Why XRM

xRM is an “anything relationship management” platform, upon which hundreds of partners,ISVs and customers already have written line-of-business apps (LOBs) using the core stack that powers Microsoft Dynamics CRM.XRM is a line-of-business (LOB) application platform for the management of any business entity.Some customers are relying on xRM to help them consolidate their applications, making them more easily customizable and manageable because they are written on top of a common, .Net-based platform. Others are using xRM to create extensions to CRM, Microsoft execs said. Some users decide to “turn off” Dynamics CRM but still use the xRM core to create and maintain other applications, they added, as part of their move to reduce use and dependency on legacy applications.XRM provides customer relationship management (CRM) applications to manage customer relationships in marketing, sales, and customer service. XRM is the same platform that underlies Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

CRM XRM Definition C = Customer: Manage customers through the automation of marketing, sales, and service processes X = Any Business Entity: Many any business relationship through the automation of relevant business unit processes Used by Marketing, sales, and customer service teams Any team To Manage Customer relationships Any relationship Automates Marketing, sales, and service processes Any business process Tracks Interactions, activities, tasks, and 360-degree history of the customer Interactions, activities, tasks, and 360-degree history of “X” Provides Customer-centric analytic “X”-centric analytics

Sample Solutions:

Vendor: Certification, purchasing, compliance Employee New employee, benefits enrollment Prospect: Resume submission, screening and scheduling Broadcasting: Script creation, negotiation Notifiable Disease: Outbreak tracking, testing, alert Environmental Legislation: Enquiry, compliance reporting Project: RFP, new project kick-off, status update Conservation Contract: Contract selection, contract maintenance Grant: RFG, proposal evaluation, grant tracking

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Update Rollups for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	Microsoft has released Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Language Pack, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router. Download
Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	Microsoft has released Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Language Pack, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router. Download
Update Rollup 5 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	Microsoft has released Update Rollup 5 on 2.July.2009 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Language Pack, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router. To maintain parity between the the application components of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, this update rollup includes packages for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Language Packs, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router. Download
Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	Microsoft has released Update Rollup 4. This is a tested, cumulative set of updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It includes performance enhancements that are packaged together for easy deployment. Download
Get Latest Updates Rollup 4 information for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available. This article describes the hotfixes and the updates that are included in this update rollup. This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Download
White Paper:Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	This white paper details techniques, considerations, and best practices for optimizing and maintaining the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 implementations. Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 updates and hotfixes	This article lists the updates and the hotfixes that are available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005	The Microsoft Dynamic CRM 4.0 Management Pack enables you to administer the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server application in Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Download

Release dates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0

Still no scheduled release date though. But It appears as though the TAP (Technology Adoption Program) for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 will be open for partners around Oct./Nov. 2009. With release for version Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 in the second half of 2010. This will give partners 12 months to get up to speed with the new features and a name change – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2010, or possibly even Microsoft Dynamics xRM 2010 – who knows?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 New Features

MS CRM 5.0 is currently on schedule to ship as part of the Office14 Wave (most likely sometime in 2010), and the team is only part way through the development cycle, having just completed Milestone 1 (M1). Even so, there is already much to get excited about. Here is a list of “features” that were discussed:

