Dynamics CRM – New Ideas Portal Launched!

Microsoft are excited to announce the new Ideas Portal for CRM and its related family of products.

Ever wanted to let Microsoft know your thoughts or suggestions to improve CRM or one of its related family of products? This site will let you do that. 

Simply head over to: https://crmideas.dynamics.com/ideas/ and start posting!

With the launch of this new site, Microsoft is discontinuing the legacy “Dynamics Product Suggestion” connect site as their ongoing product suggestions site.

Greg Olsen
YellowDuckGuy

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Roadmap for 2015

I got to Microsoft Convergence this year once again and there was a session delivered by Jujhar Singh titled ‘Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Roadmap and Strategy’.  This session delivered information to customers and partners in the room to give them a steer on the roadmap for CRM.

This blog post will outline some of the content of the roadmap which came out of convergence.

Before

Let’s take a step back. We can visually see in the illustration below, CRM, Parature, Social Listening and Dynamics Marketing code releases from Convergence 2014. This roadmap was shared with us all in 2014.

The Fall 2014 wave was delivered by Microsoft. CRM ‘Vega’ became the CRM 2015 release. Known as version 7.0. If you are in the APAC region, you can sign up for a CRM 2015 instance from the new Australia Data Center. Read more here: https://yellowduckguy.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/office-365-office-365-and-crm-now-available-from-australia-data-center/

Now and Beyond

Now moving forward into the next CRM Roadmap the next releases can be illustrated below. Social Listening is now known as Social Engagement. Focus with ‘Now’ lies with the Spring Wave release with beyond aligning to the Fall Wave release.

The Spring 2015 release (v7.1) brings us the following code releases:

• Carina – Dynamics CRM (known release as CRM Online 2015 Update 1)
• Hydra – Social Engagement (formally Social Listening)
• Spica – Dynamics Marketing
• Atira – Parature

If you would like to know more about the new features in the Spring 2015 release, then head to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/get-ready-for-the-next-release.aspx and click on the Spring 2015 tab (if is not already selected).

I also did a couple of blog posts which might be of interest:

• Microsoft Convergence 2015 – Opening Keynote (screenshots of the cool new stuff!) https://yellowduckguy.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/microsoft-convergence-2015-opening-keynote/
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 – Global Navigation UI Changes https://yellowduckguy.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2015-global-navigation-ui-changes/
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 – You can now add a Theme to your CRM https://yellowduckguy.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2015-you-can-now-add-a-theme-to-your-crm/

So what is next?

Not confirmed by Microsoft, but it is likely that On-Premises installations will have to wait for the CRM ‘ARA’ release during the Fall Wave in order to get the Carina new features and others.

The next ‘wave’ in the galatic journey is the Fall Wave, coming at the end of 2015. The codenames for this release are:

• Ara – Dynamics CRM
• Corvus – Social Engagement (formally Social Listening)
• Capella – Dynamics Marketing
• Hercules – Parature

As always Microsoft will deliver updates to these areas – this is where the investment lies.  Microsoft also announced a number of other improvements scheduled for the Fall release in 2015 of CRM. I could list them here but it is awhile away and Microsoft has the ability to change the scope.  So it’s best you wait for the Fall 2015 announcement.

Also, as a matter of clarification, the seasons Spring and Fall relate to USA. So if your reading this outside of the USA then adjust these seasons to match yours i.e. Spring 2015 Release lands in Autumn 2015 for New Zealand.

Will CRM ‘ARA’ be CRM 2016 i.e. v8.0? I’ll let you decide.

Exciting year ahead!

Greg.

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing – Add New Zealand Currency

If you start a trial in New Zealand you may notice that the NZ Dollar is not an option you can choose for the default currency. Don’t worry, if you keep reading you will be able to add the New Zealand currency ($ (en-NZ) ) to your instance of Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM).  You can also use these steps if you want to add the New Zealand currency in other MDM instances.

Adding the New Zealand Currency

Follow the steps below:

1. Choose Home > Settings > Business Administration > Categories

2. In the Category Type drop-down menu, select Currency

3. Choose the New button to create a new currency

4. Enter the Name of the currency in the Category Name field, i.e. New Zealand Dollar. An entry is required

5. Enter a description of the currency. An entry is not required

6. You can leave the Account field blank for now

7. Select the currency Symbol ($ en-NZ) for for NZ. A symbol is required

8. Choose Submit

9. DONE!

You can repeat the steps above for any other currencies you want to add. If you would like to see more detail, then head to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/marketing-customer-center/configure-regional-settings-and-time-zones.aspx, “Configure default currency” section.

Hope that helps

Greg Olsen
YellowDuckGuy

CRM 2015 – Release Preview Guide

Its coming … and named CRM 2015.  The next major release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be known as CRM 2015. Here is the naming breakdown for both On-Premises and Online:

• On-Premises – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 – (aka v7.0)
• Online – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (2015 Update) Note: Customer Driven Update. This means you will need to turn it on inside your CRM 2013 instance.

With this major release comes a new Release Preview Guide (September 2014), which is available to download. You can get your copy from here.  I have put a copy for future reference here. I encourage you to take a read of its content and become familiar with some of the new features and improvements coming with this release.

Greg Olsen
YellowDuckGuy

Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Free eBook – Increase your impact with Microsoft Dynamics Marketing

Hot out of Microsoft. A free eBook.

This eBook gives you a quick run-down of the powerful tools in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing that you can use to manage leads, plan and execute campaigns, and monitor their performance.

If you would like to get a hold of this eBook, you can download it from here

Archived version is downloadable from here.

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Greg Olsen
YellowDuckGuy