Introduction: In this article, we will learn how to dynamically use Dynamics 365 CRM option set/ CRM picklist in Power BI. As you may be aware that CRM picklist stores Integer value in the backend and not the actual display name. So, whenever you query an entity with picklist fields in Power BI you will get picklist Integer value and not the display names. Pre-requisite: The option set/picklist should be a global. You can check the IsGlobal property for the picklist field in the Metadata Browser. In Metadata Browser, when you expand Get Options for OptionSet there is a (+) button. Click on that button and option set properties will appear. Steps to get Option Set Values: Login in to Power BI Click Get data Select Odata Feed as the connector Enter the OData URL for querying the Global option sets and click Ok. URL Format: https://orgname.api.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v8.2/GlobalOptionSetDefinitions(OptionSetMetadataId) Example: https://contoso.api.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v8.2/GlobalOptionSetDefinitions(ae2a3b9d-395a-4dbd-9abc-c32aeb10888b)Note: OptionSetMetadataId is highlighted in the Pre-requisite screen capture Once the query is loaded, the Edit Query window will pop up.  Click on Advance Editor and modify the code as below (Add null and MoreColumns parameter) and then click Done: let Source = OData.Feed(“https://fasttrackleasingllc.api.crm.dynamics.com/api/data/v8.2/GlobalOptionSetDefinitions(ae2a3b9d-395a-4dbd-9abc-c32aeb10888b)”, null, [MoreColumns = true]) in    Source After loading, an additional row will be added to the table named More Columns. Click on the Record field beside More Columns. A new view of the table will be loaded as shown in the below screenshot. Right Click on List and Select ‘Into Table’ Once the table is loaded, expand the Value column by clicking on ‘Expand to New Rows’ Expand the Value Column and select ‘Value’ and ‘Label’ Columns. Click Ok. Expand the Value.Label Column and select ‘UserLocalizedLabel’ Column. Click OK. Expand the Value Column and select ‘Value’ and ‘Label’ Columns. Click Ok. Finally, we get the Option set Code (Value.Value) and Option Set Value (Value.Label.UserLocalizedLabel.Label) from CRM. Conclusion: As the above method creates a separate table for option set, you have to add relationship (1-*) between the newly created Option Set table and the Main table.

Introduction: While scheduling a meeting from Outlook client, sometimes we may also need to select the room where the meeting will be held. Room Finder in Outlook client helps us to find the available rooms. Sometimes it may happen that when a user creates a new meeting in Outlook, no conference rooms are listed in Choose an available room box in Room Finder. The issue is that the user doesn’t select a room list. Users can select a room list from Show a room list option in Room Finder. But before that admin needs to create a room list so that the option “Show a room list” will be visible in Room Finder. Steps: Open Exchange Online Power Shell and connect your Office 365 environment. Run the following command to create a Room List Distribution Group – New-DistributionGroup <RoomListName> -RoomList -Members $Members<RoomListName> – Provide a name to the Room list. Run the following command to add existing rooms to the list –Add-DistributionGroupMember <RoomListName> -Member <RoomMailbox><RoomListName> – Put the name of the room list which was created in the earlier step.<RoomMailBox> – Put the name of the room mailbox. You can find the room mailbox name from the Exchange Admin Center. If you want to add multiple rooms at once, you need to create a .txt file and add all the room mailboxes and save the file. Run the following command to add multiple rooms –Get-Content <EnterFileLocation> | Add-DistributionGroupMember -Identity <RoomListName> <EnterFileLocation> – Where the .txt file has been saved.<RoomListName> – Provide the room list name. You might need to confirm whether the rooms have been added to room list. Run the following command to check the same –Get-DistributionGroupMember -Identity <RoomListName><RoomListName> – Put a name of the room list, which you have created. After following above steps, you will be able to see the Show a room list option in Room Finder. There you can choose the room list and select the rooms. Conclusion: This is how you can enable Room List in Room Finder, which helps users while scheduling a meeting through Outlook clients and can easily see the available rooms and timings through Room Finder. Want to get consultation or training for your company? Please email us at ashah@cloudfronts.com

