Today I wanted to gain a better understanding of Microsoft Teams.  Teams is a feature of Office 365 that is currently in preview and it is really quite easy to setup.

Microsoft Teams is a robust application that is built on the Office 365 Groups service but includes significantly more features than Office 365 Groups.  For example, Team includes chat capability via Skype, Delve, Microsoft Graph, integration with PowerBI, the ability to integrate common cloud applications, bot assisted intelligence, leverages Exchange connector service and the list goes on.  Obviously, I am not going to cover everything Microsoft Team has to offer but I do plan to walk you through the set up and give you enough information to begin using, exploring and sharing this application with your organization.

Let’s walk through the setup.  The first thing you need to do is enable the preview feature by logging into Office 365 as a Global Admin, select Settings and Service & Add-ins.

Scroll down to Teams and select and open

Toggle the off switch to On and walk through the available setting to ensure they are set appropriately for your organizational needs.

For example, under Messaging, I selected to allow adding animated images to conversations.  You also have options like employing bots as agents of help, setting Content Rating and more.

When completed, simply close the Teams window, return to the Office 365 Admin area and you ready to begin using Microsoft Teams.

To create your first team, log into Teams.Microsoft.com with your Office 365 account .  If this is your first time logging in, you will see a wizard experience that walks you through creating your first team.  If you previously created a team and want to create a new Team, then you can select the Create Team option from the lower left.

After selecting the Start button, a window will appear where you can give the Team a name and description.

From here, select the Next button, the Team will get created and you can add members to it.  To add a member, simply begin typing the member name and a list of options will appear.

You simply select the user you would like to add and it will populate in the list of members.  Continue through this process until you’ve added all the members to the team,  select the Add button, and select Done to complete the setup. 

You can also use the Skip button if you prefer to add members later.

This all takes just a few minutes and after selecting the Done button your team is created and you are ready to get started.

There are several features that come with Teams to include an option to download a desktop application.  I thought I would try that out to gain a feel for the experience as compared to online so I selected the download button.

After selecting the download option, I chose to Run the .exe rather than Save and run from the saved file.  

After a few seconds the Team Loading screen appeared, followed by a login page.

I logged in with my Office 365 credentials and the desktop application opened.  As you can see it looks almost identical to the Online application and the download option has changed to display an option to check out or get the mobile apps.

One of the first features you’ll notice is the ability to add files.  As you can see the files are uploaded to a SharePoint site created for the Team.  You’ll notice that you have options that we’ve come to expect from applications that use SharePoint as a document repository. 

Teams uses the Office 365 SharePoint site and creates a site for each team.  You can also create Notes to share which creates and uses OneNote which is also saved to SharePoint.

When you are in Outlook, you’ll notice that Team displays under the Groups area the same as Office 365 Groups.  Depending on the features you selected, you’ll be able to generate conversations which are saved to the group and send as email to group members to include Emoji’s, images, attachments, etc..

So we know we can do all the typical things we’ve seen in Office 365 groups, let’s take a look at some of the other features. 

In addition to Conversations, Files, Calendar and Notebook, you’ll notice a + button on the top toolbar.  When you select that button, you’ll see additional applications that you can add to the Team. 

In this example, I’ll add Planner.  Planner provides the ability to create tasks for the Team to help keep people on track and the Team organized.

As you can see, I gave the new plan a name and now I’m going to select Save.  If I want to let people know that I’ve added Planner, I can select the option to “Post to the channel about this tab”.  Once completed, Planner is added as a new Tab to the list and I can begin using it to distribute tasks to the team.

Another very useful feature of Team is the ability to add Channels to a Team.  This can be very handy if you have different projects, initiatives or issues that you want to manage but the team remains the same across all those channels.  For example, I could create an IT Team and under that team have multiple channels for new technology initiatives that we plan to implement in the company.  Its easy to add a new Channel.  Simply right click the Team and you will see a list of available options.

One of those options is to Add a Channel.  When I select the option, a window appears that allows me to provide a name and description for my Channel.

Once completed, select the Add button. Now I’ve created a new Channel under my Team with all the features of the Team for managing the New Initiative leveraging the team members of the original team.

One final feature I wanted to share is to encourage you to select the Chat option from the left navigation menu.  When you do, you’ll notice that T-Bot is ready to help.  From here you can ask questions, check out Help, FAQ, watch videos and, in general, learn just about anything you want to about the Microsoft Team application.

After you’ve completed your Team setup, you can access Teams from Outlook under the Groups section.

I don’t know about you but I’m pretty excited and ready to share this with my organization so we can begin use of this full featured collaboration app.

Cheers

Additional Resources

Microsoft Team Product

Satya Nadella Introduces Microsoft Office Teams

Microsoft Teams: Step-by-step intro for using, enabling and managing the experience

Introducing Microsoft Teams (in Preview)

Deploy and Manage Microsoft Teams

I had run into an issue that was new for me. I had been connected to a test Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance for a week building out jobs and when we went to connect to production I was getting an “Access Denied” error. I knew I had the login credentials and organization correct but couldn’t get it to connect. I then noticed that the default “CRM Online URL” that Scribe pre-populates is “https://disco.crm.dynamics.com” I noticed that on the developer resources page in CRM Customizations it had “https://disco.crm9.dynamics.com.”

