Anyone who uses a CRM on a regular basis hopes that it will work seamlessly without errors. But from time to time, when creating and qualifying a lead, confusing error messages popup and leave users wondering about a resolution.  A very common error in Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation comes up when trying to qualify a lead using the Project Information form when the lead is type is set as “Work Based.” The popup below shows the error message: This error cropped up after I did the following steps: Step 1: Create a lead with the basic required details Step 2: Ensure the form selected is Project Information form Step 3: The Type of lead field should have the value Work Based Step 4: Save the lead Step 5: Try Qualifying the lead. This will lead to the above error shown in the screen shot. The best way to resolve this issue is to check the parameter settings, shown in the screenshot below. Upon researching the issue, I found that there is an important parameter setting that is missing, which needs to be changed in order to get to a resolution. When the lead is created, even though we do not have a customer specific price list, PSA asks for a default price list, inferring that this could be a potential customer. The go to place where PSA checks the global parameter setting is Project Service–> Parameters. Click on the default organization unit. In my case, CloudFronts Mumbai. Click on the price list tab (shown in the screen shot below) and then click on the add new project parameter Price List button on the grid. A pop-up opens that asks for the price list. Select the price list and save. Now, when you create your lead in the Work Based type and qualify it, the error will not reappear. With these changes, the price list for the organization unit is updated in PSA. Whenever we use the organization unit again for a quote, contract, or project, this price list will be the default setting. Most importantly, the parameter helps to qualify the lead successfully. This process reflects my personal findings, based on my experience using PSA for the last five years. We have benefited a lot from the implementation of PSA, because we save time and money due to easy access to resources and the ability to manage them.

I was trying to explore the Extend Booking functionality in Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation (PSA) and saw that the users were getting allocated for the entire 24 hours in a day. Immediately, I realized that the issue was coming up because the work hour template was not set properly. When the new work hour template was created, the work hour parameters for the resources were not set back to eight hours. To check the work hours of a resource, navigate to Project Service–>Resources–>Select a Resource. Click on the button “show work hours” as highlighted in the screenshot below. A popup opens. The screenshot shows that the work hours are not defined for the resource as of now. As a result, the resource will be allocated for 24 hours if they are selected for a project unless there working hours are defined.    I selected the resource in the Default Work Hour Template and then created the work hours for that resource (eight hours a day and Monday-Friday working). I assigned these work hours to all the resources in the navigation shown below. Select all resources and click on the ‘Set calendar’ button from the Ribbon Control. I assumed that the new work hours will be set for all the resources selected. I then tried to allocate via extend booking and saw that the resource was still not reflecting the new work hours set. Upon further research I worked out a solution that follows the proper way to define the work hour template of the resources. I created a new work hours template by navigating to Project Service Work Hour Templates. This new work hour template was created to define the following: Working hours per day of the resource. Working days in a week. Holidays in a year. The resource selected should have the proper work hours defined. Select all the resources and assign the newly created work hour template. Because Kuldeep Gupta is a template resource in this example, all the resources will get assigned from Kuldeep Gupta. As a result, it’s not possible to select more than one resource. Now while creating the project select this newly created Work Hour Template  and the project will respect the new work hours. A word of caution: You will not be able to change the work hour template for the old projects as the field is locked and you are not allowed to change it in the midst of the project. I hope that these steps help you to create and assign the work hour template effectively.

