Does it drive you crazy that Microsoft CRM doesn't give you more information about where opportunities came from? Our marketing team, as most are, is tasked with a quota of how many leads we need to generate in a given time period, and we are always trying to tie our sales back to our marketing efforts.   

Humans are visual by nature and most people can really sink their teeth into charts. Unfortunately, out-of-the-box, Microsoft CRM gives you one chart that has opportunities by revenue and by source campaign called ' Won Opps by Source Campaign'. This is valid data when tying marketing dollars spent to effort. The biggest issue is that marketing can't be responsible for the revenue generated by a lead.
 
What marketing is responsible for is getting X leads generated. So, I wanted to see how our closed opportunities were broken down by source campaign. How many opportunities was each campaign bringing in?
 
So, here is how to create a chart to see visual evidence of our efforts:

Step 1 - Go into your Opportunities

Step 2 - Select the list that you want data on (I am interested in Closed Opportunities.)

Step 3 - Open the charts by clicking on the < (on the very right hand side of MSCRM)

Step 4 - This just happened to be the last chart that I looked at. This is the chart that shows revenue by source campaign - not very helpful to me to see if we are hitting our lead quota.

Step 5 - Click on Charts at the top of MSCRM
Step 6 - Click New Chart


Step 7  - Select the Pie chart

Step 8 - Name the Chart and select the data fields that you are interested in - in this case it is Source Campaign. (If you can’t see the image, both fields have the Source Campaign field.)

Step 9 - Save and Close

Step 10 - Viola - of course I had to protect the names of our innocent campaigns, but you get the drift!

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 it is possible to pull data from a sub-grid on a parent form when a page loads to read the values.

Place the script below inside a Web Resource and call the function "calcPortfolio" on a "OnLoad" event

function calcPortfolio()
{
                var portAmount = 0.00;
                //name of the sub-grid
                var gridControl = document.getElementById("SubGridName").control;                 var ids = gridControl.get_allRecordIds();                 for(i = 0; i < ids.length; i++)                 {                                               var cellValue = gridControl.getCellValue('SubGridField', ids[i]);                                 // cellValue has a datatype of Currency
                                cellValue = parseFloat(cellValue.replace(/[$,]+/g,""));                                 portAmount = portAmount + cellValue;
               }                 var Name = Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("fieldOnParentForm");
                Name.setValue(portAmount);

}

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 doesn't have multi-select picklist controls available. The standard CRM picklist can only save one value in the database and it is not easy to extend this functionality. In addition, you have to deal with the Advanced Find Feature.

Original code came from Jim Wang (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2009/03/31/crm-4-0-checkbox-style-multi-select-picklist.aspx)
 but needed customization to work for MCRM 2011

Changes to original code:
    1.  I added an "onClick()" event to build the string of values each time a checkbox is checked.      2. The original code did not save it's values into the database when the "Save" button was clicked, so I added 2 additional lines of          code to Set the values in the textbox and allow MCRM to save the data.

      var Name = Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("new_areaaccesstext");
    Name.setValue(PLV.value);

The script below will draw a checkbox style multi-select picklist control on the CRM form, and then get options from the real picklist attribute.
1.  Controls - Create a picklist and populate it with values & a textbox to store the string of values selected from the picklist
2.  Put the picklist on the form where you want the new Multi Select Picklist to show up
3.  Create a web Resource:
     Go to  "Settings", "Customization", "Customize the System". Click "Web Resource" and then "New"
    Type in the name of the Web Resource, Display Name...
    Select "Script (JScript)" and choose the Language.      Click the Text Editor button and paste the code below to the source area on the form.
                Click "OK" then "Save and Close"

4.  Add the event to the form:
    Go to  "Settings", "Customization", "Customize the System". Expand "Entity" then expand "Account" and click "Forms"
    Select the form where you added the picklist and textbox.  And click "Form Properties" button      Add the new Web Resource to the Library by clicking the "Add" button, then select the new web Resource and click "OK"
    In the Event Handlers section click "Add", select the Library file and enter the Function name (In our example: "AccountOnLoad") and click "OK" and "OK"     again
5.  Save and Publish All Customizations


Here is the Sample code - You'll need to change the values in RED

 

function AccountOnLoad ()

{

// PL - the picklist attribute; PLV - used to save selected picklist values     

var PL = crmForm.all.new_areaaccess;     //CREATE NEW PICKLIST

var PLV = crmForm.all.new_areaaccesstext;  //CREATE NEW TEXT FIELD TO STORE STRING

