Internet Crm

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a multi-lingual Customer Relationship Management software package developed by Microsoft. Out of the box, the product focuses mainly on Sales, Marketing and Service (helpdesk) sectors but Microsoft have been marketing Dynamics CRM as an XRM platform and have been encouraging partners to use its proprietary (but dot net based) framework to customise it to meet many different demands.

It is a part of the Microsoft Dynamics family of business applications which include other products such as Microsoft Dynamics AX (ERP application), Microsoft Dynamics GP (accounting application) and Microsoft Dynamics NAV (ERP application).

Dynamics CRM is a server-client application which, like Microsoft SharePoint is primarily an IIS-based web application which has extensive web services interfaces. Clients access Dynamics CRM either by using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later web browser or by a thick client plug-in to Microsoft Outlook. While other browsers may be used to access Dynamics, results can be mixed and are not supported by Microsoft.

The current version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is 4.0 (Update Rollup 7 - 4.00.7333.2138 - Release Date 22 October 2009).

History

• Microsoft CRM 1.0
• Microsoft CRM 1.2

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Versions

Microsoft Dynamics CRM comes in 4 versions for installation by a partner/customer; these versions can be highly customized using advanced extensions. The CRM Online version cannot be extensively customized because of security issues.

- Workgroup Edition

This edition is only allowed 5 CALs maximum, it is not possible to add more CAL's. If more CAL's are needed, an upgrade to Professional or Enterprise should be done. Also all the server roles are installed on 1 machine and cannot be separated. You can only create 1 organization in this version and the use of external connectors is not allowed. This version is ideal for small organizations that can use it with the SQL Server Workgroup Edition and on a Windows Small Business Server.

- Professional Edition

Has the same functionality as the Workgroup Edition except there is no limit on the CAL's. To allow more than 1 organization to be installed or to install CRM roles on different servers you should upgrade to the Enterprise version.

- Enterprise Edition

Has the same functionality as the Professional Edition but without limits. This version is to be used when multiple divisions should be accessing CRM from one platform.

- Service Provider Edition

This edition is actually an Enterprise Edition that is configured to accept Internal user requests from AD and external user requests through IFD (Internet Facing Deployment). This version is mostly implemented by Microsoft Partners that offer Hosted CRM functionality, when letting external users connect to this CRM version through the Internet.

Licensing

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers flexible software licenses. Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers two types of licenses: Server license and Client Access License (CAL). Each deployment should have at least one server license and one CAL. CAL is also known as a user license.

There are two types of Client CAL:

- Named User CAL : This is tied with the user name i.e. the user can access MSCRM from any computer.

- Device CAL : This is tied with the Device i.e. CRM can be accessed from only one device. This model is useful in environments such as Call Centers.

Read Only Licenses

New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 are readonly licenses. Users that do not have to have write permissions can be assigned Read Only licenses. These licenses are cheaper because they do not allow any write operations on the records. If later a user should be able to perform a write operation, a step-up license can be bought to upgrade the Read-Only license to a Full Client Access License.

External Connector Licenses

Whenever an application (windows or web) reads or writes data from/in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, an external connector license is required. External Connector licenses are only valid when bought for a Professional or Enterprise edition. It is not allowed to use them with a Workgroup Edition.

These also come in 3 forms:

- External Connector  : Is a combination of the Limited External Connector (that provides Read Only functionality) and the Full Use Additive External Connector (that provides Write Only functionality)

- Limited External Connector : Provdes Read Only funcitonality for the external application. This license can be upgraded to an 'External Connector License' when the Full Use Additive External Connector is bought.

- Full Use Additive External Connector : Provides the Write functionality to a "Limited External Connector" license.

Features

Dynamics CRM version 4.0 adds a number of new features, including support for duplicate data detection and other enhancements. Perhaps most importantly, CRM 4.0 provides true multi-tenancy, which will allow the creation of multiple organizations on a single server. CRM 4.0 was released with the following improvements:

• More powerful and easier to configure Reporting and BI (now based on SSRS instead of Crystal)
• More powerful data import tools, de-duplication capability now included
• Enhanced entity relationships – many to many, self-referential
• Improved programmability - enhanced Web Services, unified event model, plug-ins to replace callouts
• Light enquiry user licence now available - potentially reducing the costs associated with rolling out across larger organizations
• Multi Tenancy - One server can host more than one business organization
• Multi Currency
• Multi Lingual
• Microsoft Office Communicator / Windows Live Messenger presence integration support
• Cloud Computing with Microsoft Online Services

Updates

Microsoft publishes updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (called Rollups) every two months. At the time of writing, Rollup 7 is available.

Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

In order the maximize the integration with other products and to enable basic templating; Microsoft released the Accelerators. A set of basic vertical solution templates that can be used to extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a few directions. These accelerators can be downloaded (for free) from the CodePlex website and adapted by the organization itself.

Probably a few functionalities of the Accelerators will be incorporated in the next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0

Microsoft announced the next release will be available in Q4 of 2010. This version, now in the beta testing phase, has a few notable changes:

• Native integration with WSS 3.0
• Ability to create a query behind a lookup
• Placing of a grid with childrecords on the parent record
• Autofilter sorting capability like in Microsoft Office Excel
• Microsoft Office Ribbon interface replaces menus

See also

• Microsoft Dynamics
• Microsoft Business Solutions

External links

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Official Website
• Add-ons for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• CRM 4.0 SDK
• CRM Team Blog
• CodePlex Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

References

1. ^ "Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 system requirements" Microsoft website
2. ^ "Enhanced Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2 Is Available in North America" Microsoft website
3. ^ "Microsoft Announces Product Offerings and Customer Early Access Program for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM" Microsoft website
4. ^ "Microsoft Releases Next Generation CRM Solution for On-Premise and On-Demand Deployments" Microsoft website
5. ^ "Support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 on Windows Server 2008-based computers" Microsoft Website
6. ^ "Support for running Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 together with Microsoft SQL Server 2008" Microsoft Website
7. ^ "Microsoft Dynamics CRM Passes 1 Million User Mark and Expands xRM Initiative" Microsoft Website

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