Customer Effective Blog

MSCRM v4.0's Automatic Mapping Feature

Microsoft CRM v4.0 has a nice Automatic Mapping feature that can be used when importing data using the Data Management Import feature.  Note, Dear Reader, that Data Maps are not needed when using the Automatic Mapping feature.  That's the nice thing about Automatic Mapping; just as the name suggests, CRM maps the data fields for you as long as the field titles in your source data match the CRM Display names in the entity in which you're importing. 

Just as with Data Imports in MSCRM v3.0, you'll need your source data in a .csv or .txt format.  There are 2 main items to consider when using Automatic Mapping, which are:

1) As stated above, ensure that the source data column headings are identical to those in the CRM entity's attribute display name.   Note that the Attribute-level display name is what is needed and not (necessarily) the form-level display name, as it can be altered to display a different value than what is shown at the attribute level. Also make sure the case is the same, as the Automatic Mapping feature is case-sensitive.

2) View the List of attributes in the entity in question and ensure that all attribute Display names are unique.  CRM itself allows duplicate Display names, but the Automatic Mapping/Import will not. If you have 2 or more that share a Display name, simply edit the Display name(s), save and publish, and then update your source data to reflect the changes in CRM.

   

You are now ready to import your records.  You'll know if Automatic Mapping works or not after you upload your source file and select the CRM entity to import.  An Automatic Mapping link will display in the Data Map field if all goes well. (as shown below)  If not, the Data Map field stays blank and expects you to use an existing Data Map. Tips to correct are to cycle back through steps 1 & 2 above and ensure the source column headings are exactly the same as they appear in CRM.  Remember, it's case-sensitive.

Microsoft CRM 4.0 Rollup Update 1 Released

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router.

Visit the Microsoft Download Center to download the updates.  Downloads include both 32 and 64 bit versions.

It is recommended that you update both the server and any Outlook clients to maintain parity between the server and client installs.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft CRM,patches,rollup,updates

Handling Sales Management and Account Executive CRM Adoption Issues

No matter how focused your efforts, user adoption is always the final sticking point in a successful CRM program.  You can select a knowledgeable, proven partner to aid in your implementation.  You can be proactive in your CRM program by reviewing processes and establishing a Steering Committee.  You can provide the exact technology needs to the users and train them thoroughly.  At the end of the day, if your users aren't able to see management using the CRM technology AND if the CRM program doesn't provide operational value to them - adoption will be an issue.

 

We will spend a few moments on sales adoption.  Common issues with sales management and user adoption fall into a few buckets:

 

1. CRM becomes a Friday morning pipeline update  database, nothing more - nothing less.
2. Management doesn't leverage the data in CRM, especially dashboards and reports available for knowledge building and intelligent decision making.
3. There are no carrots for the users - only sticks are employed to force user adoption.

 

If you fall into one of these categories it's time to consider inspecting your processes or direction.  Here are a few simple ideas to counter the adoption issues described above:

 

1. Give the Account Executives functionality that increases or optimizes their selling time.  Sales staff are paid to sell.  Give them the tools to make that happen.  While updating an opportunity record can seem tedious (but very necessary), augment by providing address mapping integration or automated workflow to remove manual tasks like trip reports.  A recent customer's Account Executives rely heavily on their Sales Support staff through various points in their selling cycle.  By giving the AE's visibility into the planned enterprise-wide sales activities of the support staff, the AE's are able to more quickly solidify meetings that require support team members for a prospect or customer product demonstration.  They no longer have to manage this during every instance with phone calls or email strings back and forth to the support team.
2. If you find your sales staff is not adopting CRM because they don't perceive management to be leveraging the information going into CRM, try running your pipeline meetings - in a group or individually - from your CRM dashboards or reports.  This is a technique that you can use to supplement or remove the common stick approach that requires opportunity management in CRM or the AE will not get paid.  Sales staff will understand management is making decisions based on CRM information and they will see management taking ownership of the CRM program.  This is a powerful message.  Don't expect after one pipeline meeting to have the light switch change.  Be diligent.
3. Inspect your sales processes and continue to ask for feedback on what will help optimize sales efforts.  We previously mentioned map integration or workflow.  Each sales process is different - inspect what your users need, plan to address their needs, COMMIT to the users you will help them and engage you CRM IT team or partner to work through the enhancements.  If you are not using a dashboard, I strongly suggest you start by examining your Business Intelligence needs.

 

These are just a few examples of sales adoption issues.  Feel free to share in the comments additional tricks or steps you've taken to improve on a process that makes your organization succeed - Successful Sales.