 

PL.style.display = "none";       //HIDES THE CONTROL

PLV.style.display = "none";     //HIDES THE CONTROL

 

    // Create a DIV container    

    var addDiv = document.createElement("<div style='overflow-y:auto; height:80px; border:1px #6699cc solid; background-color:#ffffff;' />");    

    PL.parentNode.appendChild(addDiv);    

    // Initialise checkbox controls    

 

    for( var i = 1; i < PL.options.length; i++ )    

    {    

        var pOption = PL.options[i];    

        if( !IsChecked( pOption.text ) )   

        var addInput = document.createElement("<input type='checkbox' onclick='CallOnChangeEvent()' style='border:none; width:25px; align:left;' />" );

        else    

        var addInput = document.createElement("<input type='checkbox' onclick='CallOnChangeEvent()' checked='checked' style='border:none; width:25px; align:left;' />" );

        var addLabel = document.createElement( "<label />");    

        addLabel.innerText = pOption.text;    

 

        var addBr = document.createElement( "<br>"); //it's a 'br' flag    

 

        PL.nextSibling.appendChild(addInput);    

        PL.nextSibling.appendChild(addLabel);    

        PL.nextSibling.appendChild(addBr);

    }

 

   // Check if it is selected    

   function IsChecked( pText )

   {

   if(PLV.value != "")

      {

      var PLVT = PLV.value.split("||");

      for( var i = 0; i < PLVT.length; i++ )

      {

         if( PLVT[i] == pText )

         return true;

      }

    }

    return false;

   }

}

 

function CallOnChangeEvent()

{

      var PL = crmForm.all.new_areaaccess;  

      var PLV = crmForm.all.new_areaaccesstext;

      PLV.value = "";

      var getInput = PL.nextSibling.getElementsByTagName("input");

      for( var i = 0; i < getInput.length; i++ )

      {

         if( getInput[i].checked)

         {

            PLV.value += getInput[i].nextSibling.innerText + "||";

         }

      }

 

     //MUST DO THIS TO TRIGGER A SAVE EVENT

     var Name = Xrm.Page.data.entity.attributes.get("new_areaaccesstext");

    Name.setValue(PLV.value);

}

Microsoft Customers! Get ready for Convergence 2011:

April 10-13, 2011 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA

Convergence is the premier Microsoft Dynamics event where you can experience first-hand how you can optimize your business and improve your bottom line. This event serves as the meeting point for the Microsoft Dynamics Customer and Partner business community.

Top Five Reasons to Attend Convergence 2011 Atlanta:

1. Learn how you can get the most out of your Microsoft Dynamics solution.
2. Network and collaborate with your peers and the product experts from Microsoft.
3. Experience the latest solution innovations, new products and technologies.
4. The event is cost effective, convenient, and organized to meet your needs.
5. Get insights into Microsoft’s corporate direction and understand future plans for your Microsoft Dynamics solution.

For more information and to register: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/atlanta11/about_overview.aspx

Knowledgesync is an Alerts and Workflow solution for numerous business applications. A few of the more basic uses are:

• Business activity monitoring for events customers want to know about.
• Business Process automation. Automatically deliver confirmations, quotes, thank you emails, etc.
• Alerts for warnings regarding issues with clients.

How can these items be accomplished? Here is a short list of some basic capabilities:

• Triggered emails based on events in a database or email inbox.
• Web dashboards using html with graphs, etc.
• Deliver crystal reports via email as a pdf on a schedule.
• Trigger crystal reports sent as a pdf to a group of people.
• Inbound email marketing
• Triggered updates integrating several databases or applications.

Off the top of my head, I can see several very good uses for this application within Technology Advisors for the Customer Advocate position.
Such as:

• Automatically send pdf ticket reports to customers.
• Send alerts to the Customer Advocate and Support about issues that need to be followed up for a customer.
  • Tickets, Contract Status, etc.
• Alert emails to Customers and the Customer Advocate
  • Tickets opened & closed.
• Alerts to the Customer Advocate
  • Ticket without an updated for 7(3?) days.
  • Customers the Customer Advocate has not contacted in the last 30 days.

These basic functions would not take long to setup, but could save our users several hours a week in effort. Not to mention avoiding headaches from issues that might slip through the cracks otherwise.

