Here at Beringer, we strive to stay ahead of the curve on new developments with the Microsoft Dynamics platform. In this fast-paced technical climate, it is crucial to stay knowledgeable about upcoming changes in tech. As CRM transitions to the new Dynamics 365 platform, there are plenty of new features to keep us busy. Today, I’d like to show you an exciting new set of Mobile Controls in Dynamics 365 for numeric fields!

Available since Dynamics CRM 2016, these new Mobile Controls are intended to add some color to the Mobile Experience for CRM. The Mobile Controls give Users an interactive way to add data where typing may not be the best way to gather data. The Mobile Controls also aim to control the data formatting so that it enters CRM in the correct format for data consistency.

The first set of Controls I’m going to highlight are Controls for the Whole Number, Decimal, and Currency fields. Microsoft provides four categories of Controls for these fields. These are Knobs, Graphs, Linears, and Incremental Input.

Knobs

The Knobs allow the User to drag a dial around the screen to set a numeric value. The User can also tap on the number in the Control to adjust or enter the number manually. Customizers can set a minimum, maximum, and step values for the Control.  The two flavors of Knobs are Arc and Radial

Graphs

Microsoft also has a Graph Control available. This allows for Users to compare a Value against other Values, either Static Values or other Values directly on the Form. My Example has the Estimated Value against the Budget Value for a Lead. The dark blue portion on the left shows the Budget Amount and the dark center bar shows the Estimated Value. This way I can compare the numbers visually, directly at the Estimated Value Control and see if we are exceeding the budget. I can also set an Orange line to show if the Estimated Value is below a certain number to track if the Lead is profitable

Linear

The Linear Gauges and Sliders allow Users to drag a point along a line to set a value. These can be handy when setting an estimate. As with the Knob Controls, you can also manually edit the number to make adjustments. The two types of Linear Controls are the Linear Gauge and Linear Slider

Incremental

The last type of input is the Incremental Input. This allows the Users to type a number, then increment or decrement as needed. This is good for numbers that can step in easily defined intervals. I have an example below set under No. of Employees with a Step Interval of 1 for incrementing or decrementing.

Thanks for reading my highlight of the new Mobile controls for Dynamics 365. We took a look at the controls for Numeric fields today, but stay tuned for Controls for other field types. There are plenty of exciting ones such as the Input Mask, Barcode Scanner, and Pen Controls!

You can find more on Mobile Controls at the link below

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531159.aspx#BKMK_VisualControls

Beringer Technology Group, a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and CRM for Distribution. We also provide expert Managed IT Services, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Cloud Based Computing and Unified Communication Systems.

The post Dynamics 365 – Mobile Controls Part 1: Numeric Fields appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.

Dear Joe CRM, I’ve been hearing a lot about the integration between Dynamics 365 and AssureSign. I love the concept of digital signatures on documents that can easily be stored in our CRM. Here’s the catch. Our company does business world-wide. Will AssureSign work, and be legally binding, in multiple countries?

Sincerely,
Still Signing in Singapore

Dear Still Signing,

Great question! Here at PowerObjects we use AssureSign for all our e-signing needs. We use it for everything from sending change requests internally to sending service agreements to our customers. Since we are a little bit obsessed with CRM, we really love its integration with Dynamics 365, because it allows us to grab data from CRM and pop it right into AssureSign documents. Kind of like a magic genie for CRM! Then on the flip side, signers are able to enter information directly onto the form that can be pushed back into CRM. Pretty slick feature, huh?

But I digress, the AssureSign solution does work in every country, which is great news! All it takes is a little work on the back end. AssureSign’s support team will enable the ability to modify legal terms to match that country’s e-signature regulation policy. While the awesome support staff at AssureSign is awesome at helping you get everything ready to rock, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with a few guidelines for your region. Here are a few quick hits:

• In the US: You can get an introduction to the underpinnings of all of these laws by looking at UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Contracts of 1996, and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signatures of 2001.
  • For customers located outside the US, AssureSign provides access to settings to modify the legal statements in order to inform signers of the laws applying to the process for them.
    