Introduction: This blog explains how to enable custom field in Filter section of Schedule Board in D365 Field Service & PSA. Scenario: Need to filter resources on Schedule Board by custom fields other than standard fields like characteristics, roles, business units, terriotries etc. Pre-requisites: Configure 2 Custom Entities with below Details 1. Crew Entity with Name as text field. 2. Crew Member Entity with Crew and Bookable Resource as lookup field. Steps: Below are steps to configure custom field “Crew” of type lookup in filter section of Schedule Board. 1. Open Schedule Board to Customize 2. Customize the Filter Layout Template Open Filter Layout as highlighted below. Insert below code above controls closing tag. <control type=”combo” source=”entity” key=”ResourceCrew” label-id=”Crew” entity=”cf_crew” multi=”true” /> Click “Save” button to save the changes to Schedule Board. Crew field will be shown in filter section as highlighted below. 3. Customize the Retrieve Resources Query. Open Query Template as highlighted below. Insert below code in Query template above closing tag of filter. Click “Save” button to save the changes to Schedule Board. 4. Click “Apply” button to save the changes to Schedule Board. 5. Select Crew and click Search button in Filter Section and  Resources are filtered as below Refer this link for more information. Conclusion: This blog explains steps to filter resources based on custom entities in Filter section of Schedule Board in D365 Field Service and PSA.

Overview: Now, you often must have noticed that the field Est. Revenue on Opportunities is either locked or is open to enter value into it. There’s a reason for this as well. Revenue Field: So basically, there is a field on the Opportunity that drives this operation. It is called as Revenue field! System Calculated- If you select System Calculated, the Opportunity Lines’ Total Amount will add up to the Est. Revenue field and the field will be locked for you. User Provided- If you select User Provided, the Est. Revenue field will be unlocked with whatever value it already has and you can change the same. It will no longer be driven of the Opportunity Lines.

Introduction: If you use Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales for customer engagement then you can use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for order processing and finances and have seamless integration in the lead-to-cash process. When you integrate you application with sales, you can have all the access to Sales data from Business Central and the other way around in some cases. Thus, Integration enables you to work with and synchronize data types that are common to both services, such as customers, contacts, and sales information, and keep the data up to date in both locations. Pre-requisites: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales Demonstration: Steps for Integration: 1. Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Setup Go to Business Central, in the Setup and Extensions select Assisted Setup. Select Set up Dynamics 365 for Sales Connection for establishing a connection between Business Central and Sales in Microsoft Dynamics 365. In the textbox, Insert the link of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Click on Next and insert the Email and Password for the user that will be used for Synchronization between Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Click on Finish. Then insert the credentials of the user account which must be used to import the solution. The user account must have Security Roles of System Administrator and Solution .   2. Couple Business Central Salespeople to Microsoft Dynamics 365 User Before a customer can be synchronized to an account, the salesperson that is assigned to the customer must be coupled to a user in Sales. Go to that Salesperson and in navigate select Coupling. A coupling provides the basis for integrating records in Microsoft Dynamics 365 with records in Business Central. Essentially a coupling associates or links a Microsoft Dynamics 365 record to a Business Central record. Hence, coupling needs to be setup for integration. Select the CRM user you want to synchronize the Salesperson with and click on OK. If you want to synchronize data in the account in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the customer in Business Central, set the Synchronize After Coupling field to one of the following options. Yes – Use the Business Central Data : Copies the data from mapped fields of the customer in Business Central to the account in Microsoft Dynamics 365. Yes – Use the Dynamics 365 Sales for Data: Copies the data from mapped fields of the account in Microsoft Dynamics 365 to the customer in Business Central. 3. Couple Business Central customers to Microsoft Dynamics 365 In the Customer table of Business Central, select the customer you want to couple with Account in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Set the Coupling of the Customer with the related Account in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and click on OK. 4. Couple Business Central Unit of Measures to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Units Groups In the Unit of Measure table of Business Central, select the Unit of Measure you want to couple with the Unit Group in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Set the Coupling of the Measure with the related Unit Group in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and click on OK. 5. Couple Business Central Currencies with Microsoft Dynamics 365 transaction Currency In the Currencies table of Business Central, select the Currency you want to couple with the Transaction Currency in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Set the Coupling of the Currency with the related Transaction Currencies in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and click on OK. 6. Couple Business Central items to Microsoft Dynamics 365 products In the Items table of Business Central, select the item you want to couple with the Product in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. Set the Coupling of that item related to the Product in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and click on OK. 7. Sales Order Integration Create a Sales Order in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and when submitted it appears in Business Central. After submitting sales order, in the search box of Business Central enter Sales Orders, and then choose the related link. In the Sales Orders window, on the Navigate tab, in the Dynamics 365 for Sales group, choose Sales Order List. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Orders windows opens to display a list of only sales orders in Microsoft Dynamics 365 that have their status as Submitted. Select the Create in Central Business Action to get the Sales Order in Business Central. 8. Sales Invoice Integration On selecting the post action, a posted invoice is generated in Business Central and the status of the Order changes from Submitted to Invoiced. Status changed to Invoiced. In the Posted Sales Invoice window of Business Central, on the Navigate tab, in the Dynamics 365 Sales group,choose  Create Invoice in Dynamics 365 for Sales. Go to Microsoft Dynamics 365 check the Invoices. Conclusion: Thus, we have integrated Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales. The table below indicates the direction of mapping of different Data Types. Sr No. Business Central Entity Mapping Direction D365 Entity Default Filter 1 Salespeople/Purchaser Sales -> Business Central User Sales contact filter:  Status is No, User Licensed is Yes, Integration user mode is No 2 Customer Business Central -> Sales and Sales -> Business Central Accounts Sales account filter:  Relationship Type is Customer and Status is Active. 3 Unit of Measure Business Central -> Sales Unit Groups 4 Currency Business Central -> Sales Transaction Currency 5 Items Business Central -> Sales and Sales -> Business Central Product Sales contact filter: Product Type is Sales Inventory 6 Sales Order Sales -> Business Central Sales Order 3 Posted Sales Invoice Business Central -> Sales Invoice