As soon as I changed that value in the “Manage Connections” screen of Scribe Online, the connection test succeeded. A simple fix and something that was an oversight on my part in the stress to migrate to a production environment.

I hope this saves you a little bit of time!

The post Access Denied Error When Connecting to Dynamics CRM Online From Scribe Online CRM Adapter (Solved) appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professionals.

Today's blog post was written by Rob Jasinski, Principal Developer at Sonoma Partners.

Recently, we had a need to migrate data for a customer to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but the data was located in a MySQL database. We have many tools, applications, and interfaces that rely on the source data being Microsoft SQL Server, so ideally we like to convert the data from a different database platform to SQL Server whenever possible. Since MySQL is open-source and considered the second most popular used RDBMS (according to Wikipedia), we use this platform more than others.

To convert a MySQL database, you’ll need to first have MySQL installed which can be downloaded from here. Then, you’ll need to install the SQL Server Migration Assistant tool. I won’t go through step-by-step on how to use this tool as there is a good blog here to get started. Instead I will go through some of obstacles I had and how I resolved them.

Restoring a Backup of the Database to Your MySQL Database

When I loaded the SSMA tool, I had issues connecting to the MySQL database. I finally had to completely uninstall the MySQL ODBC driver and re-install it to finally get a connection to work. For the SQL Server connection, SQL Server agent needed to be running so it was started. Next, check the target schema. I’m not quite sure how this is defaulted, but it was pointing to the wrong SQL database. I didn’t notice this at first and had to change it manually.

Before the data can be migrated, it must synchronized so the tables are created on the destination. The “How To” blog states it’s under Tools, but I didn’t see it there. I finally found it in the SQL Server metadata browser window, if I right-clicked the destination database, synchronize was an option.

Finally, when I tried to migrate the data, the process would start then the application (SSMA) would just suddenly close after about a minute or two. I retried several times even after a server restart and the same issue continued. After some research I found a message post to try and set the affinity of the application (SSMS) to just one CPU. After I tried that, it worked. All the data from MySQL was migrated to the SQL Server database.

Once we had the data migrated to SQL Server, we were able to use our common data scrubbing tools to clean and migrate the data into CRM.

One of the four pillars of our foundation here at PowerObjects is our commitment to CRM education for Dynamics 365. That’s why we have one of the best CRM training and education programs in the world! The way we see it, the more you know about your CRM system, the better prepared you and your team will be to achieve success and see a solid return on investment. One of the options we offer is our Train-the-Trainer track, which empowers your team to take training into their own, experienced hands. Let’s see how it works!

We’ve had so many success stories from customers who do their CRM education with our PowerObjects team. Our most recent example of training success comes from our amazing customer, UL. UL needed to roll-out training to their staff on a massive scale, so who did they call? PowerObjects of course! Watch their story below to see how they achieved success with our Train-the-Trainer program.

That’s all for today’s episode of The CRM Minute! Tune in on Monday for a special Thanksgiving episode where we talk about the importance of providing a true Omni-channel service experience. With Black Friday coming soon, you’ll see how businesses should be treating the customer to keep them happy campers, and remember to subscribe to PO TV so that you never miss a “dynamic” episode of The CRM Minute or one of our riveting CRM customer success stories.

Happy Dynamics 365’ing!

Additional Resources for Dynamics 365 Education

• Learn More About Dynamics 365 Education
• Find a Training Event Near You
• Get Your Training On with PowerObjects
• Learn More About the Train-the-Trainer Track

The beauty of undergoing a Microsoft Dynamics 365implementation is that it can be as simple or complex as a user wants to make it. Often times people have a preconceived notion that Microsoft Dynamics 365 needs to be set up a particular way; that there are a few set steps to complete and once finished, the user begins to navigate through the system in a standard, pre-packaged way. However this is actually quite the opposite. Sure, there is certain terminology, like contacts, accounts, and opportunities, that Microsoft has put in place to help users get comfortable with the categorizing of their records. But really, Dynamics 365 is a shell or template for a user to get creative and envision a use of the system that fits perfectly for their organization. The great part about being able to make Dynamics 365 your own is that it can all be done Out-of-the-Box. There is no need for high level coding or development. As long as you have a basic understanding of the system, the possibilities are endless on what you can customize with your team and organization.

Personalize your Records:

Get creative with your CRM system, the functionality and power of CRM exists no matter how you choose to customize the system so you may as well make the most of it. For example, maybe your organization calls accounts ‘Records’ and contacts ‘People.’ With very little effort you have the ability to rename anything you want within the system. In the diagram I show an example of an updated account and contact entity.

By renaming and creating records with labels that an organization understands and is familiar with, it also creates a feeling of ownership and increased buy-in of the system leading to enhanced productivity. Any out-of-the-box record will function the same way regardless of what it is called, so be as creative as possible without risk of affecting performance. Also, personalize records at any level of the system starting here with entities, all the way down to fields, views, and dropdown options.

