Line of Business core application upgrades can be a very tenuous time for a system admin. Luckily we have been doing a lot of CRM 4.0 related work: Installations, upgrades, code version moves and just general poking around (technical term). We are going to start posting our findings and recommendations to share with our loyal readers, if any are out there. Hopefully they will bring someone some enjoyment.
Many thanks to our team for pulling these together. New Versions and the associated hassles with new installations, upgrades and bugs can be a tough couple weeks as one learns the ins and outs of the new process. We fortunately have quite a few spare servers and development boxes that we can test and retest and train on before ‘go-time’ in front of a client. Even with all the training we cannot prepare for all the wrinkles a field/production system might contain. This is the time to shine and why we get paid the big bucks ;-).
Here are our first set of findings and recommendations around upgrading from CRM 3.0 to 4.0.
-CRM 4.0 has some many great enhancements and productivity features that it is worth it to me to do the upgrade even if it breaks some things.
-Be very careful, back everything up (DBs, Web configs, ISV configs, etc), test on a dev environment if at all possible. Image the entire server if you can.
-With good backups to the core DB and Metabase in 3.0 you can roll the system back using the Redeployment wizard if necessary.
-Installs and Upgrades are largely about “Conditioning” the Domain and Server to properly and efficiently accept the CRM code. Spending a lot of time making sure ht system and domain and environment are properly configured is a very important step. If done correctly then the application largely installs itself.
-An upgrade can break many customizations that users might really like. So run a test before if at all possible.
-CRM will open just fine, but the URL to navigate to will be a little different…it includes the company name as well, for example: http://titan:5555/productivegap/loader.aspx
-Custom reports that had been deployed and working in CRM 3.0 do not show up in the Reports section of CRM. The Custom Reports still exist in the Report Manager list, but not in CRM automatically. Added the reports to CRM manually, and the reports seem to be working fine including a custom sub report
-Opened an Account and received a generic error. There was no ‘OnLoad’ type of error, etc. like in CRM 3.0. The error was related to Field Level Security. This is not allowed at all in CRM 4.0, and the MSCRMServices is no longer available, see this blog: Click Here
-Javascript that shows the Products on an IFrame on a tab instead of the Navigation Bar works perfectly
Call us if you need help. 512-498-1005 - Regards, Jon Petrucelli
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