Larry's Taco Talk

VS on SBS

LarryLentz — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:28:24 GMT

Recently I've been learning more about programming CRM. I've had no problems in the virtual environments of the training courseware. But I was trying to implement a simple sample program on my on CRM system using Visual Studio 2008 and it would consistently fail due to security exceptions. When I tried to run it, the debugger showed that Credentials in service.Credentials does not exist in the current context. Drilling down it showed the CallerId to be empty. Lots of other stuff was not getting properly picked up. I also saw a lot of System.Security.SecurityException errors. I Googled a bit and found some comments about 'trusts' and the code. I tried setting the Trust properties but that didn't help. Actually it broke it worse. Then I remembered that when I start Visual Studio it gives me a warning about not trusting the location of my project files.

I run Small Business Server 2003, of course, and one of the nice features is that it implements My Documents Redirection. What this means is that the My Documents folder actually exists on the server and is referred to by a UNC (\\mySBS\Users\etc) and the files are synchronized to the local drive when going off-line. My VS projects by default use a folder in My Documents. I copied my primary source code and rebuilt the project in a folder directly on my local hard drive. This resolved my problem and the application worked the first time I tried.

Changing the Default Activities Filter On View

LarryLentz — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:17:28 GMT

When looking at Activities or History associated with an Account or Contact, the default Filter on value is 30 days, either the last 30 days for History, or the next 30 days for Activities. This can be easily changed by clicking on the drop down and selecting another value like 90 days or "All". But often it's desired to change this default. Not so easily done. What is being displayed is the Closed Activity Associated View (History) or Open Activity Associated View (Activities) found in the Activity entity customization. But to change the default, you must go into the Account or Contact entity to configure it. This is done (one way) by adding a client-side script to the OnLoad event to the form properties for these entities.

My friend and fellow CRM MVP Michael Höhne has written a couple of very detailed blogs describing how this is done, at least for the History listing. You can read Michael's articles at http://www.stunnware.com/crm2/topic.aspx?id=js11 (CRM 3.0) and later at http://www.stunnware.com/crm2/topic.aspx?id=js33 (CRM 4.0). His articles focused on the History listings and I now needed the Activities (future) listings. For the History, the operable area is the "areaActivityHistory" and "areaActivityHistoryFrame". For the Activities listing I tried simply taking the "History" off but that didn't work. Following Michael's guide, I opened the source code view of the Activities web page and found I needed to use "areaActivities" and "areaActivitiesFrame". The other part of the puzzle was what value to use for the filter on field. At first I thought it was "scheduledstart" but that didn't work. So I had a look at the view in the Activities entity editor. There I found that the view used the Due Date to filter on. the Due Date is actually called "scheduledend" in the schema. So I changed my code to use that and it worked! Below is the code, mostly copied from Michael's but with my additions for Activities. Thanks Michael for your great articles and blog!

{
areaActivityHistoryFrame_OnReadyStateChange = function() {
    if (document.readyState=="complete") {
        var frame = document.frames("areaActivityHistoryFrame");
        var filterCombo = frame.document.getElementById("actualend");
        filterCombo.value = "All";
        filterCombo.FireOnChange();
    }
}

loadArea('areaActivityHistory');
loadArea('areaForm');
document.frames("areaActivityHistoryFrame").document.onreadystatechange =
areaActivityHistoryFrame_OnReadyStateChange;
}

{
areaActivitiesFrame_OnReadyStateChange = function() {
    if (document.readyState=="complete") {
        var frame = document.frames("areaActivitiesFrame");
        var filterCombo = frame.document.getElementById("scheduledend");
        filterCombo.value = "All";
        filterCombo.FireOnChange();
    }
}

loadArea('areaActivities');
loadArea('areaForm');
document.frames("areaActivitiesFrame").document.onreadystatechange =
areaActivitiesFrame_OnReadyStateChange;
}

Can't Convert Lead

LarryLentz — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:47:07 GMT

Had a call from a customer who was trying to convert a Lead in CRM 3.0. Whenever he'd try the Lead was properly deactivated, but no Account or Contact was created. He would receive the error below: It reads "The system could not log you on. This could be because your user record or the business unit you belong to has been deactivated in Microsoft CRM. For more information, contact your system administrator." I just hate that last part :-)

The user is the business owner so has the CEO etc security role with all rights duly intact. I decided to see what would happen if I created a new Lead and converted it. That worked fine. So I decided to see if there was anything about the Lead that wouldn't convert that was causing the problem. That's when I noticed that the Owner of the Lead was a user that was no longer with the company and who's CRM user record had been disabled. I reassigned the Lead to the business owner who was trying to convert the record and was then able to convert with no problem. Guess it was trying to create the new Account and Contact records using the original owner and was unable to do so. Now the error makes sense.

