Import LinkedIn data to Dynamics CRM 2011 Step by step

Export contacts from LinkedIn:

1. Open LinkedIn and login
2. Click on Contacts and in bottom right, click on ‘Export Connections’
3. Leave it on Microsoft Outlook and click ‘Export’
4. Type in the security word and click ‘Continue’
5. Save the file

Import contacts into Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011:

1. Click on ‘Imports’, it is under ‘My Work’ menu in the left side.
2. Click on ‘Import Data’ is located on the ribbon
3. Browse to the file that you have exported from LinkedIn and click ‘Next’
4. Click ‘Next’ again.
5. Under System Data Maps, select standard data for contacts and accounts, click ‘Next’
6. Click ‘Next’
7. Click on ‘Account’ and map the fields, left field names are from LinkedIn, you have to select which field in Dynamics CRM to map it. You don’t need to map all fields.
8. When finished with Account, click on ‘Contact’
9. Find field ‘Company’ and select ‘Parent Customer (Lookup)
10. Select ‘Account’ and Referred Field should be ‘Account Name’
11. Map the remaining fields of contact as you want.
12. Click ‘Next’, if you get empty fields warning, click ‘OK’
13. Click ‘Next’
14. If you have duplicate detection enabled in Dynamics CRM, you can select if you want duplicate detection enabled when importing, selecting ‘No’ CRM will check for duplicates and selecting ‘Yes’ It will import duplicates if there are any.
15. Select who you want as owner for this data
16. Give it a name like ‘LinkedIn Contacts and Accounts’ and click ‘Submit’
17. Click ‘Finish’

Now wait a couple of minutes and your contacts will be imported.

To see status of import, click on ‘Imports’ and open your import job.
Now you are able to see which records are imported, you can also add your data to Marketing List etc.
Please notice if you delete account, it will automatically delete related contacts.

If you have any questions, please contact me FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets

Founder & Owner @ Soft-Pro

FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Visit our Website: www.soft-pro.co.il

Visit our company blog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/soft-pro/

Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/soft-pro

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soft-Pro/340573579366008

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Soft_Pro

Add to your Google+ Circle: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111607407101426718349/111607407101426718349/posts

Is there a measureable ROI on social media marketing?

This blog post (http://okt.to/ioK086) claims "The Social Media marketing return on investment is a major factor why businesses choose to step into social media marketing and the two communications here. Social media has proved in the past years that it can bring positive ROI when done right."

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

If you have any questions, please contact me FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets

Founder & Owner @ Soft-Pro

FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Visit our Website: www.soft-pro.co.il

Visit our company blog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/soft-pro/

Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/soft-pro

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soft-Pro/340573579366008

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Soft_Pro

Add to your Google+ Circle: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111607407101426718349/111607407101426718349/posts

If you have any questions, please contact me FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets

Founder & Owner @ Soft-Pro

FREDY@Soft-Pro.co.il

Visit our Website: www.soft-pro.co.il

Visit our company blog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/soft-pro/

Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/soft-pro

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soft-Pro/340573579366008

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Soft_Pro

Add to your Google+ Circle: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/111607407101426718349/111607407101426718349/posts

Tips to Improve CRM User Adoption

CRM User Adoption is one of the challenging area for many organization of all sizes. Whilst the need for a CRM system in an organization is arising and organizations are planning to implement the same, it is also highly imperative to think about making your users adopt to the system. So, I would say CRM user adoption should be thought about well in advance even before deciding on which CRM system to implement. The key here is, get your users adopted to process, the system does the rest.

Here are few areas to be considered for a successful CRM user adoption strategy.

Identify Champions within the organization (CRM Advocates)

Every organization needs a CRM advocate within themselves, he/she should be the go-to person for anything related to CRM. This CRM specialist should be an active member right from the initial CRM strategy design till the end so that their expertise and skills could be highly leveraged and can take the entire organization’s CRM vision in the right direction.