Design the Fields and Functions to Suit Your Needs

Logan Consulting recently completed a Dynamics 365 where the client wanted to use Connections as a way of linking accounts and contacts and keeping relationships organized. They asked if they could use connections to move amongst records as opposed to contacts on their main Account form. Much of our consulting advice with this client was to encourage them to envision a form and system that best suited their needs. Because of this they completely redesigned their account form to fit their internal specifications. They added a connections sub-grid and even customized the connection roles within this grid to tailor Dynamics to their organization’s culture and practice. They then moved the connections sub-grid to the top of the account form above the Social Pane, and moved the contacts down to the bottom of the form to avoid confusion on what to look at first. This client also uses company information quite often so they took the native ‘Company Profile’ section and moved it to the top right of the form. CRM does have a list of best practices, but in cases like this, there is no rule that says primary contact has to be at the top right or that nothing can be above the social pane on the form.

As mentioned, the great thing about Dynamics is that even a novice user has the ability to get creative and customize the system in many ways. With system administrator privileges, or the help of a sys-admin, moving around fields is as easy as dragging and dropping to another place on the form. Creating new fields can be done by simply clicking the new field button. And, with a little practice a user can create business rules to show and hide fields in different situations. However you decide to use Dynamics 365, remember the only constraint is how imaginative you can be.

If you think that a CRM system is your next best step for your business, contact Logan Consulting your Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner of Chicago.

This blog was originally posted on the Logan Consulting website.

The post Thinking Outside the Box with CRM’s Out-of-the-Box Functionality appeared first on CRM Software Blog.

The past couple of months leading to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 commercial launch have been interesting, to say the least. A lot of things happening, but in a way that hasn’t been all too easy to grasp. I’ve started a lot of draft blog articles around the topic yet I haven’t written that much about Dynamics 365 – because I haven’t really known what to say about it. After visiting Redmond last week for the annual MVP Summit and talking to all the awesome Dynamics C… sorry, Business Solutions MVPs, I’ve decided that it’s time to just start putting my thoughts out there. I believe this is the best way to gain more clarity on the topic, rather than trying to come up with the ultimate, complete definition on what Dynamics 365 is and how it will impact different parties.

In Loving Memory of CRM

First, let’s get this thing out of the way: CRM is dead. Yes, believe it or not, but from a Microsoft product marketing perspective this is absolute the truth. There isn’t a single SKU available now after November 1st that would carry the three letter acronym we’ve come to know from the Microsoft business software offering during the past 13 years. I wrote an article on this change in branding and why I think it makes sense, so go and have a look at it if you’re interested in the details: “Why is Microsoft dropping ‘CRM’ from its Dynamics branding?”

Second, Dynamics CRM as a technology is totally alive and kicking. It’s bigger than it’s ever been and about to get even more massive with the road ahead that is Dynamics 365. XRM remains the backbone on top of which most of the new Apps in Dynamics 365 will be built. In fact, it’s the non-XRM products in the portfolio that are being axed, with Dynamics Marketing being replaced by a new XRM based Marketing app for Dynamics 365 Business Edition, and Parature being discontinued as the features mostly already exist in the XRM service. So, the real reason why Dynamics CRM isn’t called “CRM” anymore is because it’s grown so far beyond what the humble beginnings of the product were back in 2003.

Third(ly), all of this means we’ve ended up deep in the enterprise territory. The number of different applications included in the Dynamics “customer engagement” portfolio (which appears to be the unofficial new term for the CRM platform) is now so big that no single individual in the world can claim to be fluent in all those areas. As a result, fully deploying these applications into real life business processes is a task that will require significant investments from the customer organization – even if they are configurable cloud apps rather than custom software. The current offering + the new features are now sold under the Dynamics 365 Enterprise Plan for a good reason and the pricing of the whole package has been increased to reflect the potential value that can be derived from it. The SMB story around Dynamics 365 remains unclear as of now and we’ll need to wait a while before the dust settles. To get an understanding of what’s going on there, I recommend you to subscribe to the writings of one Dynamics 365 Fighter Pilot to keep up with the latest news.

A Bigger Picture

The whole story of Dynamics 365 isn’t just about taking two products, formerly known as Dynamics CRM and Dynamics AX, then offering them as a single subscription service. Yes, that ease of acquiring a full business application platform from Microsoft cloud is already a major step forward and a big competitive advantage. However, CRM + ERP <> 365. Don’t settle for that explanation if a Microsoft partner gives it to you, because there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

The timing of Dynamics 365 commercial launch coincided with the general availability of two new Microsoft products, PowerApps and Flow. These two cloud services are so intertwined that I don’t actually think they are separate entities, but rather components of a single “thing”. What that thing is exactly is not so easy for even Microsoft to articulate, but I’m expecting the story to evolve quite rapidly on this front. Just recently, the Common Data Model that I covered in a past blog post during its first preview was renamed to Common Data Service, to better reflect the true nature of this piece of the cloud business apps puzzle that Microsoft is putting together.

Since both PowerApps and Flow have been advertised not only as parts of the Dynamics story but also the broader productivity offering of Office, they’ve received far more attention in the blogs than a more recent entrant to the scene: Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights. Also known as “Azure Customer Insights”, or “Cortana Intelligence Customer Insights”, it is something that sits outside of the CRM platform, but when viewed from the perspective of business strategy, is definitely very much about CRM. You see, the purpose of Customer Insights is to deliver on the mythical “customer 360” promise that countless customer relationship management initiatives throughout the past two decades have aimed for – and often missed. It is the analytical CRM, where the traditional systems that some of us have spent their whole professional lives developing and deploying are firmly in the operational CRM territory.

