InfoStrat's Townsend Report

Using Both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint By integrating SharePoint with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can easily add this extensive functionality to your solution. Dynamics CRM 2015 includes built-in integration with SharePoint so you can show related documents within a Dynamics CRM form. Dynamics CRM supports integration with  SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2013, and SharePoint Server Online. An article in MSDN illustrates the integration options:  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg334768.aspx   SharePoint integration enables you to store and manage documents on SharePoint in the context of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM record, and use the SharePoint document management abilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, such as checking the document in and out, viewing version history, and changing document properties.  Because both SharePoint and Dynamics CRM are available deployed in the cloud or on premise, there are several permutations of how you can handle authen

If you are considering upgrading from Dynamics CRM 2011, you will save significant time and effort by upgrading before you implement new features and fixes that you may have accumulated over the last few years. A major upgrade offers the chance to do some spring cleaning, eliminating unused items and streamlining the user interface.  Moreover, Microsoft may have anticipated some of the features you have been seeking and included them in the product. Here is a good place to start in reviewing what is new: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/what-s-new.aspx Dynamics CRM 2013 and 2015 include a major overhaul of the user interface compared to the 2011 version, so you will need to prepare your users for a bit of future shock.    The good news is that you gain instant multi-browser and mobile device support. You will save time and money because both the upgrade and the new enhancement require testing, so why not do both and the same time and test once?

This is adapted from the InfoStrat White Paper "Upgrading Dynamics CRM." Download the full whitepaper here: http://www.infostrat.com/#!upgrading-dynamics-crm/c15ht Microsoft provides a number of Migration Tools to assist you with the move to CRM 2015. These include both documentation and tooling available within the application. The documentation can be found in the SDK and on the web and covers the process you need to go through to upgrade forms and the design considerations related to how your forms will appear on the mobile and outlook clients.   The in-app tools are in the form designer.   The first thing you need to understand is how to identify the CRM 2011 form and the CRM 2013 form.   Many CRM 2011 forms are all labeled “Information” since this was the name used for the default form prior to CRM 2013.   In CRM 2103 a new set of V6 forms was created which were labeled using the Entity name by default (e.g. “Contact”). You also now have the ability to activate and

One of the unchanging truths of project management is the tradeoff between time, features, and cost.  This relationship is called the project management triangle, iron triangle, or triple constraint. Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_triangle The project management triangle has implications for organizations which issue requests for proposals (RFPs).  Typically, the goal of the RFP is to solve for price and to hire a vendor to provide services or a solution. The more information that an RFP provides on the schedule and scope, the more accurate the cost can be.  Without sufficient details on the scope of a project, the vendor is forced to guess.  One guessing approach is called time boxing.  In this method, the vendor established a schedule and then determines the cost for a typical team to provide services for a comparable project.   Time boxing means that some features must be discarded in order to meet the schedule and cost. The absence of re

This is adapted from the InfoStrat White Paper "Upgrading Dynamics CRM." Download the full whitepaper here: http://www.infostrat.com/#!upgrading-dynamics-crm/c15ht On-Premise Upgrade Steps Upgrading from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 There are two different types of upgrades: 1. In Place – use existing servers and upgrade the existing live system in place. 2. Migration – Set up a new server environment and migrate the CRM organizations from CRM 4.0. We recommend the Migration Upgrade approach as it provides the ability to test the upgrade multiple times, allows for performance benchmark testing and leaves your existing CRM 4.0 environment in tact in case a rollback is necessary. Here is a step by step guide to migrating using the recommended Migration approach [1] 1.    Perform a fresh install of Microsoft CRM 2011 on a new server(s).    You can have one server that hosts both the web application and the SQL databases or you can have two servers, one to host the w

This is adapted from the InfoStrat White Paper "Upgrading Dynamics CRM." Download the full whitepaper here: http://www.infostrat.com/#!upgrading-dynamics-crm/c15ht Microsoft offers major upgrades to Dynamics CRM every two years and minor upgrades every six months or more often.  In order to benefit from the latest features and functionality of these new versions, you must upgrade your CRM implementation from time to time.  For Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users, your system will automatically be upgraded as new versions become available.  Microsoft also ceases to provide mainstream support for older versions, typically two releases prior to the current release.   In each instance of a major Microsoft Dynamics CRM release, new features have been added that may require you to change your solution if you want to take advantage of them.  For instance, Business Process Flows were first introduced in Dynamics CRM 2013. To effectively use this new automation feature, you woul