As a Sales professional all my life I have used several CRMs. This includes my experience using Homegrown CRM, no CRM (Excel Spreadsheet), Salesforce Automation and now finally Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales. It has been about 2 months that I am using it and without a doubt, D365 steals the show! CRMs have been disliked by sales professional because they seem to be more of a data entry job than a one focused towards helping people become more productive, one that throws more insights and one that makes life easier. All of this is what every CRM promises to do but don’t very much end up achieving. Most of the time people end up duplicating their jobs and hence don’t find it useful. But not anymore with D365 for Sales! Let me tell you why? A sales professional spends maximum time on the below 3 tools in the following order: Email CRM and/or LinkedIn LinkedIn and/or CRM 1)  Email: A lot of communication happens on email which the CRM fails to capture. One key Differentiator in D365 for sales is the Email Tracking feature. All you will have to do in your outlook is to click on ‘Dynamics 365’ and it opens the same opportunity/lead in D365 CRM. Then click ‘Track’ and all the emails get tracked against that opportunity. It is so useful that you don’t have to spend your precious time in searching old emails. Even if an account manager leaves the job, the successor can just reply on systems to track every bit of communication. 2) Another beautiful feature that will soon release is how all your contacts within the CRM will show up LinkedIn profiles. This will help to prepare for your meetings by tracking your prospects activities, likes etc. and customize your communication. Your manager too can prepare for the meetings by just looking up the CRM! A sales Leader can completely rely on CRM for reviewing his/her teams as all the information needed is present here. You can derive all the insights that you need to make data driven decisions. Your organization is now truly dependent on technology. Apart from this AI and ML are soon going to aid D365 CRM with features like Predictive Lead scoring, Relationship health and Social Intelligence all to make you a smarter than ever sales consultant! Well these features have made my life simpler. I can truly say that MS Dynamics 365 for sales is the tool that really offers Value. The seamless integration and Unified systems that we keep hearing is what you can experience for real. You may reach out to me on pkakrania@cloudfronts.com would you like to make a smarter choice for your Sales Organization and derive true productivity.

Introduction: Package deployer is used to simplify the deployment process. It has the ability to automate the import of one or more solution.In this blog we will discuss about the error “Verify the state of the solution in CRM” which is shown while importing solution using package deployer.  Implementation: Step 1: In the ImportConfig.xml file we give the name of the solutionpackagefilename, that is the name of our solution. Step 2: Then we build the project and copy the folder containing the solution and the Package.dll file created. Step 3: Then we run the Package Deployer application and connect to the  organization the below screen shows the solution is successfully unpacked. But after clicking Next when the solution is imported the error shown is as follows. Step 4: In the Log file we can see that the import was not successful due to the missing dependencies. Once the missing dependencies are added the solution is successfully imported using the package deployer . The missing components can be verified if the solution is imported manually.

Introduction: I faced an issue recently where I was trying to print a report directly to printer but Print Management Settings didn’t show any Printers option. In AX 2012 we had to perform setup in AX 2012 Server Configuration to print documents or report to connected printers. In Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise Edition you need to install and setup Document Routing Agent in your system and activate Network Printers in D3FOE for printing. Steps: Install Document Routing Agent. Setup Printers in Document Routing Agent. Manage Network Printers in D3FOE. 1. Install Document Routing Agent. Go to Organization Administrator -> Setup -> Network Printers In Action Pane, Go to Application -> Download document routing agent installer Install downloaded setup file ‘DocumentRoutingAgentSetup’. 2. Setup Printers in Document Routing Agent. Go to Settings and enter details. Click OK. Application Id – Unique Appication Id. It  is filled automatically. Dynamics 365 URL – URL of D3FOE Azure AD Tenant – Domain name of Azure Active Directory Run as Windows Service – This will configure agent as a windows service. If you want to print custom size reports then agent should be desktop app as it sends report to Printers with help of Adobe Reader instead of sending it to Target folder. Agent as service will send it to Target folder. Sign In with your logic credentials. Go to Printers. You can see the installed Printers on your device. Select the Printers you want to enable for printing in Operations. 3. Manage Network Printers in D3FOE. Go to Organization Administrator -> Setup -> Network Printers. You will see the list of Printers enabled on Document Routing Agent. Enable the printers by setting Yes for Active field. Conclusion: Once the setup is completed you can use the Network Printers from Print Destination – Printers option. Agent once installed on one machine and enabled as Network Printers can be used by anyone using the D365 Operations.