Rise of the Machines

This leads us to the bigger vision that Microsoft has around more intelligent computing. While the existing business applications both in the Office and Dynamics product lines are being developed at a more rapid pace than ever before, they alone don’t reflect what the future of business software will be like. The term “transactional platform” has been used by Microsoft in reference to what XRM as we know it represents. This platform is not going away, rather it is becoming increasingly integrated into the direct interactions with customers via different channels, rather than the oldskool salesforce automation scenarios where a sales rep recorded information manually into the CRM system about these interactions. Alongside this platform, a new pillar is being built: the analytical platform.

“What’s so special about that? We’ve had data warehouses and BI tools integrated into our CRM systems for years and years already.” A fair question to ask, my dear fictional reader voice. Data analysis systems are of course nothing new in the realm of CRM, but they have often focused on reporting on the old world of business data coming from CRM and ERP databases. What’s different this time around is that both the sources of data and the quantity of the actual data, which are growing faster than the traditional BI solutions can cope with. You don’t need a new platform to build an even fancier opportunity pipeline chart from the data your sales reps are entering. You do, however need a whole different approach once you start automating your business processes based on the IoT device data that millions of sensors will be sending in a million times a day.

Although it may not seem like an everyday scenario just yet for most Dynamics customers out there, this is the future that Microsoft is very seriously preparing for. As one data point, the newly established Microsoft AI and Research Group has (or will shortly have) 5000+ computer scientists and engineers working on “democratizing AI”. What this means is that machine learning algorithms will be embedded into each and every service that Microsoft offers, to crunch the data inputs from various sources inside and outside your company, in an attempt to make the applications more intelligent. In Dynamics 365, Relationship Insights are the first taste of what added value Microsoft’s data cloud can provide when the algorithms get to work on the communication network data from both XRM as well as  your Exchange Online.

This new form of intelligence will become both a built-in feature of the common business applications as well as a capability that the business application platform allows you to build on top of your customer data, business process data and, increasingly, sensor data. The first examples we’ll see might not be so glorious in practice yet (I’m totally expecting to see some less intelligent recommendations from Dynamics 365 Relationship Assistant), but the machines may well learn faster than many of us would predict. Also, even if your business wouldn’t be manufacturing any smart IoT devices to generate endless streams of data, there’s bound to be other valuable data sources out there that can be connected with your business processes. Microsoft didn’t spend $26B on LinkedIn just to get an excuse to spam you with email every day, so I bet we’re going to see some pretty compelling B2B insights being offered from this treasure trove of professional network data.

Welcome All Species

Back in the days of oldskool CRM things used to be simple: on one specific date a new package of bits would become available, people would find a server to install it on by following the deployment guide steps and… TA-DAA! Here was your business application! People would start entering letters and numbers into the system via their keyboards, to be later viewed by different people sitting in front of their own keyboards. Now we’ve got cloud software we can’t really touch, rolling out into our virtual subscription containers at an unspecified date, containing new functionality that we’ve barely seen for a few seconds in video stream broadcast online. New cloud apps keep popping up like mushrooms and they form a fungus-like network beneath the surface, communicating with one another in ways we can’t easily observe. They gradually find their way into new business processes and, thanks to the evolving AI capabilities, pretty soon start actively altering the behavior of us mere mortals who interact with these apps via any screen, keyboard not required.

The future isn’t scary, but it’s different. There isn’t anything specifically forcing you to work differently than you did a decade ago with your CRM software, thanks to the backward compatibility of core features and the underlying stack of MS technology. If you’re paying attention, though, you’ll see everything around you being gradually replaced with something else, expanded beyond the borders that used to be there just a moment ago. Close your eyes for too long in this environment and when you open the curtains you might be shocked to see that your cozy lil’ cabin has been surrounded by an urban metropolis that grew around you while you were sleeping. That hectic new lifestyle out there is going to take some getting used to.

It’s not a single thing like the Dynamics 365 commercial launch or the deprecation of CRM as a product name that’s responsible for the change. They are simply logical steps on the way towards a much broader set of tools for a universe of use cases that keeps expanding a lot like our physical one – at an increasing rate. Which means that unless you want to remain stuck on Planet CRM, there’s a lot of space exploration ahead for all of us.

The post Reflecting on Dynamics 365 appeared first on Surviving CRM.

Oftentimes when a report is pulled in Microsoft Dynamics 365, there will be certain search criteria. When based on the 1^st value selection, the 2^nd option list should populate in the report parameters. In order to get those precise values, you need to use cascading parameters for reports in Dynamics 365. In today’s blog, we will show you how to use dependent parameters to pull these reports. Let’ get started!

Prerequisite: Create a report in Visual Studio BIDS (sample.rdl), in the example the report to display the orders for given year and given month. The sample report should show Months, only when Year is selected.

When to use: Dependent Parameters should be enabled after selecting the first parameter.

In our example today, we want to enable the Year and Month parameters.

Visual Studio BID>new report (rdl) file>report designer.

In the Select field, choose Year and month from the drop-down menu.

Now, we can select the appropriate Year and Month fields from a list of drop down options.