CRM 4.0 Update Rollup 1

LarryLentz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:57:06 GMT

Microsoft has just released Update Rollup 1 for Microsoft Dyanamics CRM 4.0. It contains a rollup of the hotfixes, etc. that have been released to date. You can download it and learn more about it at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=57c6267b-3b13-49dd-bfed-3cc83633aea7&displaylang=en&tm.

CRM Add Users Wizard Can't Find Some Users

LarryLentz — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:30:05 GMT

Recently a client reported that when he tried adding multiple users in MS CRM 4.0, some users were not listed in the CRM Add Users Wizard. Yet they were there in Active Directory. Other users were listed and available to add as members of the CRM organization, but a couple were not. The problem turned out to be that when the users had been added to Active Directory, their full name had been put in the First Name field and the Last Name field had been left blank. Simply moving the last name from the First Name field to the Last Name field where it belongs solved the problem and CRM was able to discover those users as well.

Syncing Up While Mobile

LarryLentz — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:21:46 GMT

I am usually out of the office and depend on my web enabled PDA phone (HTC Mogul). In addition to ActiveSync with my Exchange server which provides me constant updates for e-mail, etc. in Pocket Outlook, I also have installed CWR Mobile CRM 4.0 which is a PDA mobile client for CRM 4.0. When I want to have a new appointment linked to my CRM, I can use CWR Mobile to enter it and it appears in my CRM. But then I'd like it to also show up in my Outlook calendar on my phone. However Pocket Outlook and CWR Mobile do not have a synchronization feature. But the solution is really pretty simple. I keep Outlook running on my Office workstation 24/7. It is set as the CRM/Outlook synchronization client. I used to have my notebook set as the synchronization client but I turn my notebook off when I'm not using it. The workstation (a desktop) I can leave running all the time. So now I can enter a new appointment in CWR Mobile CRM and a few minutes later have it appear on my phone's calendar. Data entry such as notes on what I'm doing for my client is much easier in Outlook on my phone so this is helpful.

This also works with Contacts. Should I enter a new Contact using CWR Mobile, it will appear on my phone a few minutes later. I don't do this often but it's nice to know I can.

But that's just me. I'm a one man shop and the only CRM user to speak of. In a bigger organization, an assistant could be entering appointments and or contacts into CRM and they would appear on the remote user's phone. The reverse is also true. Once linked via Outlook, any updates I do to my appointments or contact information on my phone is quickly reflected in CRM. If others are using that info, they will have quick updates as well.

Setting Up a Firewall for SBS 2008

LarryLentz — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:06:55 GMT

I have been selling, and supporting Microsoft Small Business Server since the first version (v4.0) back in 1997. One of the killer features it had was it provided Internet access for all the computers in the network. Sounds like no big deal now, but back then dial-up was state of the art. If users wanted Internet access, they had to fight over who had access to the phone line. Only one user at a time could access the Internet over a given phone line. Small businesses were not anxious to give everyone their own dedicated modem phone line. But with SBS 4.0, the server would have the modem and would allow everyone on the network to access the Internet simultaneously through only one phone line. That was huge! Then came broadband access and the server still filled the function of being the Internet gateway for the network. The primary feature that made all this work was originally Proxy Server and then with SBS 2000 and SBS 2003 Premium, Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA). ISA not only provided Internet access but was the firewall for the entire network. And a fine firewall it was. And as part of SBS, it made SBS a super deal. But being a sophisticated firewall, it did require a little bit of knowledge to use. Actually only a little bit as the CEICW (Configure E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard) in SBS pretty much configured it with little effort. But apparently most purchasers of SBS 2003 (the first version to split off the ISA and SQL portions into a 'Premium' Edition) bought the Standard Edition without ISA or SQL. So the SBS development team decided to remove ISA from SBS 2008. There are a few technical reasons as well which I will touch on here. So if you are going to have an SBS 2008 server and network, you will need a separate firewall of some sort.

In preparation for migrating to SBS 2008 on my own network, I've decided to load ISA on a separate dedicated server to be my firewall. My original plan was to install Windows Server 2008 Core and install ISA 2006 on it to be the firewall for my network. While installing W2k8, I did a Google search and found that ISA 2006 (and all other versions) is NOT compatible with Windows Server 2008. Not just Core, but W2k8 in general. Seems to be a conflict with the Windows firewall on W2k8 which can't be disabled. This is likely one of the technical reasons why SBS 2008 doesn't come with ISA.

