MS CRM Strategies

Duplicate Detection and Converted Leads

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Fixing Duplicate Detection in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Duplicate Detection is a great feature in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. But it can also be a pain. Do your users complain that whenever they convert a lead, they get a duplicate record alert when trying to save the contact - and the alert continues to pop up on all future saves? Good news - there is a pretty simple fix for this problem.

Read on for more information on this issue and how to fix it.

Microsoft CRM on Your Phone

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Dynamics CRM 4.0 Mobile Express is Here

I love the recently released Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It has been a long time in coming, but the wait has been worth it. Read on for the best features ...

Now you can submit requests for our Blog!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:45:00 GMT

Ever wish someone had blogged about that specific topic that you're looking for? Or are you looking for a place to make suggestions to improve Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Customer Connect has setup a page on this website where you can do just that. You can also vote on your favorite ideas so that they will rise to the top of the list. Click here to submit an idea, vote on an idea or make a comment on an idea.

Update Rollup 4 Available from Microsoft

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:09:00 GMT

Microsoft has made Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 available for download and installation as of May 7, 2009. Our advice regarding update rollups is as always:
* Don't install it unless you're fixing a specific issue that it addresses
* If you must install it, then install it on a test server prior to installing it on your production server
* Always backup your server before installing anything that updates the Microsoft CRM application (database and application servers)
* The entire process should take less than 3 hours if you have configured a proper environment

Review: AddressGrabber and CardScan for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:41:00 GMT

Users of CRM tools are consistently asking for the same thing: “Make me more efficient in managing my sales, marketing or customer service responsibilities.” Tools like card scanners, than can quickly scan a business card into CRM, or “parsers” that can grab a name and address from an email or website and instantly transfer it into CRM are great examples of efficiency boosting applications.
But do they live up to their promise?

I recently purchased two tools to take care of these tasks. Let’s walk through each of them in turn.

Demo Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:07:00 GMT

Looking for a fast way to get a demonstration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0? A new site: www.demomicrosoftcrm.com has been setup for just this purpose.

Use Dynamics CRM 4.0 Workflows to Improve Mobile Phone Call Activity

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Are you (or your users) ever away from the office and you need to quickly make phone calls, that you’ve planned in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, from your mobile phone? Do you find it painful to do this from your mobile device?

Wouldn’t you like to be able to just record a Phone Call Activity in CRM and have it put all the information you need (contact name, company name, phone numbers, etc) right into the task description so you can make the call with a single click?

This can be accomplished in CRM using Workflows. Read on to learn how.

Quick JavaScript: Setting Read Only Colors

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Using JavaScript/Jscript to dynamically set a field to disabled or read only can come in handy. But when you make this change, the colors of the field don't match the standard read only field colors that CRM sets when you manually set the read only attribute. This post describes how to set a field to read only in javascript AND make the colors consistent with other read only fields on your forms.

Copying a Microsoft CRM Workflow

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:21:00 GMT

Oftentimes, you will want to copy an existing Microsoft CRM workflow. You might want to create a similar workflow with a few minor changes. Or, you might have a workflow that is "in production" and you need to make some changes to it - but you don't want the current workflow to be unavailable while you're making changes. But CRM doesn't provide a way to copy a workflow - this entry explains a quick and simple way to copy a workflow in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

[Read the full entry for the "how to"]

Quoting and CRM

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:56:00 GMT

We've had to do research into quoting tools for a number of clients and prospects recently. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a single site that has done a good job of listing out the options for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 when it comes to tools that assist with quoting, bundling, kitting and/or configurating. Here are some quick results from our research that I hope you will find helpful.

Removing a Single Picklist Item

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:14:00 GMT

I've seen lots of tools and BLOGs about how to manage dynamic picklists. But after much searching, I could not find anything about removing just a single item from a picklist on a Microsoft CRM 4.0 form using JavaScript.

Read the full entry for the "how to"

Personalized Menus in CRM 4.0

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:48:00 GMT

We are frequently asked if each user - or even different business units - can have completely personalized menus in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. With a little bit of work on the SiteMap XML file, you can give your users a lot of options for a menuing system that is tailored to their specific needs.

Workflows Failing: "The text entered exceeds the maximum length"

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:42:00 GMT

We implemented a workflow that was frequently failing with a message stating "the text entered exceeds the maximum length." Fortunately, the fix was fairly easy.

[Read the full entry for more information]

CRM Solution Accelerators Coming Soon

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:38:00 GMT

At the Worldwide Partner Conference (WWPC) in Houston last week, Microsoft announced the rollout of a bunch of Solution Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. These will be great tools to significantly improve CRM functionality. Best of all, the accelerators are "free" (see caveaut below).

(read the entire posting for more information)

Account-to-Lead

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:49:00 GMT

We seem to regulary run into clients who like the idea of converting a Lead into an Account, Contact and Opportunity - but they would also like to be able to convert backwards into a Lead again.

Why? Well, maybe someone in the Lead Management group qualified the lead, but when they passed it along to Sales, they could not longer get in touch with the lead. The options are: (1) make Sales work it until they can get back in touch, (2) train Lead Management to work with Accounts, Contacts and Opportunties, (3) forget about it (which most of them do), or (4) re-create the entire record as a Lead again.

But now there is another alternative (read the full story for the rest)...

Security Role Settings for Reassigning Activities and Cases

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:52:00 GMT

Security Roles is one of the trickiest parts of the configuration of Microsoft CRM to understand. We've run into several situations where a very non-intuitive security role setting was resulting in users saying "I cannot reassign an activity to another user" (or a case). Fixing the problem takes 15 seconds if you know where to look - or hours of frustration if you don't.

[NOTE: This is a summary only. View the full BLOG to read the remainder of this entry.]

Web to Lead

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:22:00 GMT

Web to lead: Creating a new lead record based on a web form automatically in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Complete code for web2lead is included in this entry.

Options for Data Migration and Integration

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:02:00 GMT

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 there are so many options for migrating, integrating and bulk updating data that it can be quite confusing. This entry presents many of the options and the appropriate time to use each.

[NOTE: This is a summary - read the full BLOG for more info]