Customer Effective Hosts First Annual User Conference

Customer Effective Inc. recently hosted its first annual user conference in Greenville, S.C., attracting more than 100 attendees representing more than 45 companies. Attendees included representatives from companies in financial services, professional services, public sector, manufacturing, technology, as well as key executives from Microsoft, ExactTarget and Scribe.

According to Sean Poccia, Director of Information Services at Comag Marketing Group, “The two-day user group meeting was engaging, informative and most notably, collaborative.  The variety of users present was a testament to the versatility of Microsoft Dynamics and showed how companies are leveraging the platform to solve complex business problems.”

Attendees heard presentations by Customer Effective executives and consulting directors, industry thought leaders, and peers on current trends and issues including business intelligence, data management, workflow automation and SharePoint integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The conference offered a wide variety of breakout sessions on Sales Force Automation best practices, marketing automation and development /customization strategies to ensure the success of CRM.

"Attending Customer Effective’s user group was an excellent decision,” said Aaron Roth, MarCom Specialist for Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P.  “The sessions on business intelligence and overall CRM strategy as it relates to "performance management" were exceptionally valuable for my firm. There were many other attendees like me with marketing and IT backgrounds, and I received great feedback on what works and what doesn't work when implementing a new software solution. Everyone was there to learn more on how to use the software, but what I think was equally valuable was to see how other companies were using Customer Effective to improve problem areas in their organization and to reach specific goals. I look forward to next year’s conference."

Keynote speaker Lisa Parker from Microsoft addressed Microsoft’s roadmap for Dynamics CRM.  Chuck Niswonger, Director of Information Technology for Jamestown Properties, a CRM user and client of Customer Effective’s, offered advice on how to successfully implement and manage a CRM system, showcasing his organization’s CRM best practices. 

“Customer Effective’s inaugural User Conference provided a platform for like-minded individuals to share ideas on how to leverage Microsoft Dynamics CRM to drive success,” said Scott Millwood, CEO of Customer Effective.  “As leading CRM consultants, we have a great deal of expertise and knowledge of CRM that enables our clients and prospects to engage in successful CRM implementations, and through the User Conference, we can better share that expertise. Our clients and business partners play an integral role in making CRM successful culturally, and at this conference we shared experiences and lessons learned that benefited us all.”

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week

We thought that this upcoming event notice from Sanjay Jain at Microsoft was worth posting: 

 

The current economic downturn is putting many entrepreneurs (startups and students) under increasing pressure, making it critical to find new resources and ways to reduce costs and inefficiencies. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week is designed to offer following assistance to entrepreneurs.

·         Learning and building next generation business solution on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform (a rapid application development platform to reduce the cost and Go-To-Market time) with help of on-site advisors (Microsoft Dynamics CRM experts).

·         Getting entrepreneurs coaching from a panel of industry experts (academic and angel investors)

·         Generating marketing buzz for their ideas

The 1^st CRM Incubation Week is being held at Microsoft Technology Center, Reston, VA from Mon 12/15/2008 to Fri 12/19/2008. This event consists of ½ day of training, 3 ½ days of active prototype/development time, and a final day for packaging/finishing and reporting out to a panel of judges for various prizes.

 

Click here for full details.

Creating a customized Plugin Template

In its basic form, CRM 4.0 Plugin development is straightforward, however it has many monotonous elements. This walkthrough on writing Plugins illustrates many of the repetitive tasks that plugin development entails.  Among them are:

• Creation of a new Class Library Project
• Renaming of the default class (class1.cs or class1.vb to Plugin name)
• Adding references to the Microsoft.Crm.Sdk & Microsoft.Crm.SdkTypeProxy libraries
• Aliasing those libraries
• Making the class inherit from the IPlugin interface
• Adding the methods for that interface (or letting VS do it for you)

Most of these items are pretty simple to do, but it is monontonous and you have to remember to do it each time.  However most non-trivial plugins require some sort of configuration information.  Because plugins are dynamic link libraries hosted by CRM (and typically stored in the database), you can't use Settings.config,app.config or web.config files like you would in most other projects.  If you need this functinoality, you need to roll your own solution.  Fortunately, when you register each step for your Plugin, the PluginRegistration tool gives you two sections, one for Unsecure configuration and one for Secure Configuration.  But unless you write code to do something with this information, simply storing it will provide no benefit. (Mitch Milam has an  excellent introduction to this).  To take advantage of configuration infomration, you need to add a new constructor to your plugin and then write code to read the settings. You can just copy and paste his code if you'd like, but in all likelihood you'll probably want to write something specifically suited to your needs. Normally this would be something you'd just create in a library and attach as a reference to your project. However because of the plugin registration process, you'll typically want to work with as few dll's as possible (assemblies which reside in the Global Assembly Cache are an exception to this because you don't need to do anything special to use them).