The replacement for ISA is Threat Management Gateway. I'm not sure whether TMG is available yet but it will only run on Windows Server 2008 -- 64bit! My server isn't 64 bit so that's out.

My final solution is to configure my server with Windows Server 2003 and load ISA 2006 on that. I will have to configure my current SBS 2003 server, as well as all my workstations, to use the new ISA server as the network gateway to the Internet. My ISA 'server' by the way is an OLD workstation that I'm loading W2k3 on. It is an old AMD K7, 550 MHz, with 768 MB RAM. Wouldn't want to run much more that ISA on it, but it should work fine as my firewall. My ISA MVP friend, Amy Babinchak, told me so :-).

SMB Nation 2008 - A Short Recap

LarryLentz — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:46:49 GMT

I just returned from SMB Nation 2008 fall conference in Seattle. Actually the conference was held over the October 4th weekend but my wife and I took advantage of the trip to take a short vacation and tour southern Washington state and Oregon. Oregon is beautiful, as is Washington. Lots of wineries!

The main take away from the conference was some tips and cautions on moving to SBS 2008. Looks like SBS 2008 will have plenty of WOWs but they are offset by some gotchas when moving to it from SBS 2003. Jeff Middleton, SBSMigration, gave a great presentation on the pitfalls of migrating to SBS 2008. Seems the Microsoft migration takes quite a long time because it has to do a MOVE on each Exchange mailbox from SBS 2003 to 2008. It also changes the original SBS 2003 box so there is no roll back in case there is a 'problem'. The SBS MVPs attended a week long deep dive training on SBS 2008 just before the conference and the consensus was allow 4 days for the migration.

Amy Babinchak, ISA MVP, gave a great presentation on choosing a firewall since ISA will no longer be included with SBS. The take away here was to decided what solution best fits your client and present that, and only that. You are the trusted technical advisor. You make the decision, don't make the client try to decided other than whether to purchase your solution or not.

Susan Bradley, SBS Diva, and Ofer Shimrat gave a presentation on the Gotchas of SBS 2008. They were introduced by Australian honorary MVP Ken Gareoux (see picture). Big take aways here are be sure to have plenty of hardware. EVERYTHING starts on the C: drive. You can move it later but it starts on C: so have a big C: drive. Also have LOTS of RAM. 4 GB is the minimum. The more the better. Obviously a good fast CPU(s) is (are) best. They gave us a lot more but you would have to be there...

The second day was dominated by presentations on EBS (Essential Business Server). It appears to be a great product for the mid-sized company with an IT person on staff.

It was once again a great conference. If you have the chance to go to SMB Nation 2009, go. Harry puts on a great show. Great parties, great venue (right on the water). It was great to see many old friends, MVPs and otherwise, and to make new ones. Hope to see you there next year.

CRM Outlook Client Hotfixes

LarryLentz — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:53:31 GMT

While doing my CRM Online install, I attempted to set the client up with the CRM Outlook client. It appeared to install properly but then Outlook would not run. When attempting to run it, we would get a message that the program had not shut down properly and the data file needed to be massaged. After a bit, Outlook would simply shut down. I eventually decided to uninstall the CRM client and full functionality was restored to Outlook. I also noticed that the customer had Microsoft Office Business Contact Manager (BCM) installed. Further research (asking my fellow MVPs) revealed that this is a common behavior. Matter of fact there is a hotfix in the works, but not public yet, to fix this. In the meantime I will simply uninstall BCM and then reinstall the CRM client.

One of the benefits of this 'research' was that a recent CRM Team blog, CRM 4 Outlook Client - Issues and Fixes, was highlighted that listed a number of hotfixes for the CRM Outlook client. It can be found here. I encourage you to visit this blog and learn about the fixes. Links are available to request the individual (free) hotfixes.

CRM Online - First Experiences

LarryLentz — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:58:27 GMT

This week I've had my first opportunity to set up CRM Online for a client. It's been a learning experience for sure. CRM Online, Microsoft's hosted version of the product, looks like a good choice in a number of scenarios. My current customer is a substantial company with a network infrastructure and several servers. But at this point, only a handful of users need CRM. Rather than spend several thousand dollars to install a new server to run SQL and CRM, they can use the Online version to see how the product will work for them, especially the 30 day free trial. I expect they will eventually move up to On-premise as they see the value of the program. Other possible fits for this would be branch offices of larger corporations, like banks. In this scenario the local branch manager may see the value of CRM for their business development, but convincing the IT folks and management at the corporate headquarters may be an uphill battle, at least at first.

