2014 is/was the year of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 so to wrap up the year I've decided to share my quiz I put together so that you can test your knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. I did this in our last team meeting over some chocolate cake (yum!).
These questions have been derived from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Administration and Customisation Guide + my experience and knowledge so far with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. The questions however do not contain anything related to things like Unified Service Desk, Social Listening or Marketing.
Alright, enjoy and give yourself a pat on the back if you pass 50% of the questions.
Note: The slides will automatically change after 15 seconds.
I recently attended the Partner Microsoft Dynamics Marketing training in Microsoft Australia HQ in Sydney and was stoked to meet other CRM'ers. I was lucky enough to meet other CRM bloggers too. Pics below.
Sometimes I have a "I wish" moment with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If I had a lamp where a genie came out and granted me wishes, it would probably be depleted in a short amount of time. There are some things Microsoft Dynamics CRM could have out-of-the-box but I also have to remind myself that it's a system to be utilized across a whole Organisation so it does somewhat make sense when there are certain things that are not "standard" as it may not be relevant for all Business End Users.
Anyhoo... one thing that gets raised ocassionally is the address fields on the Order entity. When you create an Order, the address fields remain blank. The address fields aren't automatically populated.
Have no fear citizens, address fields on the Order can be achieved using customisations. Checkout my vlog.
Method 1 - Entity and attribute mapping
Field mapping is a handy dandy trick in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You can map fields from one entity to another to help make creating and populating records more efficient. In this case, map the fields from the Contact address fields to the Order address fields. You do need to be aware of some of the limitations. I mentioned some of them but you can find the full stack - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg334512.aspx
This method is applicable if you are creating the Order from the Order Associated View of the Contact or Account record.
Method 2 - Custom fields, real time workflows and business rules
Sooo... if you don't want to create an Order from the Order Associated View of the Contact or Account, you can stick with this method. 1. Create two fields on the Order, Copy Contact Address and Copy Account Address. Add these two fields on the Order form. I chose to create these fields because of how the Potential Customer field on the Order is a lookup field. It only allows you to select Contact or Account. In a workflow, I wasn't able to set this condition as it's a lookup field pointing to an entity type (unless you have a suggestion?). So my way around this is creating two custom fields.
2. Add the Address fields on the Order. I didn't use the Composite address field as most customers I have worked with usually want to see all of the address fields in the Order instead of the CRM 2013 Composite style. 3. Create two real time workflows where it will set the address fields in the Order from the Contact or Account address fields.
4. Too make it more tidier, I created two Business Rules to prevent Copy Contact Address and Copy Account Address field being selected at the same time. I only want one of these fields to be selected since you can only choose a Contact or an Account for a Customer on the Order.
Now when you create an Order, just select either of the custom fields to copy the address from the Contact or Account.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Super, now you know to use customisations to help you out. Before you go ahead with these methods, please do make sure you do add the address fields on your Contact or Account record. I used Address 1 for Physical and Address 2 for Shipping.
Give it a go :)
You can apply this for Invoices as well. Either map the address fields from the Order to the Invoice, or go with Method 2 if you aren't creating Invoices directly from the Contact or Account.
I have a previous vlog post where I showed how to create a simple approval process without code. This was more of a proof of concept of how an approval process could be achieved using customisations - zero development. I've since implemented the approval process for a client but it's somewhat changed from what you last saw. I demonstrated this new version of the approval process at the Melbourne CRM User Group earlier this week.
The client requirement is to prevent a Salesperson from progressing to the next stage/phase of an Opportunity until the Sales Manager approves an Opportunity.
Previously I used a "Two Option" attribute which is a "Yes/No" field to represent whether the Opportunity is Approved or Not Approved. This is now repelaced with an "Option Set" attribute which is a dropdown field that contains approval status values. I used real time workflows like last time but the conditions are different and revolve around two of my custom fields. Curious for more? Watch my vlog.
OK, I'll do my best to explain this approval process in writing. Here we go...
I used the same customisations as last time.
