Dynamics CRM - Getting started resources

Welcome to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management application that is designed to help your organization acquire and retain customers and reduce the time that must be spent on administrative tasks.

The articles and videos listed within the following links will help you get started with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The first set of articles will help you work with the data that you already have. The second set will give you a quick set of steps to learn more about the different areas of the product. The final set has videos that will show how to set up and configure the settings in your system.

In case you have Micorosft Dynamics CRM Online access the following link:
http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/online/5.0/gettingstarted_resources.aspx

Otherwise access this link:
http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/2011/en-us/on-prem/5.0/gettingstarted_resources.aspx

DisplayRule in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Following an examination of Xrm.Page.ui.refreshRibbon() in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

The Xrm.Page.ui.refreshRibbon() conceders only and not to as opposed to what has been written in the SDK .

The possible workaround is to define a that will check the attribute and hide a button and hide a button using JavaScript.

Microsoft has added several new features in Dynamics CRM 2011, this post will present two of those features:

• Dialog Management
• Goal Management

Those features might be very useful in your projects and implementations, therefore it's important that you'll learn and understand their capabilities.

The following videos will present those capabilities:

• Video: Use Goal Management (CRM users)
• Video: Use Goal Management (CRM Online users)
• Video: Create a dialog (CRM Online users )
• Video: Create a dialog (CRM On-premises users)

Drag And Drop Listbox and Product Price List Import Tool - Add-Ons

There are two interesting add-ons that i would like to share with you in this post.
The first is the "Drag and Drop Listbox" the second is the "Product Price List Import Tool".

Drag and Drop Listbox

“Drag And Drop Listbox” is an add-on for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. It allows users to setup two listboxes, one as Source (on left hand side with available values) and another as Target (on right hand side with chosen values). User can drag desired values from Source to Target listbox and can save a record with dragged values.

For more information please follow this link:
http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-IN/applications/drag-and-drop-listbox-12884936087

Product Price List Import Tool

You normally receive a Price list in an external document and without the presence of an inbuilt automated system you need to manually update the price of each of the products in the price list. This can be a very tedious and time-consuming job.

Using the Product Price List Import tool, it is easy to manage the Products/Prices in Dynamics. With a one-click import tool you can save a lot of time and it makes it easy to keep the product prices up-to-date.

It also allows you to create new products in Dynamics CRM that do not already exist in CRM before importing its price.

For more information please follow this link:
http://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-IN/applications/product-price-list-import-tool-12884924568

Vote for the Changes and Suggestions You’d like in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Ask your self a question: "How many times you've heard or asked yourselves i wish i had this feature or functionality in the system" ?

Now Microsoft would like to hear from you, what is still missing and can improve the usage and implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

In Microsoft Connect site you can look for posted suggestions or requests and vote for them, that way the will get prioritized in the upcoming versions.

In case you didn’t find the relevant suggestion or request you can always open new one.

Here on the Microsoft Connect site are the Most popular CRM suggestions posted to date for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team to consider as they work on version next:

https://connect.microsoft.com/dynamicssuggestions/Feedback

Is your voice being heard? You can start here:

https://connect.microsoft.com/dynamicssuggestions

Using the Plug-in Registration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Summary

Do you have a need to extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online by writing and integrating custom code? Whether you are writing a plug-in or a custom workflow activity, you will use the Plug-in Registration tool, provided in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK, to register your custom code with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system. This article complements the documentation in the SDK by providing detailed information on how to use the Plug-in Registration tool to register custom code with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. However, registering custom workflow activities with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is not supported using the registration tool or any other means.

For more information please review the following links:

• Using the Plug-in Registration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
• Walkthrough: Register a Plug-in Using the Plug-in Registration Tool

Software Development Kit (SDK) for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Please find below a link to download Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 SDK:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=38

Software Development Kit (SDK) for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Please find below a link to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 SDK:

Post:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh547453.aspx

Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=24004

Update Rollup 21 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available

Microsoft has released update rollup (UR) version no. 21 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

For more information, please find the link below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2621054

Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is available

Microsoft has released update rollup (UR) version no. 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011.

For more information, please find the link below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2600640

Dynamics CRM 2011 Developer Training

This training kit is for .NET developers to learn the
development features of Dynamics CRM and help them build applications using
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and CRM Online. Microsoft Dynamics CRM uses familiar
components such as WCF & oData web service endpoints, JavaScript,
Silverlight, .NET 4, Workflow Foundation 4, SQL reporting and more; making it a
general purpose framework for line-of-business applications.