Introduction: Microsoft’s Voice of the Customer (VoC) application, part of Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement, empowers users to create surveys without the need of a third-party product. Some elements of the experience can be configured in VoC like logos and custom images. The theming layer allow users to edit a survey’s look and feel with custom colors and other details using CSS to align with the organization’s brand. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to customize a response page and setup a redirection link to the thank you page. The problem: Customizing a thank you GIF image: One of our retail industry clients had a requirement of adding a “thank you” GIF image and another linked image to their survey thank you page. When clicked, the linked image would take the survey respondent back to the first page of survey. But VoC has no such default customization functionality on its thank you page. Solution: Since it is not possible to meet this requirement using VoC alone, we tricked the program with CSS. Here’s what we did: 1. Go to active surveys and click the survey that you want to modify. 2. Go to survey designer and select “Complete Page,” which is the page seen upon completion of the survey. The survey designer section shows your complete survey, with all elements. You can design your survey here with desired questions, their types, and can even add pages to your survey. The thank you page, or complete page, is the last page of the survey and the one in need of customization, per the customer’s requirements.  I added some “descriptive text” here. Text in the footer is the redirection link, and I marked it as a footer to separate it from the main section here. I used CSS to hide the text “footer” and add an image which will be clickable to the first page in the next steps. 3. Here is the survey’s first page: 4. Now, here you can add text. I added text but in italics to differentiate it. Giving CSS properties to the<i> tag (italic content) means it will be applied only here and nowhere else. You can use any other tag, too. If you want multiple images, you can add multiple tags and then style them accordingly in custom CSS. 5. Upload the images that you want to use here (under the custom icon). 6. Click on themes. You can do all customization under this page. 7. Under theme, you can get options to provide color to different elements of your survey form. 8. Below this color section, you will find the CSS section, where you can add your custom CSS. 9. In this step, I played with the HTML tags that I used on the thank you page. I gave them predefined height and width and set the required image as the background. Since it is just a tag and might contain text, I hid the text using CSS properties. 10. In the same way, I added a background image to the survey complete link URL using the CSS property on the tag (classes are pre-defined by CRM), so that the user can click and go back to the required page.  11. The survey link now shows both images properly, with the lower image clickable to bring the user back to the first page of the survey. Conclusion Although this is not a part of default customization of VoC, it is a very useful trick which I followed to improve customization of the VoC thank you to meet our client’s requirements

I had one of my clients recently asked about the Office 365 Apps on their MacOS, of course, I guided him to download the same from Microsoft’s website but now I can easily tell the client to go to the Apple’s Mac App store and download Office 365 apps directly from there. It became so simple, isn’t it! Microsoft has finally announced that Office 365 is now available on Mac App store from where Apple users can directly download Office 365 Apps such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, OneDrive & OneNote. You can download these apps individually or as a bundle and the packages are free to download but as Office 365 is a subscription-based you will need to pay a subscription fee to use the apps. Microsoft Office has been available on Mac already, but it is available through Microsoft’s website, but people are nowadays preferring handy things! For e.g.: YouTube on the web or YouTube on the app? YouTube on the app, right? So as to have a smooth and flawless experience! This is exactly the case with MS Office now on App store. Microsoft finally releasing these apps on the Mac App store will be surely a huge hit. It will also be easier than ever to get the updated version of Office 365 for Mac, iPad & iPhone as we all know that with Office 365 we always have the best version of Office Apps.

Introduction: This blog explains how to Send Emails using WebApi in MS CRM. Request: Post URL:  <your instance url>/api/data/v9.1/ emails (<guid of the email record>)/Microsoft.Dynamics.CRM.SendEmail Header: Content-Type: application/json Parameter To be send in body: Parameter Value Comment IssueSend False If value is set as false, then email is market as sent only in MS CRM. IssueSend True If value is set as true, then email is sent and as well as marked as sent in MS CRM. Body: {        “IssueSend”: “true”  } Response:

Introduction: XrmToolBox can be used to simplify many tasks. With so many tools now listed, a newcomer may wonder what others are using it for to maximum benefit. XrmToolBox is a Windows application that connects to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement and Dynamics CRM, providing tools to ease customization and configuration tasks. It is shipped with more than 30 plugins to make administration, customization, and configuration tasks easier and less time consuming. In this article we will explore ten of our favorite XRMToolBox tools, exploring what they do and why they are so useful. How is it used? Documentation is available through the wiki of XrmToolBox Github’s repository. All the information regarding the prerequisites, connection, tools description, how to use is mentioned in the documentation. Ten useful tools of XrmToolBox: 1) Web Resource Manager Web Resource Manager helps to manage your web resources easily. This tool has saved hours of time for creating, updating and managing the web resources of Dynamics 365/CRM. This is a must have for all developers. 2) Ribbon Workbench The Ribbon Workbench tool helps to edit the Dynamics CRM ribbon or command bar from inside the XrmToolbox. By installing the Ribbon Workbench you’ll quickly be performing customizations that were previously only possible by time consuming and error-prone manual editing of RibbonDiff Xml. 3) Fetch XML Builder The tool is helpful for three major areas: Constructing FetchXML in ways that advanced find cannot Querying CRM for information not (easily) found in the CRM UI lie system and internal entities, hidden attributes or join on other fields Developer assistance like generating C# query expression code, OData query strings or composing queries for reports 4) Plugin Registration The Plugin Registration tool is an important tool used for registering plugins and custom workflows. 5) Auto Number Manager The Auto Number Manager tool’s primary goal is to give D365 customizers a way of managing auto number attributes. This feature was introduced with the 9.0 release. However, this release only supports creating and managing these attributes through the SDK. A user interface for the features is expected to be available from the 9.1 release of the platform. With the Auto Number Manager for XrmToolBox you can create, alter and delete these attributes through an easy to use UI. 6) Site Map Editor The Site Map Editor tool helps to manage the sitemap with no XML needed. Editing sitemap XML is scary for any developer, as any mistake in XML can make the entire CRM unusable. This tool helps to edit your sitemap components. You can easily create areas and subareas, update the order and copy or paste components from one area to another. You can also update all the sub area details like icons or titles for multiple languages. 7) Solution Component Mover The Solution Component Mover tool helps to transfer components from one or multiple source solutions to one target solution. It avoids components getting missed when creating a new solution or adding components from other solutions. Using this tool ensures you add all components from the selected solutions. 8) Metadata Document Generator Metadata Document Generator makes it easier for Dynamics CRM 2011 integrators to generate documentation about entities and attributes metadata. You’ll no longer have to write “by hand” these awful tables full of metadata information. This tool can connect to all type of Dynamics CRM 2011 deployments, including OSDP! 9) Bulk Delete tool The Bulk Delete tool has the ability to delete records from CRM based on system views, personal views, or custom FetchXML Queries. It also has the ability to edit a FetchXML query in the FetchXML Builder tool within XrmToolBox and to select the batch size and interval (in seconds) between batches. It takes less time to delete records as compared to traditional bulk delete from CRM. 10) Metadata Browser The Metadata Browser tool has ability to browse metadata from D365 CRM environment. This tool can be used to view all the metadata.  

We can add various Visual Formatting Options while developing a Power BI Custom Visual. One of them is the Toggle feature which is useful for adding or removing particular abilities to your visual or perform any similar boolean operations. The json bit for the toggle option looks like this. By default when you add a toggle option, the option is available under a dropdown. To access the toggle option you will always have to click on the dropdown arrow. There is a neat little trick that can make you access the toggle button directly rather than clicking on the dropdown button every time. You only need to change the required toggle property name to “show”. Note: The object name for the toggle option needs to be changed to “show” in the visual.ts file as well. Your toggle option should look like this now!

One of the most common asks as an administration is to know when the user started accessing the system and from where. In your Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps, you can enable Auditing for User Access.   Enable Auditing of User Access You need to enable this feature once you enable Auditing on Organization level. Then, you can enable User Access Auditing as well Navigate to Settings > Administration > System Settings and under Auditing tab OR Settings > Auditing > Global Audit Settings Once the Auditing for User Access has started, the Audit Summary will record this – And whenever a User logs into Dynamics 365 via the Web Application, Phone app or WebServices that provide authentication, the Auditing will be logged as shown below – The Operation will be Access and the Event will be User Access via Web or User Access via Web Services. If you want to enhance user login, you can quickly enable Multi-Factor Authentication for the users, read my blog on MFA here. Hope this quick tip helps.