Next, enable the default value of the parameter and specify a value for which the parameter should be enabled.

That’s all it takes to set up a simple cascading parameter. Make sure to stop by our CRM for Dynamics 365 blog daily, for even more fun tips and tricks like this one!

Happy Dynamics 365’ing!

Integration of Dynamic 365 with Power apps

Technologies used

• Dynamics CRM 365
• Microsoft Flow
• Common Data Model (Part of Power Apps)
• Power Apps
• PowerBI

Solution Overview

Steps

1. A record is created/updated in Dynamics 365 which triggers Microsoft Flow workflows to create/Update the record in CDM.
2. The PowerApps’s mobile app connected to CDM presents the data to end users.
3. The end users read,create or update the data on the mobile app.
4. The changes are saved in CDM that triggers the Microsoft Flow workflows to create/update the data in Dynamics 365.

Integration of Dynamics 365 with Microsoft Bot framework

Technologies used

• Dynamics CRM 365
• Microsoft Flow
• SharePoint Online
• Azure Storage
• Azure SQL database
• Azure Search
• Cognitive Services
• Microsoft Bot Framework
• Skype.

Solution Overview

Integration of Dynamics 365 with Azure Search (Relevance Search)

Technologies used

• Dynamics CRM 365
• Event Hub
• Azure Search

Solution Overview

Dynamics 365 has launched. Whatever we may have been thinking about what it might be, is revealed. So we go back to work. Our work is helping Small and Midsized Businesses (SMB) succeed with Dynamics 365. Between Salesforce.com previously, and Microsoft Dynamics currently, we have deployed CRM (now called either Business Applications or Business Solutions depending on who you ask), for over 300 SMB Customers and we have learned a few things along the way that I thought I would share.

There is no Easy Button

Wouldn’t it be great if you could press a button and a Business Application, like Dynamics 365 Sales, would be automatically configured and launched to suit your exact particular business needs? Yes, that would, and believe me, if it were possible, we would have built it, and I would have retired already. But, your business is like a fingerprint, similar, but different from every other business, probably more so than you even realize. Even your most similar direct competitor, is different, like Walmart and Target are different. Run by different people who prioritize and execute things differently than you. This is how direct competitors differentiate themselves in the market, and hope to create a competitive advantage.

For example, our “focus” is on Business Solutions for SMB, but that is not our “competitive advantage”. Certainly there are other partners who are also focused on this customer, but we will each approach that customer differently, offering different services, a different plan and a different relationship. Depending on the particular customer, our approach, services, plan and relationship is potentially our competitive advantage… or not. SMB is a large market and we may not be the best fit for a particular customer, where another partner may well be a better fit.

So configuration is unavoidable, and it’s just the first of many steps that will be required of you, in order for you to succeed with Dynamics 365, Salesforce.com, or any other Business Application, because out-of-the-box… none of them will fit. Don’t get me wrong, none of these are delivered as simply a kit-of-parts. Dynamics 365 Sales App for example, is a fully functional Sales application. But its functionality was designed by Microsoft to be the same for everyone; the broadest swath of business types, at the most generic level. It would take about five minutes of use, for you to realize that you don’t want to conform your business to a default generic sales model. If you proceed anyway, you will not realize the value from the application that you could have, and these are not cheap solutions like email.

The SMB Path to Business Solutions

So we are in agreement that configuration will be necessary for you to get any true value from a business solution? Right? That is just the first step of your journey. However, without that first step, the remaining steps are far more precarious. Here is a cheat list of the overall process: buy -> configure -> deploy -> train -> adopt -> reconfigure -> connect -> extend. I will cover a few of these at a high level, but I really want to focus more on what effort is going to be required of you to succeed.

As I ponder what I am going to write next, and knowing that it could run some of you off before you reach the end of this post, I wanted to put the punch line ahead of it. Why go through any of this? Business Solutions have the capacity to transform your business, to make you more effective, profitable, scalable, etc, or they can be the biggest waste of time and money that you have encountered in your entire career. Whether it is the former or the latter, is entirely up to you. Sure partner competency plays a role, but by and large, success or failure rests on your shoulders.

What SMB does not have enough of

Commitment, Time, Money, Resources and Patience. These are the variables that I see SMB struggle with the most, not just in a Business Application deployment, but in general. Each of these will be in short supply from the git-go. The future “potential” benefits of a Business Solution will be in an ongoing tug-of-war with these variables throughout the deployment, and beyond, so we might as well discuss them:

• Commitment. It’s not hard to get excited about the possible “transformation” that a Business Solution could bring to your organization. It also does not require a lot of effort to sit in on a demo. Nor does it require a lot of effort to actually pull the trigger and start down the path. But, maintaining that effort, on through to the actual realization of the hoped for  transformation, requires a level of commitment that often SMB fails to bring to the table. If a Business Solution just feels like a cool thing to have, you won’t make it. If your current processes are still “good enough” in the back of your mind, you won’t make it. If you are not inspired enough yourself, you will not be able to inspire your team who ultimately will use the application, so you won’t make it. If you are to succeed, you need to see in your mind how this will actually play out to help your business, and not just assume, expect or hope it will. This is not a phone app that you try on a whim.
• Time. This is going to take longer than you think, and longer than your partner thinks. Not to get a Business Solution configured, deployed and in your hands, that can happen relatively quickly… and that…means nothing. For a Business Solution to become part of the fabric of your organization, to become the hub that it could be, connecting all of the spokes of your organization into one smooth turning, money making wheel… ya, that’s gonna take a while.
• Money. This is going to cost more than you think, and more than your partner thinks. Like Time, you can get a up-and-running relatively inexpensively (we built Wizards for that), but again than means nothing. Costs will come from many places including the service subscription (which will ultimately prove to be the smallest cost), configuration assistance, productivity lost during adoption, hiring an admin (if you don’t want to rely on a partner), paying a partner to fix all of the things your admin screws up, extending the Business Solution to connect to the other spokes of your business, etc.
• Resources. Who is gonna be your quarterback for this effort? In SMB we seldom find that someone has been dedicated 100% to the success of Business Solution implementation, adoption and administration with 100% of their time. Almost always, it will be a person who already has a full-time job doing something else. They will have to steal time to get this done. or steal time from this effort to get their other job done. They will cause delays, make a ton of mistakes, and struggle to get internal input or feedback from those who ultimately will be the most impacted.
• Patience. Between the strong possibility that your commitment level is not really high enough for an endeavor that will take longer than you hoped, cost more than you thought, and is being spearheaded by potentially the wrong, overworked person in your organization… you might find your patience wearing thin. And that would be assuming that you have a high threshold, which many leaders of SMB do not. Even if you are 110% committed, okay with the time, okay with the money and have a true crackerjack in charge, you will still get impatient. Business Solutions never generate “instant ROI”, you will need to be prepared to play a longer game, in order to win.

OMG, is there any good news here? Well, I did give you a “spoiler” before I went down this path, but I have another reward for you to ponder. Everything I laid out above, that you would need to prepare for and do, is the same for your competitor, who is also looking at Business Solutions as you read this. Business Solutions are on every SMB’s radar today. They might even be reading this right now, at the same time you are… wow, that would be freaky.  They are exploring for the same reason you are, you both know this is the next frontier of creating a competitive advantage. Who will run this gauntlet to get it? You… them… or some new competitor that came out of nowhere? From the minute you decide to move forward, you should assume they are breathing down your back to get there first… because they probably are.

The post Dynamics 365 – SMB Success with Business Solutions appeared first on Steve Mordue.

I had run into an issue that was new for me. I had been connected to a test Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance for a week building out jobs and when we went to connect to production I was getting an “Access Denied” error. I knew I had the login credentials and organization correct but couldn’t get it to connect. I then noticed that the default “CRM Online URL” that Scribe Online CRM adapter pre-populates is “https://disco.crm.dynamics.com” I noticed that on the developer resources page in CRM Customizations it had “https://disco.crm9.dynamics.com.”

As soon as I changed that value in the “Manage Connections” screen of Scribe Online CRM adapter, the connection test succeeded. A simple fix and something that was an oversight on my part in the stress to migrate to a production environment.

I hope this saves you a little bit of time!

Microsoft Dynamics Community News– if you like these tips then subscribe to our Microsoft Dynamics Community News publication. Or contact our Dynamics CRM experts at RSM 855-437-7202

by Josh Thompson for RSM

The post Connecting to Dynamics CRM Online From Scribe Online CRM Adapter appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professionals.

If you use Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, at some point in the next 12 months you’ll be  confronted a question. How do you want to manage the transition to Microsoft Dynamics 365? We recently hosted a webinar on Dynamics 365 and the most questions by far came from existing Dynamics CRM users nervous about the future.

First some good news:

• The look and feel of Dynamics 365’s CRM experience is almost identical to Dynamics CRM. Your users may notice some cosmetic changes but nothing that should slow them down.
• There are new licensing options that may actually save you money. Seriously, Microsoft has special transition pricing that offers current customers a great deal.
• If you’ve always dreamed of integrating your CRM, email, BI and finance solutions, Dynamics 365 breaks down the barriers and lowers the complexity significantly.

Now some really not all that bad news:

• Yes, you have to take a little time to figure which of the Dynamics licensing schemes work best for each of your user roles. But truthfully, this isn’t much more difficult than looking at a map and figuring out the best way to get from Chicago to L.A.
• In some cases, your total licensing fees may increase. Hopefully, the extra goodies Microsoft has included in Dynamics 365 (i.e., free portal, additional storage, better Outlook App) will more than make up for it.
• As with any update, you’ll want to keep an eye on your customizations to make sure they come out the other side intact.

I’m won’t get into all the different Plans and pricing permutations here. However, your CRM admin has probably received an email notification with links to helpful information. Something that looks like this:

They will also receive alerts in their CRM message center. Naturally, a friendly Microsoft partner is probably willing to help guide you through the transition. If you don’t have a friendly Microsoft partner, drop me a line.

By Mark Abes, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at xRM³, Microsoft Cloud CRM Partner, San Diego, Southern California

The post What do I do about Microsoft Dynamics 365? appeared first on CRM Software Blog.

Early Bird registration for CRMUG Summit EMEA 2017 is now open.