Custom fields
As mentioned earlier, I now have an Approval Status field which are made up of three values. These are,
Awaiting Approval
Not Approved
Approved
This Approval Status field is to be used in all three workflows, whereas the other custom field Request Approval is used in two workflows.
Field Security
The Approval Status field is enabled for field security. This means field security profiles need to be created.
Sales Manager has Read and Write access on the Field Security Profile
Salesperson has Read access on the Field Security Profile
Business Process Flow
Three custom fields is added as required steps in the Business Process Flow. This is to ensure the fields are populated in the Business Process Flow Stage.
If you want to create a new Business Process Flow Stage Category, you need to create a new value that represents your Stage in the Stage Category Global Option Set.
Check out this great blog post on how to do this. Read the section "Adding our custom stage categories."
Real Time Workflows
The star of the approval process is the Real Time workflows.
Workflow #1
Notify the Sales Manager when the Salesperson requests for approval.
The trigger of the workflow is when the Request Approval field changes.
This is done in the following scenarios,
The Salesperson is requesting approval for the first time. At this point, the Approval Status is updated from null (this means blank, no value) to Awaiting Approval. The Sales Manager is sent an email.
The Salesperson is requesting approval after the Sales Mangaer does not approve the Opportunity. At this point, the Approval Status is updated from Not Approved back to Awaiting Approval. The Sales Manager is sent an email.
One thing I forgot to mention at the CRM User Group is that this workflow needs to be executed as the "Owner of the Workflow" because of how the Approval Status has been enabled as field security.
If the workflow is set to "User who made the changes to the record," you will get an error message. This is because it uses the security role of the User. Since the Salesperson does not have "write" access to the Approval Status field, the workflow will fail as one of the steps is to update the Approval Status to "Awaiting Approval."
Workflow #2
Notify the Salesperson when the Sales Manager updates the Approval Status field.
The trigger for this workflow is when the Approval Status field changes.
This is done in the following scenarios,
The Sales Manager approves the Opportunity record. At this point, the Approved By field is updated to the Sales Manager and the Approval Status is updated to Approved. The Salesperson is sent an email.
The Sales Manager does not approve the Opportunity record. At this point, the Approved By field is updated to the Sales Manager and the Approval Status is updated to Approved. The "Request Approval" field is also updated back to NO in order of the Salesperson to resubmit a request for the Opportunity to be approved. The Salesperson is sent an email.
Workflow #3
In my journey of testing my new approval process, I discover that I still needed an extra 'stop gate' as the Salesperson could still click on "Next Stage" if the Approval Status is Awaiting Approval. This is because the required field in the Business Process Flow stage is now populated so CRM recognizes this and allows the Salesperson to move forward.
I knew that the Salesperson should not progress if Approval Status does not equal Approved,but I also needed a variable that links to the Business Process Flow Stage. I can't control the "Next Stage" button. This led to my investigation as seen in my previous vlog post and how I discovered the function of the Pipeline Phase field. The Pipeline Phase field is being updated to match the Stage of the Business Process Flow each time an end user clicks on "Next Stage." This is because it is linked to the Stage Category Option Set. So what I did was used the Pipeline Phase field in my final workflow.
The trigger for this worfklow is when the Pipeline Phase field changes.
If Approval Status does not equal Approved and Stage Category is equal to Close, cancel the workflow and present warning message.
If Approval Status does not equal Approved and Stage Category does not equal Close, do not cancel the workflow.
I did this particular condition because I discovered if I did not provide this then the Salesperson could not move to a previous Sales Stage (eg. Develop) without the error message throwing.
And there you go, you have an approval process using CRM 2013 customisations.
Ta da! This is where I break out into my Captain Planet chant: EARTH! Option Set! FIRE! Field Security! WIND! Business Process Flow!
WATER! Real Time workflow! HEART! CRM 2013!
By your powers combined... I AM CAPTAIN PLANET I AM A CUSTOMIZED OPPORTUNITY APPROVAL PROCESS!!!
Wait!!
I'm not done though! I would also like to direct you to this blog postof Gareth Tucker (another CRM professional) where I learnt earlier this year about how the Stop Workflow function can be utilized in real time worfklows to prevent certain end user actions. I wouldn't have been able to achieve Workflow #3 if I hadn't read his post earlier this year. Check it out.
Now I'm done :) Thanks for watching and reading.
Also, to all who were patient and stayed to watch me present at the Melbourne CRM User Group - thank you. Big thanks to Rowan and Richard for helping me out with the projector connection problems.
Toodles.
PS: Here's some photos of me in action. Thanks Andre for the photos.
I've been working on a project where we are implenting Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and the area of CRM that will be used intially is the Sales module. The last time I customised the Sales module was in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4. Yup, that was in 2009.
So when I started customising the Opportunity entity, I was confused about a field in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 where my memory kicked in - I was sure this wasn't how it used to be in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4. The field that I couldn't figure out in terms of the significance and what it was used for in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 is "Sales Stage."
There were two things that needed to be customised,
Add new Sales Stage values that my client wanted. eg. "Quote"
Update the Sales Stage to match the Stage Name of the Opportunity Business Process Flow. eg. When the Stage in the Business Process Flow changes to Quote, the Sales Stage field should also be "Quote"
In this vlog I share my learnings with you.
The first thing I did was added the Sales Stage field to the entity form and it didn't update at all when changing to and from stages in the Business Process Flow. Hmmm... The second thing I did was to check out the Sales Stage field. I scratched my head when I discovered Sales Stage is an Option Set field where you cannot edit the values. I was sure the values could be changed previously.
My next step was researching the online sphere for some clues regardings the Sales Stage Option Set field. There were CRM 2013 blogs that discussed how to show the Stage Name of the current stage in the Business Process Flow of the Opportunity using a custom field which is then added to the entity form or view. However nothing in detail that pointed to my discovery about this particular field. The next step was that I checked Micrososft Dynamics CRM 2011. Yup, the same as CRM 2013. Option Set cannot be updated. I decided to check a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 environment to further investigate this field. Luckily there was a legacy environment available that I could access. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 you can change the values however back in CRM 4 land, the field type was not an "Option Set," it was a "Picklist." I don't know whether this is related but this is what I noticed.
OK, but it didn't help me since I'm now customising in CRM 2013 where editing the Option Set for Sales Stage is not possible. My trip back to CRM 4 only confirmed that my memory did not fail me. Self-high five! So what to do now in CRM 2013 about getting new values in the Sales Stage field? I could get around this inconvenience by creating a new custom field in CRM 2013 with the required values where this custom field was to be used instead of the out-of-the-box Sales Stage. For a moment I thought this was the route to be taken. Something inside of me told me, "This is not where your journey ends little caterpillar, there's something else." So I trusted my instincts and got on with it. Back to staring at this field - mentally questioning it and more online research. Within an hour I found two separate pieces of information in these two blogs,
Sales Stage is not really used but possibly only exists for the purpose of an old version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM upgrading to a newer version as seen in the first blog. Hmmm but in CRM 4 the field can be edited so how on earth did it become not editable in future versions. Or was Sales Stage used differently in CRM 2011?
From the second blog I learnt that when progressing in the Business Process Flow Stages, another field in CRM 2013 is being updated, "Pipeline Phase." So then I checked it out. I added and Pipeline Phase fields to the Opportunity entity form. I moved to and from Stages in the Business Process Flow. The Sales Stage field never updated, yet the Pipeline Phase field did. Referring back to the second blog, the Stages are driven by a Global Option Set, "Stage Category." The Pipeline Phase is being updated by the Business Process Flow Stage, and the Business Process Flow Stage is driven by the Global Option Set. I had to insert the client's Sales Stage values in the Stage Category Option Set and update the Opportunity Business Process Flow with the new stage categories. This will then update the Pipeline Phase field whenever the Business Process Flow Stage changes.
I did this and it worked. This will also coincide with the out-of-the-box Sales Dashboards. The funnel chart will also display the new Stage Category value in the Global Option Set. Boom.
