CRM Watcher is the source for the latest Microsoft Dynamics CRM News and Downloads.
Release of a new version of the SDK. It contains all new information about creating plug-ins, working with custom workflow activities, using the new Web services, using new data management features, and much more.
Download [Microsoft Download Center]
Michael Höhne published the final release of the Stunnware Tools for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It is still a community tool and has all the features you know from previous versions.
There also is the Professional Edition, which is a yearly subscription.
More info here [Stunnware's CRM Corner]
SalesCentric [creator of Relationship Charts] Custom Views for Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows implementers and power users to quickly create list forms with multiple filters for any entity in CRM, with a WYSIWYG query builder and integrate them into the Dynamics CRM navigation system!
Key Features
- Simple drag and drop visual designer
- Use any combination of single options, multi options, range and text box filters enhanced by auto complete feature to get to the needed data with a few mouse clicks.
- Segment the contacts to target right audience using very accurate selection criteria.
- Leverage the knowledge about opportunities, their competitors and other related information obtained through an intuitive interface and rapid retrieval provided by Custom Views.
- Utilize 30+ out-of-the-box Custom Views definitions instead of CRM’s default views.
- Search across all relationships in CRM to find the people who have specific relationships with your prospect employees.
- Search across any associated records using easily configured filters such as city, address, first and last names, job titles and even custom fields.
- Display both Activities and History in the same list.
- Add contacts from Custom Views directly to Marketing lists.
- Design Custom Views in a test environment, export them and use them in the production environment.
Read more [SalesCentric]
I can't wait till the release of the CRM Accelerators. For what I've seen till now, it's pretty impressive.
Last week The MSCRM Team introduced the Event Management Accelerator. The Event Management Accelerator focuses on three areas of event management, namely:
- Event Planning
- Event Attendance
- Event Review
Read more [The MSCRM Team Blog]
This white paper details the Offline and Online synchronization processes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The paper also provides a FAQ and list of resources for additional information.
Download [Microsoft Download Center]
Mobile data solutions provider, Genesis Communications, has launched Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as a hosted service available on mobile devices.
This company is one of the first in the world to offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as a hosted mobile service.
Users of the service from Genesis will be able to sign up to a monthly contract, similar to that for their mobile phones, and will then be able to access their MSCRM portal from PCs, laptops and handheld devices, wherever they are.
Read more [IT Reseller Magazine]
David Yack [MVP] is the author of the new MSCRM 4.0 book 'CRM as a Rapid Development Platform'. MSCRM 4.0 uses popular developer technologies like SQL Server, SQL Server Reporting Services and Windows Workflow Foundation for process automation. This book explains how you can build your applications on top of it, integrate with it or simply extend it using ASP.NET, SharePoint, Silverlight, Virtual Earth, Custom Workflow Activities, Mobile and more.
The target audience for this book is solution architects, developers and ISVs (Independent Software Vendors).
Read more [CRM as a Rapid Development Platform]
Last week the MSCRM team introduced the Analytics Accelerator. This week the first details of the eService Accelerator are available.
The eService Accelerator provides businesses the ability to deliver self-service capabilities to their customers while tracking and managing these interactions in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The complete list of Accelerators is as follows:
The CRM Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and partners will be released in the next few months.
Read more on the MSCRM Team Blog [MSCRM Team Blog]
Last week I received an email from Richard Rezac (Factor360) with the question whether I could make mention of the fact that the Microsoft Dynamics CRM (3.0 & 4.0) Project and Timesheet Add-on tool is available in the U.S.. Of course I like to comply with this wish.
Project Management and Time sheet registration add-on features:
-You have the benefits of the world’s most used user interface to define the projects.
- Knowing how to work in Outlook means that you know how to work with the Project Management solution.
-Using the standard workflow engine of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the user can set up templates with standard project activities that are easy to re-use again and again.
- Being able to use the flexible Microsoft Dynamics tools to configure the solution to your liking is also available for Project Management.
- All activities that you want to track in a project can be defined using the standard task capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM: planned activities, meetings, workshops, phone calls, emails, milestones etc.
- All resources can be set up and assigned to a project. Their rates and expected costs can be registered in a way that a budget is created for external & internal resources.
- Results can be monitored on a number of standard reports.
- It is also possible to put billable time on an invoice. When you create an invoice from within the Timesheet, the hours (or any other field, like description) can be mapped from the timesheet to the invoice.
More info here or contact Factor360
In Europe the add-on is available via @work Management Associates
Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services.
“Microsoft developed this release of SQL Server with the customer in mind,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. “SQL Server 2008 is the only major database that includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality for data management as well as advanced business intelligence out of the box. By offering a complete solution, we save customers time and money and allow them to focus on deriving the most value from their data assets.”
Read more about the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM database server
Download the SQL Server 2008 Essentials
SQL Server 2008 Website [Microsoft PressPass]
Last week The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Team introduced the CRM Accelerators program for Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and partners. Through CRM Accelerators, customers and partners benefit from new functionality on a more frequent basis.
The CRM Accelerators will be available in the second half of 2008 and one of them is the Analytics Accelerator. The first, very interesting details of this Accelerator are now available on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team site.
Read more on the MSCRM Team blog [MSCRM Team Blog]
Unitek’s CRM Team supplies a new free, useful CRM tool!
Microsoft CRM has not the ability to search across multiple entities, such as Leads and Contacts in CRM 3.0 or 4.0. Unitek developed a method that gives users the ability to search Leads and Contacts simultaneously, with a single search.
Read more [Unitek]
MSCRM Addons released PowerSearch for Microsoft CRM 4.0.
PowerSearch provides a very simple way to search for data & documents in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, even in inactive records!. In addition, PowerSearch offers the possibility to create a favorites list of your most used CRM pages and enables quick access instead of manually navigating through the CRM menus.
Search entities: PowerSearch enables the user to search through a set of specified entities.
Fulltext Search: Quick search in the content of all documents saved in CRM, using an indexing-service that covers all documents.
Favorites: Via the Favorites-functionality of PowerSearch, all entities, advanced searches, reports and websites can be accessed from within one page in CRM.
Statistics: Important statistics like revenues, cases, etc.. can be presented.
Read more [MSCRM Addons]
Last week i've seen an amazing demo of Qlikview, a product by QlikTech. QlikTech is the world’s fastest growing business intelligence software company, offering sophisticated and visual analysis and reporting solutions.
What makes this software really interesting and an alternative for SharePoint and Business Scorecard Manager solutions is, that the anaytics whith Qlikview are very fast to develop (just a couple of days!) and easy to maintain.
The software is built to take advantage of open architectures and 64-bit platform technology and can analyze more than a billion records in second. QlikView’s visually interactive interface is very simple for people to learn and use and the results are immediately on the screen.
So if you're interested in great looking dashboards whithin a couple of days for a very reasonable price, take a look at Qlikview.