tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15971821777615935712024-02-20T10:34:03.926+00:00Allan Connolly MS CRM BlogThis is a new blog to put out there my tips and tricks about Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
I'm hoping that this can become a useful source of information for you, as other blogs that I read have become for me!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-64165838169626856342009-07-21T16:10:00.001+01:002009-07-21T16:12:27.833+01:00NEW BLOG!Hi Guys<br /><br />Unfortunately ths will be my last post here, please find my new blog <a href="http://cobwebcrmguru.blogspot.com/">here</a><br /><br />Thanks for using my blog and I hope you join me at my new blog!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-12019029211579686842009-02-16T15:32:00.003+00:002009-02-16T15:38:36.749+00:00Filtering Custom CRM reportsHi Guys<br /><br />I have had much fun over recent days producing custom reports for our clients and as I am learning and making the reports flashier, I have finally learnt what you need to do to add a filter to your reports.<br /><br />Firstly, you must alias the tables that you are retrieving data from with CRMAF_, for example<br /><br />select *<br />from filteredaccount as CRMAF_filteredaccount<br /><br />Secondly, if you want to specify which columns you wish to select you include the CRMAF reference in your select query<br /><br />select CRMAF_FilteredAccount.name<br />from filteredaccount as CRMAF_filteredaccount<br /><br />It is very basic I know, but if like me you have spent time creating reports in CRM then editing them in Visual Studio, just to have the filter, this saves a lot of time!<br /><br />Happy Reporting!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-51966558034342667052009-02-03T14:11:00.004+00:002009-02-03T14:20:56.930+00:00Vista Business, Pre-release .Net Framework and the Outlook Client - Part 3So after a weekend of banging my head against a wall, I have finally put to bed the issue of CRM Client not installing on a Vista Business laptop that has had a pre-released version of .Net installed on it... and to be honest it was a simple fix in the end!<br /><br />Once I had got the .net uninstalled, it was still telling me that it could not install the client, so I took a backup of the registry and started messing around with the .net and ASP keys, which did provide fruition in the end, however if you are going to do this please, please please take a backup other wise you could be in a whole world of trouble!<br /><br />So once finished experimenting, i simply deleted the entire ASP key from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft<br /><br />Then rebooted the machine and carried out the install/config and guess what, it all worked!<br /><br />So good luck if you have this issue and hope that this helps!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-91241790385650671082009-01-27T15:45:00.004+00:002009-01-27T15:53:20.608+00:00Vista Business, Pre-release .Net Framework and the Outlook Client - Part 2Hi Guys<br /><br />You may remember a previous post where I talked about the firewall settings on Vista preventing the install of the outlook Client.<br /><br />Subsequently it has turned out that this was not the only issue on said users laptop. Having the user away for the past month it has been difficult to diagnose the issues correctly, but having <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">uninstalled</span> the client again, as well as all .Net versions, things became clearer.<br /><br />I was now getting an error message that pointed towards a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">pre-</span>release of .net 3.0 being on the machine, however no matter where i searched in add/remove programs I could not remove this software.<br /><br />However after some searching, it turns out that MS have released an <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AAE7FC63-D405-4E13-909F-E85AA9E66146&displaylang=en"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Uninstall</span> tool </a>that removes all versions of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">pre</span>-release .net 3.0.<br /><br />Thankfully this has now removed <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">the</span> issue that we were having, and now barring any more issues, our client should now be able to use <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">CRM</span>!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-28689709564168128902009-01-16T11:02:00.004+00:002009-01-16T11:09:18.952+00:00Event Management Accelerator Part 2Hi Guys<br /><br /><br /><br />For a while I had struggled to find a way of displaying who had actually registered for the event, without actually going into the particular campaign.<br />However after much experimentation with the advanced find, a solution is with us!<br /><br /><br />What you need to do is:<br /><br />Create an advanced find on Contacts with the following criteria<br /><br /><br /><br />Activity Parties (Party)<br />Activity (Campaign Response)<br />Response Code Equals Registered<br />Parent Campaign(Campaign)<br />Campaign Equals "your event name"<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291846323467199394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 437px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 237px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIIiWSPxlndXS7kVwsC_sn2_1nNwyCFRBwXpON-ytN7LAE3bmFe8cXwcMX_rom5GGmovkOLEiD8XVI98ELystGzK_niEI3OZdPssPlbc4nRSfuSqkuwWGfLfiXDoRlfENqi5tGN5uAdm8f/s320/Advanced+Find.