New Features For End Users

• Enhanced Navigation – I guess it was inevitable, but CRM5 uses the same “Fluent UI” (aka the Ribbon) as Office 2007. This new “command bar” replaces the CRM 4.0 “tool bars” at the top of each page, and is context sensitive. In addition, the “command bar” is fully customizable and you can add your own buttons much like you can with ISV.Config file today.  Incidentally, something that isn’t discussed but appears on the ribbon is the “Add to Queue” command, from which I can only surmise that you will be add any entity (including custom entities) to a Queue.
• Single Page Forms – The form model in CRM 4.0 made use of tabs to divide a form into multiple pages. In CRM5 tabs are displayed in the same way as section, with each form just having a single, scrolling page. As you can see from the navigation page of an Account entity, tabs are now displayed as a series of “quick access” navigation shortcuts under the “Information” link.
• Data Filtering – One often requested feature is the ability to filter data in grids, much like Excel. Now you can navigate to the “DataView”, click the “Filter” command, and you can perform your own in-line filtering. Again, although not explicitly stated, it looks as though you can quickly save your filters as a View, as well as setting your own Default View.
• In-line Visualizations – Although not Business Intelligence in the true sense of the phrase, CRM5 allows you to visualize numeric data using in-line charts. This is not SQL Server Reporting Services, but looks very much like the .NET charting solution from Dundas.
• Team Ownership – Entities in CRM 4.0 were either User Owned or Organisation Owned. Now Team Owned entities are added in CRM5, and integrated into the role-based security model.
• Native SharePoint Integration – Integration with Windows SharePoint Services for document management, which includes site and document library provisioning, document metadata, item security, and check-in/check-out capabilities.
• Unstructured Relationships – The next generation of “set regarding” and “relationship roles” functionality, allowing you to define ad-hoc relationships between any two entities

New Features For Administrator

• Flexible Form Layout – We now have much more flexibility in how forms are laid out, for example, we can position sections side-by-side, as well as field labels on top, left or right of each field. Best of all, we can now configure “In-Line Sub-Grids” for child records, so a combination of IFrames & JScript is no longer required to make this work.
• Filtered Lookups – One of the most requested features has finally made it into the product. Whilst customizing the form, you can choose a pre-defined view or better still you can filter by a related lookup on the same form.
• Form Headers & Footers – Now that all tabs, sections and fields appear on a single, scrolling form, it is quite possible the form will get become quite long and you will end up scrolling up and down more often to find the information you require. In order to make the most commonly required visible at all times, you can now place these fields in a header or footer so that they will always be displayed regardless of the scrolling.
• Solution Management – With CRM 4.0, you had to implement a manual process when customizing your solution, to make sure that you didn’t overwrite previous customizations, or disrupt any 3rd party ISV solutions. In CRM5 we had now added the concept of solutions. A solution is a defined set of entity customizations, workflows, e-mail templates, security roles, plug-ins etc. that can be managed as a single unit. Each solution is version controlled so presumably your can have multiple versions of the same solution installed, and roll-back to a previous version if necessary. You can also define solution dependencies where one solution can only be installed if another solution is also installed. For example, you might have a base solution for your whole organisation, with a departmental specific solution built on top of it. Namespace collision is avoided by defining publishers, with each publisher having a unique namespace. This avoids the common issue where the default namespace “new_” is used for all customizations, leading to potential namespace conflict. One final plus point is that you can now specify which attributes will be exported as part of a solution, rather than having no choice but to export the whole entity
• Multiple Option Sets – Otherwise known as “Global Picklists”, you can define these at the solution level, and re-use them across multiple entities.
• Drag & Drop Form Editor – One of the most time consuming customization tasks in CRM 4.0 is the form design. Every time you want to add, remove or re-position tabs, sections and attributes, you have to go through a multi-click process. With CRM5, you can now drag and drop all elements of a form, speeding up the process considerably
• Audit – Although not explicitly mentioned during the sessions, I spotted an “auditing” setting on the attribute designer form, allowing you to turn auditing on or off.

New Features For Developer

• Custom Code Sandbox – There is a new server role for running custom plug-in code and custom workflow activities without requiring full trust. This means that it will be possible to run custom code in the CRM Online environment and achieve true parity between On-Premise, Partner-Hosted and Microsoft-Hosted deployments.
• Plug-In Transaction Support – In CRM 4.0 you could register a plug-in to run either before (pre-event) or after (post-event) the CRM platform operation. However, you were not able to run as part of the transaction itself, so you had to right your own compensation logic in the event the CRM platform operation failed. CRM5 addresses this limitation, and you can now choose to register you plug-in as part of the platform operation. The CRM5 plug-in registration tool has been modified to support this.
• Automatic Plug-In Profiling – CRM5 will keep track of how a plug-in is executing, what resources it consumes, if it is causing unexpected exceptions and whether or not it is violating security constraints. If a particular plug-in fails a number of times it is automatically disabled from executing, helping to maintain system integrity.

