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Microsoft CRM Product Suggestion # 541039 Export to Excel Should Behave Consistently #MSCRM
Export To Excel should be consistent across all views and not behave differently on Accounts than it behaves on Advanced Find. On an account, when one looks at the grid view of related objects and clicks "Export to Excel" only a static export is allowed. I would like to export to a pivot table or at least choose other
fields from the associated object...<< MORE >>
Choice Hotels Hires Sonoma Partners for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deployment - Great Win Guys! #MSCRM
This came across my desk today. So a shout out and a hearty “Great Job” to our friends at Sonoma Partners in Chicago for this high profile win. ——————————————————————————————— Full article link @ http://www.educationbanks.com/crm/microsoft-dynamics-crm-choice-of-hotel-group.html Microsoft Corp. has announced that Choice Hotels International Inc., one of the world's largest hotel franchisors and the company behind such trusted names in lodging as Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge Econo Lodge is an economy motel chain based in the United States. Econo Lodge is the second largest brand in the Choice ...<< MORE >>
Product Suggestion #534195 Pick Lists Not “Mappable” in Workflow -#MSCRM
I have made several product suggestions to Microsoft CRM team. I will be listing them for you as they are made. If you have any comments on these items please link through and add your comments. During the creation of a child object pick list values are not mapped. For example if I had a work flow that created a quote from an account record I would not be able to map Terms, and Ship Via. During the relationship entity mapping the pick lists are mappable but not during a workflow. The workaround is to create ...<< MORE >>
Job Posting for #DynamicsCRM Business Development Consultant #MSCRM
Dynamics CRM Business Development Consultant - The Dynamics CRM business growth was estimated at 70% last year, and we are looking to take advantage of that momentum. We have a fantastic opportunity to work with a nationally recognized Gold Microsoft CRM business practice based in West Michigan. We are looking for someone with the unique skills to fluently speak to Sales, Marketing, and Technology decision makers. Experience: Expert at the Process of Selling and coaching and molding sales plans 5 years of sales management with increasing responsibility and demonstrated experience ...<< MORE >>
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Version 5 Sneak Peak by Microsoft #MSCRM
Here is a sneak peak on Dynamics CRM 5.0 by Girish Raja, A Microsoft Employee, on an official Microsoft Web site. So I am sure that it is OK to point it out to you. I am not able to discuss anything specifically because of legal restrictions. So all I can say is this. WOW! Look at 10:05 ...<< MORE >>
Populate Contacts To A Marketing List From A Dynamics CRM Workflow
If you run CRM and use marketing list as a critical function for contact list management in your organization you are aware that one is unable to add a contact to a marketing list via the workflow process. A request I had this week was to show folks how to add contact to a marketing list that have had a particular workflow job ran against their record. How does one do that. Sit back and see how it is done using advanced find. ...<< MORE >>
How To Perform A Multi Record Update On Dynamics CRM Products Using Scribe Workbench @Scribesoft
A question came in this week on how to perform an update from a Single Row against multiple rows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “Pierre we have a set of Products that all have the Same Vendor, all that begin with a specific text string. Can we build a DTS to perform a Mass record update on these records?” Yes I know that one could go into advance find and use the “begins with” operator and do a group edit on the resultant set. Which is fine if you only have 250 records. But what if you had ...<< MORE >>
#AIMWEST Social Media Confab Recap - @pistachio
Grand Rapids AIMWEST( http://www.aimwest.org ) hosted an all day get together with the Marketing and Sales technology elites yesterday. This event drew about 250 of Sales and Marketing Geeks from around the West Michigan community<< MORE >>
Remove Write In Products from Quotes and Orders
On Quotes, Orders, and Invoices you may want to remove the ability for users to interact with Write In Products. In our integration with SL we are unable to deal with these because Dynamics SL Order Management does not support write in’s. So here is the On Load jscript to remove it from the wonder bar; function leftNavRemove(lNav) { var lNavItem = document.getElementById(lNav); if (lNavItem != null) { lNavItem.parentNode.style.display ='none'; } } leftNavRemove('navWriteInProducts'); Shout out to – Customer Connect for the Blog Pointer. ...<< MORE >>
ITA Fall Collaborative
I have been given a rare honor. To speak at the Fall ITA conference. I will be speaking as an industry expert to other IT professionals about why the CRM space is growing and full of opportunity. These are ERP, and Infrastructure Organizations that meet annually to discuss best practices, and industry trends in all aspects of the IT service industry. The Vision of ITA is to be a preeminent and highly regarded membership based organization of owners and senior leaders of businesses that provide IT solutions (products and services) to small ...<< MORE >>
Dynamics® CRM and MultiPlexing
A client has a CRM installation with about 12 users in admin and marketing who keep all of the contact records up to date and clean for mailings and marketing.