Demonstrate Value

Every CRM user in the organization should be aware of the value which the CRM system brings in. It should not be that the management wants them to use it, so they do. It’s better if it is the other way around. Here the CRM specialist should act as a sales person to the CRM users. Most importantly answer the WIIFM “What’s in it for me” question, then things would fall in place automatically.

In my own experience, I used to tell my people that if they are comfortable using Microsoft Outlook then they are already IN the game, then CRM would be the enabler.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM advantage, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Integration with Outlook

Deliver where it is required

While the world is completely going Mobile! So do the need for your users and their CRM. Imagine how beneficial it could be if your users can access it in their IPad, IPhone, Blackberry etc. In a typical case, the sales person who gets out in the field does not feel motivated to enter the client specific information back in his desktop. With mobile CRM, he/she can enter information in their mobile device and have it tracked. Try Microsoft Dynamics CRM with no additional cost.

Involve department heads in decision making

Similar to any management decisions, when you plan your CRM system it is recommended to include the head of each department in the CRM decision making process which can add more value to the system from their department’s perspective and more importantly will help us to set clear expectations from the system.

Opt for a phased implementation rather than doing all at once

Anything which goes through a gradual process is more effective and will help reap great results. Similarly, the CRM implementation process should be looked at the same way. Start smaller and grow gradually. We may have a bunch of expectations from the CRM system but it doesn’t mean that it has to be done all at once. Instead, split those into phases and implement one by one. The advantage is, better user adoption through a proper pace.

Make training plans to fit different users

Proper training plays an important role and serves as a contributing factor for successful CRM user adoption strategy. Your CRM training plan should preferably be tailor made for each set of users, not so easy but worth the time invested.

Incorporate social media with CRM

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/fredy/archive/2012/04/11/social-crm-the-technology-enabler.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/fredy/archive/2012/04/11/social-crm-engaging-your-customers.aspx

Special Thanks to Francis Edwin < http://astutecrm.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/tips-to-improve-crm-user-adoption/ >

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets.

Fredyopaets@gmail.com 

Social CRM : Engaging your customers!

Customer engagement and collaboration is nowadays seen as a driving force for social CRM success. In this post, we will discuss on how to get the same in practice and getting the potential benefits out of it.

Business owners started investing time and efforts in listening to their customers with the help of social media tools. With that started happening it is also important for companies to start collaborating with the customers in addition to following their customer’s tweet on Twitter and activities on Facebook and Linked-In. It is about proactively reaching to your customers, being interested in them, taking suggestions/feedbacks and work-on them (the next important step towards social success) – Not so easy for big organizations as we just put-it-in-words, but still outstanding companies needs it all. It doesn’t end there, when you help solving your customers problem, possibly you can identify new opportunities with them. It is said that, business decisions based on customer feedback and insights is really where the value of social CRM comes into picture.

This opens-up the other way as well, customers connecting with each other and share brand information among themselves (Your marketing efforts simplified !). I see this as an opportunity in this competitive business world when your customers speak for your brand.

In this current internet age with the inclusion of social media tools, you can observe that your customers also spend more time online and demand support from online community resources. So it is important for any company to increase their online presence and extend their support through different channels which thereby helps you win and retain customers – Customer Retention – A new philosophy in this era.

Here, the customer is acting at the core of your business. Isn’t this real collaboration??. Isn’t this the real purpose of Social CRM??.

Special Thanks to Francis Edwin 

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Social CRM : The Technology Enabler

The word SOCIAL CRM has gained a lot of interest in me for the last few months and among others and grows in significance.
 

When we say CRM (Customer Relationship Management), we are talking about a business strategy influenced by a tool to manage customer relationships effectively.

Now I said EFFECTIVE, when I say that, In all sense that should be it and I believe a social CRM fills the customer experience gap. With CRM being social, we will be able to
 

• Listen what your customers feel. Ex: Hear them tweet.
• See what your customers are up-to. Ex: Facebook Likes
• Learn which events your customers are attending and follow them. Ex: Linked-In events.

