Performance tuning Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

I was on call with a partner from EMEA today.  He was worried about performance issues he is facing with his CRM system.

I strongly recommend every CRM implementation to be followed by Performance tuning as documented here:

Optimizing the Performance of Microsoft CRM 3.0

Best,

pk

Now you can track the actual date of the Email!

Thanks to Ben for posting this article.

Now you can track the actual date of the email than just the Email promotion date.

From Ben's Blog...

If I had a nickel.... Date an email is promoted...

Now this is a question that comes up all of the time... It goes something like this... Ben, why when I promote emails...more

CRM 3.0 and Exchange 2007 Compatibility

Thanks to Dominic for this detailed post on Exchange 2007 Compatibility with CRM 3.0.

It has been a definite pain for partners selling Exchange 2007 along with CRM 3.0.  But here is the reason why it is tough to make them work together without Exchange 2003:

CRM 3.0 and Exchange 2007 Compatibility by Dominic Pouzin

Best,

pk 

Sales Best Practices for Microsoft Dynamics CRM - a good one!

I came across this msreadiness webinar on Sales Best Practices for CRM and belive me it is a good one!  Mark Krinhop outlines the bestpractices providing tips & tricks that help you close a successful CRM sale.

Check out:  Sales Best Practices for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

CRM 3.0 Effect on Active Directory

A question coming up time and again.  I am not sure if this is already documented somewhere in some form but no harm blogging this information here even if it is already available :-)

How does CRM modify the Active Directory?

CRM 1.2 use to be very much dependent on Active Directory.  We used to have even Business Units created in CRM reflected as Organizational Units in Active Directory.  Tough times!

With CRM 3.0, CRM has become less dependent on Active Directory.  There are only two integration points I could think of:

1. Firstly, During Installation, there are four security groups created in AD that allow the installation user (with Domain Administrator rights) to continue the installation across the Platform components like SQL, AD, IIS and Exchange.
2. Secondly, For User Authentication.  Every User in CRM needs access to specific componenents like SQL Reporting and the Database views. A couple of groups in AD take care of this.

A description of the four Security Groups:

PrivUserGroup

The one thing that Adminstrators are usually concerned about:

1. "Does CRM modify the Active Directory Schema?"

NO.  Neither CRM 1.2 nor CRM 3.0 modify the Active Directory Schema.  So no worries! 

2. "Domain Administrator privileges for a user installing CRM is absolutely a 'No-No'.  Is there a way out?"

Yes.  You can install CRM 3.0 without Domain Admin privileges.  But this would require pre-creating the security groups and 'command-line only' installation pointing to xml configuration files.  More information here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908984.

I hope this information comes in handy whenever we talk about CRM impact on Active Directory.

Best,

pk

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 integration with MOSS 2007

at 9/26/2007 10:00 AM PDT 

This session provides administrators and IT professionals who are experienced using and supporting a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 environment a good understanding of how to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). You will also learn about various CRM web parts available in the Microsoft Site.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• Describe the scenarios where CRM 3.0 and MOSS 2007 integration can be used.
• Install and configure CRM List web part and trust for delegation scenarios.
• Display a SharePoint Document Library within a CRM forms.
• Use Page Viewer web part to display CRM pages in MOSS site.
• Install and configure Report Viewer and Report Explorer web parts to pull CRM Reports in MOSS site.
• Use the RSS viewer web part in MOSS to pull CRM data
• How to create a CRM dashboard using SharePoint 2003.

Click Here to Register

SharePoint BDC Catalog with CRM

I was just going through this blog of Rehman Gul.  Pretty neat documentation on CRM-SharePoint BDC Integration. 

http://rehmangul.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/ms-crm-and-sharepoint-2007-integration/ 

Regards, pk

CRM Exchange Router setup in an already existing Exchange 2007 Environment

A very frequent question from partners and customers... 

• CRM 3.0 Exchange Router CANNOT be installed on Exchange 2007.
• CRM 3.0 Exchange 2007 Router Update CANNOT be installed on an Exchange 2007 Server.  It can only deploy Server Side rules to Exchange 2007 mailboxes when installed on a Exchange 2003 Server.  Fine.
• If Exchange 2007 is already deployed, then you CANNOT install Exchange 2003 Server in that Forest.  So there doesn't seem to be a way to install CRM Router on an Exchange 2003 server if Exchange 2007 is already deployed for the organization.

So what are my options?

Issue:

Exchange 2007 is already deployed.  CRM Exchange Router cannot be installed on a Ex2007 box and hence Ex2003 is to be deployed in a different forest.  What is the best practice in deploying this setup.