This client has a an application that they want to use that reads data from CRM and places specific records on a SharePoint Site. So if they hit the SharePoint site for customer 1, this application will go out and connect to the accounting application and get all the open and closed invoices. It also goes to the time entry application to find all time posted against the customers invoices and it access the document store internally to show all the documents that relate to the customer. And this application also goes to the CRM database and reads the contact records into the SharePoint site. The user never logs into CRM as this application does all of this work for them.
Question: Does the SharePoint user need a CRM cal (license)? << MORE >>
Microsoft CRM Adapter for Dynamics GP Released Review Pending #DyanmicsCRM #DynamicsGP
Monday is the General Availability (GA) release date of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0. The 12+ month development effort received tremendous praise from Beta customers and is the first of many Out of Box integrations Microsoft will provide amongst the Dynamics family (roadmap in place for CRM integrations to AX, NAV, and SL). Some representative feedback from our Beta customers include:
"I was pleasantly surprised to see how intuitive the user interface is" << MORE >>
The Consultant’s Secret Stash
Here is one method that I use all the time to keep up on some great new ides. Aberdeen's latest benchmark reports are a great tool to keep up with research and effectiveness relative to various company ROI on CRM technologies such as Field Sales Automation, Mobile Phones, Work Flow Management, etc.
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Microsoft Courier Booklet
Courier User Interface from Gizmodo on Vimeo. Take OneNote, Multi-Touch UI, and an Outlook Client. Mix in blender, bake for 3 hours and out will come one of these. I have serious tech envy….. ...<< MORE >>
Contact For Follow Up
Contact Me ...<< MORE >>
#CRMUG 2009 Conference Recap
This year was the second CRMUG conference. Tuesday - Taught Class for Data Migration/ Integration - Here is Presentation Deck - Tuesday PM - Expo - Spent about an hour reviewing CRM Innovation - http://www.crminnovation.com/ Met with Jerry Weinstock - @crminnovation . They have 2 killer products - 1) CRM Tool Tips - This thing rocks. Able to get Tool tips into CRM without any Jscripst, or other Developer oriented methods. — http://www.crminnovation.com/crm_documentation.asp 2) Data Migration tool - I got a look at their new release of the this Cloud Based, and Silverlight ...<< MORE >>
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (#DynamicsCRM) Integration Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics GP (#DynamicsGP) Coming Soon to a Theater Near You.
From my sources at MSFT... This adapter will be out in 3 weeks. It is code complete, and has passesd QC. I was able to corner some Microsoft execs last week and they promised that they were “Back in the Game” on this. As you may recall, MSFT didn’t release an update to the GP integration for CRM 4.0. So, the customers who had gotten the “Free” integration before were forced to pull that out and install a new solution. Most went to Scribe from what I understand. I am still dubious on this integration as we have not been given a community ...<< MORE >>
CoWorking Coming to Grand Rapids
Several of my new tech friends in Grand Rapids. @MacFowler is starting up The Factory in town. It is a membership based service that is somewhere between renting an office for a few thousand a month to working out of a coffee shop. For independent contractors and Solo Entrepreneurs this is a great way to save expenses and network with other like minded individuals. I know all my SV and MSFT folks are gonna say - “We have been doing it for years here in … (FIll in the Big City)” Here is the location in Grand ...<< MORE >>
Tasty Track Of The Week
It doesn’t get better than this. Winton on one of the most technically challenging Hard Bop classics –Caravan. I did have the pleasure of seeing Winton Live in 1988. He played with this group in Kalamazoo at the State Theater. Marcus Roberts, yes he is blind, on the piano. I think he is about 18 years old in this video. That guy has chops too. I have several of his albums, As Serenity Approaches is one of my favorite Jazz Piano albums. Music by Wynton Marsalis. Written by Marcus Roberts. From the album, Uptown Ruler ...<< MORE >>
Here Comes Happy Win 7 Commercials.
I love the message, the messenger, and the 80’s Hair Band Europe’s song “Final Countdown” Click Here to View , which is also the #Pistons intro music. If you recognize that song you are in the target zone. ...<< MORE >>
Scribe MVP Award
Last week I was asked to be part of the inaugural class of Scribe MVP’s. "...The goal of our MVP program is to recognize excellence and develop more formal relationships between Scribe’s most experienced and active users and our internal product management, development and support teams..." As you may be aware I am an avid fan of Scribe. It is an application that I work with daily. We have many installations around the country using their solution, it is the core engine we build the Infuse application around. We love Scribe, but more importantly we love working ...<< MORE >>
Poem Of The Day
As the Ruin Falls by CS Lewis All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you. I never had a selfless thought since I was born. I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through: I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn. Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek, I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin: I talk of love —a scholar's parrot may talk Greek— But, self-imprisoned, always end where I ...<< MORE >>
Proud Day Indeed
I know that I am one of 154,000 others, but somehow I feel important today. Guy is an inspiration to me on a semi-regular basis.