Summary
I suggest using the Pipeline Phase field rather then the Sales Stage field to identify the progress of Opportunities in Microsoft Dynamic CRM 2013. The Pipeline Phase field is tied into the Business Process Flow where the Stage Category of the Business Process Flow is reflected in the Pipeline Phase field. This will also save the need to create a custom field in the Opportunity entity that will be popluated when the Business Process Flow changes from stage to stage. The Sales Stage is not customisable and I think is only there in case a legacy CRM Organisation was previously using Sales Stage.
The only gotcha is to make sure you order your values correctly in the Stage Category Option Set as the digit number of the order will be displayed in the Pipeline Phase field and Sales Dashboards.
I have had a few customers that have been contacting me as they have had some difficulties in finding licensing information for the new services from the Spring Wave '14 release for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. I have also had customers wanting a centralised list of the new enhancements as well that may or may not be included in either Online or On-Premise (through Service Pack 1).
So we decided to do something about this by doing the research and compiling the information into a useful output. My colleague Nicole had the first attempt in consolidating this list and I further expanded it by providing the licensing details in a matrix.
Enter the matrix and I hope you return to the real world from this experience to understand the new and cool stuff introduced in Spring Wave and Service Pack 1 (On-Premise).
Here are some definitions for those of you who are scratching their heads at some of the terms in the matrix:
Service Pack - in CRM context a Service Pack is a package that combines previously released udpates, fixes for previous issues and ehancements On-Premise - a hosted CRM environment within the client organisation (or open for intepretation - hosted by a service provider) Stand Alone - does not require a CRM 2013 envrionment, the service can be used without the need of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013.
My sources for information used in the table are the following
PowerPoint slides from the April '14 Dynamics CRM Spring Wave Training Blitz
Some of the information may not be 100% accurate but it's a starting point and my customers have been happy with this matrix - quick and easy for them to make decisions with management on how to proceed.
I have also recently come across this video after writing this blog post that was shared by Mark Smith on LinkedIn. It's a nice walk through by Microsoft of the licensing details.
A CRM 2013 support case from one of our customers was raised and I investigated the error the customer was experiencing. When navigating to the Marketing List entity in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Outlook Client, an error was being displayed.
Eeeek what do I do?!
As mentioned in my previous post, remain calm and find inner peace.
Inner peace, inner peace...
At first I thought maybe the error was being caused by one of our plugins so asked one of my ninja CRM developers to disable plugins one by one. No luck. Then I thought OK, let's test with another CRM 2013 On-Premise environment by navigating to the Marketing List entity. No error occurred. Eventually I found the cause and I have reported this behaviour to Microsoft. Hopefully it shall be resolved in the next CRM 2013 Update Rollup version. Other checks were then performed. This vlog outlines my investigation process of finding the cause and providing a workaround.
Workaround
The workaround seen in my vlog is as follows,
1. Navigate to the Marketing List View in the relevant CRM Solution and open the view.
2. Click on Edit Filter Criteria on the right hand side
3. Delete Owner condition
4. Add a new condition - Owner Equals Current User
5. Add a second new condition - Owner Equals Current User's Team
6. Select the two conditions and click on Group OR
7. Click OK
8. Save the View
9. Publish CRM Solution
10. Close Outlook if you have it open and reopen Outlook
11. Navigate to the CRM component in Outlook
12. Navigate to the Marketing List and the Lists Associated with Owner View should load without an error
Summary
I assessed the current situation in CRM - the Marketing List View of "Lists Associated to Owner" was set as the Default Public View for the entity where the out-of-the-box default filter criteria was changed from Owner Equals Current User to Owner Equal Current User of User's Team.When I discovered this I decided to use the same criteria in another entity view to check whether the same error would occur in the CRM 2013 Outlook Client. The error was reproduced and I don't think there was anything incorrect that was applied as it works in the web client so reported it to Microsoft.
Luckily, there is a workaround for this particular error that was experienced when navigating to an entity view int he CRM 2013 Outlook Client.
This has been outlined earlier and in my vlog.
