In case you missed it, we've just released a bunch of great new documentation, videos, guides, eBooks, developer tools, and resources for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 releases! 

   
Information for end-users

www.crmcustomercenter.com

• All new Customer Center! - link
• Getting Ready page to help prepare people for the release! - link
• eBook: What’s Changed in CRM 2013 - link
• eBook: Bring in your contacts  - link
• eBook: Start working in CRM  - link
• eBook: Business processes - link
• Video: Get started with CRM - link
• Role-based hubs for sales, service, marketing, and administrators

Information for developers
  
www.crmdevelopercenter.com 

SDK for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - link

Highlights:

• Developer tools
• Sample code
• Mobile and rich client development
• Business process flows
• Real-time workflows
• Data encryption
• Asynchronous solution import
• Quick start for developers
• And much more….
  See the full list in the SDK!

Information for IT professionals & administrators

www.crmitprocenter.com

Implementation Guide for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - link

Includes:

• Planning Guide
• Installing Guide
• Administration Guide
• Operating Guide
• Customization Guide
• Report Writers Guide  

Information for the enterprise    

• Connectivity and Firewall Port Requirements for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 - link
• Performance Counters for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 - link
• Using Multi-tenancy in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 to Address Challenges in Enterprise Business Environments - link
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Security and Compliance Planning Guide - link
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Security and Service Continuity Guide - link

In Microsoft CRM you can define and enforce consistent business processes. Consistent processes helps you focus on your work and not on remembering to perform a set of manual steps.

Processes can be simple or complex and they should be expected to change over time. Microsoft CRM provides several options to define your processes. Its important to understand how you can use each type to get the results you need.

Processes are designed to be used by people who are not developers. The rules defined within processes contain similar logic that a developer may apply using code, but you don’t need to call in a developer each time you want to change the rules. However, you do need to have a clear understanding of the logic in the rules you want to apply and understand the capabilities of each type of process.

There are four categories of processes you can utilize in CRM 2013:

Workflows 
Automate business processes behind the scenes. Workflows are typically initiated by system events so the user does not need to be aware that they are running, but they can also be configured for people to manually initiate them. Workflows can operate in the background (asynchronously) or in real-time (synchronously). These are referred to separately as background workflows or real-time workflows.

Dialogs 
Create a user interface that will guide people through a script for customer interaction or a wizard to perform complex actions consistently.

Actions 
Expand the vocabulary available for developers to express business processes. With core verbs like Create, Update, Delete, and Assign provided by the system, an Action uses those core verbs to create more expressive verbs like Approve, Escalate, Route, or Schedule. If the definition of a business process changes, someone who is not a developer can edit the Action so the code does not need to be changed.

Business Process Flows 
Use Business process flows to define the steps in which people should enter data to achieve an outcome. Business process flows add a control to the top of a form that will show people what data they need to enter in order to move forward to the next stage and ultimately to completion of a business process. A business process flow can span multiple entities.

Comparing Workflows, Dialogs and Actions

Processes other than business process flows can check conditions, apply branching logic and perform actions. They perform these actions in a series of steps. Business Process Flows contain stages and control advancement to stages, but they do not provide any of the other capabilities. The following table compares the available steps in Workflow, Dialog, and Action processes (see details for each row below the table):

Orange = Background Workflow Only

Details:

• Assign Record: You can assign the record that the workflow is running on, any of the records linked to that record with an N:1 relationship, or any records created by earlier steps.
• Assign Value: Sets a value to a variable or output parameter within the process.
• Change Status:  Changes the status of the record that the process is running on, any of the records linked to that record with an N:1 relationship, or any records created by earlier steps.
• Check Condition: A logical "if-<condition> then" statement. You can check values for the record that the workflow is running on, any of the records linked to that record in an N:1 relationships, or any records created by earlier steps. Based on these values you can define additional steps when the condition is true.
• Conditional Branch: A logical "else-if-then" statement, the editor uses the text “Otherwise, if <condition> then:”. Select a check condition you have previously defined and you can add a conditional branch to define additional steps when the check condition returns false.
• Create Record: Creates a new record for an entity you choose and assigns values you choose to attributes.
• Custom Step:  Provides extensions to the logical elements available by default in Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Steps can include conditions, actions, other steps, or a combination of these elements. Developers can create custom workflow steps. There are no custom steps available in Microsoft Dynamics CRM by default.
• Default Action:  A logical "else" statement. the editor uses the text “Otherwise:”. Select a check condition, conditional branch, wait condition, or parallel wait branch that you have previously defined and you can use a default action to define steps for all cases that do not match the criteria defined in condition or branch elements.
• Link Child Dialog: Starts a Dialog process that has been configured as a child dialog.
• Page: A container for Prompt and Response steps in a dialog.
• Parallel Wait Branch: Defines an alternative wait condition for a background workflow with a corresponding set of additional steps that are performed only when the initial criterion is met. You can use parallel wait branches to create time limits in your workflow logic. They help prevent the workflow from waiting indefinitely until the criteria defined in a wait condition have been met.
• Prompt and Response: Displays a prompt within a dialog page and may provide a field to capture data from a response.
• Query CRM Data: Defines a query that returns data to provide options for a response in a Prompt and Response step of a dialog.
• Send Email: Sends an email. You can choose to create a new email message or use an email template configured for the entity of the record that the workflow is running on or any entities that have an N:1 relationship with the entity, or the entity for any records created by earlier steps.
• Stage: Stages make the workflow logic easier to read, and explain the workflow logic. However, stages do not affect the logic or behavior of workflows. If a process has stages, all the steps within the process must be contained with a stage.
• Start Child Workflow: Starts a workflow process that has been configured as a child workflow.
• Stop Workflow/Stop Dialog:  Stops the current workflow, dialog or action. You can set a status of either Succeeded or Cancelled and specify a status message.
• Update Record: You can update the record that the workflow is running on, any of the records linked to that record in an N:1 relationships, or any records created by earlier steps.
• Wait Condition: Enables a background workflow to pause itself until the criteria defined by the condition have been met. The workflow starts again automatically when the criteria in the wait condition have been met.

Business Process Flows

In CRM 2013, a process-driven approach of solving problems is being advocated, where processes act as proactive elements in the system that guide users about the next steps and help navigate different flows to achieve a desired outcome.

At the top of updated forms you can see a process flow control that provides a guide for you to get your work done.

The process flow control provides a streamlined experience that ties data entry with stages in the lifecycle of the record.

Business process flows provide a streamlined user experience that leads you through the processes your organization has defined for interactions that need to be advanced to a conclusion of some kind. This user experience can be tailored so that people with different security roles can have an experience that best suits the work they do.

Business process flows can

• reduce need for training because new users don’t have to focus on which entity they should be using, they can let the process guide them
• be configured to support common sales methodologies that can help sales groups achieve better results
• help new service staff get up-to-speed more quickly and avoid mistakes which could result in dissatisfied customers

The main principle behind business process flows is to guide you to achieve specific goals and help you understand the following:

1. Where am I?
2. What do I do next?
3. Where did I come from?

Single or Multiple Entities

A business process flow in CRM 2013 can be used for a single entity or span multiple entities. For example, you may have a process that begins with an Opportunity, then continues to a Quote, an Order, and then an Invoice before finally returning to close the Opportunity.

Stages and Steps

With Business process flows you define a set of Stages and Steps which are then displayed in a control at the top of the form. Each Stage contains a group of steps. Each step represents a field where data can be entered. You can advance to the next stage using the Next Stage button. You can also make a step required so that users must enter data for the corresponding field before they can proceed to the next stage. This is commonly called ‘stage-gating’.

Security Roles and Switching Processes

You can associate business process flows with security roles so that only people with those security roles can see or use them. You can also order the business process flows so that you can control which business process flow will be set by default. This works in the same way that multiple forms for an entity are defined.

When someone creates a new entity record, the list of available activated business process flows is compared to the business processes flows that the person’s security role will show them. The first activated business process flow in that list is the one that will be applied by default. If more than one active business process flow is available you can chose Switch Process from the command bar to apply a different process. Whenever someone switches processes, the current process stage will be set to the first stage of the newly applied business process flow.

I hope you get a picture of the breadth and depth of the process support in CRM 2013, and how it can be applied to help you focus on your work.

See also

• Business Processes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 (by Richard Knudson) - link

On November 4, 2013 at 18:00 CET (12:00pm EST), live from Barcelona, Spain, we are hosting a Global Premiere Event and broadcasting it virtually around the globe. 