Introduction: Quantity adjust functionality is useful to adjust the Quantity of Inventory from ‘On hand inventory’ form. Steps: Navigate to Product Information management > Products > Released Product In released Product form, select the product for which you want to adjust the Quantity. On Manage Inventory action tab, click on ‘On Hand inventory’ button. On ‘On Hand inventory’ you can check available quantity. Click on Quantity adjustment button to adjust the quantity. On Counting form, select Inventory dimensions, tracking dimensions which are required. In Quantity field, specify the quantity. you can decrease the quantity by specifying it into negative and increase the quantity by specifying it into positive. Once quantity has been specified click on OK button. Now you can check adjusted quantity on ‘On Hand Inventory’ form. Conclusion: By using Quantity adjustment functionality, you can directly adjust inventory quantity on ‘On Hand Quantity’ form without using counting journal, Inventory adjustment journals.

Introduction: When Copying a database between environments, you will need to run the Environment Re-Provisioning tool before the copied Database is fully functional, to ensure that all the Retail Components are up-to date. Steps: Steps to Process Re-Provisioning Tool: 1. Log into your LCS Project. 2. Go to Asset Library. 3. Select “Software Deployment Package”. 4. Click on Import. 5. Select “Environment Provisioning Tool”. 6. Click Pick. 7. Once this Package is available in your Asset Library, Upload this package to your system and schedule it to run as you do for any other deployable package. 8. Go to Maintain and Apply updates.

Overview Xrm.Panel is a new additional to the client-side scripting in Dynamics 365. This feature is still in preview in the D365 December 2016 update. Panel is a simple static place on your D365 web client which loads a Web Page inside it. Perhaps, the best use of the same could be a Web Chat application implementation. Implementation Simple – I’ve made a JS Web Resource that has a function to call the Xrm.Panel.loadPanel(url, title); method and I’ve invoked the same on change of a Phone Number. Here’s a simple JS snippet I’ve written: oAccountCustomization = { loadPanel: function() { “use strict”; Xrm.Panel.loadPanel(“https://cft89.crm.dynamics.com//WebResources/new_SamplePage”, “Hello”); } }; And redirected it to another HTML page in my own D365. Then, I’ve added this to the onChange of the PhoneNumber on the Account record. And saved and Published the customization. Seeing it work: Now, when I change the Phone Number field on the Account, the slider appears on the right hand side of the page. You can click on the arrow to bring it in focus. Here we go! The Panel is now seen. Remember, this works only on the Web Client.

Introduction: This blog consists of information on how you can find the users having specific privileges and in which role they have the privileges. Solution: Make use of the below Fetch XML to identify who has access to prvReadAccount related to his Role. The fetch can be performed on System User level or for teams. <fetch version=”1.0″ output-format=”xml-platform” mapping=”logical” distinct=”false” > <entity name=”privilege” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”roleprivileges” from=”privilegeid” to=”privilegeid” alias=”pu” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”role” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”rpu” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”systemuserroles” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”sr” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”systemuser” from=”systemuserid” to=”systemuserid” alias=”srr” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”systemuserid” /> <attribute name=”fullname” /> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> <filter type=”and” > <condition attribute=”name” operator=”eq” value=”prvReadAccount” /> </filter> </entity> </fetch> Response: <fetch version=”1.0″ output-format=”xml-platform” mapping=”logical” distinct=”false” > <entity name=”privilege” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”roleprivileges” from=”privilegeid” to=”privilegeid” alias=”pt” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”role” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”rpt” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”name” /> <link-entity name=”teamroles” from=”roleid” to=”roleid” alias=”tr” link-type=”inner” > <link-entity name=”team” from=”teamid” to=”teamid” alias=”trr” link-type=”inner” > <attribute name=”teamid” /> <attribute name=”name” /> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> </link-entity> <filter type=”and” > <condition attribute=”name” operator=”eq” value=”prvReadAccount” /> </filter> </entity> </fetch>

