If you are a decision maker at an organization and looking to strategize the information at your organization and how the systems should source information from one to another, then this post is for you.  Systems for source of truth at the organization is the question you are looking to get answered.  Dynamics 365 Applications involved for Professional Services firms  Let’s break down the systems from Dynamics 365 Application stack-standpoint –   Sales and Project Management  If you are a Professional Services firm in Construction, Engineering, Accounting, IT Services etc. and you have a Sales cycle running from Opportunity generation all the way to Project and Resource Management, then you need Dynamics 365 Project Operations – below is what Project Operations handles –   Accounting  Dynamics 365 Project Operations itself isn’t designed as an Accounting platform – it can create up to Pro-forma Invoices. But here’s to consider some options for Accounting –   Marketing  Marketing is a key aspect for an organization which primary deals with data like Accounts and Contacts – Here are some options to look out for –  HRMS  Maybe you are coming from an existing HR platforms, but here are some thoughts –   Tying it all together  As you’ve seen so far, the source of truth being Dynamics 365 Project Operations or core CRM application because of its flexibility, it is pivotal to source data from this system to other systems and all CRUD operations are tied to Project Operations upon integration.  Other systems are then used to perform their respective operation and send updates back to Project Operations through integration.  Conclusion  Making Dynamics 365 Project Operations as source of truth works for our customers as they find the information clean, consistent and available for correct reporting through just one system.  This gives a true view of the organization without having siloed systems which result in inconsistencies in data and information mismatch if integrations are not architected correctly. Making a system as source of truth gives you improved accuracy and trust in your organizations’ data and drives efficency in the longer run.  We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Problem Statement  After an implementation has gone live, do we experience that the user participation tapers off before starting to decline? That’s when we feel the need to have an adoption strategy and metrics into place.  Strategizing User Adoption  Here are some thoughts on thinking about how to plan for User Adoption –   User Adoption Measurements  Here are some of the measurements and steps to take for User Adoption –   Conclusion  When you measure user adoption through trackable metrics and numbers, you can monitor the implementation’s success path.  This helps in rethinking the implementation and taking corrective action before the implementation itself is in question and why was it planned in the first place. Participation of partners, peers and all stakeholders share equal responsibility to make the implementation a resounding success.  We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Introduction  If you are in the middle of a Dynamics 365 implementation or want to get onboarded into the Dynamics 365 ecosystem of business applications, consider your overarching approach for this implementation.   And the approach I’ll be discussing below is around having customized systems vs. using out-of-the-box systems. I’ll try to list some pointers on the two approaches that speak about the pros and cons of each of the approaches:   Customization   Choose to customize the system, keeping in check the following:   Out of the Box   Choose to adapt to the out-of-the-box system keeping in check: Conclusion  The choice between customization and out-of-the-box features when thinking about a Dynamics 365 deployment depends on the size, complexity, and growth trajectory of your company. Customizations are perfect for larger organizations with dynamic needs and strong IT support because they provide a customized approach that fits the system with your specific processes. On the other hand, out-of-the-box solutions simplify implementation and are especially useful for smaller businesses with simple workflows. By carefully assessing the unique needs and capabilities of your company, you can select the strategy that will optimize productivity and advance your long-term corporate objectives.  We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Introduction Small and medium businesses today have systems that were put in place based on the need back in time and served the purpose well. As organizations grow, they feel the need to consolidate information that is in these siloed systems. Siloed systems work well on their own but also pose challenges as business grows and more visibility into the systems is needed.   This article puts forward some thoughts on re-thinking siloed systems vs. integrated systems under one platform.  Challenges with Siloed Systems Need for Integrated Systems Conclusion   Read more about our Customer Success Stories. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com  

On some instances, there are Managed fields in Dynamics 365 CRM (or CE if you want to call it) where we can’t change the required level of the field from Fields i.e. on the database level. And you get the below error – Here’s an alternative way to do it. Scenario Let’s consider this scenario. Although Microsoft suggests you don’t change the behavior of Managed fields since they are designed with a purpose. However, let’s consider this scenario where you want to make the Parent Account for Lead as required on the form.When you try to change the Requirement Level as follows And while saving this change, you get this error. So how do we do it? Let’s see. Workaround – Business Rule Now, to overcome this particular scenario you can implement a simple Business Rule to make it required as follows – If the field can’t be made Required on a database level, you can make it required on the form using Business Rule. Here’s how you create your Business Rule.As the Business Rule starts with the condition, here’s the check you need to add in case the field value is not entered. The condition I used is as below – Check if Parent Account for lead Does Not Contain Data If this is True, then go ahead and add a Step for True condition. Add Set Business Requirement Level And in this, you need to set the Business Required Status to Business Required as show below. And the result is the Business Rule which looks like in #1 above. Now, save your changes, Publish the Rule, Activate and check. The result will be that the field is not required once it doesn’t have data forcing the user to enter data for the same. Hope this is helpful!