Best of all, SalesLogix users can download a free 30 day trial at http://www.sageknowledgesync.com. For best results, I would advise our customers to work with Technology Advisors to make sure the trial is beneficial and used to its fullest potential.

Entrepreneur.com has an article up on 5 Simple Ways to Show Customers You Care:

1. Share Your Knowledge
2. Ask, Listen, Respond, Adapt
3. Reward Customers
4. Hold a Customer Appreciation Event
5. Do Good

It's a great article and I recommend you check out. Here is my take on how you can apply these points to your own business.

1. Sharing Your Knowledge.  Social CRM is here.  As has always been the case, with it you can manage your e-mail newsletters.  You can now also manage your incoming and outgoing Social CRM communications with applications such as Twitter or Facebook.

2. Ask, Listen, Respond, Adapt.  Without a CRM application, how will you be able to keep track of all of your correspondence with your customers.  Newer CRM packages have the ability to integrate with all forms of communications.  Fax, Email, Snail Mail, Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc.

3. Reward Customers.  With the proper CRM application you can track Campaigns where you use Coupons, Gifts, Events, Targeted Mailers, Phone Calls, Social Media, etc.

4. Hold a Customer Appreciation Event.  Customer Appreciate Events or User Groups are a great way to keep your name in a customers mind.  With CRM you are able to invite your customers or potential customers to the events, track registrations and report on attendance and survey results.

5. Do Good.  Doing good is a great thing, but how will your customers know about it if you aren't able to track and effectively communicate your "good."

Using newer CRM products goes far beyond just a giant electronic Rolodex of names and phone numbers.  With a properly setup CRM application and trained user base, you should be able to manage your complete customer experience from prospect to repeat business.  And then some.

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 8. This is a tested, cumulative set of updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It includes performance enhancements that are packaged together for easy deployment.

 More information is available at the Microsoft website here.

Thursday, May 14 @ 11am - 12pm EST

This webcast is open to Scribe customers and the public. It will cover the newly released Web Services Adapter for Scribe Insight and Scribe Insight Enterprise. The webcast will include a feature overview and several demonstrations of the Web Services Adapter enabling integration to Dynamics AX, Microsoft SharePoint and 3rd party commercial web services.

Register Now

The Scribe presenters for the webcast will be:

Bob Sturim - Vice President, Products

John Gravely - Vice President, Marketing and Product Marketing

Lou Antonucci - Vice President, Sales

Tomas O'Brien - Product Manager

Part of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM base package comes with the Windows workflow engine that allows for codeless workflow deployment. What this basically means is that you are able to update your CRM database without ever leaving Outlook. For example, as a user, when I schedule an activity in Outlook, it schedules that activity in my CRM system without me having to actually  go into it. Workflow automatically brings all the information into the body of that particular appointment.

The same goes for phone call activities. Workflow pulls all the contact information into the bottom of the phone call activity. When the activity pops up on my mobile phone, I don't even have to dial the phone number because all of the information is already on my screen. Let's say I make my call and have to leave a message. Not only am I able to complete the activity on my phone, but I can then schedule a follow up activity even if my CRM system is unavailable to me. When I type "follow up" in the subject of a new task, a new activity automatically gets set in my CRM system.

Workflow in Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives me the ability to complete activities, update results from a call or meeting, and schedule new or follow up activities directly into my CRM system from my mobile phone.

Microsoft has an offer that benefits all customers who purchase a combination of Microsoft products. This incentive includes a multitude of products across the Microsoft suite but for example, are you looking to purchase a Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Dynamics CRM? In doing so, Microsoft will give you what they call Partner Subsidy Funds. These funds come in the form of a check that Microsoft makes out to the Microsoft Partner of your choice.

We all know that our credit cards don't just slide back into our wallets once the software and/or hardware is purchased, we swipe our cards again for implementation services, and possibly training. Let's face it, there is no point in simply purchasing software and trying to jam it in ourselves. If we're at the point of purchase, we've already invested a great deal of time and money into the project and need to gain the greatest Return on Investment possible. The road to attaining this ROI begins with the selection of a Microsoft Partner who understands our business and what we need the software to do for us.

To take advantage of the Microsoft Big Easy Offer, all you have to do is make a qualifying purchase before June 26, 2009. Your Microsoft Partner can then direct you where to redeem your purchase  and Microsoft will send you your Partner Subsidy Check.