Introduction: In the current 8.2 version of D365 PSA, we can only Hard Book a Resource from the Project Team Member View whereas in the v9.0, we can Soft Book from the Project Team Member View from with a few extra clicks. v8.2 – Current There is a button called Hard Book which lets you Hard Book the resource selected as shown below Then, you can plainly Hard Book the resource. v9.0 There is a generic option called as Book in the Project Team Member Associated View On clicking the same, a separate window opens with the selected Resource to Book them Conclusion Soft Booking from Project Team Members Associated View is not possible in v8.2 but is possible in the v9.0 version.

Introduction: In this blog article, we will see how we can increase simultaneous remote logins for multiple users to a remote connection. This will create different sessions for each login. It is important that we don’t increase simultaneous connection more then required as performance can decrease due to more resource demand for each login. Steps: Run -> gpedit.msc -> enter Administrative Templates -> windows Component -> Remote Desktop Services -> remote desktop session host -> connections Go to Restrict Remote Desktop Services users to a single Remote Desktop Services Session Select Disabled. Click OK Go to Limit number of connections. Select Enabled. Change ‘RD Maximum connections allowed’ to the desired connection allowed.   This will enable 2 simultaneous logins for Remote connection. In case Remote Desktop session host is not installed maximum connections allowed for remote login is 2.

Introduction: The purpose of this article is to help fellow entrepreneurs and sales managers leverage the power of Office 365 and Dynamics 365 to manage and build their sales pipeline with a few easy steps. In this article, we focus on utilizing Business Process Flows on Opportunities in Dynamics 365 and Triggering Email Notifications to team members. Step 1 – Enable the Out of the box Opportunity Sales Process In case you are not using Business Process Flows, please start using it. For a growing Sales team, using Business Process Flows on Opportunities enables a methodical approach to your pipeline management. When you enable the out of the box Opportunity Sales Process, you will see the following Process Flow appear on your Opportunities – The above Business Process Flow has 4 stages – Qualify, Develop, Propose and Close. You can move your Opportunity through each of the stages as you make progress. When the Opportunity reaches the proposal stage, we mark the Present Proposal check box as ‘complete’ as per below – We also ensure that we save the proposal on the Opportunity at that point – Step 2 – Send Email Notification to Project Delivery Manager on Proposal Complete When a proposal is sent to the Customer, we trigger a workflow notification to our HR and Delivery Managers. The Workflow email looks something like this – The above email serves as a reminder to our Delivery Manager that a new Project might be coming their way soon. It also informs our HR Manager, so they can look at our PowerBI Resource Allocation Dashboards to understand staffing and hiring needs. In addition, we also include the URL to the Opportunity, so our Delivery Manager can look at the Opportunity and even the proposal that we attached to the Opportunity. Finally, when an Opportunity is Won, we send a similar workflow email. Hence the ‘Propose’ stage email provides our Delivery Manager with some preparation time to ensure we are ready for Kick off when we Win the Opportunity.  Step 3 – Just do it. Yes, this step is same as in my previous article. Get in the habit of doing this and it will help close the communication loop from Sales to Delivery to HR, thus helping your organization meet its commitments. Remember… ‘Sales cures all.’ Let’s take care of that sales pipeline.’ You can always email me at AShah@CloudFronts.com to discuss your sales processes and technology adoption. In the coming articles, I will continue to focus on efficient ways to build and manage your sales pipeline and how this ties into one of the most important KPIs for running your professional services business.