“As you can see there is a lot to look forward to in CRM5.0, and I hope you are as excited as I am that the team has chosen to share this information early on”.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 Screenshots

Microsoft CRM 5.0 screenshots look modern and Office 2007 with the Ribbon interface.

Presentation	Functionality	Administration	Developers
Enhanced user experience with the Ribbon interface.	Data Filtering available on the List View of records.	More customizable form layout options.	Custom Code Sandbox
Single page forms – no more tabs!  Pages are links on the left nav bar.	Team Ownership security model.	More options with filtered lookups in form customization.	Plug-in Transaction Support
In-line Reports – allows charts to be embedded where the Form Assistant in v4 typically pops out.	Native SharePoint integration.	Customize Headers and Footers to display record information.	Automatic Plug-in Profiling
	Unstructured Relationships – allows definition of ad-hoc relationships.	Solution Management – enhanced ability to manage customizations to your CRM build.
		Multiple Option Sets, also known as global picklists across multiple entities.
		Drag-and-Drop Form Editor
		Data Audit capability

 

 

 

Sure Step Methodology An Overview

Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step provides partners, customers and Microsoft Consulting Services with end to end, business process flows that guide users through field-tested best practices, proven project management principles and user-friendly tools, enabling deployment, migration, configuration and upgrade of Microsoft Dynamics products.
Sure Step supports a broad range of products: Dynamics AX, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, Dynamcis SL and Dynamics CRM. And different project types: Full Implementation, Rapid Implementation, Optimization and Upgrade. Products and project types can be combined. Microsoft provides the Sure Step Overview Diagram for sales and training situations.
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Benefits of Sure Step Methodology
Sure Step helps improve services’ delivery and efficiency so that increased profitability and customer satisfaction are achieved.This can be accomplished because Sure Step provides a consistent framework and a repeatable process that help improve the customer experience. All of this helps you hone the way you deploy Microsoft Dynamics solutions. Sure Step provides guidance for partners who support small, medium, and large implementations, including: Rapid project types on projects which primarily require a smaller implementation with little to no need for customization, typically in the small business    and lower mid market space. Standard project types on projects with more users and some customization required, typically for customers in the mid market space. Enterprise project types on projects for a large client with multiple sites and a large number of users, typically in the corporate account and enterprise   spaces.
Sure Step Methodology has six phases: Diagnostic, Analysis, Design, Development, Deployment & Operation. While Diagnostic is a pre-implementation phase, the Analysis through Operation phases represent the five phases of an implementation project. The Operation phase also encompasses post-implementation activities, in that it extends the project lifecycle beyond the implementation and into the Support stage.
Diagnostic Phase The first phase in the Sure Step Methodology is the Diagnostic phase, which marks the transition from the sales cycle to implementation. The Diagnostic phase consists primarily of high-level planning and high-level analysis of the customer’s business processes and infrastructure. The goal of the Diagnostic phase is to collect information to define a high-level project scope and then create a customer proposal for the remaining phases of the implementation project. The Diagnostic phase consists of the following activities: 1. Diagnostic preparation 2. High-level analysis of business processes 3. Detailed analysis of selected business processes (Optional) 4. Project scoping 5. Infrastructure analysis 6. Project planning 7. Proposal management Analysis Phase The activities in the Analysis phase help identify the decisions the customer must make that will guide the implementation. This phase is similar to Diagnostic in that work involves: 1. Determining and documenting current business processes. 2. Describing improved business processes 3. Describing any modifications needed for the system to support future business processes.At the end of this phase, customers will have a good understanding of the proposed Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation. This includes the project cost, deliverables, and milestones. The Analysis phase consists of the following activities: 1.Planning 2.Training 3.Data migration 4.Detailed analysis of business processes 5.Document and present functional requirements 6.Proposal management Design Phase Building on the deliverables created during Analysis, this phase consists of determining the design for the overall MS Dynamics implementation and designing solutions for specific customizations, integr-ations, and data migration needed to satisfy business requirements identified during the Analysis phase. The primary deliverables from this phase are a high-level design specification and a detailed technical design specification, both that satisfy the high-level decisions determined in the previous phases. These design specifications will guide the development activities in the following phase. The Design phase consists of the following activities: 1. Planning 2. Data migration design 3. Design specification 4. Technical design specification 5. Proposal management Development Phase The primary purpose of the