All the above will really help you to catch your customer’s nerves and helps you serve/manage them better. Result – Happy customers !

Over the years, CRM systems has evolved to a great extent and at present we are in the xRM era. Now to compliment it more, the evolution of social CRM.

As you can see a lot of companies started using Social Media as a part of their sales and marketing
activities. A recent survey from the HBR (Harvard Business Review) says that,
 

79% of companies are using or planned to use social media and among them 58% currently use and 21% planning to incorporate in their business.

So social media awareness and its significance is growing and would it be the best chance for organizations to incorporate this with their CRM systems which goes one step ahead from managing your customers to ENGAGING them.

B2B companies are using social media to make buying decisions, now it is just a strategy away on how your sales people can get through them – A proper social CRM system, gets you there.

How Social, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is,

Social Networking Accelerator for Dynamics CRM: This accelerator was released for CRM 4.0 and had more than 5000 downloads,

http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/us/details/c8c07884-86f6-4aa4-b617-daf65daa2f80

http://crmaccelerators.codeplex.com/releases/view/29979

Social Activity Dashboard for Dynamics CRM:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/11/16/social-activity-dashboard-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011.aspx

InsideView and Dynamics CRM:

http://dynamics.pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/applications/insideview-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-sales-intelligence-socialcrm-4295022357

Vibe Social Networking for Dynamics CRM:

http://dynamics.pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-US/applications/vibe-social-networking-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-4295028209

and plenty more to come which can make the platform even better and beneficial.

Posted By <http://astutecrm.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/social-crm-the-technology-enabler/>

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Social Activity Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Over the past few days I have been wondering if the new dashboard capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 would enable me to create a dashboard that monitors activities on various social media sites. Monitoring social media sites is important for small, medium and larger businesses. By doing this a business can keep track of the conversations that people in social communities are having about their brand or service, or even about their competitors.

I imagined myself to be an owner of a small business that sells shoes and other footwear, and asked myself this question: what are the things that I would like to track. Some of the things that came to mind were -

1. What are the latest updates from the brands that I sell?
2. What does the social media activity around the various shoe brands look like?
3. What are some of the biggest conversation topics related to shoes and footwear these days?
4. What is the current set of conversations happening around shoes and footwear?

Social Media Widgets for CRM Dashboards

I then looked around to find ways in which such information could be displayed on a CRM dashboard. Fortunately, the solution was not too hard to find. There are several web sites that provide social media widgets free of use. One just has to grab the HTML\Java Script code for these widgets and add them into a CRM Web resource. Having done that we are ready to create a "Social Activity Dashboard" - we just have to add these web resources on the dashboard.

Getting the Widgets

Some of the most useful widgets for monitoring social activity can be download directly from Twitter. These widgets provide a real time update into profile pages, and search keywords. The widgets solve the problem by providing the data., so these are good candidates for our dashboard.

In addition to the live data from Twitter, we also need to be able to do some basic analysis such as retrieving the keywords that people are talking about, and the activity timeline for various search terms that I as a shoe business owner may be interested in. Looking around the web I found that the Fuse Labs gadgets from Microsoft provide me a rich set of aggregation capabilities.

Twitter Widgets

I found the following two Twitter widgets interesting for our Social Activity Monitor Dashboard. These are downloadable from http://twitter.com/about/resources/widgets.

Twitter Profile Widget:

I used this widget to get live updates about a profile, in this case Nike - one of the brands that I as a business owner would deal with.

Twitter Search Widget:

I used this widget to get live updates regarding the search keywords that I as a business owner was interested in - in this case my search keywords were Nike, Adidas, and Puma.

Fuse Labs Gadgets:

The gadgets from http://fuse.microsoft.com/ provide the ability to aggregate information from Twitter and provide some basic analytics regarding the social media conversations. These are available at - http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/SocialGadgets.aspx

Fuse Labs Gadget - Tag Cloud

This gadget provides a tag cloud for the keywords provided by the user. I used the keyword "Shoes" to generate this tag cloud gadget

Fuse Labs Gadget - Comparison

I used this gadget to provide a comparison across conversations in the 3 brands that I deal with - Nike, Adidas, and Puma.

