Category: CRM

Where do Value Based Enable Rules get their data for the CRM 2013 ribbon?

A recent request tasked me with adding functionality to the form ribbon of an Order in CRM 2013. The goal was to capture information from two fields on the Order’s associated Account and based on that information enable or disable a button on the ribbon of the Order which for the purposes of this article we can call Has_Value. I was not able to pass the values to the Order when it was created as these values could change some time after it had been created. Additionally, if the associated Account were found to be a duplicate, it would have to be merged and updated on the Order that could also change the results of the information I was capturing. This left me with having to query for my information using Javascript when the Order form loaded. With this Javascript query, I then updated a hidden Boolean field on the Order if the criteria was met or left it blank if it was not. This might not seem important now but having to take these actions in order to meet the requirements affected how this customization had to be modified at later steps in the functionality.

February 18, 2015

Making Your Software Work for You: Dynamics CRM

Part of our job here at KTL Solutions is to show or demo business solutions to our clients. These solutions can range from Budgeting/Reporting, AP Automation, Warehouse Management, to Customer Management software. One of the first requirements we hear from most customers is that they need the software to work for them, not the other way around.

All businesses are unique, and everyone has a different way of conducting business. Established organizations have processes already in place. These processes can be extremely difficult and disruptive to the entire business if they have to change to accommodate a new software solution. More to that point, it does not make sense to purchase a “solution” that requires you to change the way you do business. Software is an investment. It takes money, time, and man power to implement a solution so at the end of the day it should work for you, not the other way around.

January 29, 2015

Dynamics CRM: A Team Effort

I’d like to break down the difference between two types of teams found in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. Most people who are familiar with teams in Dynamics CRM know about what are called, “Owner Teams.” These are the traditional teams that have been around since CRM 4. In Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft has introduced a new type of team called an, “Access Team.” The purpose of creating Access Teams appears to be for the benefit of working around and with some of Dynamics CRM’s security features.

December 19, 2014

What’s New in CRM 2015

Dynamics CRM 2015 is around the corner and there is a lot of excitement building up towards its launch. CRM 2013 completely changed things by introducing a whole new user interface and CRM 2015 is building on top of it by adding and improving existing features. CRM 2015 has introduced a lot of platform enhancements that make it a solid and great CRM experience. I have listed a few exciting features here but it’s a big list and we will explore through them as we approach the CRM 2015 launch.

December 5, 2014

Using MSFT Dyn CRM to Automate RFP Responses

We have observed over the last few years that bidding on contracts with the Federal Government is becoming easier and harder; a contradiction yes, but true just the same.

It has become easier because of the standardization of the award vehicles and bid consolidators like INPUT. The task of finding the right contracts to bid on and the less complex responses required make it easier; but now that it is easier, there are many for firms competing, which makes winning contracts harder.

November 7, 2014

Custom CRM Reports with External Data

Perhaps you wish to provide your Sales Reps with the Customer Statement from Dynamics GP or a report which summarizes order history. We would be able to use pre-filtering to only pull orders in GP for the Account in question or if your Sales Rep is on the road, still allow them to print out a Customer Statement without having to us a VPN to access GP. Great! So, I’ll just upload the report I created into CRM and be able access my external data. Not so fast.

October 2, 2014

Dynamics GP & CRM Integration Demystified: Part 2

Continuing from my previous post about Dynamics GP & CRM integration I will go over the tools and technical details on the integration. You don’t have to decide on the integration tool right from the beginning, again it will depend on your requirements and also keeping in mind your future needs. The marketplace is flooded with a lot of integration tools for GP and CRM so take your time in understanding your needs and then choose the integration application.

September 24, 2014

Salesforce vs. Microsoft CRM – What Are the Differences?

Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM are currently the two leading CRM systems on the market. Five to ten years ago, the CRM software market was divided among many different players (ACT!, Goldmine, Sugar, Sage CRM and others) with Salesforce being the dominant and fastest growing. But over the last few years, the enterprise CRM industry has been dominated by only two, Microsoft and Salesforce. Salesforce has had a clear lead in market share over Microsoft CRM, but Microsoft CRM companies added revenue growth in the last two years far surpasses Salesforce, and the market share gap has narrowed considerably.

September 4, 2014

CRM Report Permissions

CRM provides a variety of out-of-box reports as well as the ability to import custom built reports. Some of these are beneficial to the entire organization while others are required just for a subset of users such as executives, sales or service managers, or even a specific department such as Finance. These group specific reports might contain information which other groups should not be able to see (e.g. a profit margin report which shows product cost for the Finance team which you do not want Sales Reps to view.) With this scenario you need to set up security around the reports. It’s not always straightforward and easy to figure out.

September 2, 2014

Dynamics CRM: Not your grandparent’s tool!

Think back to your last little project you had to do around your house or with your car. Maybe you were gardening, doing some landscaping, building a deck, or painting a room. Whatever the project was, you probably had to use some sort of tool, and most likely multiple tools, to accomplish the job. And if you are like me, you probably didn’t have the right tool at your fingertips causing you to stop and either go find the tool in the garage, go buy a tool, or worse yet, use a work around. Let’s face it, we’ve all been in similar situations and it gets frustrating when momentum is moving forward and the project comes to a standstill because you don’t have what you need when you need it.

August 22, 2014