Development phase is to develop the customizations,integrations, and data migration processes that were defined in the design specifications created and approved in the Design phase. The primary deliverables of development are the completed and tested customizations, reports, integrations, and any data migration programs and processes. Each component developed in this phase is tested and verified to be functioning as defined by the Functional requirements, design specifications, and testing criteria.An important feature of the Development phase is that development activities,such as individual features, integrations, or data migration, can continue through the Development phase at the same time. This depends on the size and complexity of the project and the number of resources available to work on individual components. The Development phase consists of the following activities and tasks: 1. Planning 2. Environment setup 3. Development 4. Customer testing and acceptance Deployment Phase The primary deliverable from the Deployment phase is a functioning live system.Activities in this phase prepare the infrastructure, application environment, and end-users for the cutover to the new system. Activities in this phase include the following: 1. Preparing Go-Live plans, system test plans, and end-user training plans. 2. Configuring the live and test environments 3. Performing system testing and load testing using a subset of the customer’s data 4. Preparing and delivering end-user training 5. Completing final data migration and validation 6. Completing all Go-Live activities to launch the new systemFor rapid implementation projects, there is an additional activity at the beginning of the Deployment phase. Because rapid implementation projects go to deployment directly from the Diagnostic phase, you must complete additional activities to prepare for the deployment. After you complete those activities, a rapid deployment continues: The Deployment phase consists of the following activities: 1. Rapid implementation 2. Planning 3. Environment configuration 4. Testing 5. Go-Live Operation Phase The primary purpose of the Operation phase is to support the customer technically and functionally during the initial Go-Live period for the new system.Additionally, you will perform tasks to close the project. At the end of the phase,you transition the project to the customer, and pursue the opportunity to provide on-going support and continued account management. The Operation phase consists of the following activities: 1. Project closing 2. Post live support 3. Final acceptance sign-off 4. Project review 5. On-going product support 6. On-going account management The Sure Step Methodology model also defines two additional phases that you can perform after a Microsoft Dynamics solution goes live in the customer’s production environment: Optimization Phase The Optimization phase is designed to provide structure to manage post Go-Live processes. This phase also provides an opportunity to maintain a relationship with the customer after an initial implementation project or as a way to provide services to a new customer.The purpose of this phase is to review a customer’s existing Microsoft Dynamics implementation and adjust business processes, configuration, or performance to enhance the effectiveness of the solution. The Optimization phase mirrors a full implementation process because it encapsulates many of the same activities and tasks. The phase includes: 1. Analysis activities to gather information about process,configuration, and performance 2. Proposals for scope of work 3. The work to perform and deploy the optimization itself. After completing the initial Analysis activities in the Optimization phase, you may determine that a full implementation approach is required to address the customer’s issues. An Optimization project consists of the following activities: 1. Analysis 2. Planning 3. Defining optimizations 4. Deploying optimizations 5. Operation Upgrade Phase The purpose of the upgrade phase is to upgrade a customer to a major new version of Microsoft Dynamics (upgrade projects are not intended for service pack releases). Like an optimization project, an upgrade project consists of many similar activities performed in a full implementation project. This includes analysis, planning, testing, training, and upgrading the customer’s production environment.During the upgrade analysis activity, you may determine that the complexity of an upgrade requires a full implementation. This starts at the Diagnostic phase. An Upgrade project consists of the following activities: 1. Analysis 2. Planning 3. Performing the upgrade 4. Testing 5. Go-Live 6. Operation

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Audit Plugin

Audit Plugin

Microsoft CRM 4.0 Audit Plugin is a simple-to-use plugin enabling basic data auditing capabilities. Configured via Plugin Manage. The Microsoft DynamicsTM CRM 4.0 Audit Plug-in was created to address the package’s minimal auditing capability. The audit plug-in can be used by the Microsoft CRM partners and customers to quickly increase the package’s auditing capability to track field level changes.The Audit plug-in is distributed in source format under the Open source licensing as provided by Codeplex license agreement. Knowledge of Microsoft Visual Studio® and Microsoft Visual C#® is required to extend or customize the plug-in. You are asked to contribute any enhancements back to the project. Knowledge of how to install and configure plug-ins for Microsoft CRM 4.0 is required to setup the auditing capability. Download

Creating recursive appointments in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Unfortunatily we don’t have this feature in Microsoft CRM 4.0 But Microsoft is plainning to introduce this feature in MSCRM 5.0.