This virtual event will take viewers around the world in 60 minutes to hear from Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers who are focusing their efforts on creating amazing customer experiences and using Microsoft technologies to help them deliver.

Microsoft partners can invite their customers to view the event in various ways. If you can access Partner Source you can read more here.

Following the initial Orion Readiness Blitz event on July 31, a Orion Readiness Blitz v2 has now been scheduled for early October.

The session will include new content and offer a deeper dive into specific topics from the first Blitz, all packed into a concise and user-friendly two-hour format.

More details will be shared next week, but in the meantime please save the following dates in your calendars:

• Option 1: Wednesday October 9th, 8 PM-10 PM (Pacific time)
• Option 2: Thursday October 10th, 8 AM-10 AM (Pacific time)

Registration will open next week for the sessions,  and we will be recording all content from these sessions for posting afterfor those who could not attend.

We've just released a short 19 page Release Preview Guide highlighting some of the key investment areas we are making with the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall '13, amongst others the

• Reimagined User Interface - view everything you need in one spot, new navigation, quick create forms
• Process Excellence and Agility - guided processes eliminating the guessing in what to do next
• CRM on the Go - new mobile application for tablets and phones
• Enterprise Collaboration - harnessing the power of social and synchronizing with servers
• Platform Enhancements - performance, access, business rules

You can download the guide from Microsoft Download - link

If you are an existing CRM Online customer upgrading to the new CRM Online Fall ’13 edition – and you have one or more customized forms – there is a few things to notice around your new forms.

Your upgraded customized forms will render in the new UI, and the forms will reflect your layout. You can then choose to upgrade your forms fully to the CRM Online Fall '13 forms.

I will try to explain in an example.

Example

In this example lets pretend you have a entity "Affiliate", originally based on the "Account" entity i CRM Online 2011. The "Affilliate" entity leverages a heavily customized form (see below).

                               Fig. 1 - Customized form "Affiliate" in CRM Online 2011

Old and new form

After the upgrade to CRM Online Fall ‘13 the "Affiliate" entity will have (amongst others) an 'old' and a 'new' form.

• The 'old' form will have the name “Information” and be of type “Main”.
• The 'new' form will have the same name as the original entity – ”Account”. The new form will be in a deactivated state
  
     Fig. 2 - Forms for the entity

The form "Information" will reflect your original layout, and you could leave it at that and use the "Information" form onwards. But the form wont be fully taking advantage of the new capabilities in CRM Online Fall ’13. If you want to fully take advantage of the new capabilities you will need to switch to the new form by going through a process which is basically merging the two forms and after that move things around, delete what’s not needed etc

To Merge the Two Forms.

1. Open the new form “Account” in your form editor.
   
      Fig. 3 - New (inactive) form opned in the Form Editor
   
   
   This is the CRM Online Fall ‘13 version of the "Affiliate" form. As you can see, it’s clearly not in the format or structure that you had in the previous version of the form.
   
   To assist you in updating forms to the new style, we provide a tool that will allow you to import the form elements from another form into your CRM Online Fall ‘13 form. The tool is accessed via a button "Bring in another form" located in the top right corner of the ribbon in the form editor. What it does is offer you to append any form to the form you've opened in the Form Editor to easily merge their contents
   
   
2. In the form editor, click the Bring in another form button: 
   
   
     Fig. 4 - new button "Bring in another form"
   
   
   Clicking that button will present you with a list of forms from the previous version that you can choose from. 
   
      Fig. 5 - Choose form to bring in
   
   
3. Choose the "Information" form, as that is the form that has the current layout of your form, and then click Add.
   
   The content will be added to the form editor:
   
       Fig. 6 - Elements appended to the form.
      
   
      Fig. 7 - The result of the merge process
   
    
4. Post merge handling
   
   In this example, lets assume the 2011 version of the "Affiliate" form used a web resource that was connected to Bing to display the location of the entity on a map. With the CRM Online Fall ‘13 update, CRM includes this functionality out of the box, so you can remove that and use this new feature instead.
   
   You can also remove the address block, notes, and activities area, from the copy of the original form, using the new controls that CRM Online Fall ‘13 provides.   
   