Creating Web Resources and Dashboard

The next task is to create the web resources after the widgets have been identified. The widgets from Twitter, and Microsoft Fuse Labs allow the HTML code for these widgets to be downloaded, and embedded into custom applications. I downloaded the code for these widgets and embedded them into CRM Web resources. After creating the web resources, creating the dashboard was easy. For details on how to do this see Tracking Your Data Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Dashboards.

The Solution package for the Social Activity Dashboard shown above can be downloaded from the following codeplex site - http://crmsocialdashboard.codeplex.com/. If there are more interesting ways in which social information can be consumed, please mention it in your comments.

Posted By http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/11/16/social-activity-dashboard-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011.aspx

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Tracking Your Data Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Dashboards

Business users often need to keep a real-time pulse on their customer data . This includes knowing what data changed, when it changed, and whether there are hotspots that need further investigation. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Dashboards, putting your finger on the pulse just got a lot easier!

In this blog I will show how the charts and dashboard capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be used to track what’s happening with your customer information. I will use a simple business scenario to illustrate the capabilities – A sales manager, Kevin, wants to know when the various sales-related items his team works on were modified, and what state they are currently in. The entities that Kevin and his team are most interested in are: Accounts, Contacts, Leads, Opportunities, Orders, and Quotes.

With the powerful charting and dashboard capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, it is very easy for business users to create such dashboards. In the rest of this blog I will provide a step by step guide to creating such a dashboard. The steps outlined in this blog are currently available in the beta version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Step 1- Identify the business problem you are trying to solve

The sales manager, Kevin, will use this dashboard to answer simple business questions such as:

1. When entities I am interested in were modified?

2. What does my lead and opportunity pipeline look like?

3. Are there any accounts that have been deactivated?

4. How many leads were disqualified recently?

5. Have we lost any opportunities?

6. How many orders are in the pipeline? Have any orders been cancelled?

7. How many quotes are we working on? Have any been cancelled?

These are the kind of questions that regularly help Kevin drive the business forward. The availability of a dashboard that gives him a single page summary of this information will help Kevin in quickly getting a pulse of his business. More importantly, Kevin will also be able to identify hotspots and alarming trends using such a dashboard.

Step 2- Check whether there are any OOB charts and dashboards that can help you solve the problem

Before proceeding to create your own charts and dashboards it is always a good idea to check whether any of the Out of Box charts and dashboards can help you solve your problem. There are around 50 out of box charts that can be used to answer a good range of business questions. There are 7 out of box dashboards that cover the typical scenarios in sales, marketing and service.

It is likely that some of the Out of Box charts and dashboards in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 may meet your needs. All charts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be accessed by clicking the collapsed chart pane on the right side of any grid. All dashboards can be accessed by navigating to the Dashboard node in sitemap.

Step 3- Identify the Entities, Views and Charts that you would like to track using your dashboard

As stated earlier Kevin, the sales manager, would like to track entities such as Accounts, Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Orders and Quotes.

In this case Kevin would like to track the records that have been modified in the current month. We would like to see these entities on a chart that shows the records grouped by 2 criteria; date of modification and current status.

The following table summarizes the information that Kevin would like to track using the dashboard.

Step 4 – Decide which other users need to use these charts and dashboards

If the dashboards and charts that you are creating would be useful for all users in the organization, it will be a good idea to create system owned components. If these are going to be used by a single user, or a group\team of users then creating user owned charts and dashboard will suffice. Since Kevin is a business user he can create these dashboards and charts and share them with other teams and users.

Step 5- Create the views needed to solve your problem

We need to create a new view for each of the components described above. Creating new views is straightforward. I have created a new view for each of these entities with a filtering criteria that says: “Modified On Equals This Month”.