We can achieve this functionality in MSCRM 4.0  customizing the Appointment entity. we have to write a plugin to create next instances of recurring series and save them to CRM database but this is a unsupported approach. it may have some performance issues.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Adapters

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

The Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0 enables integration between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and non-Microsoft business applications. This lets you do the following operations: 1. Use Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a send adapter. 2. Discover and use the schema of any Microsoft Dynamics CRM actions and entities. Download

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (BETA) Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

Effortlessly demonstrate the updating of customer information within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and watch the customer information on the Customer Card within Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 automatically update with the changes entered within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. In addition, demonstrate additional changes to the same customer information with Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 and watch Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 also capture these changes. This demonstration is high-level example of a “round-trip” integration between two Microsoft Dynamics solutions. Download

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Reports An Overview

What is Microsoft  Dynamics CRM Reports

It uses the term Report to refer to any type of data analysis file, regardless of its origin and type. Therefore, a report may be a Microsoft Office Excel file, a SQL Server Reporting Services report, a third-party reporting file, or a link to an external Web page report.

How to create Reports

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 includes approximately 24 Reporting Services reports in the default installation and those reports include an additional 28 Subreports. However we will definitely want to create new reports (or modify the default reports) as we customize our MS CRM database with new entity attributes and custom entities. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 we can create Reports in two methods: Report Wizard All users have access to the Report Wizard to create a report for their personal use, assuming they have any level of access to the Report Create Privilege. The Installation enables the Report Create Privilege on all security roles by default. By default, the Report Wizard creates the report as a personal (individual viewable) report.One can access the Report Wizard by creating a new report from the Reports grid. In addition to creating a report, one can use the Report Wizard to edit an existing Report Wizard report. Report Definition Language with VS 2005 One can create their own Reporting Services report from scratch by using Visual Studio 2005. To develop reports in VS 2005, one should need Business Intelligence Development Studio add-in to be installed with VS 2005

Reporting Service Versions

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Supports the following Reporting Services editions: 1. SQL Server 2005, Standard Edition with SP2 2. SQL Server 2005, Enterprise Edition with SP2 3. SQL Server 2005, Workgroup Edition with SP2 4. SQL Server 2005, Standard Edition, x64 SP2 5. SQL Server 2005, Enterprise Edition x64 SP2

Data Flow Diagram

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 reports depend on the connector for Microsoft SQL server Reporting services. SSRS data connector used to proxy request between CRM 4.0, SSRS and SQL server thereby removing trust for delegation Requirement. The SRS connector runs as an SSRS Data Processing Extension and handles all of the delegation for you. The use of the data connector is recommended for Internet facing deployments and anywhere users are not using NT Auth to connect to CRM. Other way to do this in Microsoft CRM 4.0 is to use integrated authentication where trust for delegation is required between the CRM server, the SSRS server and the SQL server with the CRM DB.

Reporting Services Architecture Diagram

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Architecture Consist of three layers. First level is MS Dynamics CRM which consist of Reports and Report Viewer ASP.Net Control, here Reports is nothing but an Entity which presented in MSCRM which is not there in MSCRM 3.0 Version. The SQL Reporting Services Report Viewer is an ASP.Net control which runs on the CRM 4.0 Web server. When you choose to run a report from Microsoft CRM 4.0, the ASP.Net control requests the report and data from the remote SSRS box. In practical terms, In Microsoft CRM 4.0 the URL for a report is the CRM Web server.

