CCA, Lync and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

I am sharing with you a bit of what we are currently working on at Dynamic Objects.

In a nutshell, we're using the Customer care accelerator and integrating it with Lync and CRM 2011.

you can watch the screencast full screen here.

Cheers,
M.G

Update Rollup 5 fo CRM 2011 released

 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 5  was released this week, You can download the Update Rollup here and the KB article here.

Update rollup 5 brings new enhancements to CRM 2011 including social feeds, support for lookups in dialogs and much more. Note that Update Rollup 5 cannot be uninstalled, so be sure to back up your system before applying the rollup. Update Rollup 6 is to be delivered in January 2012.

Happy Update.

Cheers,
M.G

CRM 2011 Outlook Configuration error: The request for security token could not be satisfied because authentication failed

I ran across an unusual error while configuring CRM 2011 for outlook on a computer not running on the same domain as the CRM server. The configuration wizard just wouldn't connect to the deployment. The client config logs  ( located at %localappdata%\Microsoft\MSCRM\Logs\Crm50ClientConfig.txt) showed the below error message:

Error| Error connecting to URL: http://crmserver:port/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc 

Exception: System.ServiceModel.Security.SecurityNegotiationException: The caller was not authenticated by the service.

 ---> System.ServiceModel.FaultException: The request for security token could not be satisfied because authentication failed.

at System.ServiceModel.Security.SecurityUtils.ThrowIfNegotiationFault(Message message, EndpointAddress target)   at System.ServiceModel.Security.SspiNegotiationTokenProvider.GetNextOutgoingMessageBody(Message incomingMessage, SspiNegotiationTokenProviderState sspiState)

   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

The error shows that the client is unable to connect to the discrovery service eventhough i was able to connect to the service when trying to access it through Internet explorer on the same machine!

After spending a couple of hours troubleshooting and trying various scenarios on the client machine i started digging up a bit on the server side i found out that the CRMappPool and the CrmDeploymentServiceAppPool were running in the context of the administrator of the domain.

I was able to configure outlook to connect successfully to the deployment by configuring both application pools to run under the "LocalSystem" identity as shown in the screenshot below.

Cheers,
M.G

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Released

Update Rollup 4 for CRM 2011 was released last week, You can download the Update Rollup here and the KB article here.

CRM 2011 SMS Solution Released

We have been working over the past month on our own SMS solution for CRM 2011.
The solution works with CRM 2011 Online, partner-hosted and on premise.
The SMS solution integrates with KalaSMS to send SMS messages to contacts and leads.

The solution provides the following features:

1. Send Individual SMS to contacts and leads.
2. Send Bulk SMS to dynamic and static marketing lists.
3. Send Individual SMS from a CRM 2011 workflow.
4. Send Bulk SMS from a CRM 2011 workflow.

Download and test drive the solution by going to Dynamic Objects solutions page.

Finally a Big thank you to Dynamic Objects Team for making this happen.

Cheers,
M.G

Update Rollup 3 for CRM 2011 Released

It seems it's CRM update month :) Update Rollup 3 for CRM 2011 was released this week, You can download the Update Rollup here and the KB article here.

Cheers,
M.G

Update Rollup 18 for CRM 4.0 Released

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 18 has been released.

You can download the update here and access the KB Article here.

Happy Update !!

Cheers,
M.G

CRM 2011 Basic Database Maintenance & Backup

Creating a proper Database maintenance plan is essential in any CRM environment, it will ensure that your system can be recovered in case of any outages and you will ensure that you are getting the best performance out of it. In case you are not familiar with how to create a maintenance plan in Microsoft SQL please check this video. I will be listing below what to include in your maintenance plan.

Databases you should include in your maintenance plan

• The MSCRM_CONFIG database.
• Each Organization_MSCRM database you have in your deployment.
• The SQL Reporting Services databases: ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB.
• The master and system Databases.

Tasks you should include in your maintenance plan

• Check Database Integrity
• Shrink Database
• Reorganize Index
• Rebuild Index
• Update Statistics
• Backup Database (Full)
• Maintenance Cleanup Task

In a nutshell, Indexes are one of the ways that SQL server quicly locates information stored in a database table so it is important that indexes are updated to take into account new records or records that have been removed. SQL server also maintains statistics on each database to help it calculate the most efficient way to perform queries and other functions. Updating statistics will improve your SQL Server's efficiency. 

Important Note

Keep in mind that the maintenance plan impacts your CRM server performance so you need to schedule or launch the plan during off-peak usage hours.

Cheers,
M.G

Bulk Lead Conversion in CRM 2011

CRM 2011 comes with a new cool feature that allows you to convert multiple leads at the same time. This is pretty handy especially when you have multiple individuals you want to qualify to contacts or you need to disqualify multiple leads.
The procedure is pretty simple, you just select the leads you want to convert and press the "Qualify" button on the ribbon as you see in the picture below.

Cheers,
M.G 

Update Rollup 2 for CRM 2011 Released

Update Rollup 2 for CRM 2011 was released yesterday, You can download the Update Rollup here and the KB article here. Update Rollup 2 will be available on Windows Update on June 28. Note that Update Rollup 2 is a cumulative update that includes all the fixes that are also included in Update Rollup 1.

Happy Update !!

Cheers,
M.G