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br />all you then need to do is setup one for each campaign!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-66673929771387231702008-12-22T16:07:00.003+00:002008-12-22T16:15:43.327+00:00Display the last Note on an Opportunity ReportHi Guys<br /><br />One of my clients recently requested that we design an opportunity report that also provided the last note added, so they could have an easy summary report to present to their board of directors.<br /><br />After a few hours scratching my head and I must admit a few nearlys it got time to call on the knowledge of others, and with thanks to Joel from Customer Effective, I was able to produce the correct SQL statement and then design the report is Visual Studio...<br /><br />anyways here is the SQL:<br /><br />select *<br />from(select filteredannotation.objecttypecode, filteredannotation.notetext, filteredannotation.objectid, filteredopportunity.accountidname, filteredopportunity.customeridname,filteredannotation.isdocument, filteredannotation.createdon, filteredopportunity.stepname, filteredopportunity.estimatedvalue, filteredopportunity.estimatedclosedate, filteredopportunity.closeprobability, filteredopportunity.statecodename,ROW_NUMBER()OVER(Partition By filteredannotation.objectid Order By filteredannotation.createdon DESC) AS RowNmbrfrom filteredannotation, filteredopportunitywhere filteredannotation.objectid = filteredopportunity.opportunityid) as test<br />where rownmbr = 1<br /><br />So once this query was added to a new dataset, the report was designed and showed only the last note added!<br /><br />So special thanks to Joel and a Merry Christmas to everyone!!!Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-76350211877872902392008-12-01T18:20:00.005+00:002008-12-01T18:29:42.273+00:00CRM Client 4.0, Vista Business & Hosted CRM<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Hi Guys</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I have had a very trying day involving the CRM client, Vista Business and a number of firewall applications!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I have seen that a lot of people out there have had some issues with this setup, and there a number of registry hacks etc out there that people have tried.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">However upon installing a fresh copy of Vista and Office on a test machine and enabling full blocking and tracking in Mcaffe firewall I found that there are three components of the CRM Client install that require external access, they are:</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Client\ConfigWizard\Microsoft.Crm.Client.Config.exe</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Client\ConfigWizard\Microsoft.Crm.Client.AutoUpdate.exe</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Client\res\web\bin\ Microsoft.Crm.Application.Hoster.exe</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I found once I had gone back through my clients personal firewall settings (which there were several) and enabled these three programs full access to the net, the install completed and they were able to use CRM, which meant that I could go home, Happy Days!</span>Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-45371202966764753112008-11-25T15:13:00.007+00:002008-12-30T11:26:11.603+00:00Custom Reporting in CRM 4.0<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">So after my relatively successful installation of the Event Management Accelerator, I have yet to test out how it actually works! But there is a reason for this... I have been thrust head first into writing Custom Reports for a particular client of ours... not one of my favorite subjects, but one that surprisingly I am finding quite enjoyable!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I have been playing around with Visual Studio and it is very good at making the reporting minefield relatively trouble free... and if I ever do run into any issues there is always the trusty geniuses on </span><a href="http://forums.microsoft.com/Dynamics/default.aspx?siteid=27"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">http://forums.microsoft.com/Dynamics/default.aspx?siteid=27</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> to help you out!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#ffffff;">My major triumph today, however was a small piece of SQL code that enabled me to display the months to close a particular opportunity on this said report, now it may not seem much, but for me, it was like almost reaching the top of Everest!</span> </span></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">anyways here is the code for months</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">=sum(DateDiff(DateInterval.Day, Fields!createdon.Value, Fields!actualclosedate.Value)/28)</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">However, the pièce de résistance has to be the average time that it takes to close opportunities and this code took a little while to get my head around the logic... but here it is...