Authentication in MSCRM 4.0 Reports

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server uses Report viewer to display data from SRS Server, the connection between Report Viewer and SRS Webservice uses CRM User Context for Authentication.SRS Webservice and CRM Data Connector uses SRS App pool and CRM User Context for establishing connection to MSCRM Filtered views in SQL Server. All data retrieved using CRM Data Connecter controlled by CRM Roles and Privileges Advantages of Data Connector are that it Removes trust for delegation (TFD) requirement. Enabling reports for external applications still is subject to TFD.Report entity is a full CRM entity and Sharing Report is also available. No longer need to make calls to SRS to display list of reports in CRM.RDLs are mastered in CRM.

Note:

If a user does not have Privileges in CRM he or she will get a blank Report. Credentials supplied by the user running the report option which expects SystemUserId as the Login Name and OrganizationId as the Password. Sharing Reports – Users Can share their reports to a team or any specific user.

Prerequisites for Installation of SRS Data Connector:

SQL Server Reporting Service 2005 or 2008 MS CRM 4.0 needs to be installed (Connector requires MSCRM_CONFIG db)

Installation of SRS Data Connector:

Run the Splash.exe file Select SRS Data Connector Select Update the Installation files(Recommended) Select the MSCRM db Server name in the picklist

Security Privileges

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Reports are just like CRM system entity. As such, the report entity adheres to the standard security characteristic with that applies to all entities in MS CRM. Each report in MSCRM contains a viewable by attribute, with values of organization or individual. If the report viewable by value equals organization, all users will be able to run reports, provided they have read privileges. If the viewable by value equals individual, the report read privileges will determine each user’s access to the report.

Other Privileges:

Publish Reports – allows users to make a report available to the Organization Add Reporting Services Reports – allows users to upload .rdl files Create : allows users to create reports using the Report Wizard Existing roles will get access to reports as follows: Manage Reports privilege : full access Other : default privileges

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Fact sheets

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager Readme	This document provides important late-breaking information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Manager that supplements the Microsoft Dynamics CRM documentation. Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Data Migration Articles	This article contains a list of resources that explain how to migrate data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and troubleshoot the migration process. Download Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Planning and Deployment Guidance	This guidance provides additional information for Service Providers who are interested in hosting Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in their data center, or for enterprise customers who are interested in leveraging MSCRM 4.0 multi-tenant architecture in their IT infrastructure. The documentation walks you through the planning process, provides sizing and architectural guidance, and shows you how to deploy MSCCRM 4.0 in a data center that can be accessed over the Internet by any CRM clients. It covers the topics about how to leverage the Deployment SDK to automate the creation and provisioning of organizations and users within the multi-tenant MSCRM 4.0 deployment. This contains the following documentations and tool: - Deployment Walkthrough Guide for Service Providers - Planning Guide for Service Providers - Development Guide for Service Providers - Microsoft Software License Terms - Deployment Configuration Tool Download
Offline and Online Synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	This article details about the Offline and Online synchronization processes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The paper also provides a FAQ (the answers apply and demonstrate principles explained in the primary content) and list of resources for additional information. Download
Performance and Scalability Assessment of Customer Implementation for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0	This paper provides a sample final report on the results, conclusions, and recommendations from a performance and scalability assessment of a customer’s implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Download
Improving Microsoft Dynamics CRM Performance and Securing Data with Microsoft SQL Server 2008	Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 contains a variety of features that, when implemented properly, can improve the performance of a Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0 implementation and secure the data within that deployment. These Microsoft SQL Server 2008 features include: – Compression – Sparse Columns – Transparent Data Encryption – Backup Compression The MS CRM E2 team, working in conjunction with the Microsoft SQL Server team, recently completed a project that was designed to: 1. Evaluate the new scenarios that these Microsoft SQL Server 2008 features expose 2. Measure the performance impact of implementing these features, both singly and in selected combinations This paper provides an overview of these Microsoft SQL Server 2008 features, together with benchmark results and recommendations for implementation. Download
Using Encrypting File System and BitLocker to Protect Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data on Outlook Clients	This white paper describes how to use EFS and BitLocker to protect CRM data on clients running Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows XP. Depending on the type of information being gathered by a CRM user working offline, it may be advisable to secure the CRM data on the client computer to help prevent theft via remote access or limit exposure if the computer containing the data were stolen. This white paper explains how to use Microsoft® BitLocker™ Drive Encryption (BitLocker) and Encrypting File System (EFS) to protect data stored on Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients for Outlook running on Windows Vista Enterprise Service Pack 1 (SP1). The paper also explains how to use EFS to protect data on client computers running Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (SP3). Download
Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) Installation Basics	IFD allows the customers to configure their CRM system to be reachable from outside the intranet (i.e. internet or outside of the firewall). The main difference when using IFD vs. typical on-premise deployment is how users are authenticated. When using the on-premise version, IIS handles most of the authentication via integrated windows authentication. There are however custom CRM authentication handler modules registered during setup to assist in the process. In IFD, the web site is opened for anonymous access and the authentication relies on the presence of the CRM ticket cookie. This cookie is obtained by starting off from a sign-in page. Any page request that does not contain the CRM ticket cookie also gets redirected to it. This page deletes any expired CRM ticket cookies and if the user has provided correct credentials at the sign-in page, a new CRM ticket cookie would be written and used in later requests. Download
Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) Installation Basics	This document describes configuring Microsoft Dynamics CRM (On-Premise Edition) for Internet-facing deployment (IFD), and a few of the common issues and resolutions associated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM IFD. Download

