Blogs

I ran into a feature the other day that I thought would be worth writing a blog about. This feature has been around for a while, but I felt that it might be in existence without a lot of us noticing, and will definitely help a lot of us, so here it goes! Why is the knowledge base search disabled in the form editor? About Knowledge Base Search: Setting up a comprehensive knowledge base is the key to increased customer satisfaction and improved productivity. A knowledge base is created to help the customer service reps (CSR) with solutions to the most common issues so that they can assist customers quickly. This decreases the time to help customers or ...

Purchasing and implementing a  new CRM solution can be an exciting yet a challenging endeavor. Your small and mid-sized business (SMB) is keen on taking steps to streamline its workflow, and employees aim to gain new features and tools to assist them during their work.  Now, as an SMB, you are a part of this digital revolution, therefore your staff needs to match pace. Empowering your team members with the knowledge of handling the latest technology can be the biggest blessing. Implementing the latest and best CRM solution isn’t the end of the road. It’s the start of the revolution. Your teams-sales, marketing, customer service, need to be trained on ...

As a developer, when working on a   Microsoft Dynamics CRM   instance you might come across a situation where you might have to update legacy data. I recently came across this situation. Problem : There are 2   sets   of Date/Time fields. One set is on the out of the box opportunity entity and another is one of our custom entities – opportunity pay (OP). A set comprises the start time (ST) and end time (ET).  Opportunity and OP have a 1-1 relationship. The OP record is based on the data from the opportunity entity. The date/time fields in the opportunity entity were set to   Time-Zone Independent.   The date/time fields in the OP entity were set ...

Success in any project or task largely depends on two things:  the manpower available and appropriate expertise.  If your small and midsized business (SMB) lacks either, then it’s time to signal SOS (Save our Souls) for outside help. You also need an independent insight if you are looking for a fresh perspective.  For example, recognizing ways to maximize your CRM’s efficiencies, or applying current sales best practices to accelerate your time to market, are all valid reasons for looking for outside guidance.   Consultancies provide immense help on crucial projects to improve a company’s competitiveness. They help identify, select, and secure ...

The buyer of today doesn’t need to rely on a salesperson to find out about a product or service. They are least interested in what the lead score is, or how the sales process looks like and have developed a sort of an allergic reaction to the run-of-the-mill kind of sales pitch. The buyer doesn’t want to buy because you as a salesperson told him to do so. He wants to buy because you have created the need for that. With the evolving times, the expectations, roles, everything related to sales in your   small and midsized business (SMB)   changes. This isn’t the era of self-aggrandizing pitches or loud claims. The buyer is in the driving seat. Your traditional ...

Part 2 – Building The Report In the first part, we spoke about how to add the data source. Now, after adding that, we now have to add the dataset. The dataset is what we are going to be creating the report on. Let us take an example of creating a report on an account and its corresponding contacts. Account has a 1:N relationship with Contacts. One Account has many contacts. To do that, in the report data right-click on the folder “Datasets” and click “Add Dataset..” For the dataset, we need to have a Fetch XML query. To help with this, you can do an advanced find of what you need. For example, search for the accounts and corresponding contacts and click ...

Part 1 – Establishing Connection I recently came across a requirement where I had to create an SSRS report for   Dynamics 365   for a client. This doesn’t sound that easy. Even being in the Dynamics CRM field for quite some time, I had faced several issues while creating the report, so I decided to document the process of creating the report that can be helpful for others. Environment Setup: I used Visual Studio 2015 for creating the report. However, you can use the 2017/19 versions as well. Make sure that the SQL Server Data Tools is installed.  We also need to install the Dynamics 365 Report Authoring Extension. You can download it from here: ...

Implementing CRM  is a daunting task. It sounds easy if you have a reliable Implementation team or a Consultant working with you in your small and midsize business (SMB), to get it done. But trust me, there are so many factors that you have to check before you even begin the CRM implementation. The good news is, there are tried and tested methods and CRM implementation best practices which, if followed, should help you avoid any calamity. There are a few items that have to be checked off first before you begin the implementation process. Strategize, plan and develop Before you begin, you need to get the priority straight. As to what is the ...

As a Dynamics 365 CE customizer, I frequently need to work with forms. Now, to create or edit forms, we use a Form editor. This form editor can be accessed from the default solution or an unmanaged solution or command bar. Access form editor through default solution: To access it from the Default Solution, you need to go to Settings/Advanced Settings 🡪 Customizations and then customize the System to open the Default Solution. Under components expand the entity which the form belongs to and click Forms. You will see a list of forms, out of those select the form which you want to edit.     Access form editor through an unmanaged solution: ...

More than a decade ago, it was the era of the filing cabinet that got so full that it was risky to open it in the fear of what may spill out. A few years down the line, it changed to a shared drive on the company network. This gave rise to the innumerable folders that everyone had to sift through to get to something. With the surge in CRM, the risk that you may face today is the death of information. CRM might be the very place that your data will die. Unless everyone intervenes and keeps data clean. Ironically, today we will be talking about managing information, given how a decade ago companies were struggling to handle data in the absence of CRM. ...