Summit EMEA 2017 is a peer-to-peer focused conference dedicated to the Microsoft CRM end user education and networking. Summit EMEA 2017 will be held 4-6 April at the RAI Amsterdam. Summit EMEA provides Microsoft Dynamics users with best-in-class education on how to maximise the performance of Microsoft CRM, as well as Dynamics AX, NAV, and Power BI products. At this year's event, experienced Microsoft Dynamics users and partners will lead instructional sessions, showcases, and how-to's, focusing on past and current versions of Microsoft CRM.

"We were quite pleased with the NAVUG European Congress in Frankfurt last year. The content was very relevant for us and the presenters brought a great depth of knowledge and breadth of experience. We are looking forward to attending Summit EMEA 2017 in Amsterdam!"
Mike Hitzhusen, Application Manager | Intrum Justitia

This event is brought to you by Dynamic Communities, including the Microsoft Dynamics AX User Group (AXUG), Dynamics CRM User Group (CRMUG), Dynamics NAV User Group (NAVUG), and Dynamics Power Bi User Group (PBIUG). These User Groups are the world's most influential communities of Dynamics users, business leaders, IT professionals, developers, and partners - with members sharing a common goal to maximize and advance the performance of their Dynamics investment.

Microsoft CRM users can save up to $400 on conference fees by registering before 12 January. Save money and register now with Early Bird discounts. Click here to begin your conference registration.

Learn more about Summit EMEA 2017, visit our website: http://www.summitemea.com.

Microsoft has officially released the Dynamics 365 Suite as of November 1, 2016 and it’s creating a significant amount of interest among current and potential customers.  There are three major changes I want to highlight that have occurred as part of this transition .

• ERP Applications
• Common Data Model
• Licensing Structure

Dynamics 365 ERP Applications

Along with the Dynamics CRM functionality that has been available on the hosted platform for quite some time, Microsoft has now added ERP functionality with the introduction of Dynamics 365.  You now have the option of two different ERP selections based on the Dynamics 365 Edition you select.

• Dynamics AX Online (Enterprise Edition Only)
• Dynamics 365 Financials for Business (Business Edition Only)

Dynamics AX Online offers a solution for the medium to large businesses that need ERP functionality, with the ability to expand as the organization continues to grow.

Dynamics 365 Financials for Business is designed for the Small to Medium sized businesses which need a lightweight ERP solution to help manage day to day operations.

Common Data Model

One of the major benefits of the Dynamics 365 platform is the introduction of a Common Data Model or CDM.  In short, this will reduce the need for integration or custom development to have your sales/customer service application talk to your ERP system.  This can be a significant cost savings to any organization that wants to integrate both front and back office applications.

Power BI now plays a huge role in this transition because you can essentially do cross-system reporting out of the box for the standard entities that are available in the CDM.  There will also be an add-in for Microsoft Excel so you can leverage any data available in the CDM directly from Excel.

Licensing Structure

The new licensing structure can get a little confusing so I want to try and summarize the overall design.

There are two version of Dynamics 365 available, Enterprise Edition and Business Edition.

Enterprise Edition

• Price ranges from $4-$210 per User / Month
• You can purchase a Plan that contains multiple applications at a reduced cost or just buy individual apps based on your needs
• There are light licenses (Similar to the previous Essentials License) for users that need minimal access and range from $4 – $10 per User / Month

Business Edition

Price ranges from $5 – $40 per User / Month

• Currently only one Plan is available
• Dynamics 365 for Financials is the only ERP option at this level
• The light user licenses are $5 per User / Month

Looking to deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 or upgrade to Dynamics 365? RSM US LLP offers a full range of services from implementation and optimization to development and support to help guide you through a successful upgrade. Contact our professionals for more information on our services at 855.437.7202 or crm@rsmus.com.  Or visit us on the web to learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365.

by John Annunziato for RSM

The post Microsoft Dynamics 365: The Next Generation of Cloud Based Business Apps appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professionals.

When working with applications like Microsoft Dynamics 365, one of the most common concerns we hear is, “how do we keep our data clean?” With any enterprise application this is always a challenge and should be at the forefront of the implementation plan.  There can be significant impact to the organization if there are no preventative and remediation measures in place related to data that is being used to manage the business.

When using an application like Microsoft Dynamics 365 there are typically multiple users manipulating data within the various modules.  There may also be integrations with other systems that are also feeding data in on a predefined schedule.  As a result of these scenarios, there are multiple pieces of data that are constantly changing.

So how do we keep our data clean?

There are two different situations I want to dive into.

• User Input Data
• Integrated Data

User Input Data

Today, many jobs require the input or manipulation of data in some form or fashion.  When data quality becomes an issue, many questions from management can arise.  Questions like:

• How do we know they are inputting the data correctly?
• How do we review the data that has been updated?
• Can we approve this data before it becomes live in the system?

When utilizing applications like Microsoft Dynamics 365, there are multiple ways that we can check to make sure the data being entered is correct, from simple things like formatting phone numbers to forcing certain records into queues for a higher level review and approval.

Nobody is perfect so minor discrepancies in user input data is to be expected. Adding small checks into the system or approval processes will typically take much less time up front and have significant positive impacts in the long run.

Integrated Data

Integrations and Enterprise systems seem to be synonymous anymore.  The days of dumping excel or csv files out to import to other systems seems to be less desirable, given how fast technology is moving.  Integrating two disparate systems has multiple advantages but, without diving into the technical part of that conversation, it can be summed up in one phrase: “365.”

