Power of Productivity : Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Beta Released

No more Waiting!

The Dynamics CRM 2011 Global beta is released!

Today, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team releases the beta of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, for both cloud-based and on-premises deployments. The beta of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for on-premises and partner-hosted deployments will be available in all 40 markets in eight languages.

There is more goodness at the CRM Resource Center ‘What’s New’ articles:

What's New in CRM Online?

What's new in CRM On-Premise?

To try out the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 beta or sign up for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online beta visit www.crm2011beta.com.

Videos here.

Get, Set.... Explore!!!

Exciting Developer Experience with MS CRM SDK 4.0.12

Advanced Developer Extensions

Advanced Developer Extensions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, also referred to as Microsoft xRM, is a new set of tools included in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK that simplifies the development of Internet-enabled applications that interact with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It uses well known ADO.NET technologies. This new toolkit makes it easy for you to build an agile, integrated Web solution!

Advanced Developer Extensions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports all Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment models: On-Premises, Internet-facing deployments (IFDs), and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The SDK download contains everything you need to get started: binaries, tools, samples and documentation.

Authentication for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Newly added authentication documentation and sample code for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that does not require using certificates, making it easier for you to write code for your online solutions.

There are quite a few other updates in this version of the SDK package. Refer to the release history on the first page of the CHM for a complete list.

The latest verion of SDK 4.0.12 is available for download. Download it.

Take a 10 Minute Quick Start Walkthrough here.

Enjoy!

Customer Care Accelerator available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM in Codeplex

Customer Care Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is available for download on the CRM Accelerators codeplex site.

The Customer Care Accelerator focuses on delivering contact center enabling functionality, such as the ability to create a unified desktop by combining data elements from disparate line of business applications and displaying it in a single user interface. The core Customer Care
business scenarios highlighted by this accelerator include the following:

 Integrated desktop: Customers can aggregate information from diverse business applications into an integrated desktop providing employees with a 360° view of the customer interactions. Customer service representatives have immediate access to business critical information to serve customers quickly and efficiently, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
 Duplicate Data Entry: Organizations can streamline business processes by creating desktop automation workflows. Process automation eliminates the need for agents to re-enter the same data in multiple applications. Minimizing duplication helps to reduce human error and ensures a consistent customer service experience.
 Computer Telephony Integration (CTI): Organizations are provided with a consistent framework to connect CTI systems with key lines of business.
 Activity Reporting: Contact center managers have swift access to agent desktop transaction reporting, helping them to identify process bottlenecks. This capability is currently addressed by ICC Accelerator AIF component.

CCA is available as permissive shared source and is a reference example that can be adapted to fit the needs of a customer as well as additional business scenarios.

Happy CRMing

Updated Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction is available for download

Updated version of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction available for download, both on PartnerSource and CustomerSource.

Microsoft has prepared a well-defined Roadmap in bringing new innovations to customer relationship management (CRM) software with Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. This document outlines the future direction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM through to the next major release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM “V.Next” which is targeted for release in 2010. “V.Next” is planned to provide a Best-of-Breed Business Solution Platform.


Happy Reading...!

Record Counter for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 released in MSDN Code Gallery

Are you facing difficulty in counting the total number of records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0? Are you wondering if you could find a way to count the number of Pages and Records? If the answer is yes, then it is worth downloading my project from MSDN Code Gallery.

Record Counter walkthrough document is included in the Downloads tab which walks you through the plugin functionality and deployment procedure. Record Counter Plugin is available for download from here.

This simple plugin designed for MSCRM 4.0 is still in Beta stage. I am open to suggestions, if you find any bugs or would like to suggest an enhancement, please feel free to ask.

Few Screenshots below:

Quick find view

Form Assistant

Lookup view

Auto Resolve Lookups

Public Views

Advanced find

Update Rollup 6 for MS CRM 4.0 Released

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Development team continues to release regular rollups. Microsoft has released Update Rollup 6 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The update includes bug fixes and performance enhancements packaged together for easy deployment. Update Rollup 6 is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 970148: Update Rollup 6 is available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=79f90982-c039-41c2-af8e-3119ecf27790&displaylang=en

Introducing “Did you know” Series….