There are other times when you will come across "CRM Failed to Load" in the CRM Outlook Client and your scenario may not match this one that has been explained but there are other blog posts that may relate to your scenario. To get you started here are a few:
If you're an existing end user of CRM and you have a CRM support agreement with your IT Partner (in other words your emergency CRM line), you can probably relate to this post. Sometimes we panic when trying to do a certain action in CRM as a result of an error message and we contact our IT Partner for help. The IT Partner will help but sometimes it can go around in circles (and some wolf howling involved) due to pieces of information missing in order for them to be able to troubleshoot the CRM problem raised. In this vlog I share with you some tips of how to work effectively with your IT Partner for CRM support cases.
Why does this matter?
CRM support cases raised with your IT Partner usually comes with a cost. As soon as the support person starts interacting with you and investigating - that clock is ticking where his/her time is recorded against the case. If they need to engage with you frequently initially when the case is raised, that time will be logged against the case when it could have been eliminated if certain steps were undertaken.
A lot of the time I recommend to my customers during the UAT and the go-live phase of a CRM project to try decipher the error message at first and review the data that is in the record where you attempted to do something. The error message 80% of the time will spit out something that is meaningful that can be resolved simply by assessing an item in CRM the error message has referenced.
Now, not all error messages are handy, some errors can be cryptic like the following:
"OK, I don't know what this means?? Help!"
The next thing to do is contact your in-house CRM super hero/power user/administrator and see whether they can help decipher the error message and resolve it themselves. If she/he can resolve it then hooray, no need to raise a support case.
If he/she can't resolve it or you are that person people turn to and you do need further help, be cool and log a support case with your IT Partner.
Sometimes frustration can get in the way temporarily - constantly repeating the steps you applied will not make the error go away, neither does slamming your keyboard in frustration. This is a good time to breath and recall your steps that lead to the error message. Inner peace, find inner peace.... OK, then start outlining these to your IT Partner in a Word document where you can attach it in the support web page of your IT Partner's helpdesk/support portal or email it through. There usually is a button called "upload file" or "attach file" where you can attach and submit your document that outlines the problem.
Why a Word document?
The reason why I suggest putting your steps in a Word document is most Organisations these days have a self-service support portal and you can't insert images within the field where you provide a
description, you have to attach the image files. If there is no self-service support portal, then usually you send an email and typically these emails are automatically converted into a record in the case
management system the IT Partner uses where again, the content of the email is inserted in a field and the field will not be able to render the images.
So use a Word document and this way
1) The support person can see the images for each step without having to contact you for more information.
2) If you have a lot of screenshots saved as image files, you have to upload them individually. Using a Word document, you can insert all your screenshots in one file with your steps.
OK, so how should I outline my details?
Anyways, below are my suggestions in helping your IT Partner understand your problem encountered in CRM so that they can reproduce it themselves and troubleshoot:
1) Outline the steps one by one in sentences in a Word document.
2) For each step, see if you can provide a screenshot.
3) As humans we can't read each others minds so sometimes even highlighting certain areas of the screenshot can help the support person focus in understanding the steps that lead to the problem.
4) If the error is originating from steps you applied within a CRM record then provide the link of the CRM record. You can do this by clicking on the "..." command at the top of the record and select "Email link." This will then open your Outlook where a URL is provided. Copy and paste that record link. The support person will be able to click on this URL you have provided and access the record where the error occurred.
5) Provide a statement of what you were expecting as the output of your action. eg. the email that requests for approval should have been sent.
6) If there is a button in the error message window "Download Log File," click on this and save the file onto your PC.
You can either attach this saved file on the support web page of your IT Partner's helpdesk/support portal. If you can't attach more than one file on the support web page, then copy and paste the content in your Word document which you can upload on the support web page.
7) Provide the browser and version you were using. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is compatible with different browsers and sometimes it is useful for the support person to know in the rare scenario where errors will only occur in certain browsers.