Here’s your guide to quickly setup a multi-factor authentication for an Office 365 user. Manage Multi-Factor authentication Multi-factor authentication can be managed for the O365 under Services and add-ins. If you are in O365 Administrator, find the Services as shown below. You can find this service called ‘Azure multi-factor authentication’. Select it. Open the same and click on Manage multi-factor authentication. Also, I recommend you go through ‘Learn more about Azure multi-factor authentication’ before you proceed for licensing details. Please go through these links: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-mfa-howitworks You’ll see a list of users who can be enabled for multi-factor authentication. In this example, I’ll select myself – Priyesh Wagh to enable my multi-factor authentication. You can either directly enable for the user of invite them to register from the link provided in the screenshot – And that’s it. Multi-factor authentication is enabled for the user. Setting up MFA for the user When the user then logs into the system, they are asked to enter, they will prompted to enter additional log in information to setup MFA. I will be asked to enter the phone number and select the preference or either phone or text message. And you can proceed with your selected preference of text message or phone call. I’ve selected phone call in this case. And finally, it will be setup Logging In As usual, when you log in. You’ll be asked to enter password. Post that, 2-step authentication will take place and as I had selected Phone Call. The system will make a call on my phone and I’ll follow the instructions as asked (asked to press the # key to confirm) Or, alternatively, it can ask you to enter the code received on your phone in text message. That’s it. Simplest way to get started with MFA. Furthermore, you can make the users to create App Passwords and enter contact methods etc. among other features as shown below – Hope that was easy!

Introduction: Are you one of those traditional company who has been reeling under the burden of undergoing digital transformation just because there is enough buzz around and every other organization including your competitors are taking on their operational, human and several other business challenges head-ons with this digital transformation thing? You have no idea of where to begin with? Then this article is just for you. I am going ahead and listing down THREE factors you MUST consider even before riding your company through the much-hyped Digital Transformation process. Data Magic!! Leverage Your Data First! Nothing beats customer data when it comes to gaining critical insight into how to execute a digital transformation program. This depends on factors like the volume of data, the volume of business transactions and the daily operations, and how they have been able to dive deeper into a prospective customers’ specific demographic’s needs and wants, understand everything about their expectations, and then being able to target them effectively is the best way to begin a digital transformation initiative. Recent McKinsey research concluded that the executive teams that make extensive use of customer data analytics across all business decisions see a 126% profit improvement over companies that don’t. What types of data metrics come into play? Data metrics vary from one company to other. For example, in the case of retail industry, factors such as demographics, products purchased by category and type, the frequency of purchase and purchase value can really prove to be a great head-start. In this case, your technology consulting partner should provide a right consultation. In modern technological jargon, a business intelligence tool such as Microsoft Power BI would act as a catalyst in terms of accumulating data, grinding it and giving a critical insight into it which can fuel your business decision making. Its Desktop, but then Its Mobile too!! Today, customers and employees across the globe expect the flexibility of mobile (or portable device) platforms whenever they are engaging with brands. They expect the ability to access the responsive microsites, apps, or SMS, and to be constantly engaged and kept in the loop. Hence, to verify that a digital strategy is mobile-first, to avoid alienating modern platform users. Today, the digital platforms from Microsoft like Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement have availed separate apps for Field Service, customer service, sales and several other tasks which can be easily done when you are on the go. With just one download from the app stores, you’ll automatically gain access to all apps. Consult, Revamp Your Existing Platforms NOW! Digital Transformation programs thrive on the understanding of the company, industry, right audience and the need to increase their profitability. Then it may be by slicing human intervention costs or by increasing operational efficiencies.  In some cases, it is both.  Here, I am stressing a fact that a right customized solution is essential to drive the business decision making. For small and medium enterprise, it takes a great deal to undergo a digital transformation especially when there might be a profound investment involved. A minor rejig may also make a huge difference. For instance, in my experience, there is a company called as Eternity Lifestyles, which is a pioneer in the Indian sports eyewear industry. This company consulted its new solution partner to overview the existing systems and restructure it with an objective to reduce the overall operations cost. The result was such that they registered an 80% of the reduction in the existing systems’ licensing costs. Read the whole success story here. Another example, I would suggest is of a South Asian sporting goods retail company ‘House of Sonee Sports’, who underwent a huge digital transformation and registered a 22% ROI within just few months of the deployment of the new business platforms. You can check out more about how it went through this process in a simple way and ensured a successful future journey here.