Discover the fascinating facts and amazing stories about the Dynamics world. Loaded with useful trivia facts about Microsoft xRM.
In this series, I intend to keep my posts short and easy to understand. With that being said, I welcome you all to my blog! I intend to update it frequently.

A marriage between Bing and Twitter

Surprised to see BingTweets, a fusion of Twitter and Microsoft's search engine Bing. BingTweets enables you to see deeper, real-time information about the hottest topics on Twitter by fusing Bing search results with the latest tweets.

Created by Federated Media.

Check out BingTweets @ http://bingtweets.com/

Coming Soon..!!! New Solution Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

What is Solution Accelerators?

CRM Solution Accelerators are a range of add-on solutions developed for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 customers and partners. These ready-made solutions include event management, sales forecasting, service, notifications, and analytics.

Each accelerator is available at no cost and showcases how the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 platform can be configured and extended to broaden marketing, sales, and service capabilities. Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and partners are encouraged to further extend these accelerators to meet their specific business needs.

Microsoft has announced 3 new CRM Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. No doubt, this helps current Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and Partners to establish business insight across social networks, channel-centric organizations and Web interaction channels. The accelerators come with full source code so you can modify them to best fit your needs, or use them as examples for creating other customizations.

Social Networking Accelerator

The Social Networking Accelerator allows business professionals to monitor and analyze customers’ conversations on social networking sites, and as a result, provides real-time status updates about their products and services. This accelerator delivers integration with Twitter.

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator

The Partner Relationship Management (PRM) Accelerator allows businesses to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to distribute sales leads and centrally manage sales opportunities across channel partners.

Portal Integration Accelerator

The Portal Integration Accelerator easily connects Microsoft Dynamics CRM to an organization’s Web experience.

The new CRM Accelerators will be made available in the next few weeks. Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and partners can download each of these solutions from http://crm.dynamics.com.

Read more [Microsoft PressPass]

so I’m looking forward to trying this out.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 Rollup 5 Released

Folks, Microsoft has released Update Rollup 5 for Dynamics CRM 4.0. You can read about it here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=970141

And download here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5101d801-976b-4c11-bdfc-000b970ef4a3

As always, It is a cumulative update that now incorporates additional bug fixes & performance improvements.

Microsoft Announces 2009 Partner of the Year Awards

Microsoft Corporation has announced the winners and finalists of its 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. Awards recognize partners’ innovative use of Microsoft technology to exceed customer expectations and solve business problems.

Winners and finalists of few Dynamics Categories my interest below. A complete list is available here.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year

· Winner: Ascentium, United States

· Finalist: Infinity Info Systems, United States

· Finalist: CIBER UK, United Kingdom

Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner of the Year

· Winner: Cogsdale, Canada

· Finalist: Interdyn-Socius, United States

· Finalist: ITQAN Al-Bawardi Computers, United Arab Emirates

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partner of the Year

· Winner: Sistemas de Gestión, Spain

· Finalist: Serenic Software, United States

· Finalist: Pleasant Valley Business Solutions, United States

Microsoft Dynamics AX Partner of the Year

· Winner: Hitachi Consulting, United States

· Finalist: Fullscope, United States

· Finalist: Eclipse Computing, Australia

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Enterprise Benchmark - 50K Concurrent Users

Feels great! Microsoft and Intel demonstrate new levels of power, price, and performance with this Microsoft Dynamics CRM scalability benchmark. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM benchmark scaled to more than 50,000 users and more than 2.9 million daily transactions.

Read the Press Release here.

Download the Executive Summary.

Introducing Bing...! A new search Experience

You probably didn’t wake up today expecting an entirely new search experience.

But – Bing! – Here it is.

The above Punch lines are from the welcome page of Bing..! Bing is the new search engine from Microsoft, first launched in the US on the 28th of May 2009, and now available in other territories.

If you would like to explore the search experience in Bing, please follow the Bing Tips and Tricks Published here.

Happy Search Experience..!

Visual Studio 2010 and .net 4 is now available on MSDN

Just wanted to update you on this super cool stuff...

Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 mark the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Designed to address the latest needs of developers. The CTP version of Visual Studio 2010 and .net 4 is now available on MSDN. Get it now...


Download center page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=922B4655-93D0-4476-BDA4-94CF5F8D4814&displaylang=en

Visual Studio delivers key innovations in the following pillars:

Democratizing Application Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) crosses many roles within an organization and traditionally not every one of the roles has been an equal player in the process. Visual Studio Team System 2010 continues to build the platform for functional equality and shared commitment across an organization’s ALM process.

Enabling emerging trends
Every year the industry develops new technologies and new trends. With Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0, Microsoft delivers tooling and framework support for the latest innovations in application architecture, development and deployment.

Inspiring developer delight
Ever since the first release of Visual Studio, Microsoft has set the bar for developer productivity and flexibility. Visual Studio 2010 continues to deliver on the core developer experience by significantly improving upon it for roles involved with the software development process. .NET Framework 4.0 contains numerous improvements that make it easier to develop powerful and compelling applications.

Riding the next generation platform wave
Microsoft continues to invest in the market leading operating system, productivity application and server platforms to deliver increased customer value in these offerings. With Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 customers will have the tooling support and the platform support needed to create amazing solutions around these technologies.

For more information on Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0 visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/products/cc948977.aspx

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

A Quick Update:
The CRM team has just released Update Rollup 4 for CRM 4.0 which you can download from here.

· KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/968176
· Download center page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0ddf8e83-5d9c-4fe7-9ae6-f2713a024071

Communications Panel for Microsoft CRM 4.0

While reading Dynamics related blogs today, I found the announcement of Communication Panel for Dynamics CRM 4.0, an interesting add-in for CRM 4.0. I am delighted to see this as it seems to make perfect match - Office Communications Server [OCS] and Dynamics CRM.

The Agent Communications Panel for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and enables agents to manage their communications (make calls, receive calls, conference, and chat) from their Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

The Agent Communications Panel embeds with CRM itself:

Agent Communications Panel is an XBAP, published to a Web server and opened from a Web browser.

A few interesting facts:

• Make and Receive Phone Calls

• Make and Receive Instant Messages

• Add Audio to an Instant Messaging Session

• Conferencing

• Manage Your Activity Records

And many more……

Download Center: Click here

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 3 is now available via the download center.

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 3 is now available via the download center.

· KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=961768

· Download center page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05453fa4-9551-4a88-9852-634a9ad0e140&displaylang=en

Update Rollup 3 is the first UR post-transition to the new rollup servicing model. A very significant advantage of this model is the release predictability as Microsoft ships an update rollup every 8 weeks. The next rollup will release on May 7th. All the major product groups have moved to this rollup servicing model and many more are transitioning now as it’s been a win for Microsoft and our customers.

A few interesting facts about this Update Rollup:

· There are 91 new fixes in this rollup, of which 67 came from the SE Help project. Since UR3 contains the previous two Update Rollups, there are 384 fixes included in UR3 (of which 218 fixes came from the SE Help project).

In terms of priority, the breakdown is as follows:

	Update Rollup 1	Update Rollup 2	Update Rollup 3	Total
P1 (severe bug)	51	22	14	87
P2 (loss of functionality with no workaround)	48	50	39	137
P3 (loss of functionality with workaround)	47	68	34	149
P4 (Customer Design Change Request)	0	7	4	11
Total	146	147	91	384

New version of the CRM SDK 4.0.8 is available for download.

This release of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK includes new documentation and sample code to support server-to-server authentication with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. SDK is available for download @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=82E632A7-FAF9-41E0-8EC1-A2662AAE9DFB&displaylang=en

Update Rollup 1 is now available for CRM 4

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Server, Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router.
For more information about this release, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 952858.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=952858

To download the update, click here.