware's (Michael Hohne) web site and saw he released his initial version of the Filtered Look up for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It comes complete with documentation. This tool was initially a workaround to filter lookup results, but it grew to a tool set with a lot more functions.

New features

The Filtered Lookup Dialog for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 contains the following new features:

No changes to server files: The Custom Lookup Dialog for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 changed existing JavaScript and HTML component files. The new version does not, making it easy to install and uninstall.
Multi-Tenancy: The Filtered Lookup Dialog for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 supports multiple organizations on a single Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server installation.
Multi-Language: The filtered lookups can be configured to support multiple languages. However no right-to-left support is included in the product.
Filtering auto-complete: The lookup control in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 allows users to type in a search string in the lookup control itself. Hitting the Enter key or tabbing out of the field starts a search and displays the matching records in the lookup field. The Filtered Lookup Dialog for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 hooks into the auto-complete and limits the results according to the filter.
Retrieve Service: A JavaScript library is included to retrieve any object from the CRM Server, making it available in client-side scripting as an object with properties. There is no need to create SOAP messages and there is also no need to parse XML files.
Retrieve Multiple Service: A JavaScript library is included to retrieve a list of objects from the CRM Server, making it available in client-side scripting as an array, where each member of the array is an objects with properties. Again there is no need to create SOAP messages and there is also no need to parse XML files.
Synchronization of lookup definitions to the Outlook Offline Client: As all configuration values needed to display a lookup dialog are now stored as custom entities, new and modified lookup definitions are automatically passed to the Outlook Offline Client. There's no need to deploy files to the clients anymore, other than the software installation.
Maintained features

Besides the new features, it still includes the features that have been present in the Custom Lookup Dialog for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

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 :)

Citrix: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

mennotk — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:03:12 GMT

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this announcement.

Today is the day and I am happy to tell you that the CRM Product team is announcing that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is now compatible with Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 (32-bit and 64-bit).

Microsoft Dynamics Add-ons

mennotk — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:30:00 GMT

I just got spammed with an email announcing a new web site with a searchable catalog of Microsoft Dynamics add-ons, complete with ratings and comments.

Each Dynamics product has their own section. It's clearly work in progress, but after only been up a month, the site already has over 200 ISV’s showing their offerings! I hope to see that this site will grow over time with tons of more add-ons for each of our Dynamics products. Visit http://www.microsoftdynamicsaddons.com and let me know what you think of it!

If I was an ISV I want to get my product listed here, so register yourself!

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.

Spreekt U Nederlands en CRM?

mennotk — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:28:00 GMT

Today we released the Dutch language for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Please read this post to find the download location(s) and how to select your language.