Step 6 – Create the Charts needed to solve the problem

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 comes with an easy to use chart designer that can be used to create the most commonly used business charts. The following different charts types are supported: bar, column, pie, line, scatter, and funnel. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 charts designer supports one level of grouping.

We can use the charts designer as a starting point for creating the chart definition. Let’s see how this can be done for the Accounts entity:

1. Go to Accounts entity in the solution explore

2. Go to the Charts Node

3. Click on New Chart

4. Create a chart by giving grouping criteria as the “Modified on”, and set the date-grouping to day. Set the name of this chart as “Daily Account Status”

Step 7- Create your dashboard

Now that our views and charts have been created we are now ready to create the dashboard. Here are the steps –

1. Go to the dashboard node within solutions

2. Click on create new dashboard

3. From the template gallery that is shown, select the first template that has 3 components on each of its two rows

4. This opens the dashboard designer canvas

5. Click on the charts icon in each of the placeholder cells, and add the 6 charts to this dashboard.

6. Give a name for this dashboard – “CRM Tracking Dashboard”

Dashboard Template Selection:

Dashboard Designer Canvas:

Dashboard Component Gallery:

Using the dashboard

Here is a screenshot of the dashboard that we just created and published.

Here are the salient features in the dashboard:

1. It tells us when each of the entities that we are interested in were modified within the last month

2. A quick look at the dashboard gives an idea of how many records for each of these entities have been modified recently

3. Drilldowns can be performed directly from the dashboard, for example a quick drilldown on the cancelled orders, can tell us the reason for these orders getting cancelled

Using Charts and Filters

Using navigate to view link on the top right hand corner of each chart on the dashboard; it is possible to directly navigate to the view from which the chart has been created. The window that opens shows a list view of the records as well as the chart. From this view it is possible to perform additional analyses such as:

1. Applying Filters – Filters can be applied using the filters icon in the main ribbon tab for each entity. These filters are similar to excel filters which most business users are familiar with.

2. Drilldowns – By clicking on a region of the chart users can drilldown into further details regarding their data. Performing a drilldown updates the grid by applying appropriate filters. Conversely, applying filters on the grid updates the chart.

3. Total Record Count – As you proceed with analysis using filters and drilldowns the total record count at the bottom left corner of the grid keeps you updated about the total number of records in your current working set.

Conclusion

It is evident from the above steps that the charts and dashboards features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 are both easy to use and powerful at the same time. These dashboards can be created by business end users in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. We hope the steps outlined above will help your organization make good use of these features. We will have more blogs in the future to showcase further analytics related capabilities.

Posted By http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/10/12/tracking-your-data-using-microsoft-dynamics-crm-dashboards.aspx

Thanks,

Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Integration with Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 has a lot of great new features, but my personal favorite is its seamless Outlook integration. I am like most of you out there and have my Outlook open all day, every day, no matter what project I’m working on. Its interface is easy to use and it keeps me on track when multiple projects land in my lap.

The native Outlook Client Experience of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 brings a number of enhancements to the table, helping you increase your personal productivity:

• You can see your Outlook emails, contacts, appointments in addition to all the CRM information for your client contacts.
• You can convert an Outlook email to a sales opportunity that seamlessly tracks all conversations and data in one system. No more copy/pasting your notes from Outlook to CRM!
• You can view the list of CRM features in the left hand navigation pane within your Outlook interface.
• You can have access to contextual help that walks you through sales processes.
• You can easily convert CRM date to a bar chart with one click of your mouse:
  
  
  
• You can assign flags for your tasks within CRM that align with your Outlook tasks for days, weeks, and even months ahead.
• You can create a new rules for specific opportunities so they are easily filtered and viewed through Conditional Formatting. You can even see frequently used fields when setting up your personal preferences so you know what’s more applicable to you without involving IT or administrators.
  
  
  

As you can see, the functionality available through the next generation Outlook client of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is well worth looking into.

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Dynamics CRM 2011 Solutions

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 comes with a brand new concept of solutions. Solutions are how customizers and developers author, package, and maintain units of software that extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. In this post I will be focusing on development of enterprise CRM implementations and utilization of solutions.

