kgorczewski - Bovoweb

Separate Outlook and CRM Contacts in Outlook Client

2011-12-30T00:19:00.001Z

Few my clients were asking me if there is possible to separate Outlook Contacts (friends, family) and CRM contacts which are synchronized from CRM based on the Local Data Filter.

Previously I was using quite complicated procedure which wasn't simple for each user however when I was cleaning my mailbox (as usual at the end of the year) I found a post from CustomerEffective where Sean Shilling explaining about custom fields in CRM.
If you're looking for a full list of accessible columns from CRM in Outlook here it is:

crmEntryID
crmid
crmLinkState
crmObjectTypeCode
crmorgid
crmOwnerId
crmParentAccountId
crmParentObjectType
crmRegardingId
crmRegardingObjectType
crmServiceId
crmTrackingInfo
crmvisited
crmxml
Parent Account
Regarding

So to Group Contacts by CRM and non CRM you need to:

1. Go to Contacts and go to Detailed View

2. Right Click on the Toolbar and select View Settings

3. Choose Columns and add new called: crmLinkState with Type Number

4. Last step is to Group by crmLinkState. Mark new added column (crmLinkState) and select Group by this Field

Hope this can be useful to someone.

Dynamics CRM 2011 - Fetch XML and limit 5000 returned records

2011-08-15T17:55:00.000+01:00

Designing some reports in Dynamics CRM 2011 using FetchXML I notice that there is a limit of number of records which can be returned which is default 5000 :(
It was too small for me so I start looking if this can be changed. I notice that you can add new registry value to bypass this. This solution will not be working in CRM 2011 OnLine (obvious reason).

Add DWORD key called

TurnOffFetchThrottling and set value to 1

to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSCRM

CRM 2011 How to change License Type

2011-08-05T23:55:00.000+01:00

If you want to change License in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 OnPremise you need to open Deployment Manager and right click on Microsoft Dynamics CRM root at the left side pane

and you will be able to put your License Code.

There is also unsupported way which is direct update to MSCRM_CONFIG db.

Please also remember about License Matrix (this is for MS CRM 4.0 but the only difference is that there are only two types of licensing WorkGroup and Professional).

MB2-867 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation and Deployment Passed

2011-05-16T23:26:00.000+01:00

I had pleasure to pass this exam as one of the first people in the UK. Dynamics CRM 2011 is a new product and it’s hard to have a lot of experience with it. However exam wasn’t very hard and if you have experience with deploying CRM 4.0 you shouldn’t be scared. I not had a chance to prepare myself (as usual lot of work) so I had read Implementation Guide:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9886ab96-3571-420f-83ad-246899482fb4

and Outlook Installation Guide http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=203041 in the morning just before exam.

I had to accept Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so I cannot provide very detailed information but I can give you few tips:

Be familiar with Email Router and different scenarios of deploying it
You should know requirements for hardware and software – you can score easy points here
I was surprised by only few questions about High Availability for Dynamics CRM
Claims authentication can cause some problems so read this part carefully
Implementation Guide covering 70% of questions

I had more than 80% of correct answers (you need 60% to pass) nearly without preparing myself. I’m sure that other CRM 2011 exams will be much harder.

Here is a link to Microsoft page with more information:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=MB2-867

P.S. I’m preparing myself now for CRM 2011 Customization.

Dynamics CRM Upgrade Scenarios

2011-04-03T21:25:00.000+01:00

When new Dynamics CRM 2011 was released it is a hottest topic. Lot of peoples are asking about upgrade path. I tried to draw it in the single picture to explain general path. I will post in the next few days detailed procedures to upgrade Dynamics CRM 4.0 to 2011. Just now you can download this image.
KG

Here is a link to orginal size in my SkyDrive

Portal Accelerators for Dynamics CRM

2011-04-03T02:07:00.000+01:00

Please find presentation which I prepared for the one of the previous Dynamics CRM UK User Group meeting last year. It's a little big outdated because Portal accelerator was recently released for Dynamics CRM 2011 on marketplace but I not had a chance to compare them. Hope I will do it shortly.
KG

PowerPoint Presentation - UK CRM User Group - Portal Solutions for Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta was released today

2010-09-09T22:09:00.001+01:00

Today Microsoft released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in Beta Version.
You can download it from here:
http://www.crm2011beta.com/

You can also download Implementation Guide for 2011 Beta here:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=200050

Main Architecture bullet points:

only x64 support for CRM Server and SQL Server
more separate services for specific jobs
only 2 versions (workgroup and enterprice)
support x64 Outlook !

More information soon (just now time for upgrades).

Here are the Product Keys for Trail Versions:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Workgroup (5 CAL limit): FF2JM-QX9PG-HXT8M-MMHXG-4MF32
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server (no CAL limit): 4FDTK-3HYV2-D9CCJ-4MF9Q-QJ32X

Have a nice testing.

Dynamics CRM Online soon in the UK and rest of the Europe

2010-04-26T16:36:00.000+01:00

Check this article:

http://blogs.msdn.com/dynamicscrmonline/archive/2010/04/25/new-innovations-with-crm-online.aspx

especially this paragraph:

CRM Online International:
Expands the next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to 32 global markets in the second half of 2010. In addition to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, those markets are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Customers can get Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a service in those markets today, with solutions and consulting from an extensive network of Microsoft partners.

Every quarter Microsoft providing new functionality which makes that Dynamics CRM Online is more powerfull and attractive to other deployments (OnPremise, Hosted).

Outlook 2010 and Dynamics CRM 4.0 once again

2010-02-23T22:45:00.000Z

I have a lot of question how it looks situation with Office / Outlook 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
At the present day (we have Update Rollup 9 for Dynamics CRM) CRM Client it's working on the

32 and 64 bit supported operating system (windows xp, vista, 7)
32 supported office (2003,2007,2010)

Still (including UR9) Dynamics CRM it's not working on the 64bit Outlook.

I tried virious trick which I was able to find in internet and I was trying to check which registry it's checking system (I was using Sysinternals tool especially - Process Monitor) but without success. Email client (MS outlook) wasn't discovered correctly.

The same issue are with other tool which are using outlook like Windows Mobile Device Center (old ActiveSync) and Outlook addons like Xobni.

Official Outlook blog mention that 64-bit client for LinkedIn will be published soon so hopefully also other solutions will be working.
http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/archive/2010/02/17/Outlook-Gets-Social-with-LinkedIn_2C00_-Facebook_2C00_-and-MySpace.aspx

Week number in MS Dynamics CRM

2010-01-09T23:18:00.000Z

There were couple of questions if it's possible to change a week counting in Dynamics CRM because default settings are not right for most of the companies.
Year 2010 start in Friday but for most companies 1 week of the year should be week commencing 4th of January.

You can change it by going to the:

Settings Tab -> Administration -> System Settings -> Formats -> Select “Customize” button -> Date tab

Default settings are:

First day of Week = “Sunday”
First week of Year = “First day of Year”

So with these defaults settings w/c 4th of Jan will be 2nd not a 1st.

If we modify settings to:
First day of Week = “Monday”
First week of Year = “First full week of Year”

It will works

Microsoft SureStep 2010 - what's new

2010-01-06T22:28:00.001Z

Microsoft SureStep 2010 (or 3.0.11)

Recently I notice that MS published new version of SureStep.
I download it and automatically update my previous version 2.6.

What’s new in version 2010:

-    Agile project types, which will allow for more complex customization projects to be managed.

-    New industry-specific content, including guidance for Public Sector. Guidance also is now available for a cross-industry solution for Microsoft Dynamics xRM-based development projects.

-    The ability to create projects on a Microsoft SharePoint site, providing a true platform for collaboration for your implementation projects.

-    New Organizational Change Management guidance throughout Sure Step to help you help customers with new system adaptation in any engagement.

-    A full complement of guidance for Diagnostic and Optimization projects.

-    The diagnostic tools have been enhanced with greater alignment to the Microsoft Solution Selling Process (MSSP) and the Unleash Your Potential campaign.

-    Optimization offerings have been enhanced with closer alignment to Microsoft Service offerings and proactive post Go-Live offerings.

-    ISV Guidance and Sure Step templates, allowing ISVs to create Sure Step compatible tools.

-    More, more examples

If you’re MBS partner you can download SureStep installation files here:

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/communities/consulting/resources/Consulting_SureStep_Methodology

Configurations Change Report for Dynamics CRM

2009-12-25T21:19:00.004Z

Let’s imagine situation that you would like to have a report what was changed in the system in the specific period of the time. This report can be very useful when you will have some problems so you can track if they are not related to the recent releases.

Whole process is very easy and can take up to 20 mins.
What you need it one small Microsoft tool and exported all customizations from the last period time (week in my situation) and all customization from now.

MSDN Tool is called – Customization Compare Utility which source code you can find here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd442453.aspx

When you will extract it and compile it in Visual Studio 2008 you can start use it.

1.Run a Customization Compare Utility and select:

Select Source: exported_customizations_from_last_week
Select Target: exported_customizations_from_current_week

2. Run Tool

3. Export results to Excel
4. Set filter and select items with values in Result column:

Changed
Not In Source
Not In Destinations

And just now you have nice report which contains differences between customizations so all modifications in layouts and attributes, workflows, business units, security roles etc.

This is a simplest and easiest method to track and backup changes in Dynamics CRM.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5 - unofficial informations

2009-12-07T22:38:00.000Z

For Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5 we will have to wait another year but just now we have some unofficial informations:

ribbon menu
user-based user interface
organization chart
server it will be 64-bit only
global searc
sitemap editor
mutiple forms for one entity - biggest improvment for me :
it looks that MS CRM 5.0 will be using CRM 4.0 new client (will embeded UR7) so upgrade will not be so problematic in big organizations!