...<< MORE >>
Microsoft CRM Product Updates: Hot Off the Presses!
Update Rollup 6 Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (KB 970148) 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 article 970148: Update Rollup 6 is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Important: This update is not necessary for ...<< MORE >>
CRM Customization ROI Calculator – Redux
Mitch Milam is a great Microsoft CRM MVP and he wrote a great article on CRM Customization ROI. I wanted to expand on his ideas with some of the additional issues we usually add to these kind of calculations. First – Teased out the Processes in to 2 separate calculations. This is an example of comparing 2 Processes against one another. Here I have loaded up the operational cost of a 10 minute activity, that happens 10 times a day for a team of 15 folks. This is a good example that we see with Order integration ...<< MORE >>
Social Media and Art Converge in Grand Rapids - @ArtPrize
Totally off the Topic of CRM, but related to the Social Media aspects of what we do. I am a musician and consider myself a bit of an artist. So this event is close to my heart. Grand Rapids has several pieces of art in the heart of Down Town. Our City center has a Big Sculpture, and Calder painted the top of one of the City Buildings. Which one can see plainly here from Bing = Also a big sculpture park that has some huge pieces. This one ...<< MORE >>
Dynamics SL Integrated With Dynamics CRM Video
Integrating Customer Records between Dynamics SL (@MSDynamicsSL) and Dynamics CRM (@MSDynamicsCRM) demonstrated. Here is a short video (8 Minutes) that shows how the Customer / Account integration works. ...<< MORE >>
Scribe Software is Releasing of Insight 6.5.2. #ScribeSoft
There were several performance issues that were effecting some users. So they rolled them into a hot fix. The major issue was The 6.5.0 implementation was a breaking change in that pre-6.5.0 Update Source only fired on success; and 6.5.0 fired Update Source always). 6.5.2 will revert this breaking change by allowing you to to toggle when and how you want Update Source to fire (with the default being the legacy pre-6.5.0 behavior). Plus they added a new feature in response to user requests. One of the new items for 6.5.2 will be to allow users ...<< MORE >>
Dynamics SL Project Series Integrated Into Dynamics CRM Video
Here is a quick peek at the CRM project object in CRM. You will get a feel for how the SL Project Data shows up in CRM. It will give you a flavor of how one can use Project in CRM to attach activities in CRM. Click here for more information about EHTC's Dynamics LS Project Series integration with CRM: http://www.ehtc.com/ehtc/infuse.htm ...<< MORE >>
If Microsoft Made A Toaster... Oh Wait They Did
If Microsoft made a toaster……. Fill in your own joke here….. ...<< MORE >>
Bing and Twitter Combine for Something Very Cool.
Stumbled across this the other day. http://BingTweets.com Very interesting. ...<< MORE >>
Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware Compatibility with Microsoft Dynamics SL Question Answered
The official line from MSFT on this question: From a recent support case: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 and VMware have not been tested for use with Microsoft Dynamics SL. We do not support Virtual Server 2005 or VMware for use with the following versions of Microsoft Dynamics SL: • ...<< MORE >>
View Dynamics SL @msdynamicssl to Dynamics CRM - @msdynamicscrm Sales Order Integration Video
Here is a quick demo of CRM to SL’s bi directional integration. I am working on getting videos of all the major aspects of how the integration behaves. Short and sweet and to the point (~5 minutes) You will see a few more of these in the next few weeks. Customer Integration Inventory Integration Infuse Configuration Utility Project Integration How Scribe is set up ...<< MORE >>
Love Channel 9 Videos
One of the sites I use to keep up to date on the evolution of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is Channel 9. This is a guerilla video blog taken by various MSFT staffers relative to every aspect of the the Microsoft world. From campus culture, to partners, to deep technical details of current work happening in Redmond.