Please take a look at the following 3 links that will allow you to better understand Solutions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

CRM 2011 Solutions Management with Humberto Guadarrama
Solutions Management in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
Solutions & Release Management

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Released White Paper: Deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM Online Solutions from Development through Test and Production Environments

On behalf of the CRM Engineering for Enterprise Team and the CRM Content Publishing Team, I am pleased to announce the release of the white paper, Deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM Online Solutions from Development through Test and Production Environments, which is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=232288.

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, “solutions” provide a simple and reliable way for deploying packages of related extensions to Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementations. In professionally managed development organizations, these solutions will be deployed and analyzed in various test and staging environments prior to deployment into a production environment. This white paper explores deploying real-world Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions across test and production environments in reliable and repeatable ways by using automation. The paper also provides some automation example and highlights the specific constraints associated with deploying and testing solutions in a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online environment.

We’d especially like to recognize the efforts of Darren Hubert, Darren Liu, and Joey Su (Microsoft Consulting, US); Roger Gilchrist and Phil Hand (Microsoft Consulting, UK); Ryan Casey (Zero2Ten CRM); and Riaan Van Der Merwe (Neudesic), and the broader CRM Product team for contributing to and reviewing this paper to help ensure its completeness and accuracy.

Note: The paper will subsequently be available via MSDN and the TechNet library in the CRM section under Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 – Enterprise.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2011/11/01/released-white-paper-deploying-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-and-crm-online-solutions-from-development-through-test-and-production-environments.aspx

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Activity Feeds - Getting Started Video

Video: Getting started with Activity Feeds

http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/on-prem/5.0/vid_activity_feeds_intro.aspx

More Activity Feeds articles coming in the near future.

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Dynamics CRM 2011 instructional Videos

• Watch the video

• Watch the videos.

• CRM that works in Microsoft Outlook (0:34) Is your CRM as easy as email?
• What's New? Prepare to Upgrade (3:50) Watch this video to get a better understanding of the changes in the new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to help you prepare for your upgrade.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Office Fluent UI (4:24) This demo shows how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is adopting the Microsoft Office Fluent UI to make navigation easier and tasks quicker to perform.
• Personalizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (5:07) This demo shows and many ways that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be personalized to suit individual roles and work styles.
• Easily Create Charts with Inline Visualizations (4:15) This video demonstrates how to quickly modify, drill down, and create new charts using inline data visualizations.
• Installing the CRM 2011 Outlook Client (8:06) This video will demonstrate a step by step process on installing the Outlook Client using the Configuration Wizard.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Outlook Integration (8:52) This demo shows how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 works inside Microsoft Outlook, making it easier than ever to keep track of customer information.
• Conditional Formatting in the Outlook CRM Client (3:16) This video will demonstrate how to create conditional formatting in CRM 2011.
• Microsoft CRM and Office "Better Together" (14:53) This is a short video of the integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Office 2010.

• Dynamics CRM 2011 - Driving Sales Productivity (8:25) Demonstration of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be used to drive sales productivity.
• Dynamics CRM 2011 - Quotes, Orders, & Invoices (13:35) Demonstration of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 sales process can utilize Quotes, Orders, & Invoices.
• Dynamics CRM 2011 - Maximizing Marketing Impact (8:40) Demonstration of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be used to maximize marketing impact.
• Dynamic Marketing Lists (4:37) Create marketing lists and add members automatically using dynamic marketing lists.
• Harnessing Social Technologies with CRM 2011: Social CRM for Sales (15:00) This video highlights some of the different solutions available for incorporating social technologies into the sales process with CRM 2011.

• Dynamics CRM 2011 - Optimize Customer Experience (7:55) Demonstration of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can be used to optimize customer experience.

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 - Partner Portal (9:55) This brief video will assist to setup and understanding how to use the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Partner Portal.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 - Customer Portal (13:21) This brief video will assist to setup and understanding how to use the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customer Portal.