Preparing an Excel Template for Notes entity is a little tricky. Doesn’t work when you just Export directly as a Template from the Templates Wizard and try to include all columns and import as is. Why? Because there’s no Regarding field exported when you export/import that template. Here’s what you can do as a workaround. Scenario Now, let’s assume you want to Export a standard Excel Template for import so that you can re-import into Dynamics for Notes entity for a regarding entity. Exporting Excel Template Your Document Templates are where all your Excel Templates can be exported from – Now, follow the below – Select Notes entity and Edit Columns you need to Export the Excel with your required columns Select the columns you need. Observe that you don’t get Regarding column to export Then Download the file. Modifying the Excel Now, since you don’t have the Regarding field in the Excel you exported from Templates, here’s what you need to do – Add a column yourself, give it a proper name based on what the Notes’ Parent entity should be. In this example, I’m importing Notes for Account. So, I’m adding a column called ‘Account Name’ A new column will be created as below Now, populate your data based on how the Notes should be imported and tagged to which records. Now, by default, this template is exported in Microsoft Excel Worksheet (xlsx) format. You’ll need to Save As in CSV format Re-Importing Up until above, your Excel is ready to be imported. Let’s begin – Import the file as a usual Excel Import in Dynamics 365 CRM. Since this is not a direct Template importing as is, but a CSV, you’ll get to map this file manually. Then, you’ll need to manually select the Note entity from the drop-down and then proceed Now, whatever is mapped automatically will be mapped. For the newly created Account Name field, you’ll need to expand the Not Mapped dropdown and select Regarding (Lookup) Now, you’ll need to select the entity you want the Notes to appear under. In my case, this is Accounts, so I have it right there Since this Regarding fields supports several entities, scroll all the way down to Confirm your selection Now, your Regarding field is set and you are ready to confirm and Import Now, my Import here is completed. (You’ll need to take care the Import is successful) Imported Notes If you look at the records now, the Notes will be attached to the respective Regarding records Hope this helps!!

Very easy tweak but this will save loads of your time. One of the most important asks by Salespeople is perhaps this – “Add multiple Products on Opportunity at once!“ Here’s how you can do this – Classic Experience In current/classic experience, if you open Opportunity Lines and go on to add a Product as below – It’ll either open in a New form.This isn’t intuitive. You definitely need better experience. Enhanced Experience In System Settings, under Sales, you’ll need to enable the Adding Products to Yes. This will enable the enhanced experience. Now, when you click on Add Products in the Opportunity’s Product Line Items tab, you’ll see a Quick Create Form like form on which you can Add Multiple Products in one go. And then go to + Add products Now, a Quick Create form will appear on which you can select multiple products Now, when you click on any + sign in blue, you can directly enter what quantity you want to add. Also, if you go to the Selected section which indicated how many unique products you’ve added, you’ll be able to remove the added Products in case you don’t want them and then Delete the same if needed. Now, let’s say I have this finally and when I click on Add to Opportunity, they get added as Opportunity Lines And they appear as belowHope this helps!!

At times, ever wondered what happened to the Mailbox? You ran some tests, you also got results, but the Alerts section is empty or not generating Alerts. Here’s what’s missing and how the behavior is – Turn on Mailbox Alerts In System Settings, you can turn on what type of Mailbox alerts should be shown. Navigate to Email and scroll down. You can then choose what type of info should be generated in Alerts area in a Mailbox. Error, Warning or Information. Behavior Now, the behavior is a little confusing. Here’s what it is – Any previously generated errors will show if the setting was On initially and was later on turned off down the line.In my example, the last error was generated on 1st July 2020 Now, I turned the setting Off And post that, if there are any new errors/messages, they won’t show up But, after I turn the settings back on New errors after that will start showing up again. Meaning, the duration in which the Alerts are off, those will not be generated. And the duration in which the Alerts are On, they will keep populating the Alerts section. Hope this was useful.

One of the major pet-peeve is not understanding why the code isn’t working. And you for sure know you’ve written the correct code. But, thing just don’t work. One such tricky situation is that of applying custom filter to fields using JavaScript in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps. Scenario Let’s say you have a custom filter to be applied to a field and you’ve written your JS code on Load to apply the filter and everything (you know what you need to do!) Example: But the above is just not working. Why??? Reason The reason is pretty simple! Because, the Lookup field is still using the one set on the field itself. Check that – The above should be turned off to make your code work since the field’s default OOB filtering takes precedence. And now, your code should work (Provided everything in it correct) Hope this quick tip helps!

In D365 CE Apps, you have 2 options to display the currency fields, by symbol or by the currency code. Symbolic representation Currency Code representation Setting With a simple setting, you can apply this change organization wide. Navigate to Settings > Administration > System Settings and under General tab, look for Set the currency display option. Pretty simple! 🙂