For more decription and download, please enter the following link:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DynamicsCRM2011?page=1

Licensing Changes for CRM 2011

Employee Self-Service CAL (ESS)

A new type of CAL has been introduced to the model to allow for licensing internal users that use other applications to connect to CRM without using the CRM web or outlook user interfaces. This employee self-service CAL (ESS CAL) is particularly useful for line-of-business (LOB) xRM applications and for intranet portals that are connected to CRM.This license type is still a CAL, and that means that it is needed for every internal user. The good news is that it is approximately 10% of the cost of the full-use CAL.In the past, if you were to build a helpdesk portal for internal users, you would have to license every user in your organization for CRM, even if they were not actually using CRM. For example, you may have a helpdesk staff of 10 users supporting a company of 500 users. Without the ESS CAL, you would need 510 CRM full use CALs. With the new ESS CAL, you would need 10 full use CALs and 500 ESS CALs, representing a savings of just under 90%.There are some restrictions with the ESS CAL. First off, the obvious - the user can only access CRM through an application that uses the CRM SDK. They cannot access CRM using the CRM Outlook or Web UIs. There are also limitations on which SDK calls can be made. The ESS CAL can create, read, and update all entities in CRM but is restricted to not delete, assign, or share through the SDK. The good news is that it can change state, so the delete capability can be achieved by changing the state to InActive, which is probably best practice anyways, especially if you have turned on auditing and want your audit data to stick around...

Limited CAL

In CRM 4, there were two types of basic user CALs (not to be confused with device CALs). The full use CAL would allow the full use of all CRM capabilities, where the limited CAL allowed for read-only use.In CRM 2011, there are additional usage rights allowed for the limited CAL. For starters, it is not read-only any longer. Limited update capabilities are available on data that is owned (or assigned) to their user account. The use rights for broader system information in CRM remains read-only.For SPLA partners, the equivelent to the Limited CAL is the Limited SAL. It has the same use rights as the Limited CAL.

External Connector License

There have been changes made to the external connector license as well. Just for review, the external connector license is only applicable for users that are external to your organization - they cannot be employees or contractors acting on behalf of your organization. The external connector license was previously introduced to allow an external system to be able to connect to CRM and manipulate or query data through the SDK calls. The use of the external connector license has been quite popular since the Portal framework has been introduced and many organizations are building externally-facing websites that are integrated with their CRM system. The external connector remains an on-premise option only as the SPLA and CRM Online license models do not require an external connector, presumably because these are subscription models that include the rights to connect to CRM.The changes that have been made to the external connector is that the usage patterns have been aligned along the same restrictions of the new ESS CAL. That means that delete, assign, and share operations are no longer permissible with the external connector.

No Professional Server SKU

In CRM 4, there were two server SKUs for an on-prem install - Professional and Enterprise. The primary difference between the two is that the professional edition was limited to a single CRM organization, where the enterprise was capable of hosting multiple CRM organization databases. In CRM 2011, there is no more professional server SKU, and all CRM 2011 Server SKUs have the capability of multi-tenancy. This bodes well for the growth of xRM.

Market Impact

I think the license changes will have a significant positive impact for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Many internal line-of-business applications that were disqualified as xRM candidates because of ballooning full-use CAL requirements will now be feasible. The new ESS CALs and expanded rights for Limited Use CALs will fill the needs of properly licensing these types of applications using a license cost that is more reasonable. This is very applicable in the portal space, which is the core competency of Adxstudio. The new ESS CAL will allow our customers to build more internal-facing portals that are integrated to CRM with much lower costs.

Error message when you start Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: "An error occurred loading Microsoft Dynamics CRM functionality"

SYMPTOMS

When you run one of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM programs that are listed in the "Applies to" section, you receive the following error message: 

 "An error occurred loading Microsoft Dynamics CRM functionality. Try restarting Microsoft Outlook. Contact your system administrator if errors persist."

Additionally, you receive error messages that resemble the following error messages:

In the Microsoft.Crm.Application.Hoster log file: 

>MSCRM Error Report:

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Error: Server was unable to process request. 