• Administration (100) - Configure Fields and Forms (13:07) This video is an introduction on how to create basic fields and modify forms in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• Administration (100) - Import Your Data Using Templates (9:10) This video explains how to perform data imports for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 using import templates.
• Administration (100) - Import Your Data (12:33) Prepare your data for import, set up CRM and import your data, and review your data import results.
• Administration (100) - Use Data Import to Customize Entities and Fields (14:51) This video is a continuation on how to create custom entities and fields, while importing data, using the data import wizard.
• Administration (100) - Create Users, Configure Business Units, Security Roles and Teams (13:41) This video demonstrates how to set up business units, security roles, add users, and create teams in CRM 2011.
• Administration (100) - Create a Basic Workflow (12:44) This video demonstrates how to create a basic workflow for lead routing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• How to create "Role Tailored Forms" (100) (3:42) This video will demonstrate how to create and leverage role tailored forms in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• How to apply "Field Level Security" (100) (4:25) This video will demonstrate how to apply field level security to a custom field in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• Document Management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and SharePoint (100) (4:23) This demo shows how documents can be easily stored, accessed, updated, and included in workflow using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and SharePoint Server.
• Flexible Goal Management in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (100) (4:28) See how businesses can define key performance and business indicators to track and measure progress against any organizational goal or metric.
• Process control in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (200) (3:18) This demo shows the different ways in which managers can gain greater control of their business processes using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• How to make "Dialogs" (200) (9:07) This video will demonstrate how to create a dialog, a type of process, in CRM 2011.
• Record Auditing in CRM 2011 (100) (4:37) Want to know how to track changes to records in CRM? This video on auditing shows you how to manage audit tracking and history.

• Solutions Management in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (200) (7:50) This demo shows how developers and ISVs can manage their solutions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.
• Declarative Programming Model in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (300) (6:56) This demo shows how to quickly customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 using a declarative programming model. New forms can be easily created using templates, and the form layout, titles, and formatting can all be configured with just a few clicks.

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets,
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Common Keyboard Shortcuts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Learning keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 may take some time to learn, but will eventually save you time once they become a part of your routine. Here is a list of 15 keyboard shortcuts I compiled designed specifically to help you navigate Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Web Form Submissions Straight into CRM

In this article i would like to expose you to 2 solutions that would help you to easily capture data from your website into the CRM.

PowerObjects - PowerWebForm
http://www.powerobjects.com/blog/2012/04/02/web-form-submissions-straight-into-crm-2/

CRM Innovation - Web2CRM
http://www.crminnovation.com/crm-solutions/web2crm.htm#

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Iwm6z3UJE&feature=youtu.be

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com

Limitations of OData EndPoint in CRM 2011

1) The $format and $inlinecount operators are not supported. $filter, $select, $top, $skip, $orderby are supported.

2) Maximum 6 expansions are allowed using $expand operator. Querying a multi-level relationship property is not supported i.e. One level of navigation property selection is allowed.

3) Page size is fixed to max 50 records however it can be changed by doing changes in advanced configuration settings but it is not recommended.

4) When using with distinct queries, we are limited to the total (skip + top) record size = 5000. In CRM the distinct queries does not use paging cookie and so we are limited by the CRM platform limitation to the 5000 record.

5) Conditions on only one group of attributes are allowed. A group of attribute refers to a set of conditions joined by And/Or clause.

6) Arithmetic, datetime and math operators are not supported.

7) Order by clause is only allowed on the root entity.

8) Only Create, Retrieve, Update and Delete actions can be performed on entity records.

Messages that require the Execute method cannot be performed.

Associate and Disassociate actions are performed as updates.

9) Authentication is only possible within the application; Use of the REST endpoint is effectively limited to JScript libraries or Silverlight Web Resources.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg334279.aspx

10) The OData protocol is not fully implemented in CRM 2011. Some system query options are not available.

Thanks,
Fredy Opaets.
Fredyopaets@gmail.com