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">=AVG(DateDiff(DateInterval.Day, Fields!createdon.Value, Fields!actualclosedate.Value)/28)</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">As you can probably tell, I'm rather pleased with myself so I think it is now time to go for coffee!</span>Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-69394398676475023112008-11-19T17:07:00.012+00:002008-11-19T17:46:34.220+00:00Installing The Event Management Accelerator in a Hosted CRM environment<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Hi Guys<br /><br />I have been having a play around with the newly released accelerator on our hosted CRM platform, and I have to say so far so good.<br /><br />I thought I would just drop down a few thoughts about the install process (which is very easy) and a few shots of what it should look like.<br /><br />The very first thing that I found was that after the download had extracted itself, when I went to upload the customisations, CRM returned the error that the file path was too long, so my first tip is to extract the files to your own folder path rather than the default path and thus saving you a few minutes!<br /><br />Once all customisations had been uploaded, it was then turn to publish the workflows, which as the instructions state cannot be published until you edit the three workflows that send emails, so you have to go in and change the sender from "Microsoft Web User" to a user within your organisation.<br /><br />Once these are all published you should see within your Campaigns the added links on the left hand navigation.</span><br /><div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_t7soSnPq7oHwyC2OU5n_JqRWc0_SFDOqUQQouPpKCeHE55W04IC-40rVINdDCKhQVrlgc1VbUnsTcL81r4RuscgU-_1ABe814mTRB67rFspEoyz45tMIccacYBT1nu1L2MgFuTJwPlpT/s1600-h/LeftNav.JPG"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270419159641998082" style="WIDTH: 189px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_t7soSnPq7oHwyC2OU5n_JqRWc0_SFDOqUQQouPpKCeHE55W04IC-40rVINdDCKhQVrlgc1VbUnsTcL81r4RuscgU-_1ABe814mTRB67rFspEoyz45tMIccacYBT1nu1L2MgFuTJwPlpT/s320/LeftNav.JPG" border="0" /></span></a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The final part of the install is to add the eventmanagement plugin, by running the msa_eventmanagement.install.exe on your CRM server. You must remeber to state which organisation you are adding the plugin to (must be the same as the org you uploaded the customisations to)</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Once this has successfully run, you will need to go into customisations and you will see the entity event management configuration, edit this entity and set it to show up in the settings area of CRM.</span></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Finally go the settings area and you will see that the entity now appears as an admin area. Go into this area and you will need to set the first configuration settings</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The settings should be as follows:</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The Event status code values need to be read from the Status Code attribute of the campaign entity. We enter these manually just in case the import was not able to use the default values for Status Code. The following status codes should be used:<br />Event is Open for registration = 2 (Launched)<br />Event is Sold Out = 200001 (Sold Out)<br />Event is Waitlisting registrations = 200000 (Waitlisting)<br />These codes are used so that the portal can adjust the display of specific events and in the case of sold out events ensure that the web customer can’t register for the event.<br /><br />The following Campaign Response Response Codes are used:<br />Registered = 200000 (Registered)<br />Registration Canceled = 200001 (Registration Canceled)<br />Waitlist = 200002 (Place this customer on the waitlist)<br /><br />Additionally, we need to store the reference number for the Campaign Response Channel type which by default is set to 200000 for the web channel. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Once that is saved you are ready to start using Event Management!</span></div><div></div><div></div>Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597182177761593571.post-16311299442781952842008-11-19T14:37:00.004+00:002008-11-19T14:43:10.446+00:00Welcome<span style="font-family:verdana;">Welcome, one and all to my very first blog page, ever!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Over the next few weeks, months and years you will find helpful tips and tricks to help you get more out of Microsoft CRM and hopefully make your lives easier!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I have read many many helpful blogs while trawling for the answers to the many, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">many questions I have had about CRM and I will do my best to put all of the answers here and hopefully over time, this blog will become one of the first that you look for when you need help! </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Please do comment, both good and bad are welcome (hopefully more good than bad ;P) and as I say I hope that this blog becomes an invaluable source of info!</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Thanks</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Al</span>Allan Connollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13282592471646992420noreply@blogger.com0