Resolution:

Here is something you could try:

1.       Build a new forest

2.       Deploy CRM and Exchange in the new forest

3.       Build a two-way trust between the two forests

4.       Add all CRM users to the MSCRM system that has been deployed in the new forest

5.       Install CRM Exchange Router on the Exchange 2003 system (that is in the new forest)

6.       Use the latest Exchange Rule Deployment update from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f7656f0f-4195-4a7d-b654-2786787e1422&displaylang=en and deploy the rules to all the Exchange 2007 mailboxes.

Well, I guess we need to live like this for only a few more months.  Hoping to see something from the product team that will take care of this issue in the next version.

Regards,  pk.

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Federated Model for Consolidated Pipeline Forecasting and Reporting

Microsoft® invites you to attend a free web seminar on Tuesday, June 19, 2007, 11:00 a.m. – noon Pacific Time, to hear how the company is advancing the state of the art in CRM:

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Federated Model for Consolidated Pipeline Forecasting and Reporting.

Each business unit in a diversified enterprise has its own nuances. Sound, timely decisions about sales, marketing, customer support, merchandising, supply chains, inventory levels, manufacturing, and product lifecycles are driven by customized CRM solutions that capture those nuances. 

But the single, integrated enterprise data view that reveals business pipeline health, drives forecasting and informs cross-division management depends on consolidated data.  

How can today’s innovative enterprises achieve both requirements?

Join this webcast to learn how Microsoft is employing a federated model to enable business unit flexibility while synchronizing data to a central application. Executing this model:

• Allows line-of-business flexibility
• Supports corporate oversight
• Enables continued use of installed Siebel solutions until the appropriate time comes for replacement.

Web seminar attendees will also hear how Microsoft‘s deployment approach made it possible to get the federated model solution up and running quickly.

Come hear how Microsoft Corporation has increased user adoption and productivity of several internal sales forces by implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM at the business unit level, connecting back to the corporate investment in Siebel.

Register and Know more about the event here.

Getting the most out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM FAX Integration

This link explains in detail how you could make use of the Fax Router Integration in CRM 3.0

CRM 3.0 SBE FAX Integration

http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using/sales/sbefax.mspx#ERE

It talks about Routing Faxes, Creating and adding the Cover Page and Requirements for FAX Integration.

Regards,

pk

Fiscal Year Settings and Sales Quotas in CRM 3.0

I see a few partners asking how to go about setting Fiscal Year settings and a few more wanting to know what impact it has with the application.  So I decided to write-up a bit on this topic.

Fiscal Year Settings in CRM 3.0

Fiscal Year settings basically provide you the capability to report on Sales Quota for every CRM Sales User. Effectiveness of your Sales Force can be measured with Sales Quotas.

Fiscal Year settings have to be set to be able to use the Sales Quota feature in CRM.  Fiscal Period options once set cannot be changed.  So you need to take extra care when settings these options in CRM.  Double-check before saving the options for Fiscal period.

There are five templates available to configure the Fiscal Period:

• Monthly
• Quarterly
• 4 Weekly
• Semi annual
• Annual

Fiscal Year Display in the application can be controlled by two dropdowns available in the Fiscal Year Settings Web Dialog:

• Fiscal Year and
• Name Based on

'Fiscal Year' controls how the Fiscal Year is presented in the application viz.

Format  -  Example

• yyyy  -  2007
• Yy  -  07
• FY yyyy  -  FY 2007
• FYyyyy  -  FY2007
• FY yy  -  FY 07
• FYyy  -  FY07

'Name Based On' controls how the company might want to name or represent their Financial Year.  For example, if the Fiscal Year of the Company starts from April, 2006 and runs till March 2007, then the company may either call that as FY06 or FY07.  Based on how they want to name it, you can configure this option to use Start Date or End Date.

‘Fiscal Period’ is used to configure how the fiscal period is denoted in the application.  The options include:

• P1
• Period 1
• Q1
• Quarter 1
• M1
• Month 1
• S1
• Semester 1

‘Display As’ defines how the combined representation of fiscal year and fiscal period would be.  The choices available are:

• P1 FYyy (with space)
• P1FFyy (without space)
• P1-FFyy (with hyphen)
• P1/FFyy (with slash)

Sales Quotas and their Usage:

Sales Quotas are used to measure the productivity of a salesperson every fiscal period.   Sales Quotas can be assigned to Sales Users via the ‘User Settings’ option under ‘Business Unit Settings’.  Quotas can also be managed from within ‘Salespersons with Quotas’ under ‘Business Unit Settings’

Unfortunately, there is no report available in CRM 3.0 that can display Sales Quota information for a user out-of-the-box.  We can write a custom SQL Reporting Services Report that pulls this information from the ‘UserFiscalCalendarBase’ table in the MSCRM database.

That sounds weird!  Yeah, but I am not sure why this report is not available in CRM 3.0.  It was available with CRM 1.2 though.

Regards,

pk

Real Cool! Visio Shapes for CRM.

