EBAX 3.0 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Prosoft Systems has updated EBAX and is releasing EBAX 3.0

This great tool makes it possible by simply clicking a menu item to import CRM data directly to an Excel workbook. When ready, users simply click the “Update Data” menu item and the changes are updated to the Dynamics CRM database server.

The new version 3.0 has been updated and below a list of the top 5 newest features:

1. Optimized to work quickly with larger data sets.

2. The capability to assign records

3. A user friendly record search tool

4. A detailed table formatting option for easy filtering of records

5. An extended list of available CRM entities to work with inside EBAX

Read more [Prosoft Systems]

Free Trial here

Unveiling Windows 7 to the World

At PDC 2008 (Professional Developers Conference), keynote attendees will be among the first to receive the pre-beta build of Windows 7, the next major version of the Windows client operating system. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to attend 21 different sessions that drill down into the details of developing for Windows 7.

With Windows 7 at PDC2008 the attendees will see advances across the full range of Windows—including the kernel, networking, hardware and devices, and user-interface.

Read more [Microsoft PDC 2008]

The Windows Live Wave 3 betas (Messenger version 9, Windows Live Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Family Safety and the Outlook Connector) are already available here (Web setup) or here (Full setup)

CRM Notifications Accelerator (RSS)

This week the Microsoft CRM Team introduced the notifications accelerator.

The notifications accelerator allows users to subscribe to the CRM “business events” that are significant to them. Once the user has subscribed to the types of events that are important to them they can decide how they want these event notifications to be delivered.

The best part is, that these notifications are delivered via an RSS feed and can be consumed with many desktop tools including Microsoft Outlook 2007 or the standard news feed Windows Vista® gadget.

The CRM notifications accelerator is part of the CRM Accelerators program. Earlier the MSCRM Team introduced six other CRM Accelerators:

1 - The analytics accelerator

2 - The eService accelerator

3 - The event management accelerator

4 - The enterprise search accelerator

5 - The sales methodologies accelerator

6 - The extended sales forecasting accelerator

Read more about the Notifications Accelerator [The MSCRM Team Blog]

Singapore Academy of Law Deploys CRM Technology to Better Serve Its 7000 Members

The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) provides legal information and services to Singapore's legal community. With growing membership, more events and online services were introduced to keep up with increasing members' needs. As it lacks an integrated IT system, SAL faced the challenge of unreliable manual data entry processes and rising costs in maintaining its disparate IT systems.

                      

SAL wanted a new platform to meet its members' growing needs. It had to reduce data duplication caused by multiple points of data entry and improve data accuracy with a centralized database, streamline workflow, revamp its website, improve business and event management. With Microsoft Dynamics, SAL can meet these needs while integrating CRM and financial processes.

Read more (SAL Case Study - pdf) [Microsoft Download Center]

Document Management for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

This Document Management Add-On enables you to store files directly in Microsoft Dynamics CRM by using the Windows Explorer and Drag'n'Drop

With the WebDAV connector, you get direct windows-explorer access from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM window to documents attached to an entity:

Accounts

Contacts

Leads

Service Cases

Sales Opportunities

Everything else notes can be attached to

Even your Custom Entities!

This software is now available for trial here

Read more

Microsoft Delivers First Service Update to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Microsoft Corp. released the first service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, just four months after it was first made generally available this year. The release includes new features that will enable businesses to create, monitor and optimize Internet marketing campaigns quickly and efficiently, all from within their existing CRM environment. The September 2008 Service Update is available to customers at no charge.

“Today’s release underscores our commitment to rapid innovation,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. “Our first service update is significant for its new functionality, scale and additional value it provides our customers at no additional cost.”

The Internet marketing capabilities allow businesses to utilize the Internet as a revenue-generating marketing channel and an integral part of their CRM strategy, especially in conducting search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns. The new Internet marketing functionality will enable organizations to do the following:

• Create and manage online and search engine campaigns

• Research and bid on key words using search engine optimization

• Gain insight into marketing return on investment according to click-through and conversion rates

• Capture sales leads from the Web using pages hosted by Microsoft or the organization’s own Web site

• Unify search engine intelligence with CRM analytics to optimize campaign performance

Read more [Microsoft PressPass]

MSCRM Activity - Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 1.0 Sample!

This sample illustrates using an intelligent bot to send an alert that is triggered by a workflow activity.

In the scenario for this sample, an order management application records new sales leads. If a new sales lead exceeds a predetermined dollar amount, the intelligent bot automatically reports this news via instant messaging to a specified manager. The bot also provides the manager with a menu of options for handling the sales lead. If the manager is unavailable, the bot queues the message until the manager becomes available.

Download [Microsoft Download Center]

Dynamics CRM Integration with Office Communications Server

This sample application makes use of an AJAX/JavaScript client that communicates with the Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access 2007 server to provide a Web-based Live Chat solution that connects with a Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0 server.

In this sample you will work with a server-based messaging bot capable of providing intelligent real time communications to multiple endpoints within an Office Communications Server environment. This bot communicates with customers through an AJAX-based Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access server. Messages are sent through an automated script managed by a Windows Workflow Foundation Sequential Workflow to create an intelligent automated response system.

When a conversation between a customer and the bot is finished, the data that was gathered by the bot is stored in a queue hosted by a Windows Communication Foundation service. This allows live persons to take over the conversation and gather any further desired information. Once the live conversation is complete, the queued data can be sent directly to an active Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 server through a set of Web services.

Download [Microsoft Download Center]