There were a few pitfalls in my first Online setup experience. I went to the customer's office on Tuesday fully expecting to spend the afternoon setting up CRM and showing him how to get started using it. Well, not so fast. When you sign up for an Online account, you must wait for someone from Microsoft to contact the customer and verify that they are in fact a real live company wanting to use CRM and not a spoof trying to sabotage the system. I left after about a half hour having only been able to apply for the account. Later that afternoon, I received notification that my customer had been approved. So today I returned and had to set up the account. I fully thought it would be a quick process. Once again the system told me that we would be notified when the new CRM system was ready for use, hopefully within 24 hours. I was looking at another wasted day. But after a short wait (30 minutes?) I tried logging on the their organization and I got it! Never did receive that e-mail notification.

So, my recommendations when you are setting up a new client is to apply for the account ahead of time. It can really be done from any computer. Once you get the go ahead, you can also do the initial set up remotely as well. Once up and running, you can go to the customer's office and set up the Outlook client and show the customer how to use it. You will need a Windows Live ID for your client and a credit card in order to set up their CRM.

Can't Promote Outlook E-mail to CRM

LarryLentz — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:33:37 GMT

Well, I've spent the better part of today (and tonight) trying to resolve a pesky problem that suddenly popped up this morning. Whenever I would try to Track in CRM (promote) an e-mail message, I would get the error "An error occurred promoting this item to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM server could not be contacted or the user has insufficient permissions to perform this actions." I did numerous Google searches which produced a number of hits, including one from MY BLOG! None seemed to help. Most of the solutions, including my own, seemed to focus on there being a problem with attachments in the affected message. But it didn't matter what type of message I tried to promote, it still gave the same error. I tried running the Outlook CRM client Configuration Wizard. That didn't help. I tried messing with the Outlook offline cache. No help. I did a bunch of stuff that didn't help. I tried uninstalling the CRM client from Outlook using the Configuration Wizard and then reinstalling using the Wizard. Nope! Finally I tried going to Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs (well the Vista equivalent, Programs and Features). I had intended to completely uninstall and then reinstall the client from there. But it gave me the option to Repair as well. I figured I might as well try that first. It worked!

Exposing Service Calendar in Outlook

LarryLentz — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:01:48 GMT

I just blogged about using the Service Calendar as a corporate calendar. I noted that it is not available out of the box in the Outlook client. I've just experimented a bit and managed to expose the Service Calendar in my Outlook client.

To do so, you must modify the Site Map and remove the Client="Web" item from the Service Calendar entry. Below is the Site Map entry before modifying it. Be sure to save a copy of the original before you modify the Site Map. If you screw it up, you might not be able to access CRM!

- <SubArea Id="nav_apptbook" ResourceId="Homepage_AppointmentBook" Icon="/_imgs/ico_18_servicecal.gif" Url="/sm/home_apptbook.aspx" Client="Web">

</SubArea>

</Group>

Corporate Calendar

LarryLentz — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:09:02 GMT

A client of mine actually pointed this out. I'd never thought of this. The owner wants to be able to have a common 'Corporate Calendar' for all CRM appointments. The CRM calendar doesn't do that, nor does the Outlook calendar. Thought about using a public folder in Exchange, but it wouldn't link to CRM. Then my client, (he's actually the outsource IT guy for the user) came up with the idea of using the Service Calendar. Duh! I'd only thought of it for tracking service activities but it will also track all appointments for all users and display them all in one screen with lots of options as to what to display. It also allows you to access the CRM activities directly. You can even schedule new appointments directly from there. Only problem is the business owner wants to be able to access it from the Outlook client. The Service Calendar isn't available in the Outlook client. But, perhaps we can modify the Site Map or something. I'm looking into that and will post when I see if that works or not.

Free Update Windows XP,Vista - NOT

LarryLentz — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:50:38 GMT

I received an e-mail today purporting to be from Microsoft XP, with an e-mail address equal to one of my distribution lists. I tries to get you to download a free update by clicking the title. The web site it takes you to does not appear to be a Microsoft address. According to WhoIs.net, it is actually RIPE Network Coordination Centre in Amsterdam. I don't KNOW if this is bogus, but it SURE feels that way. Microsoft wouldn't put out a message looking like this. Beware!

Passed CRM 4.0 Apps Exam

LarryLentz — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:32:22 GMT

Well, I guess second time's a charm. I managed to pass the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Applications certification exam. This was my second try and I barely passed it. But pass I did. I qualifies me for not only the Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist for CR$ 4.0 Applications, but also the Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional in 4.0 Applications as well.

It is a hard test that asks questions that have responses that are either very close to each other, or are ones you wouldn't have thought of. Plus one has to read it carefully to be sure you know what's being asked. If you are planning on taking this exam, don't take it lightly.