I came across this cool stuff that helps PMs while working on a CRM Project.  Invoke systems has developed a set of Visio Shapes for CRM 3.0

You might want to try it at http://www.invokesystems.com/cs/blogs/mscrm/archive/2006/09/25/80.aspx

CRM Compatibility pack for Exchange Server 2007 - Download released!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0-Exchange E-mail Router Update

is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f7656f0f-4195-4a7d-b654-2786787e1422&displaylang=en.

Please Note:

Do we need to buy SQL CALs for every CRM user?

A question that repeats itself multiple times to the Presales team:

"Do I need to buy SQL CALs for every user accessing CRM apart from the CRM CALs that I purchase?  Doesn't a CRM CAL include SQL CALs too?"

Well the answer is:

"You have to buy SQL CALs for every CRM user accessing the CRM SQL databases.  The CRM CAL does not include a SQL CAL within."

Irrespective of whether the user accesses this information via the web/outlook interface or is using an Dynamic Excel sheet, you need a corresponding SQL and CRM CAL.

Based on the number of users accessing the SQL server, you might want to choose as to whether you want to go for SQL Processor License or Device CAL. 

SQL Server can be licensed as follows - Per Processor Licensing; Per Seat Licensing with Per User CALs; Per Seat Licensing with Per Device CALs. http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sam/lic_cal.mspx

If you are going for Per Processor Licensing, then you do not need to buy any CALs -

Under the Per Processor model, you acquire a Processor License for each processor in the server on which the software is running. A Processor License includes access for an unlimited number of users to connect from either inside the local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) or outside the firewall. You do not need to purchase additional server licenses, CALs, or Internet Connector Licenses.

Hope this helps answer the basic question on SQL CAL requirement for CRM.

Ports to be opened for configuring CRM Outlook Client over VPN

We have been receiving multiple questions regarding ports that need to be opened for CRM Outlook client to work over VPN.  On collaboration with the Dev and Support teams, we were able to put up a list for this.

The following are the ports that are used by the CRM Client to access the server:

80/TCP --

TCP Port: 135/TCP

TCP Port: 445/TCP --

TCP Port: 1025/TCP --

TCP Port: 1041/TCP --

TCP Port: 139/TCP --

UDP Port: 445/UDP --

UDP Port: 500/UDP --

UDP Port: 1026/UDP --

UDP Port: 1027/UDP --

UDP Port: 1054/UDP --

You have to open port 2525 if it is a laptop client with the offline capabilities.

Please open these ports and see if the client will work over the VPN.  Another thing to verify with the VPN connection is the DNS resolution.  You need to verify that you can successfully run an NSLOOKUP to the CRM Server Name.

Additional Information

SQL Server utilizes the following ports:

TCP Ports (7)
135 DCE endpoint resolution
139 NETBIOS Session Service
445 Microsoft-DS
1034 (random) Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) / TIP 2
1049 (random) MStask.exe
1433 Microsoft-SQL-Server
3372 Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) / TIP 2
3389 Terminal Services
UDP Ports (9)
135 DCE endpoint resolution
137 NETBIOS Name Service
138 NETBIOS Datagram Service
445 Microsoft-DS
500 isakmp
1434 Microsoft-SQL-Monitor

Web Server utilizes the following ports:

TCP Ports (26)
25 Simple Mail Transfer
80 World Wide Web HTTP
135 DCE endpoint resolution
139 NETBIOS Session Service
443 HTTP protocol over TLS/SSL
445 Microsoft-DS
1032 (Random) Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) / TIP 2
1064 CrmWorkflowService
1072 pageserver
1073 Mstask.exe
1075 WebCompServer
1077 cacheserver
1080 CrystalAPS
1081 EventServer
1083 inputfileserver
1084 CrystalAPS
1088 outputfileserver
1091 JobServer
1092 CrystalAPS
1100 Inetinfo.exe
1110 WebCompServer
1111 EventServer
1112 JobServer
1116 Pageserver
1117 Inputfileserver
1118 CrystalAPS
1120 Pageserver
1122 Outputfileserver
1123 Cacheserver
1137 CrystalAPS
Random (multiple) Microsoft Message Que (Mqsvc.exe)
1165 pageserver
3372 Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) / TIP 2
3289 Terminal Services
6400 CrystalAPS
6401 WebCompServer
7224 Inetinfo.exe (local Web-based administration)
UDP Ports (15)
135 DCE endpoint resolution
137 NETBIOS Name Service
138 NETBIOS Datagram Service
445 Microsoft-DS
500 isakmp
1056 CrmSecurityService
Random Microsoft Message Que (Mqsvc.exe)
1150 Inetinfo.exe
3456 Microsoft IIS Server / VAT default data

The above list holds good for CRM 1.0 to CRM 3.0.  You might have to exclude ports relating to Crystal services in 3.0