A new MS CRM 4.0 Handbook

Stamati Crook has been working long and hard on the new MS CRM 4.0 User Handbook. You can buy and preview it online at amazon (soon) and on the link above.

Google is getting closer to CRM

OK so my blog is very much neglected, but I just had to post this item about CRM, Salesforce.com and Google apps. I think if I were taking my business this way, I would need some very good support from a consultant, but its looking more and more possible, and more and more threatening for MS - given a few more years ...

New version of CRM - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 "Titan"

What a corny name.

anyway, this has been coming for a while and it's getting closer. My CRM consultant tells me there isn't much in it for me, but I've just read a good summary of the features on The CRM Lady blog here and I'm not so sure ... I think it might be worth me reviewing this list and asking for comments from our consultant on some specifics...

How does the laptop client know where the server is?

Several months ago I was merrily proclaiming the fact that my laptop client could connect to the server remotely, without VPN. This seemed a rare thing and plenty of other people seemed to be having problems.

It seemed to be working because we access CRM with the browser using SSL, or https://...

Well, now I am having problems, as when I fire up Outlook when away form the office, I invariably get told I can't connect and need to go offline. I should mention that I think it was my upgrade from an XP machine to Vista and Office 2007 that has caused this change.

I thought I would double check to see if the right path to the server was recorded, and was told by our tech support people where to look:

The path is kept in the registry - in the WebAppUrl value in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient. Very interesting.

Sadly, when I went to check, the path was set right, so it doesn't explain why I am having problems connecting.

My tech support guy tells me they normally find that there are problems with connecting without VPN. I find it bizarre that an issue like this can exist without anyone really understanding what is going on.

Google Maps in MS CRM!

Look at this very cool, free (I believe) add-on for MS Dynamics CRM being developed! You can see more here. This looks very nice indeed. I guess a Google map is never more than a few clicks away anyway, but for some this could be a real bonus.

E-mail preview pane for MS CRM 3

CRM's e-mail functionality is not the best in the world, and I want what can be done in Outlook to be available in the browser client so we can use CRM from any machine.

Our CRM consultant has implemented a really nice e-mail preview facility, that appears in all relevant entities.

A new link on the left in "my workplace" or any entity links to a history of relevant e-mails, with a preview pane below. Furthermore, attachments are indicated in the preview pane, and you can open them from there with just one click.

Yes, one click - now why can't Microsoft do that?

A further advantage is that if you use this for reviewing new e-mails, you can delete them from there, thus saving them being stored on the server. You can't do that from the "queues" of CRM.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile

A nice little summary of the possibilities of going mobile: TIDBITS on MS Dynamics CRM: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile.

She's right - I've been meaning to implement CRM Mobile for months, but just can't get round to it.

I lost my COM add-in and couldn't find it

I've been getting incessant warnings about the Outlook client not being able to find the database so I thought I'd disable the COM add-in, just to give myself a break. But I accidentally removed it completely and then couldn't find it.

But thanks to http://blogs.msdn.com/mscrmfreak/archive/2006/04/27/584957.aspx I found it, although the path was slightly different: /Program Files/Microsoft CRM/Client/Bin/crmaddin.dll.

UK Firm win MS CRM award

Aspective have won Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. They were the only UK finalist. Good going.

Doh!

I was trying to assign an activity to another user today but kept getting some kind of error related to not having the authority to do so. What!? I own the bloody thing!

Turns out we'd borrowed the licence from that person for someone else for the day and as a result no activities could be assigned to them.