   The updated form now looks like this:
   
       Fig. 8 - Updated form
   
   In the original form, the logo displayed in a web resource. CRM Online Fall ‘13 also includes a new Image data type that is associated to the account, so a few quick changes to the design and now it looks like this: 
   
       Fig. 9 - logo added using new Image control
   
   
5. Activate the "Account" form to start using that form instead of the "Information" form
   

I hope this example helps you understand some of the process involved around the forms upgrade after your organisation has been upgraded to CRM Online Fall '13. Obviously there is other things you will want to do, which you can read more about in the "Get Ready for the Next Release" section of the CRM Customer Center.

Notes 

• To view the forms, navigate to Settings > Customizations > Customize the System.
• If you have a custom solution installed, navigate to Settings > Customizations > Solutions.
  
  In either case, once you have expanded an entity you can see the forms for that entity. 

See also

• CRM Customer Center - link 
• Check your JavaScript code to prepare for your upgrade - link (really Important you check your code prior to the upgrade)

Disclaimer

"Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall '13" is a pre-release service under development. The information in this blog post represents my personal understanding and expectations as of the date of this blog post. All pre-release service release dates and features specified are preliminary based on current expectations, and are subject to change without notice.

When you run a client application that works with Office 365 such as Lync, Outlook, Windows PowerShell or Windows Azure Active Directory Sync tool, your credentials must be authenticated.

Office 365 uses a CNAME record to point to the correct authentication endpoint for your location, which ensures rapid authentication response times.

If this CNAME record is missing for your domain, these applications will use a default authentication endpoint in the United States, which means authentication might be slower. If this CNAME record isn’t configured properly; for example, if you have a typo in the Points to address, these applications won’t be able to authenticate.

Bottom line; adding the CNAME record (if missing) might give you faster authentication.

If you are using Office 365 Small Business: Office 365 sets up this CNAME record for you. If you are managing your own DNS records, to create this record, follow the instructions for your DNS hosting provider.

If you are using Office 365 Enterprise or Office 365 Midsize Business: To create this record, follow the instructions for your DNS hosting provider.

Source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-suite-help/whats-the-purpose-of-the-additional-office-365-cname-record-HA104088602.aspx?redir=0

Click here to access our Microsoft Dynamics Customer Center, in which you can find lots of information helping you to prepare for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. Contents is updated on a weekly basis as we approach the launch of CRM 2013. Topics include

• Choose your update schedule
• Prepare for the new release
• Got custom code? We have a tool you can use to see if your custom code will work with the new release

See also: crmcustomercenter.com

Update Rollup 15* for Dynamics CRM 2011 will be available soon.

This Update Rollup also includes many CRM for Outlook Client improvements.

One of the improvements is a new a new feature that is scheduled to be delivered with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. This feature moves the CRM client-specific workload into its own process so that it no longer shares memory with the Microsoft Office Outlook process, relieving some of the memory pressure on Outlooks 2GB virtual memory. This feature is also known as Process Isolation.

Other improvements:

• It includes an upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server for Windows CE 4.0 for better memory management, better caching, and connection enhancements.
• It updates the CRM for Outlook configuration files to make the CRM for Outlook SDF files compatible with SQL Server for Windows CE 4.0.
• It materializes the Address Book Provider to reduce performance issues that are caused by large address books.
• It limits the amount of active open forms.
• It provides a MAPI Lock time-out.
• It hard codes a previous registry setting that prevented pinned views from pulling down information to local SQL CE cache. This new DisableMapiCaching setting defaults to a value of 1

Read more here

*This blog post is derived from a Microsoft Support Article being provided as a prerelease notification of changes that are likely to be included in Update Rollup 15, and it is subject to change. When Update Rollup 15 is publicly released, this article will be updated to reflect the items that actually are included in the final Update Rollup 15 package

 The product group just shared a bunch of enhancements to the SharePoint Online service

• Improved file upload experience: increased file upload limit from 250MB to 2 GB
• increased site collection limit from 3,000 to 10,000
• Improved self-restoration: increasing recycle bin retention duration to 90 days, up from 30
• .exe and .dll are now acceptable file types
• List lookup threshold increased to 12 relations
• Versioning of Office documents "On" by default in new SkyDrive Pro libraries with 10 versions being retained. Versioning helps with deletion errors and overwriting scenarios
• Internet Explorer 10 fix for "Open with Explorer View" on Windows 7

A fabulous service just got even better.

Read more here