Adding alternating row color to SSRS report

Steps:

1. Goto Report Designer in SSRS Solution
2. Go to the table row’s BackgroundColor property and choose “Expression”
3. Add expression

             =IIf(RowNumber(Nothing) Mod 2 = 0, "Green", "Transparent")

With this approach we can target any area in report.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Toolkits

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance Toolkit	This was created by the Microsoft CRM product team to formalize performance testing of Microsoft CRM 4.0. The performance toolkit can be used by the Microsoft CRM partners and customers to collect data to support their CRM deployment decisions. This release of the toolkit contains several enhancements we have made to fit the additional capabilities in the Microsoft CRM 4.0 product itself. Some of the enhancements made to the toolkit are 1. Multi Organization Performance Testing Support 2. Multi Server Deployment Performance Testing Support 3. Outlook Synchronization and Offline Performance Testing Support 4. Data Management Performance Testing Support 5. Workflow Performance Analysis Support 6. Email Matching Performance Testing Support 7. Ease of deployment of the Toolkit through an MSI package with enhanced configuration of the toolkit. Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Developer Toolkit	For CRM developers, aligning the engineering delivery and process quality of their CRM projects can substantially increase overall productivity. In addition, by documenting, communicating, and following a consistent process for implementing CRM in Enterprise scenarios, developers can scale projects more quickly and efficiently by adding and ramping up consultants regardless of their previous experience with any specific project. To provide developers with the ability to create and manage on-premise CRM solutions in an integrated Visual Studio environment, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Engineering for Enterprise (CRM E2) team initiated and sponsored the development of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Developer Toolkit. The Toolkit has been designed to make it easier for developers to customize, extend, and maintain an on-premise CRM solution, all from within an integrated Visual Studio environment. Key benefits for developers include the ability to: 1. View All CRM Entities 2. Create and Update CRM Entities 3. Create a Wrapper Class 4. Generate Plug-in Code 5. Integrate the Build and Deploy Process 6. Deploy Across Multiple Servers Download
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Developer Ramp up Kit	This kit is for .NET-based developers who want to ramp up and build on top of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 uses familiar components such as Web Service endpoints, Windows Workflow Foundation, SSRS reporting, and more; making it a general purpose platform for any line-of-business applications. Developers can use their existing .NET skills to take advantage of various features of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. This kit drills into the details of such development and explains how developers can connect, extend, and embed with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. It includes presentations, hands-on labs and a VPC environment for practicing. This content was delivered earlier as part of the Metro Early Adopter initiative and the video recordings of the ramp-up presentations are included as well. Familiarity with the .NET Framework, Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft JScript, Microsoft SQL Server and general Web development is recommended. Download