If you are interested in seeing what I tune into while I am doing the dishes at home, this is it:
http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/CRM/
Pierre Hulsebus Will Be Presenting at CRMUG Summit 2009
@CRMUG I will be delivering a session on Integration and Migration strategies and methods with help from Scribe and some of the other solutions. Additionally, we will be assisting with a few interactive sessions. More details to come. Please reserve this date. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet with Dynamics CRM experts, and customers from around the country. Very inexpensive considering the content. The CRMUG Summit occurs September 14 - 18 near Chicago, Illinois. Have you registered yet? Early Bird Pricing Ends June 30th! ...<< MORE >>
CRM Evolution Speaking Engagement
Hey folks I will be speaking at the CRM Evolution 2009 Conference, which will be August 24-26, 2009 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. I am are scheduled to speak in the following session. I hope to see you there, looking forward to eating BBQ at Virgil’s. The link to register is https://secure.infotoday.com/forms/default.aspx?form=crm2009speakers The link for more information about CRM Evolution 2009 is: http://www.CRMevolution2009.com Save up to $600 off your conference pass ...<< MORE >>
Adding Total Invoiced Data To Microsoft Dynamics CRM Account Record
This came up today during our SL user group meeting. How can we simply build a marketing list based on total orders? This is a good question as the advance find is unable to do any math functions. I can pick a specific set of customers based on what specifically they have ordered, but if I want to group or sort customers based on the total invoiced, that is going to be a problem. A simple workflow and a single custom field can do the trick. Mitch Milam addressed this issue on the CRM team blog a year ...<< MORE >>
How to Create a CRM Quick Campaign With Embedded Images
Here is a quick 9 minute video on how to create an e-mail message in a CRM Quick campaign with an imbedded image. To use this method you will need to download Windows Live writer => http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?sa=976584514 ...<< MORE >>
Working on GTD Skills (GETTING THINGS DONE)
This is an uphill journey with many stops and starts. However I am determined to “Just Keep Swimming” I got to give a big thanks to #Tweakly and @GTDCoachKelly I stat thru her tweakly review #tweekly: http://tinyurl.com/pl8y7a A training class delivered over twitter. Is this the shape of things to come? Twitter is an amazing tool that I am getting to know even better. I just need to use it a bit more, get over all of the acronyms. ...<< MORE >>
Great Article on Value of Integrated CRM and ERP Systems
Congrats to Jill Dyche (http://twitter.com/jilldyche) on the fantastic article on Destination CRM blog. => http://www.destinationcrmblog.com/2009/05/19/guest-blog-the-mdm-forum-tom-siebel-sends-his-regrets/ Jill wrote the CRM handbook. She has laid out a consistent message of CRM as a data federation tool, pushing and pulling data into various systems. Which is what I am passionate about. Integrating ERP systems into Microsoft CRM, our work every day. Thanks Jill for the reminder that we are on the right track. Also kudos to Josh Weinberger editor of CRM Magazine for reminding us why staying in the lead is so hard. Because according to Tom Seibel Cloud ...<< MORE >>
Scribe Tip # 24 – Managing Complex Formulas in the Workbench
Another method that I use is to save complex parts of the formula as user variables. so in this formula I am trying to figure out the default Ship VIA method on an customer. So my rule is going to be to look up the specific value in the the pick list mapping table, and if you can’t find it there use a default value we have in another table . Basically if A=Null use B, else use A. I found that Scribe and the CRM API does not deal with a NULL value well. So ...<< MORE >>
Scribe Tip of the Day
From the Scribe Idea Form: Likely the steepest learning curve with Scribe is in using formulas and most development work and troubleshooting is often focused around formulas as well. If the UI for the formula entry could be enhanced to make the structure of the formula more transparent it would greatly help in these areas. Even introducing support for Carriage Return and Tab in the formula text that would allow you to build the formula text split into lines and tabbed to reflect the structure of the logical operators would help quite a bit. Answer: ...<< MORE >>
Dumbest Microsoft Message Of The Day - Wait about a Week to allow the file to be downloaded
I am trying to fix my personal copy of CRM and Microsoft Office 2007. I was missing the tool bar so I reinstalled. Bad move now it doesn’t work at all. So support directed me, after other attempts, to run the Microsoft Office Diagnostics. A very nifty tool that checks and repairs most common Office issues. One thing it did though was to try to connect to my other MSO apps and it had some issues. It was Unable to Access a Required File. So I got this message: Wait ...<< MORE >>
Microsoft Dynamics SL Project Series Integration With Dynamics CRM
The Right Information in the Right Hands Dynamics SL has won awards for its project management and accounting capabilities and industry experts continue to talk about why Dynamics CRM is becoming the industry leader for customer relationship management. They are valuable tools operating alone, but they really shine when they are working together. For a project-driven company, think of the possibilities if you could initiate a project in Dynamics SL when you complete a sale in Dynamics CRM. What if you could track all the communication activities related to a project, as they happen, in Dynamics ...<< MORE >>
Speaking at The CRM Evolution 2009 Conference - Topic: Integration
I have been confirmed to be a speaker at the CRM Evolution 2009 Conference, which will be August 24-26, 2009 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. I am scheduled to speak in the following session(s): August 26, 2009 ...<< MORE >>
Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators Boost Your Competitiveness
Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators boost your competitiveness by delivering functionality that is not available out-of-the-box today with CRM version 4.0. The release of these Accelerators demonstrates Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to drive innovation in between major releases of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Use these Accelerators to shorten your sales cycle and further leverage your investment in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The current release of Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes the following:
- Analytics: Extends business intelligence for Microsoft Dynamics CRM by delivering sales, service and operations dashboards
- Event Management: New functionality to plan, create, execute, and review events
- E-Service Portal: A configurable self-service portal for enhanced customer service through Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- Enterprise Search: Rapidly configure portal views of CRM data within SharePoint (MOSS) and expose this data to MOSS enterprise search
- Extended Sales Forecasting: Enhanced sales forecasting mechanism for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
- CRM Notifications: Newsfeeds (RSS) that allow users to subscribe to CRM “events” relevant to their job role
- Business Productivity: A collection of time-saving productivity customizations for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
- Sales Methodologies: Practical Guidance for adoption of third-party sales methodologies such as SPI Solution Selling, Target Account Selling (TAS) and Miller Heiman
Ready to put Accelerators to use for your business? Contact me (pierreh@ehtc.com) for a demonstration.
You can download the presentation here.
Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 – Convergence Session Redux
4/16/2009, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time – http://www.crmug.com
As you may know I am part of the team that provides technical expertise to the CRM User Group. This national organization meets online several times a month, provides session content during Convergence, and during our own conference in the fall. We have been redoing several sessions for members that did not get to Convergence. This session will focus on feature differences between 3.0 and 4.0, and upgrade best practices.
So if you haven't upgraded to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 yet... Wondering why you should? Need to build a better business case? Already upgraded and want to share your experience or resolve an issue? Every installation is different - so join us to discuss the upgrade process and what version 4.0 offers. Share approaches for testing, training, and go-live. Review the Outlook client setup. And discover resources to help your upgrade go smoother and quicker.
Did you miss Convergence? No need to miss any of the great CRMUG breakout sessions - so join us for an encore performance of this popular CRMUG breakout session from Convergence. This redux is an expanded version of the session that I did at Convergence. So if you missed it please see if you can attend.
If you haven’t considered joining the CRMUG please do so. You will find it to be a fantastic value.
5 Cool New Features in Scribe Insight 6.5
Scribe just released a new edition. I have been running Scribe for about 6 years now, been doing this too long. Here are 5 new important features that will help reduce the time it take to build DTS's. Plus it gives them a chance to sport the new logo.
1) Added ability to rename target steps
Historically, the Scribe Workbench generated generic names for target steps created by the user. With Scribe Insight 6.5, you can now change the default name to something more meaningful to you. When you add an insert step you now have the option of naming the new step and adding a comment. Existing steps can also be renamed and the comments can be edited. To rename an existing step, in the Configure Target Adapter window, click on the step you want to edit, and click Rename Selected Step. This opens the Step Name dialog box where you can edit the step name and comments.
2) Enhanced step copy
Step copy now includes lookup and data link mappings from the original step as part of the copied step. I will be loving this as we have to tailor the DTS's to repeat the same steps for each price list. So it gets very busy to do it over and over and over. Here is why (http://blog.solomon2crm.com/2008/11/25/rgtsl-to-crm-multi-currency-part-1.aspx).
3) Added ability to refresh data without having to close and re-open the Workbench in the Scribe Workbench
A Refresh button in the Test dialog box lets you refresh your source data without having to close and re-open the Workbench.
4) Added ability to script values to use when updating source data upon integration completion
In the Configure Source dialog box, click Update Source. This opens the Update/Delete Source Rows dialog box. Click Insert Formula to open the Formula Editor where you can create and insert a formula. Formulas that you create and enter in this way are not checked or verified before being inserted, so please be careful.
Currently there is an update source functionality when connecting to the source. If the source is updatable and the source keys are set then you are also able to update any source fields, especially XML messages, with the error message returned by the target whenever there is an error recorded. This will keep the error description within the source file and be easily reported back to the source system instantly. Added functionality also gives the option to automatically update a date field in the source with the date the record is successfully integrated.
5) GetRowError( ) function added to Formula Editor
The GetRowError() function returns the error for the target row being processed if there is a problem or if there is an empty string after the row was processed successfully. GetRowError() can be used to update a field in the source with the error for the target row.