• In the UK: Review the Electronic Communications Act 2000 [UK], Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999, and Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000.
• For the EU: Generally, look at EIDAS, adopted 2014.
• For Canada: Review the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA) of 1999.
• For Mexico: Review the E-Commerca Act of 2000.

AssureSign signed documents are acceptable as valid signatures under these referenced rules and for the document types not explicitly unsupported per these rules. It probably goes without saying, but it’s a good idea to make sure your documents receive a full legal review to make sure they are binding. Joe CRM is all about security!

To learn more about the international capabilities of AssureSign and Dynamics 365, join us for a webinar on February 22 to see how PowerObjects enabled their sales team to spend less time sending, and more time selling by implementing AssureSign’s Electronic Signature Software. In this webinar you’ll learn how PowerObjects uses AssureSign within Dynamics 365 to improve the customer experience to sign any document, from anywhere, and on any device. Get a little preview of the webinar by checking out this video here and remember to register today!

Happy CRM’ing!

Providing high quality service to tribal members is a key priority for nearly all tribal governments.  When we think about high quality service, our first though often goes to the types of services offered.    But in the modern digital age where we can get quick responses to questions, requests, and other customer service offering, tribes are starting to place a greater emphasis on HOW services are offered to members, not just WHAT services are offered.  This requires taking a customer service approach to engaging with your tribal members.

Consider the following very common example of communication with a tribal member (TM):

-          TM walks into tribal administration office and inquires about assistance for utility payments and purchasing school supplies for her children.

-          Tribal Admin staff directs TM to the TANF department and the education department to fill out the appropriate applications.

-          Tribal Admin also asks TM to confirm current address and phone number. 

-      TM gives Tribal Admin new address even though TM called and updated it with the Per Cap department three months ago.

-          TM goes to TANF department in a different building and tells them they were directed there by Tribal Admin office.

-          TANF department provides the application form to the TM who fills it out.

-          TANF department also tells TM to fill out a change of address form as TM address has changed since the last time they were in. 

-          TM then goes to the education department (in a different building) and asks about school supplies assistance.

-          Education tells the TM they missed the deadline for the current school year.

-          TM tells education department that they did not know there was a deadline.

-          Education tells TM the information was mailed to them months ago.

-          TM says they didn’t get it and together they discover there was an old address on file.

-          Education has TM fill out a change of address form and a request for assistance form.

Does this sound familiar to your organization?  As the Tribal Solution Manager for Arctic IT, I have had numerous conversations regarding the headaches caused by de-centralized tribal member data.  Many times, each department/program has its own spreadsheet or database with a different address and key member information.  This not only impacts operational efficiency, but has a large impact on the relationship between a tribe and its membership. 

The question becomes, what can be done?  Centralizing tribal member information sounds great, but what about the sensitive information unique to each department?  The answer is using a system with the proper security platform.  Software like Tribal Platforms by Arctic IT can be implemented allowing shared access and updating to information needed by all departments, but also securing confidential information needed only for a single program/department. 

Can you imagine always having the current address for your members?  How about a centralized electronic service request that can be routed to the proper programs so your members don’t have jump around to get the service they need?  Wouldn’t it be helpful for the ICWA department to be able to see how the children are doing in school?  How much better would relationships be between members and tribal leadership? 

It’s time to start improving customer service for your members, and Arctic IT is here to help.

By Matt Borkowski, Arctic IT Tribal Solutions Manager mborkowski@arcticit.com

The post Putting Service into Tribal Member Management appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.

In this week's Microsoft Dynamics Partner News Roundup:

• Mobile Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX Now Available
• Resco Delivers Offline Mobility to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Users via AppSource
• HealthGrid Integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to Automate Patient Interactions During Care Journey
• Vaultive Announces New Cloud Security Capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Mobile Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX Now Available

AXMentor has unveiled AXAdmin, a secure mobility framework and monitoring platform for Microsoft Dynamics AX, built for iOS, that gives IT managers, directors and AX system administrators unprecedented access ...

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I have been working at Microsoft now for four and half years and one of the most awesome benefits of this is the learning culture and we get to attend TechReady and/or watch TechReadyTV. This is a time when internal resources are ramped up on all the latest and greatest and get opportunities to mix and mingle with the various product team members, program managers, visionaries, architects and more. We also get to get our questions answered and to build powerful relationships that help as we work with our clients. Go OneMicrosoft.

So I can't talk about the details, but I can tell you that: Well WOW, you will not believe what is coming on the Dynamics platform and this is also motivation to go look at what was just released in December 2016.

The increased internal recognition and appreciation for Microsoft Dynamics 365 as a powerful line of business application platform and the investment in adding to the platform in the same, great supported manner, just continues to blow me away. I also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how closely the Dynamics R&D Team members are working with the other R&D teams, like the AZURE Teams and the Office 365  teams and so much more. 

The platform power together and the speed in which it is growing (major options every 6 months), just sends shivers down my back.

 You can keep your eye on the growth at https://roadmap.dynamics.com

Put your learning hat on and Embrace the change and growth.

In my last post I talked about keeping up with what's coming (https://roadmap.dynamics.com) but I want to talk a little bit more about how I keep up.

One of the tricks is to know and understand the real versioning or the back channel versioning that you can see when you select HELP/ABOUT in the software.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 actually includes all features/functions/updates/service packs of version 8.2.x.xxxx

So consider the growth from the last numerous years 

v1.0.0.0

• v1.2.0.0
• v2.0.0.0
• v3.0.0.0
• v4.0.0.0
• v5.0.0.0
• v6.0.0.0
• v7.0.0.0
• v8.0.0.0
• Etc 

and all the version in between and now we are at v8.2.0.000

 The Microsoft Dynamics team recently posted more insight on this concept of Updates in the following post

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/crminthefield/2017/02/01/podcast-and-overview-december-2016-update-for-dynamics-365-aka-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2016-update-2-0-service-pack-2/ 

PowerObjects’ Dallas office is growing and we’d like to meet more of our neighbors! If you live in the Dallas area, join us at Last Chance Grill for a casual meet and greet to get to know our team and learn what sets PowerObjects apart.

Event details:

What: A Networking Happy Hour – drinks and appetizers are on us!
When: Thursday, March 2 from 5:30-7:30pm
Where: Last Chance Grill, Frisco Bridges North, 3685 Preston Rd #185, Frisco, TX 75034

Let us know if you’ll be there: RSVP Now

See what it’s like to be partners with the  PowerObjects team:

Hear about our unique company culture from PowerObjects team members:

So it has been two months since Editable Grids were released (approximately) and there was a great wave of HURRAY's at the time.

For those online, just another awesome plus added to your environment.

For those on premise, it is time to move! Technology is moving too fast not to get into the fast lane so you can help your business stay always current with the latest and greatest options.

If you want to read more about editable grids, Sonoma Partners has a great little write up

If you have been following along, you know that we were Salesforce Consultants for 10 years before we moved to Dynamics 6 years ago. We left Salesforce in the rear view mirror, and never heard from anyone related to them again… until recently.

Hey, Watcha Got There?

In the last month we have been contacted by six Salesforce ISVs wanting to pick our brain. Apparently, if you search for Salesforce and Dynamics 365 together, this post shows up high on the list. It would appear that the launch of Dynamics 365 is making some noise, and that noise is being heard by some forward-thinking Salesforce ISVs.

AppSource Inspiration

If you have been thinking about AppSource, and trying to come up with a good idea that would succeed in a Business Solutions add-ons marketplace, you may have had some sleepless nights. There you sit, imagining ideas, and trying to think if they might be winners. An untapped source of winning ideas already exists, it’s called AppExchange. While the platforms are significantly different, Salesforce and Dynamics 365 are attacking the same customer base with similar messaging. There is no doubt that Salesforce is the biggest competitor to Microsoft in the Business Solutions space. To be fair, AppExchange is full of losers too, but there are some well established players in there to go and emulate.

Developers, Developers, Developers!

Who can forget Steve Ballmer’s passionate “Call to Arms”:

But, in spite of trying to motivate us with a near maniacal approach, Microsoft has not had the success, that Steve knew way back then, would be critical to Microsoft’s success. Now, years later, that tide may finally be turning. But we still have a long way to go. BTW, could you imagine Satya doing this?

Jump in, the Water’s Fine

The calls I am getting from these Salesforce ISVs are remarkably similar. “We have this App that we built for Salesforce, and we are considering making a Dynamics 365 version of it, can you help?”. In the 6 years since we jumped over the fence, I have not gotten this call once before, and now suddenly, the phone is ringing off the hook. In the ten years we were Salesforce consultants, we had not traveled down the AppExchange path… we were implementers. Sure, we utilized many apps from AppExchange, we just had not built any of our own. Similar to the Microsoft ecosystem, ISVs were their own breed.

As a successful Salesforce ISV, you have two options for growth, getting more Salesforce customers to use your app, or taking your domain knowledge and applying it to an alternative platform. Up until recently, Dynamics 365 market-share has not been compelling enough to make the investment. It is the same issue Windows Phone had. The difference is, that while Dynamics 365 market-share compared to Salesforce may still be small, unlike Windows Phone, it is growing.

Salesforce was Built for ISVs

As usual, Microsoft is late to the party. Microsoft is late to every party, but once they arrive, I would not bet against them. Sure, they failed miserably with Windows Phone, Microsoft Band, etc, but those were not Satya’s forays, he inherited them. When you look at where Satya has placed his bets, you see nothing but a string of winners. Now, Scott Guthrie has been given the nod by Satya, to make AppSource a winner. You should be paying attention.

Appsource launched less than a year ago and is in a frantic chicken race to catch the egg. The leader of AppSource, Satish Thomas, told me recently that they were “Shipping new builds Weekly”. They have a road-map as long as your arm, but they are plowing through it like PacMan. If you feel something critical is missing, look again in a week.

Microsoft is Aware

There are a few things on the AppSource road-map that are indicated internally by big question marks. Significant ISV solutions are one of those things. Microsoft has made tremendous progress with the low-hanging fruit, and are now turning more of their attention to the upper branches. I have had several conversations with the team, as recently as last week, about enabling Big Solutions. It is about flipping from Dynamics 365 being the solution, plus some add-ons, to third-party solutions being the star, that just happen to run on top of the Dynamics 365 engine. In this area, Salesforce is still quite far ahead. But Microsoft is not ceding that market to Salesforce, instead they are seriously turning it over in their hands. Again, I would not bet against them.

What is Needed

Let’s face it, if Microsoft and Salesforce were people, they would be the biggest egomaniacs you ever met. I doubt anyone would question that Benioff is a world-class egomaniac, but he also has a stock price to support. Benioff is perfectly fine with an ISV not mentioning that their HRIS application runs on Salesforce… he smiles all the way to the bank. In fact, he made an ISV license just for this purpose, with just the basic framework, at a low cost that you just build in. In many of these solutions, you don’t even know they are running on Salesforce! I don’t know that Microsoft is ready to let the  “Dynamics 365” brand take a back seat. As the underdog, they may feel that they can’t yet.

SFDC to D365

Taking your Salesforce App and making a Dynamics 365 version, is not unlike translating a user manual from English to Chinese, it will come out better if you have a native Chinese interpreter. “But Steve, you transitioned over”. Yes, and I have a 6 year head-start on you, which included replacing 90% of my team. Would I like for you to work with us on this venture? Sure, but if not us, then at least engage a qualified Dynamics 365 partner, there are many. You are trading money for time, and time is more important, because we are looking at your AppExchange solutions for inspiration right now.

The post Dynamics 365 – Salesforce ISVs Take Notice appeared first on Steve Mordue.

Last week I wrote a post that showed how to update Dynamics 365 data from a Node.js application using the Web API. Today I will share equivalent Python code. This code builds on my Dynamics 365 and Python integration using the Web API post from last year, so if you haven't read that yet, please take a look before you proceed.

Updating a single property

To update a single property on a record in Dynamics 365, you can make a PUT request to the Web API. The raw HTTP request to update the first name for a contact would look like this:

PUT [Organization URI]/api/data/v8.2/contacts(00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001)/firstname HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0

{"value": "Demo-Firstname"}

Assuming you have retrieved the OAuth token for authenticating to Dynamics 365 as I outlined in my earlier Python-Web API blog post, here is a sample Python function to make a PUT update request:

def updateContactPut(accesstoken, contactid):
    crmrequestheaders = {'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + accesstoken,'Content-Type': 'application/json','OData-MaxVersion': '4.0','OData-Version': '4.0'
    }

    #make the crm request
    contactObj={
        'value':'Firstname PUT test'
    };
    crmres = requests.put(crmwebapi+'/contacts('+contactid+')/firstname', headers=crmrequestheaders, data=json.dumps(contactObj))
    print(crmres)

Updating multiple properties

To update a multiple properties on a record in Dynamics 365, you must make a PATCH request to the Web API. The raw HTTP request to update the first name and last name for a contact would look like this:

PUT [Organization URI]/api/data/v8.2/contacts(00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001) HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
OData-MaxVersion: 4.0
OData-Version: 4.0

{
"firstname": "Demo-Firstname","lastname": "Demo-Lastname"
}

Again, assuming you have retrieved the OAuth token for authenticating to Dynamics 365 as I outlined in my earlier blog post, here is a sample Python function to make a PATCH update request:

def updateContactPatch(accesstoken, contactid):
    crmrequestheaders = {'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + accesstoken,'Content-Type': 'application/json','OData-MaxVersion': '4.0','OData-Version': '4.0'
    }

    #make the crm request
    contactObj={
        'firstname':'Firstname test','lastname':'Lastname test'
    };
    crmres = requests.patch(crmwebapi+'/contacts('+contactid+')', headers=crmrequestheaders, data=json.dumps(contactObj))
    print(crmres)

Further reading

For more information on updating and deleting data with the Dynamics 365 Web API, take a look at the "Update and delete entities using the Web API" article on MSDN.

Here's what's happening on this week's live webcast schedule. Register to attend live or get access to the recorded event.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

CRM for Dynamics 365: What's New Overview 12:00 PM EST Register

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM is now sold as part of Microsoft Dynamics 365, the new cloud-based CRM/ERP system that runs on a Microsoft Azure platform. What does this mean for you? For starters it means all of your sales, customer service, field service, marketing, project service automation, operations and even financials can be done from one convenient, integrated cloud platform. It also means we have a new quick quote tool for Microsoft Dynamics 365 to help you calculate the total cost of implementation.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 combines the key elements of previous ERP and CRM systems into a robust and customer-centric platform. It includes built-in business intelligence previously only available in Office 365 and also integrates with Office 365 to create an all-encompassing business application suite.

There are two primary licensing models available:

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Edition– Optimized for 10-260 employees. It includes Financials and will include Sales, Marketing and Customer Service functionality after Spring 2017.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition– Optimized for 250 or more employees. It includes the capabilities of Dynamics CRM Online and Dynamics AX, such as Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Operations (ERP).

The Quick Quote tool will help you calculate the cost, which includes the license subscription, annual software assurance maintenance plan and approximate implementation and training costs from a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner. Keep in mind that it will not factor in any discounts available for existing CRM customers, pricing for Financials or Operations (Dynamics AX) or pricing for on-premise deployment through dual-use rights. You can get all of that information from your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner.

To get started with the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Price Quick Quote tool, visit www.crmsoftwareblog.com/quick-quote.

By CRM Software Blog Writer, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner Locator

The post New Quick Quote Tool for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gives Instant Pricing and Cost Information appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.