Introduction: In this blog we will discuss some extended custom functionality of uploading documents to SharePoint and CRM. Purpose: By default, document location is enabled for some OOB entities like Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities and by default document location gets created for records on first time load of Document Location associated view. This is the OOB functionality but sometimes we might need some different structures for document storage according to the organization need. In this blog, we will discuss one scenario where we can have a need to customize this Document Locations and automatically create a predefined folder structure in CRM and SharePoint which will help us to store our documents according to needed structure. This functionality is described using the below screenshots. Open Documents view for any record. As you can see by default, document location gets created and documents get stored in highlighted location. We have created a custom button which takes parameters and create or update the folder structure. On click of Custom button, window opens where you can enter values and click Ok. Type: Create or Update Structure: Tree or Acyclic (Depends on Organization) URL: This is the SharePoint URL Site where you want to create folder structure. You can see the predefined folders getting created. You select the folder you want to upload the file. Chose file and click Ok. In below screenshot you can see the file gets uploaded in the selected folder. Similarly, you can see in SharePoint how the folders get created and file automatically gets uploaded.

Introduction: While starting the AOS service if you face above error then check 2 things, Check your System log as mention in error (Event Viewer-> Windows Log -> System) it will give you error ‘Cannot create another system semaphore’. Also, Check your Application Log (Event Viewer -> Windows Log -> Application). Cause: This error means simply means your AX 2012 Kernel version is lower than your Application version. As, the kernel version is lower it does not support your current Timezone version. Solution: Upgrade your AX 2012 kernel version to higher version. Run below script to modify your Timezone version Update SQLSystemVariables set value = 4 where parm = ‘SYSTIMEZONESVERSION’

Introduction: This blog explains how to view Resource Skills and Role in D365 Field Service / PSA. Scenario: We often get inquiry from Clients do we have option to view Resource Skills or Roles on Schedule Board before scheduling a Work Order to Resource. Steps: Open Schedule Board and follow below steps to view skills / roles of Resource. a. Select Resource in Resource Panel as highlighted b. Right Click on Selected Resource and Click on View Resource Card. c. Resource Details will displayed as shown below screenshot with details like Time Zone, Sills, Roles of Resource and many options to connect Resource like chat/email/phone call. Note: Above explained blog is with Reference to D365 Field Service Version 7.5.1 Conclusion: Using  above mentioned steps, you can view Skills or Roles of Resource and many options to connect Resource like chat/email/phone call on Schedule Board in D365 Field Service and PSA.