How to uninstall of eService accelerator

2009-11-01T23:03:00.000Z

How to uninstall of eService 1.1

I spend a few months on eService accelerators so very often I'm trying to help others with some problems with eService. In last time a had a two questions how to uninstall it so this is a procedure to do it.
Remember to make a backup of Dynamics CRM server and Databases before you will start to delete eService. It is also suggested to test this procedure on your DEV environment.

eService accelerator contains couple of parts:

1. Custom Workflow
a. MSA_eService.Workflow – Use Plugin Registration Tool to delete it

2. Workflows – you can edit it from CRM
a. eService Accelerator Sign Up
b. eService Accelerator Case Created
c. eService Accelerator Case Notes Added
d. eService Audit_Account Update
e. eService Audit_Contact Update
f. eService Audit_Case Update

3. Website – delete a website from IIS and later delete a folder

4. ASP.NET Membership Database – select DB and delete it

5. Dynamics CRM Customization

a. Custom entities - you can delete it in CRM and they will be deleted also from Organization Database
i. eService – Account
ii. eService – Contact
iii. eService – Case
iv. eService Configuration

b. Customized existing entities – delete only these attributes
i. Contact (eService Access Level - Picklist)
ii. Contact (WebUser – bit)

6. eService Console files – export a sitemap (customization->export customization) and remove section eService Console and later delete eService Console files

a. eService folder in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server\CRMWeb\ISV
b. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server\CRMWeb\bin\ eServiceAccelerator.Web.Configuration.dll

If you'll have any problems don't hesitate to contact with me.

Update Rollup 7 - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 R2

2009-10-25T18:07:00.001Z

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 R2 - of course itsn't a real Release 2 but because there is so many changes that I called it R2.

We have new Update Rollup no.7 ( More information here )
It looks that it will be next as UR2 (change in schema) and UR5 (performance improvement) important for Dynamics CRM.

There is a new Outlook Client and it will be in the next two weeks new Data Migration Manager (old will not be working) and as usual full UR for all parts of Dynamics CRM (server, exchange email router, SSRS).

First important thing - you cannot uninstall UR7 !
You must have a least UR2 to install UR7
UR7 is resolving problem with email template and plain text - but you have to add entry to registry
Still MS Crm Outlook Client officially not supprt MS Office 2010 but unofficial there are solutions (see my previous posts on my blog).

Mail Merge for Case entity

2009-10-14T22:53:00.000+01:00

Mail Merge is a very useful function in Dynamics CRM but there are some limitations. You cannot use it for the entities which was upgraded from version 3.0 :( . For custom entity you can add Mail Merge easy but export customization for it and add element : IsMailMergeEnabled setup to 1 and import + publish.
For cases it isn't so easy. For my client I found a solution to do this first you had a open directly case grid

http://server_name/organization_namr/CS/home_cases.aspx

and later call from case grid ObjectType from MetaDataCache type

javascript:WebMailMerge('crmGrid', 112);

So it's working.

MS Outlook 2010 and Dynamics CRM Outlook Client

2009-10-12T22:26:00.001+01:00

UPDATE: You can find update for this article here:

http://bovoweb.blogspot.com/2010/02/outlook-2010-and-dynamics-crm-40-once.html

I'm involved in beta testing so I'm using currently Windows 7 (still build 7100) with Office 2010 (technical preview). Office 2010 looks good so we have a ribbon menu in all products (Visio, Outlook). I'm working most of my time with Dynamics CRM I tried to install CRM Outlook Client but without success. As usual there is workaround for it. Go to registry path

HKEY Current User\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRMClient

Create DWord (32 bit) value

Title: IgnoreChecks

Value: 1

Installator will show error but you will be able to continue.

P.S.

Remember that Dynamics CRM support only 32-bit Outlook Client.

R2 Accelerators - eService vs, Portal Integration

2009-10-12T22:03:00.000+01:00

I spend a lot of time working on eService 1.0 and 1.1 and because documentation was so poor very often I was discovered or found some information in codeplex about functionality of eService. I would like to compare Portal Integration (PI) with eService.

Portal Integration is one of the first of new accelerators (R2) - so it have better documentation
PI as eService it comes with Asp.net membership database
PI is based on eService so archtecture and way how it's working is nearly the same
PI support Lookup as read-only field - in eService you had to change a code to display it
New functionality - Webliterature - so you can expose document from CRM to PI - I was doing in eService 1.1 by copying documents to Knowledge Base

This is a first review based on the documentation. Tomorrow I will try to install PI and will try to make deep test.

First R2 Accelerators released !

2009-10-12T21:43:00.000+01:00

Today two new accelerators was released (Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and Portal Integration).
There are first accelerators from Release 2 series. They have better documentation especially what it can offer not only how to install. Soon I will try to write you information how it's working.

First post

2009-10-10T19:42:00.000+01:00

First I would like to introduce myself. I have nearly 5 years of experience with Dynamics CRM and more then 10 Dynamics projects. I was working with versions 1.2, 3.0 and just now 4.0 in different environments. I'm working as Technical and Functional consultant but this blog will provide more technical information about Dynamics CRM and all solutions around it like Sharepoint, 3rd party extensions for MSCRM, Windows Mobile.