Publishing Excel 2007 file with a to OLAP Cube for BI Reporting

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:37:32 GMT

It requires following configuration 1) Active Directory for Kerberos and 2) MOSS Excel Services correctly so that Excel Services can impersonate end users account to access cube in order to get and display data.

Where's my yellow product key sticker?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:52:49 GMT

With the release of CRM 4.0, Microsoft has done away with the familiar yellow-product key sticker. So where do you find your license key?

Role of SharePoint Designer 2007 integrating SharePoint and CRM User Interface

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:16:33 GMT

Background

After my initial end user introduction to CRM, I found that CRM provides great User Interface customization and you may know about this. You can add tabs, sections, IFRAME, fields so that you're not bound to displaying a field at a specific place in a form.

In particular, IFRAME is great as any external page can be presented in it without browsing elsewhere or opening a new window, and SharePoint page is no exception. After providing URL to SharePoint site for an IFRAME, I realized that some of UI components on SharePoint page distract users. For example, SharePoint's top navigation bar is not required if you do not expect users to navigate much. Similarly Welcome menu in SharePoint displays current user name that is already available in top-right corner of CRM page!

Such extra components on SharePoint page not only provide more (and probably unnecessary) info. than users need but also add annoying scrollbars to IFRAME. Fortunately there is an easy solution to this...

SharePoint Designer 2007

It is a great tool to customize SharePoint pages, sites without writing single line of code! I carefully customized SharePoint UI so that it looks good from CRM's IFRAME and fits with CRM UI. At high level, I updated SharePoint site's master page, removed unwanted components (without breaking SharePoint, of course!), re-structured a little bit and saved my changes! Each of this can be explained in great detail but that is beyond this post!
To learn more on SharePoint Designer 2007, visit SharePoint Designer 2007 home page

CRM now displays SharePoint sites (documents for each account, client for example) very nicely!

Key Success Factors for CRM

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:58:38 GMT

We see some common success factors with the CRM installs we have done over the past 10 years. Hopefully the factors will help companies looking at a CRM installaiton

Resetting regarding lookup when promoting an item to CRM

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:06:09 GMT

If you have found yourself in a situation in need to change the regarding on a promoted email message, but couldn't, this article is for you.

Changing Regarding on Promoted E-mails

When you initially promote an e-mail message to the CRM, you clicked 'Track in CRM', and hit the regarding button. You select a client (or another entity record) from the lookup, but realize that the selected record was not the one intended. In such a case, a closed e-mail activity is created under this client record.

To resolve ths issue, close the e-mail message, and from the main Outlook window, highlight the message, and click 'Track in CRM'. This must be done from within the Outlook main window, and not within the e-mail message. After clicking 'Track in CRM', a dialog box will appear asking if you want to create a duplicate copy of this item. Select Yes. Then, re-open the e-mail message, and select the appropriate regarding. Finally, be sure to remove the leftover activity under the previous regarding client.

CRM Split between technology and business knowledge

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:40:19 GMT

I watched a video last week by Brad Wilson, the GM for MS CRM. One of his notes was that CRM is 30% technology and 70% business knowledge. We've always believed our domain knowledge and experience in the financial services business was a big value add, but Brad confirmed it. Great to hear we're on the right road

Preserve original email message date when promoting to CRM

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:40:21 GMT

Do you promote email messages to the Microsoft CRM? Have you noticed that the date of the original email is not preserved when the message is tracked to the CRM?

Creating a CRM 4.0 Virtual Machine

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:34:52 GMT

Creating an all-in-one, self-contained Virtual Machine for CRM 4.0 proved to be a bit trickier than I thought it would.

The Communication Trap

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:19:41 GMT

One of the implications of the network being down is that electronic communication ceases to flow. On these occasions I'm reminded of just how ingrained e-mail has become in our lives.

Difficulties tracking CRM appointments through Outlook

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:23:52 GMT

If you’re a CRM for Outlook user that often relies on tracking CRM appointments, or know another user who does, chances are you may have run into this issue

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