Introduction: In this blog we will demonstrate how to create Customer Journeys in Dynamics 365 for Marketing. As you engage potential customers, they start by discovering your product, evaluate whether it meets their needs, look for a good offer, and finally make a purchase. This process is called as Customer journeys. Pre Requisites: Before we start we need to have live segments towards whom we can target our marketing initiatives. Check out how to create segments here. We also need to have our Marketing emails designed and ready to go. Check out how to create marketing emails here. Implementation: In our scenario we have taken an example where CloudFronts wants to organize a web development webinar and as a marketing initiative we send out emails to web developers. Below shown is the view of the Customer Journey. Step 1: First take a segment tile from the right toolbox panel and drag it on the canvas and we enter the name of the segment that we want to target. Here as stated earlier we have selected a target segment consisting of web developers. Note: The segment will appear only if it is in the “Live” state. Step 2: We drag and drop the Marketing Email tile, and then add a Marketing page in the Marketing email.  We have done this as we have added a link to a marketing page in our marketing email. Step 3: The marketing page designed is as shown below. When the users click on the link in the email they will be redirected to this page which contains a Marketing Form. Step 4: Then we add a trigger tile in the customer journey with the condition to check if the user has submitted the marketing form in one hour as shown below. If the user has registered in one hour then he/she will receive a “Thank You” email with the details of the webinar. And if the user has not registered within the given period of time he will receive another email which says visit us as www.cloudfronts.com to know more about us. Once the everything is set, the customer journey will begin at the specified Start time and accordingly end at the specified End time. Once the customer journey is run completely we can get a lott of insights regarding the events that took place. Step 5: We can go to the Marketing emails section and click on the insights option as shown in the pic below: Below shown are the insights generated: Similarly we can also view the insights generated for the Customer journeys. The below image shows the number of contacts on each of the tiles as they progressed throughout the journey. The arrows show that only 2 contacts out of 7 submitted the Marketing form and hence received the Event details while the rest 5 contacts received the “Visit Us” Marketing email. Conclusion: Using this feature we have a control of how we want our users to interact with the emails and hence generate more and more leads and also gain insights on the process as a whole.

Introduction: This blog explains how to Create Case in Dynamics 365 from Microsoft Social Engagement Posts. Steps to be followed: Steps in Dynamics 365: Go to Settings –> Service Management –> Automatic Record Creation and Update Rule.  Click on +NEW. Enter Name and Set the Source Type to Social Activity. Save the record Under Channel Properties section for additional properties select the search button and Create new record. Enter details. Save record Create Channel Properties Under Newly Created Channel Property Group. Enter Name and Data Type. Save record  Add specify record creation and update details Enter Name and save the record. Under Condition, choose Select, and scroll to the bottom of the drop-down list to find Channel Properties under Local Values. Then, select userPreferredTargetEntity Equals incident. Under Action, select Add Step, and then select Create Record. Set the value to Case. If you want to set or change any field value you can do it by clicking on set properties and changing the fields accordingly. Save and close the record. Finally select Activate to activate the rule. Steps in Microsoft Social Engagement: Go to settings –>Automation Rule Click on + to create new automation rule. Enter Name. Filter according to your criteria. Click on + ADD NEW ACTION to add actions. Click on link to Dynamics 365. Select Instance and Entity. Click on Apply. You can also Assign this case to user from MSE. Click on Apply Click on ADD NEW ACTION Select Set label. Click on Apply. Record Details: Save the rule. Case in Dynamics 365: