Sometimes there are scenarios when there is customer ask to put Multiline text fields in CRM Views.

Multiline text fields in CRM can span lot number of characters but columns in view will have a limit of 300 px.

This is something to be careful as Multiline text fields can span lot more characters on that. This what will my field look like in View:

So, if user needs to give a quick look on the text, there is very simple usability option given by CRM.

If you hover on the field text:

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

The new version of Phone app is out:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2015/07/28/new-crm-for-phones-app-available-for-iphone-android-and-windows-phone.aspx

I gave it a quick try of the Android app and here is a rundown of my experience.

As soon as the Phone app is opened, first screen visible is:

It seems a lot neater UI and first thing I noticed is the swipe kind of marker available. Once, I swipe the marker, I am in the second area of the dashboard:

Clicking on the Menu(marked in yellow) opens up the following:

Changing dashboards(bottom of the screen 3 dots):

Available Dashboards:

Entity forms:

Swipe on the entity forms takes to other sections:

Entity ribbon (Bottom 3 dots):

Multi entity search (Button on top highlighted in yellow):

Overall, very nice version on the first experience. Great work by Product team, Give the app a try.

Note from the msdn blog:

• The CRM for phones app requires Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Update 1.
• The previous version of the CRM for phones app is still available in app stores, but it’s now called CRM for phones express.

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

In my previous post, I shared Step by Step guide to configure Server side sync:

{Step by Step} Set up server side sync with CRM 2015 Update 1 Online and Office 365

This post is a logical extension to analyse Server side Sync performance using out of box tools.

Lot of times, People report issues on Server side synchronization for one particular mailbox or set of mailboxes.

First thing, in such scenarios should be to check out of box available Server side performance dashboard:

The first screen gives useful information on the mailboxes with hyperlinks, clicking them can directly take you to the intended mailboxes:

The second graph describes Mailbox processing history with Success/Failiures:

Third graph points to processing times:

Error codes (Top 5 are displayed) in the fourth graph:

CRM Items waiting to be traced can be found in fifth graph:

Last graph displays items processed or failed:

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

Note: This only applies to CRM 2015 Update 1.

I have been getting mails on how to set up Server side Sync with Dynamics CRM. Now that I had the time, I quickly set up this step by step guide:

· First you need to go to Office 365 Console->Active Users

· Click on Edit license and Assign Office 365 E3 License or Exchnage plan to your office 365 user:

· Office 365 setup for the user is now complete. Next navigate to Settings->Email Configuration

· Once you navigate, you will see below screen. Navigate to Email server Profiles.

· Verify that the profile is already configured for you. Check Alerts, if any:

· Navigate back to Settings->Email Configuration->Mailboxes

· You will see below screen:

· Open up the mailbox record:

· Click on Test and Enable Mailbox, keep the checkbox checked. I will explain later why.

· I noticed an error, did I do something wrong, All Configuration test results are failure:

· Go to Alerts and you will see the reason. We need to approve Primary email for the mailbox.

· Click General and Approve Email:

· Test again, this time it is success:

· The checkbox that you clicked earlier will send you a test email to your inbox:

· We are done, now some incoming and outbound checks, Sending an Email activity:

· Status is changed to Sent:

· Received in my inbox:

· Replying an inbound mail:

· Soon enough in CRM:

Happy CRMing and hope it helps!

Thank you note for all the readers and CRM community, I crossed 60k hits on my blog and was read in 138 countries.

Happy CRMing!

First of all, CRM 2015 Update 1 is not supported for Edge browser over Windows 10 yet. With the help of my colleague,

I was able to run a quick show of this combination over my online trial instance. Sometimes i hear customers trying it

out without CRM experts and does not return fruitful results.

Here is a sneak peak into my findings:

Dashboard performed fine:

Forms Loaded faster:

Views did great as well:

Definitely, it is not supported yet. Trying to add fields into advanced find gave away the fun:

Overall performance seemed better and CRM did perform well on the browser. Waiting for the official release

from the awesome Microsoft Product team!

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

Sometimes we need to make client side scripting is CRM intelligent enough to identify which device is running

and then only run some script and not others.

This method was introduced with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1

context.client.getFormFactor()

The values work as below:

Value Form factor

0 Unknown

1 Desktop

2 Tablet

3 Phone

For eg, if there is a code particular to Desktop:

function fun()

{

var formFactor = Xrm.Page.context.client.getFormFactor();

if (formFactor == 1)

{

//Code specific to run on desktop

}
}

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

This blog outlines types of support offerings available for Dynamics CRM support plans:

Basic Support:

Enhanced:

Professional Direct:

Premiere:

Choose your support plan wisely based on needs, Happy CRMing!

Source: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Resource Guide

CRM 2015 Update 1 lot of interesting features. Most of them are documented and published. Often, there are smaller enhancements

which are not noticed.

One of the things I was asked recently if there is a quick way to navigate to Sections in CRM 2015 Update 1.

So, I was exploring the options and came across another hidden gem:

Taking example of vanilla Account form here

Once you click this you have options to pick sections:

When I clicked Details I was able to navigate to the particular section:

This is a lot better user experience as there is full focus on the section in terms of visibility.

Hope it helps and Happy CRMing!

If you are intended to find some technical CRM content on this blog, this is where you should stop reading my today’s blog entry because the post is headed in a different direction.

Today I am focusing on a very important aspect regarding CRM implementations which is often overlooked, which is about the importance of mind-set in CRM career based on my personal experiences

and people I have seen or worked with in the industry.

My software development career began about 10 years ago (8 years of full time and 2 years part time).

Starting young at 18 has lot of benefits but also mistakes which help in learning and adapting.

But only in about the last 4 years did I really start to see a large boost in my CRM development career.

Here are some of the things I wish I would have known when I got started in the software development industry, things that would have made me more successful, much earlier, if I would have known them.

· There are no absolute right ways to do things in CRM development

I often see people, both in studying and arguing since early on in my career, falsely believing there was an absolute “right way” for many aspects of CRM development.

It turns out that just about everything I once thought was the most right way about CRM development at some point turned out to be wrong for some different scenario.

· Community is extremely important in your CRM development career

To grow in the CRM industry and to truly understand the depth and extent of different scenarios, to meet likeminded and different minded brains, the most important help you can get in CRM world is communities.

Blogging, doing open source tools, webinars, conferences, being a speaker or a listener at CRM community events gives you experiences to develop sound understanding.

· Choosing the right managers and companies is always important

To grow in the CRM industry or any other industry, having right managers and companies is extremely important. One of the thing I learnt is if the company tells you certain thing but heads you in another direction,

it is not the right company to grow.

Choosing right company and managers is very important and adjusting is the key to grow!

Hope it helped, Happy CRMing!

Note: IF you could relate to some of the above, do let me know on comments!