CRM 2013 has introduced many UI features that aim to reduce the number of different windows between which the user needs to navigate while performing everyday actions on records. Since customer relationship management systems are often focused on capturing the various interactions between the company and its customers, activity management is naturally a core feature […]
Auto-Numbering with CRM Workflows: Real-Time vs. Asynchronous
One of the missing features that is often requested for Dynamics CRM is the ability to automatically assign numeric identifiers to records (see the feature suggestion on MS Connect). Sure, we’ve had the Auto-Numering feature for a limited set of default entities (contracts, cases, articles, quotes, orders, invoices, campaigns) since the early days of CRM […]
Similar Opportunity Analytics with CRM 2013 Quick View Forms
A while ago when performing a requirements gathering session for the sales process functionality in a CRM implementation project, my client asked me whether Dynamics CRM was able to show information on the opportunity form about how similar opportunities had performed in the past. Thinking of an analogy from the world of consumer web apps, […]
Address Copy Button with CRM 2013 Business Rules and Workflows
The default forms in Dynamics CRM only contain one set of address fields, but most organizations will need to surface at least the Address 2 fields for accounts and contacts to manage the different information for visiting address, mailing address, delivery address, invoicing address or whatever the business scenario. Sometimes it may be justified to […]
Enforcing Business Process Flow Fields with Real-time Workflows
Earlier I demonstrated the new capabilities that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 has introduced for workflow processes: showing error messages with real-time workflows. I covered examples of record assignment, merging duplicate accounts and stopping unwanted updates in the Mobile Express client. This time I’ll take a look at how the error message feature can be leveraged […]
Using Real-Time Workflows to Show Error Messages
In CRM 2013 we now have the option of setting a workflow to be run synchronously, also known as a real-time workflow. This opens up great new possibilities to leverage workflows in designing automated processes and providing immediate feedback to the end user when CRM data is created or updated. Having the workflow process executed […]
Getting Your Head Around Dynamics CRM 2013 Processes – Part 2
In the first part of this series we looked at the two new process categories introduced in Dynamics CRM 2013: Business Process Flows and Actions. Now it’s time to dig deeper into new CRM 2013 functionality that will allow you to achieve process automation results in areas where custom code was previously required. Business Rules: […]
Getting Your Head Around Dynamics CRM 2013 Processes – Part 1
Workflows have always been a central part of the Dynamics CRM product. The typical need for having workflow functionality available in a CRM application has revolved around the sales force automation (SFA) requirements of implementing a sales process with predefined activities to be completed in different stages. As the Dynamics CRM product has evolved and […]
CRM Rocks Podcast: Discussing the New CRM 2013 Features and User Experience
There’s a large number of great CRM blogs out there, but how many Dynamics CRM podcasts do you know of? Well, here’s one website you should definitely take a look at: CRM Rocks! Markus Erlandsson has started a new podcast series that focuses purely on Microsoft Dynamics CRM topics. In the first episode Markus interviewed CRM […]
Your Essential Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
You can do a lot with the configuration and customization toolkit that Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers. With the SDK and some lines of custom code, you can do almost anything. There in between lies the territory where the Dynamics CRM community is helping its members manage some of the commonly required tasks without the need […]