Error Number: 0x80040220 

Error Msg: SecLib::CrmCheckPrivilege failed. Returned hr = -2147220960 on UserId: 5ba13d12-846b-dc11-beb1-00188b44dd1f and PrivilegeId: 588725dd-c878-41c5-a4c3-5efc93cd3ffd 

Source File: Not available 

Line Number: Not available

In the Application log: 

Event Type: Error 

Event Source: MSCRMAddin 

Event Category: None 

Event ID: 5903 

Date: date

Time: time

User: N/A 

Computer: computer_name

Description: The Microsoft CRM Outlook add-in could not be initialized correctly. Restart Microsoft Outlook and try again. HR=0x80070057. Context=. Function=CAddin::OnConnection. Line=196. 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. 

Event Type: Error 

Event Source: MSCRMAddin 

Event Category: None 

Event ID: 16930 

Date: date

Time: time

User: N/A 

Computer: computer_name

Description: Initialization of the Microsoft CRM UI failed. Try restarting Microsoft Outlook. HR=0x80004005. Context=. Function=CAddin::HrActivateAddin. Line=665. 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. 

Event Type: Error 

Event Source: MSCRMAddin 

Event Category: None 

Event ID: 5907 

Date: date

Time: time

User: N/A 

Computer: computer_name

Description: Microsoft CRM custom folders could not be loaded into Microsoft Outlook. Restart Microsoft Outlook and try again. HR=0x80004005. Context=. Function=CAddin::HrInitializeUI. Line=132. 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. 

Event Type: Error 

Event Source: MSCRMAddin 

Event Category: None 

Event ID: 5942 

Date: date

Time: time

User: N/A 

Computer: computer_name

Description: Microsoft CRM could not add a folder to Microsoft Outlook. Restart Microsoft CRM and try again. Microsoft CRM may need to be repaired or reinstalled. HR=0x80020009. Context=. Function=CFolderModifier::InsertNode. Line=152.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when a custom entity and a site map entry have the same name.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1

Change the plural name of the custom entity. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
   
2. In the navigation pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities
3. Double-click the entity that has the same name as a site map entry.
4. In the Plural Name box, type a new name that you want to use for the entity.
   
5. Click Actions, click Publish, and then click Save and Close.
   
6. Restart Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
   

Method 2

Change the title in the site map to a name that differs from the name of the custom entity. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
   
2. In the navigation pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Export Customizations.
   
3. In the Export Customizations list, click Site Map, click Export Selected Customizations, and then click OK.
   
4. Click Save. When you are prompted, save the file to a location on the computer, and then click Save.
   
5. Extract the Customizations.xml file, and then open the .xml file in Notepad. The Customizations.xml file is saved in a .compressed file that has a .zip file name extension in the location that you specified in step 4.
   
6. On the Edit menu, click Find. Search for the name that is the same as the custom entity, and then change the name so that it differs from the name of the custom entity.
   
7. On the File menu, click Save, and then exit Notepad.
   
8. In the navigation pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Import Customizations.
   
9. Click Browse, locate and then select the file that you edited in step 6, and then click Open.
   
10. Click Upload, and then click Import Selected Customizations.
    
11. Restart Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
    

Two default views in CRM

Two default views? How to get back to one

You might come across a scenario where you see that Microsoft CRM lists two different views as the "default" for an entity (as shown in the screenshot below):

Obviously this is not the intended behavior as only one view should be listed the default. Changing the default view and re-publishing the entity with the web interface does not appear to correct this issue. While we're not 100% what causes this scenario, we have figured out a method to fix it.

First you need to export the customizations.xml file for the entity. Then open the customizations file and search for the duplicated defaulted view and change the
 
"isdefault name="Yes" "1 "isdefault "
To
"isdefault name="No" "0 "isdefault"

Note that when you find the view "name" in the customizations.xml file, it is actually at the bottom of the node. This means you will need to scroll up in the file to find the "isdefault" node.

Save, import, publish and you should be all set again.

Enable passing params in crm 4 query string

Sometimes in Dynamics CRM 4.0 we need to transform parameters as part of the QueryString (the URL).

In Dynamics CRM 3.0 we didn't have a problem to that, but in Dynamics CRM 4.0 you must follow the next steps:

1. Go to Registry into [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM]

2. Create a new DWORD with the name of [DisableParameterFilter]

3. Give [DisableParameterFilter] the value 1

4. iisreset

Enjoy.