Way back in July my friend and former Microsoft employee Alex Barnett posted a question on his widely read blog about the support for our APIs in Live. Since we were under NDA then I wasn't able to comment. I'm unsure of it's omission from the marketing messaging - that one is something for our marketing folks to comment on.
From Alex's Blog:
It's one thing to have on-premises software that can be extended and integrated with other software and services through SOAP APIs behind your firewall (Dynamics has a healthy story in this department today), but it is quite another (increasingly necessary) thing to provide APIs as part of a hosted SaaS service. I would have thought the provisioning of SaaS APIs would have been a central component of Microsoft's messaging today so am a little surprised by its omission.
Good News Alex! Live does have the full SOAP API found in the On-Premise product. We've done a lot of innovative work to have our SOAP web service API use Windows Live ID authentication. This isn't some dodgy 'admin token' service which some other services provide: it's the real deal - with authentication on a unique per user basis. We'll be talking more about the Live programming model over the next few months as we tell the Titan story in more detail.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Philip Richardson - TITAN Web Import
Today's screencast is Web Import in Titan. In this example we see the 'happy path' where Titan is able automatically map the columns from the CSV. If it's unable to perform this map we have a cool little UI which maps the file and saves/shares the map for later use.
The Import is handled asynchronously - which is why I'm hitting refresh a lot near the end of the screencast. We place the data in a queue and then parse, transform and load it.
Link: Web Import Screencast
The feature is available On-Premise, Partner Hosted and in CRM Live. In fact it is safe to assume that most features are available in all three manifestations of the product. I say 'manifestations' as it is the same product: just three different ways to 'get' it.(I'm working on a bunch of screencasts to help our Global Readiness Tour (GRT) presenters. Since I'm not a marketing guy I just through this stuff together and see what sticks. That's why some of these will appear in a 'random' order. There is no plan here - just a stream of cool features).
The Import is handled asynchronously - which is why I'm hitting refresh a lot near the end of the screencast. We place the data in a queue and then parse, transform and load it.
Link: Web Import Screencast
The feature is available On-Premise, Partner Hosted and in CRM Live. In fact it is safe to assume that most features are available in all three manifestations of the product. I say 'manifestations' as it is the same product: just three different ways to 'get' it.(I'm working on a bunch of screencasts to help our Global Readiness Tour (GRT) presenters. Since I'm not a marketing guy I just through this stuff together and see what sticks. That's why some of these will appear in a 'random' order. There is no plan here - just a stream of cool features).
Philip Richardson - Titan: Duplicate Detection
Today's Titan feature is Duplicate Detection. In Titan we have the ability to alert a user of a possible duplicate on a form (which you will see in this screencast). You can also interact with Duplicate Detection when conducting bulk import, data migration and when programming with the SDK. Duplicates can be 'detected' across different entities. In this example I have duplicate detection rules set up across the Lead and Contact entities. You can also schedule Duplicate Detection to run over a set of entities (an Advanced Find Query or a View) on scheduled basis.
Screencast: Duplicate DetectionOverall a very cool feature - which will be a power addition to your data hygiene arsenal.
Screencast: Duplicate DetectionOverall a very cool feature - which will be a power addition to your data hygiene arsenal.
Philip Richardson - CRM TITAN Import/Export Customizations Post
CRM 3.0 had the ability to move customizations between different systems. Titan has some nice enhancements to this feature. You can now import/export much more stuff (eg. configuration settings, security roles, workflows etc) and we have used zip compression to make the files smaller. In addition - we did some work to make the import more reliable and we now offer 'less cryptic' error messages.
Import/Export customizations also underwent some major work behind the scenes to cater for lots of complex multi-lingual scenarios (eg. import customizations which were done in different languages).Screencast: Export Customizations
Import/Export customizations also underwent some major work behind the scenes to cater for lots of complex multi-lingual scenarios (eg. import customizations which were done in different languages).Screencast: Export Customizations
Philip Richardson - Preview and features of CRM 4.0
This guy is in the know so here is his post:
The time has finally come in the Titan project where we can talk more openly about the project. I joined the team shortly after the RTM of CRM 3.0 and I've incredibly proud of the work I've been privileged to participate in.
Titan is not just a solid CRM package it is also an extensible platform for customers and partners to build their own customer centric business systems.
Over the next few weeks I'll be publishing some screencasts of the cool new Titan features. Possible topics (in no particular order) might include:
Multi-tenant web services
Duplicate Detection
Windows Live ID Authentication with a SOAP web service
New relationship features
Workflow
Multi-Lingual User Interface (MUI)
Plugins/Assemblies in CRM 4.0
Windows Workflow Foundation Activities
The CRM Live 'experience'
The Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) 'experience'
Outlook Client enhancements
Task Management
Web Import
User Management
Multi-Currency
Metadata API
Lookup Auto Resolve
Translating the User Interface
The Resource Center
Mail Merge
Offline SDK
There are dozens more new features which also deserve consideration. Many older features are also worth re-examining as there are some interesting synergies with some of the new features (eg. Tasks + Workflow + Relationships all together make for some very cool process management).
The time has finally come in the Titan project where we can talk more openly about the project. I joined the team shortly after the RTM of CRM 3.0 and I've incredibly proud of the work I've been privileged to participate in.
Titan is not just a solid CRM package it is also an extensible platform for customers and partners to build their own customer centric business systems.
Over the next few weeks I'll be publishing some screencasts of the cool new Titan features. Possible topics (in no particular order) might include:
Multi-tenant web services
Duplicate Detection
Windows Live ID Authentication with a SOAP web service
New relationship features
Workflow
Multi-Lingual User Interface (MUI)
Plugins/Assemblies in CRM 4.0
Windows Workflow Foundation Activities
The CRM Live 'experience'
The Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) 'experience'
Outlook Client enhancements
Task Management
Web Import
User Management
Multi-Currency
Metadata API
Lookup Auto Resolve
Translating the User Interface
The Resource Center
Mail Merge
Offline SDK
There are dozens more new features which also deserve consideration. Many older features are also worth re-examining as there are some interesting synergies with some of the new features (eg. Tasks + Workflow + Relationships all together make for some very cool process management).
Menno - TITAN Workflows - "Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog"
More CRM 4 news by A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog: Workflows are now available to end users, who no longer need access to the server in order to create, modify, and monitor them. Child workflows and workflow templates provide two ways for users to build upon existing workflow logic while they are creating new workflows.
Workflows now support many more record types. Also, they can now be triggered by the update and delete events, and a workflow can be triggered by more than one event. Dynamic values and conditionals are more useful. The new user interface for workflows includes the Form Assistant, a tool for specifying dynamic values. Dynamic values are also improved by the increased number of record relationships. So, there are more records and attributes available for inclusion in dynamic values. One of the other things that has changed in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is that we now can apply and use stages on all workflow logic which makes it possible to define and monitor parts of a complex workflow. In CRM 3 we only could use staging on the opportunity level.
Philip Richardson - TITAN v4.0 Videos posted
These are awesome videos that you can easily view online and get a good feel for what the applicaiton looks like and feels like. Also you get to see some of the new features etc.
Philip Richardson has posted some nice Titan videos:
- Web Import in Titan
- Duplicate Detection
- Duplicate Detection
- Add Multiple Users
Philip Richardson has posted some nice Titan videos:
- Web Import in Titan
- Duplicate Detection
- Duplicate Detection
- Add Multiple Users
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Companies See Increased Productivity Through the Convergence of Enterprise Applications and Desktop Tools
MS CRM brings all the power of your server side business application, analytics, reporting and workflow right into the friendly, familiar user interface of Office and Outlook! I like to say that CRM is EMBEDDED in Outlook. Better than integrated.
Check out this validation on that strategy.
October 04, 2007: 01:24 PM EST
The integration of desktop tools with enterprise applications is a two-way street that brings personal productivity, which in turn translates to improved corporate productivity. Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE: HHS), recently conducted a benchmark report titled "Two Worlds Converge: Enterprise Applications Meet the Desktop" and discovered that Best-in-Class (BIC) companies see a 20% increase in gross margin and 21.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, with a ratio of revenue growth to staff growth of 2.2. This compares with less than 1% increase in gross margin, 1.6% increase in revenue and a ratio of revenue to staff growth of .7 for Laggard organizations.
Driven by pressure to grow profitably with minimal investment in staff growth, Best-in-Class companies distinguish themselves as follows:
-- 100% of executives (C-Level and VPs) in Best-in-Class companies have direct access to data in enterprise applications
-- Best-in-Class companies are 3.6-times more likely than Laggards to be able to complete process flows without switching between applications (both desktop and enterprise)
-- Best-in-Class are 3-times more likely to coordinate business processes between departments with fully automated workflows
Converging enterprise applications -- like ERP -- and desktop tools such as those found in Microsoft's Office Suite make data needed for decision-making more easily accessible. This is most effective when enterprise applications become a natural extension of the desktop tool. Ultimately, from the end user's perspective, the goal is to improve personal productivity, in the hope that this will translate to corporate productivity. From the enterprise application vendor's point of view, it's about getting more workers in a company as ERP users. The convergence of these goals is synergistic.
"The key to wider adoption of enterprise applications throughout the enterprise is to make them easily accessible, intuitive to navigate and perhaps even transparent to the users that they are using applications such as ERP," says Cindy Jutras, Vice President and Group Director, Aberdeen Group. Jutras adds, "By providing easy access, easy analysis in a familiar setting, while keeping users captive within the secure ERP environment, we get the best of both worlds."
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Exact Software, Microsoft, and Tectura. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4316.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company - Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market.
For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com/ or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com/.
© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Check out this validation on that strategy.
October 04, 2007: 01:24 PM EST
The integration of desktop tools with enterprise applications is a two-way street that brings personal productivity, which in turn translates to improved corporate productivity. Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE: HHS), recently conducted a benchmark report titled "Two Worlds Converge: Enterprise Applications Meet the Desktop" and discovered that Best-in-Class (BIC) companies see a 20% increase in gross margin and 21.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, with a ratio of revenue growth to staff growth of 2.2. This compares with less than 1% increase in gross margin, 1.6% increase in revenue and a ratio of revenue to staff growth of .7 for Laggard organizations.
Driven by pressure to grow profitably with minimal investment in staff growth, Best-in-Class companies distinguish themselves as follows:
-- 100% of executives (C-Level and VPs) in Best-in-Class companies have direct access to data in enterprise applications
-- Best-in-Class companies are 3.6-times more likely than Laggards to be able to complete process flows without switching between applications (both desktop and enterprise)
-- Best-in-Class are 3-times more likely to coordinate business processes between departments with fully automated workflows
Converging enterprise applications -- like ERP -- and desktop tools such as those found in Microsoft's Office Suite make data needed for decision-making more easily accessible. This is most effective when enterprise applications become a natural extension of the desktop tool. Ultimately, from the end user's perspective, the goal is to improve personal productivity, in the hope that this will translate to corporate productivity. From the enterprise application vendor's point of view, it's about getting more workers in a company as ERP users. The convergence of these goals is synergistic.
"The key to wider adoption of enterprise applications throughout the enterprise is to make them easily accessible, intuitive to navigate and perhaps even transparent to the users that they are using applications such as ERP," says Cindy Jutras, Vice President and Group Director, Aberdeen Group. Jutras adds, "By providing easy access, easy analysis in a familiar setting, while keeping users captive within the secure ERP environment, we get the best of both worlds."
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Exact Software, Microsoft, and Tectura. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4316.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company - Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market.
For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com/ or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com/.
© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Monday, October 1, 2007
The CRM 4.0 NDA has expired
We have been in the Early preview and beta test group for MS CRM 4.0/TITAN for quite some time now. Since about February or March. We were also in the Beta test partner group for 3.0. It provides a wealth of information and advanced planning.
It helps us to architect our client systems to not waste time and money on features they might already have in the next version.
We are not allowed to release too much info while under the NDA. Now that is passed and we are going to compile all the great info out there and try to provide as much as possible for our readers. We are also actively using the CRM 4.0 beta code and now the CRM LIVE Beta testing sites. CRM LIVE is really cool.
We will be passing on our findings and thoughts and pinings to this blog too. You will see a lot of info in the coming weeks and months.
Regards,
Jon Petrucelli - http://www.productivegap.com/
It helps us to architect our client systems to not waste time and money on features they might already have in the next version.
We are not allowed to release too much info while under the NDA. Now that is passed and we are going to compile all the great info out there and try to provide as much as possible for our readers. We are also actively using the CRM 4.0 beta code and now the CRM LIVE Beta testing sites. CRM LIVE is really cool.
We will be passing on our findings and thoughts and pinings to this blog too. You will see a lot of info in the coming weeks and months.
Regards,
Jon Petrucelli - http://www.productivegap.com/
Guy Riddle - TITAN NDA lifted
THis guy knows a ton about CRM and posts very frequently. Great info. Here is a good feature overview of some of the functional and feature enhancements to MS CRM v4.0 vs CRM 3.0.
For those of us who have been lucky enough to be working with TITAN for some time now we can finally share some of the great features now that the NDA has been lifted.
Core features include:
Multi-Tenancy
Muli-Lingual User Interface (MUI packs will be available to download and install)
Multi-Currency
Workflow now integrated into the browser utilising Windows Workflow Foundation Activities
Duplicate Record Detection
Report Wizard
New 'Relationship' capabilities for Entities
Web Import (including custom entities) - including the ability to import data that 'updates' existing records
Improved Mail Merge including merge to Word from the browser
Ability to display attributes from a related entity in a view
Offline SDK for the Outlook Client
A Resource Center
and lots of performance improvements........
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