Every organization wants to have a 365-degree view of their customers and how they buy.  With applications like Dynamics 365, the holistic view of the customer is one of the main focuses Microsoft has been striving toward since day one —a single platform with all the applications you could want to run your business sitting on a common data model so they integrate with each other seamlessly.

Integrations with other systems facilitate the consistency in the data, so if a person in accounting looks at a customer record and a salesperson looks at the same record, they are consuming the same data.  This is extremely important at any organization to ensure employees are all on the same page and have access to comparable data.  There is also an indirect effect on the customer because they will now have a consistent experience across the organization, regardless if they are trying to get a billing issue resolved or trying to purchase a new product.

So how does all of this effect the overall organization?

Consistency in our data helps provide a consistent experience to our customers, which should lead to a higher customer satisfaction.  Satisfied customers are typically inclined to purchase more which directly impacts the bottom line.  Using a platform like Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps facilitate this process in an easy to use and collaborate manor within an organization.

Looking to deploy Dynamics 365 or upgrade to Dynamics 365? RSM US LLP offers a full range of services from implementation and optimization to development and support to help guide you through a successful upgrade. Contact our professionals for more information on our services at 855.437.7202 or crm@rsmus.com.  Or visit us on the web to learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365.

by John Annunziato for RSM

The post Microsoft Dynamics 365: How to Keep your Data Clean appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professionals.

On November 1, 2016, Microsoft Dynamics CRM went through a re-branding to follow along with the Office 365 product offerings. They adapted the new name of Dynamics 365 and a new logo as seen below. So, other than the new name, what else is different, you might ask?

Well first when you log in, you are welcomed with a new navigation bar featuring some new icons and colors. Other than that, I was not expecting to see anything else.

After playing around in the newest version, I found some additional features that are really helpful.

First is on the “Lead to Opportunity” business process flow. Dynamics 365 now has a timer feature that is initiated as soon as a Lead is created. Text will show stating “Active for x hours” for each step of the sales process.

When a Lead is in the “Qualify” stage and moves to “Develop,” it will reset the stage timer for that stage but still keep a running timer for the entire sales process. This is a great addition to the sales pipeline functionality when it comes to keeping track of how long an “Opportunity” is open for and the duration for each step of the sales process. When a “Opportunity” is finished, it will show you that it was “Completed in x days, x hours.”

Another new feature is an enhanced user interface for the business process flow builder. What used to be very dated looking is now colorful and easy to navigate. When you first open it you will see this.

You can click the expanded view button to see your entire business process flow.

It is very simple to add steps to each stage of the business process flow. By clicking “Details” on a stage, you can view all of your steps. To add a new one, just click the “+” sign on the top tool bar. It’s that easy!

These are just a few of the new additional features in the re-branded Dynamics 365 suite. If you would like to discuss additional features or how your business can benefit from these out of the box Dynamics 365 CRM features, please contact our professionals for more information on our services at 855.437.7202 or crm@rsmus.com. If you like these tips, consider subscribing to our Dynamics Community News publication.

By: Brian Jason Smith– Florida Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner

The post What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM? appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professionals.

Marketing Automation and CRM for Dynamics 365 are kind of like the perfect couple. They just naturally fit together. That’s why, here at PowerObjects, we tend to geek out a little bit when we find new and exciting ways to think about automating your marketing with CRM for Dynamics 365. Check out the list below of four of our most popular resources for marketing automation with Dynamics 365.

1. Videos, videos, and more videos!

PO TV is your destination for Dynamics 365 video content, so it’s the perfect place to catch every episode of The CRM Minute as well as marketing case studies and more! Check out a few of our favorite marketing videos for your viewing pleasure!

• The Power of Content in Your Marketing Strategy
• Marketing 101 With Dynamics 365
• Engaging Your Customers with PowerTrivia

2. Read the eBook

Looking for the perfect resource to start your marketing automation journey? Let our eBook be your map and guide! You can download the FREE eBook, Getting Started with Marketing Automation and CRM, to get your mind wrapped around how you will be implementing your own personal tools to achieve the results you want!

3. Give a few PowerPack Add-ons a Try

You know who has marketing automation with CRM down pat? PowerObjects! Our suite of marketing PowerPack add-ons for Dynamics 365 are specifically designed to help reduce manual processes, and streamline many marketing-related procedures. You can download as many or as few as you want, because they are ALWAYS free to trial for 30 days. You’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

4. Watch some Webinars on Demand, yo!

The best part of all of our webinars, is that we record them all so that you can watch them anywhere at any time! Here are a few we think you’ll really enjoy!

• Why You Should Be Using Marketing Automation in Your Marketing Strategy
• Laying the Foundation for Getting Started with Marketing Automation and CRM
• PowerNurture: A Marketing Automation Dream Come True

Did we leave anything out? Sound off in the comments to let us know what your favorite marketing automation tools are in CRM for Dynamics 365. Get a sampling of all these items and more by checking out our marketing solutions page, and as always, happy Dynamics 365’ing!

It is a whole new world!

"See how analytics and built-in intelligence will make you and your organization more productive and processes more efficient & effective" with Dynamics 365

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W390S2NIOo4