Final note
In summary, by following the steps above your IT Partner can start investigating immediately without having to ask you where in CRM did this error occur and what you were doing. You are effectively reducing the overhead cost of the support case by providing all the information upfront. Remember - that back and forth engagement the support person has to go through with you when minimal information of the problem is provided is factored into the time spent on the case.
Reverse the roles for a moment - if you were helping someone with a problem they are facing within the software they use, can you help them without understanding how they came across the problem in the first place? You need to know what path the person went through before he/she was stopped by the error to understand and help out.
Reality is that we don't live in the world of X-men where Professor X exists in support teams and can read your mind, and clearly see the steps you applied. Help your IT Partner by telling them the story so that they can help you in return.
Awesome sauce! Now you know the recipe for logging CRM support cases with your IT Partner.
PS: you can apply what you have learnt a few minutes ago in any support case that involves an application, it does not have to be CRM.
At the beginning of this year I did some R&D where the challenge was to come up with a simple approval process using configuration, zero development. I used some of the new and cool features which you'll see in my vlog post.
What I did:
1) Created four custom fields
Quote generated - two option
Request approval - two option
Approved - two option, enabled field security
Approved By - Lookup to User entity
2) Copied one of the out-of-the-box Business Process Flows and removed the Proposal Stage. Created a Quote stage where the steps used three of the custom fields.
3) Added Approved and Approved By fields to the Opportunity form in a new section called "Approvers Only."
5) Created two Field Security Profiles, one for the Approver of the Opportunity and the other for an everyday end user to allow/not allow update of the Approved field.
6) Created two real-time workflows
Email sent to the Approver when someone requests for approval
Email sent to the Opportunity Owner when the Approver approves the Opportunity
Pretty basic and utilized some of the new and cool CRM 2013 functionality.
Please note that this is a simple approval process. In the scenario where there is multiple approvers required or different iterations of approval is required, consult with your IT partner as they will need to understand the process in order to come up with a more suitable solution.
One new functionality in CRM 2013 is "Quick Create" where you can create records from your current view. For example if you are currently in Opportunities and you want to create a new Account record, previously you would need to navigate away from Opportunities and into the Account view to create a new Account record. Now there is a button on the menu navigation pane in CRM 2013 which I demonstrate in the video which will allow you to quickly create a record.
The thing is, you can only use the "Quick Create" functionality when you have your browser open and are in CRM 2013. If you were using another application on your desktop such as Microsoft Word, you'd have to open your browser and be logged into CRM 2013 to click on "Quick Create." In the video, I share one of my tricks with you to achieve creating a new record without being in CRM 2013. Awesome sauce!
I'd like to highlight the following which I have not mentioned in the video:
What I have shown you is a method to use if you are using a Windows PC. If you are using a Mac, this method will not necessarily be the same on a Mac.
This method only applies to the User's desktop PC. It will not be transferred to other users within an Organisation unelss your Infrastructure team deploys a company wide policy of desktop shortcuts specifc to CRM 2013.
The URL I am referencing is in the format of https://orgname.domain as my CRM 2013 envrionment is On-Premise using ADFS. If you are using CRM Online, you just need to add the text after "/main.aspx?......"
If you are not already logged into CRM 2013, you will be prompted to sign in when you execute your desktop shortcut.
If you are wanting to use this method for custom entities, you must replace "etc" with "etn" and reference the schema name of the custom entity. Etn refers to the Dynamics CRM entity name whereas etc refers to the Dynamics CRM entity type codes. For custom entities, unless you know where to look in the CRM database you are better off using "etn" where you can grab the schema name in customisations. For example, a custom entity schema name in my CRM 2013 envrionment is "abc123_event." The URL to use in the desktop shortcut would be https://orgname.domain/main.aspx?etn=abc123_event&newWindow=true&pagetype=entityrecord.
1) I am new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I have not seen it before
2) I am an existing user of Microsoft Dynamics CRM but not version 2013
Then you'll need help in understanding the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013.
This vlog will go through the following:
Main Menu
Module Menu
Record Menu
Related Record Menu
By the end of if you should get an understanding of how to navigate in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and also an inside look into the new look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013.
.jpg)
