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Showing posts from September, 2010

What is a Solution Accelerator?

We are often asked what is the difference between a software product and a solution accelerator such as Microsoft Stimulus360 or Microsoft Grants Manager Plus (formerly called Grants360). The distinction is important because confusing solution accelerators (also called templates or solutions) with products leads to unmet expectations. All of us are familiar with software products such as Word, Excel or Outlook. These products contain features and do certain tasks for us. While they allow for some configuration and personalization of preferences, they essentially work the same way for all users. This is acceptable because word processing and email are largely similar for users in many industries. My Exchange and Outlook setup may be bigger or smaller than an organization, but essentially the user experience is the same. Products usually come with prescriptions on how they are installed and configured, and this process is made as easy as possible. For some products. it is a

Microsoft Releases Grants360

On September 20, 2010 Microsoft released Grants360, later renamed Grants Manager Plus, a solution accelerator for grantee organizations. InfoStrat developed the solution to provide end-to-end management of the grant process, from soliciting applications to review, award, and post award tracking. Grants360 is build using Microsoft Dynamics CRM for the management module and Microsoft Azure for the public website. This means that when Dynamics CRM 2011 is available, the entire solution can be hosted in the cloud (by Microsoft), hosted by a third party or run on premise. Grants360 complements Stimulus360. Where Stimulus360 was tailored to the unique requirements of federal stimulus (ARRA) grants, Grants360 is more general purpose. It can even be used by non-profits for their grant activities. We are posting more materials on the solution on InfoStrat.com . 

Top Ten New Features of Dynamics CRM 2011

At InfoStrat, we have been eagerly awaiting the newest version of Dynamics CRM and are excited to see it available now to the public. Now is a good time to learn more about the new version. If you have an hour for a demonstration, check out this video: http://digitalwpc.com/Videos/AllVideos/Permalink/f9625bd7-7009-4bed-ab7a-c3fbb548d6ac If you want a shorter summary, here are my top ten enhancements to Dynamics CRM 2011: Cloud . Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will have fewer constraints on customization, making it easier to use Microsoft as your hosting provider. To show its commitment to the cloud, Microsoft will make Dynamics CRM 2011 available on the cloud before it distributed for on premise deployment. Integration with SharePoint . You can use SharePoint for document management along with Dynamics CRM. We have done this ourselves for our solutions but now Microsoft is doing it for us. Slickness . The user interface has been updated, replacing tabs with the familiar Office ribbon an

Microsoft Releases Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta

Today Microsoft unleashed the long awaited new version of Dynamics CRM to the public. You will find a dramatically revamped user interface, tighter integration with Microsoft Outlook, and technical parity between the Microsoft-hosted version and running Dynamics CRM on premise. Go here for a test drive: http://offers.crmchoice.com/CRM2011Beta-Landing or the download links: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=0c7dcc45-9d41-4e2e-8126-895517b4274c&displayLang=en For InfoStrat, the new version makes it easier for us to offer our solutions in whatever deployment mode our clients need -- on premise, hosted or cloud.

Lessons from Northrop Grumman Failure in Virginia?

This week witnessed one of the most dramatic government information technology failures ever, with an outage that paralyzed twenty six state government services for days in Virginia. The Department of Motor Vehicles was the most visible outage, leaving thousands of frustrated motorists and forcing law enforcement to relax enforcement to allow time for drivers' license renewals. Northrop Grumman holds long term contracts for IT services worth more than $2.5 billion which has generated controversy since it began. Investigators will be sifting through the incident to determine the causes. What lessons will emerge from this crisis? How can similar problems be averted in the future? Are massive outsourcing contracts a mistake? Would state employees have performed better than contractors in resolving the issues or coming up with workarounds? Some press accounts pointed to hardware failure in devices manufactured by EMC which were highly unlikely to fail as they did. Recovery procedures t