Anyway, I found myself copying and pasting the same  class over and over into each plugin I wrote and it was something that got old quickly. Additionally, when never developers come on board who aren't familiar with Plugin development, they will typically get stuck making the same mistakes you made when you first started writing plugins, something which can cost a lot of time and frustration.

The solution to all of this is to create a Visual Studio project template which takes care of most of this stuff for you. And the CRM Team was kind enough to create such a template for us. While it's quite helpful, there were a few things that I find myself doing regularly that weren't included.  Thanks to Visual Studio Team System's ability to export templates, this was easily resolved.

Solution:

 I started a new project template that included the following additions:

• Added a set of instructions on the requirements needed for plugin development
• Added the .snk file we use for our plugins to the project and registered it with the project
• Added a PostBuild command to optionally start the PluginRegistration tool after Release builds
• Added an XML document to store the settings for a plugin
• Modified the constructor to examine the configuration information and make sure it complied with the format I was expecting.
• Created Properties to hold the XML documents if they were provided
• Added a class to read the Settings
• Added methods to handle nullable types
• Added an extension class to allow me to read configuration values from within the types themselves
• Added a class to decrypt encrypted settings
• Documented how each of these classes could be used and included code samples so that new developers could easily know what they need to do and how to do it.

Assume that you wanted to do something similar, customized to your organisation's needs. 

1. I would recommend starting with the template I mentioned above. If you want to do it from scratch though, create a new Class library project in your language of choice.
2. Add a class (I used the PluginConfiguration class mentioned in the article above) called PluginConfiguration for instance, to handle reading the configuration values
3. Add any additional methods you may want
4. If you want to use Extension methods, add a static class (the class must be static for it to be used for Extension methods) to hold your extension methods and then add the methods to it
5. Add an XML file to the project.  The article above suggests a format for the XML which I found to be very easy to use.
6. Add a couple of sample values to it so that you can just fill them in on your new plugin projects (these also serve as a visual cue for new developers to know how to store their own values).
7. Add your company's strong name key to the project and register it (Right click Project then choose Properties -> Signing -> Sign the assembly -> Navigate to your .snk file or use the <new> option to create a new one.
8. Add any post build events you may want to use.
9. On the File menu, select Export Template.



10. You have the option to just create an Item template, but in this case, select the Project Template option.
11. Specify an icon in the Template Icon drop down if you want an icon associated with the template
12. Specify a name for the Template in the Template Name textbox.
13. Give it a description in the Description textbox.



14. If you want to use it immediately, select the Automatically Import the Template into Visual Studio checkbox.

Once you have done this, test it by selecting File -> New -> Project and under the My Templates section, you should see your new  template available as shown below:

 

Microsoft CRM and Quick Tabs in IE 7

One easy way to simplify Microsoft Dynamics CRM navigation is to use tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer 7.  With tabbed browsing enabled, CRM forms will open in a new tab rather than a new window, keeping all of your CRM windows in the same place.

To enable tabbed browsing, go to your IE internet settings General tab and click the settings button under the Tab section

 

Under "When a pop-up is encountered:" select "Always open pop-ups in a new tab."  Now any forms in CRM will open in a new tab.

One important thing to note--do not enable Quick Tabs.  Quick Tabs is a new feature in IE 7 and 8 that allows users to hit a button and see thumbnail previews of all tabs.

The problem is that if quick tabs are enabled, CRM will freeze when new forms or advanced find is opened.  After disabling quick tabs, CRM forms should open properly.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Notifications Accelerator Part I – Installer and ISV.config XML

Within the last couple of weeks, Microsoft has made the first two CRM accelerators available for download (both happened to be from Customer Effective!). I’m going to spend some time talking about the Notifications Accelerator and some of its inner workings. I’ll walk you through how the accelerator does its thing and shed some light on the process of developing the code and let you know some of the issues I dealt with. I’ll also highlight some of the tricks I put in the code that I think are pretty groovy. Many of the techniques I utilized became blog posts of their own, so you may recognize some stuff as we move along. Also, I’ll give some opinion as to what I think can be improved upon.

Although we did some documentation for the accelerator, this will go far beyond what you’ll get in the download package. I’m doing to tackle this in a series of posts, so without further ado, let’s start at the beginning…