Dynamics Biz Apps Blog

Field Serviced Installation and Setup

• Manage your field service operations with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service
• Install Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service
• View user accounts and security roles (Field Service)
• Configure default settings for Dynamics 365 for Field Service
• Turn on auto geocoding (Field Service)
• Use Connected Field Service to remotely monitor and service customer equipment (field service)
• Use Resource Scheduling Optimization to schedule multiple booking requirements on a recurring basis (field service)
• Schedule anything in Dynamics 365
• Install the Field Service mobile app

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Overview:

Describes how to change the password on the service account that was set up for ClickDimensions to communicate with CRM.

Problem/Scenario:

The ClickDimensions service requires a CRM user account to be set up as a “service account.” If the password is changed for this user, the ClickDimensions service will be unable to communicate with CRM, and you will be unable to access ClickDimensions functions from within CRM.

If you have already changed the password for the service account, when navigating to certain portions of the ClickDimensions system within CRM, you may see an error similar to “An unsecured or incorrectly secured fault was received from the other party. See the inner FaultException for the fault code and detail.” This indicates that the password is out of sync.

Resolution:

When you originally registered for the ClickDimensions solution, one of the fields you had to enter information into was the CRM user field. This information was needed to establish a service user for our application. While we recommend that you create a dedicated CRM user with a fixed password, you can easily provide any CRM user with appropriate privileges. (NOTE: Some corporate policies and security best practices dictate changing the password on service accounts and user accounts on a regular basis.)

Continue for Screen Shots and walk through of the process.

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In order to change both the username and password for the service user, you must open a support ticket. Please tell us the URL to your CRM as well as the new username. We can reset the username and then you’ll need to set the password as described in the above steps.

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Dynamics 365 eBooks and Videos
Get started | Sales | Marketing | Service | Mobile | Outlook | Social | Admins

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CRM won’t allow you to send to a dynamic marketing list over 50,000 records. If you are CRM on prem, you can change this default number (called aggregate query limit). If you are CRM online you will need to break the sends down to lists of 50K or less.

To increase the limit, you’ll need to modify:
Database: MSCRM_CONFIG
Table: Deployment Properties
Column: AggregateQueryRecordLimit

To query the current value:

USE MSCRM_CONFIG
GO

SELECT ColumnName
, IntColumn
FROM DeploymentProperties
WHERE ColumnName = “AggregateQueryRecordLimit”

To modify the value:

UPDATE DeploymentProperties
SET IntColumn = 250000 (suggested setting)
WHERE ColumnName = “AggregateQueryRecordLimit”

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If you receive the following error below then your Azure user does not have Administrator permissions. Azure has been changing permissions, formally every users basically had admin rights however that is not the case any longer. If you are unable to add a Namespace then most likely your Azure user does not have permissions. The user will now need Administrator privileges to add a Namespace. If you have a specific Azure user that you are using for the Namespace and Queues then you will need to login to Azure with an Administrator, browse to the Service Bus area, go to Settings and then add the specific user to the Admins. Once complete you will be able to add the Namespace

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To resolve this error the Azure Powershell instance must be October, if they have the December version it will fail. You can see the version by going to Programs and Features. They will need to uninstall the December version and install the October version, an installation overwrite will not work.

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During installation of the ClickDimensions solution, four security roles are created in CRM. These roles are specific to ClickDimensions and have very different purposes. The following list describes each ClickDimensions security role and its intended purpose.

ClickDimensions Core
This role should be assigned to all users (even if not using ClickDimensions). It contains the minimum set of privileges that are required by the ClickDimensions plugins and will prevent failures in creating leads/contacts and opportunities

ClickDimensions User
This security role should be assigned to users (none administrators) who view data generated by ClickDimensions. Most of the privileges are set to the Read level so the users can view the tracking data. This role also allows the user the ability to send emails.

ClickDimensions Service
This role should be assigned to the ClickDimensions service user in case the System Administrator role cannot be assigned. For more information on the required privileges for this particular user please go to the Security Requirements.

ClickDimensions Lock Email Blocks
This role should be assigned to users who need to be able to lock and unlock blocks in the Drag and Drop email editor. When a block is locked anyone without this role will not be able to edit the content of the block. More here.

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To tell where your ClickDimensions account data center is deployed in, you can open the Email Template designer. The URL begins with https://app-eu.clickdimensions…, the eu in this case designates the Europe, au for Australia and us for North America.

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Click Dimension References

Introduction to Deployment

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eBooks and videos

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New documentation for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM Forum

Microsoft Social Listening Forum

Parature, from Microsoft Forum

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Full list of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 trainings on YouTube

Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – What’s New

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Overview

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Setup and Management

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Product Properties

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Bundles and Kits

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Suggestions

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Pricing Calculation Configurability

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Localizable Attributes

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Product Selling

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Product Catalog New Features – Architecture

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Enhanced SLA New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Field Level Security New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Hierarchy Security Model New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 SLA New Features – Differences

Dynamics Marketing

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Campaign Management New Features – Webinars

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update General New Features – Calendar

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update General New Features – Intro

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update General New Features – Social

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update General New Features – Approvals

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update General New Features – Additional

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Campaign Management New Features – A/B Test

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Campaign Management New Features – Workflow Triggers

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Campaign Management New Features – Offers

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Microsoft Dynamics CRM Analytics New Features

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK New Features

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Sales Collaboration New Features

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update A/B Testing New Features – Overview and Setup

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update A/B Testing New Features – Campaign Automation and Results

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector New Features

Microsoft Social Listening 2014 R2 New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Business Rules New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Business Process Flows New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Multi-Geo Tenant New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Setup and Upgrade New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Search New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Miscellaneous New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Outlook New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Hierarchy Visualization New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Phones New Features

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Tablets New Features – Dashboards

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Tablets New Features – Iframes

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Tablets New Features – Offline Drafts

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 CRM for Tablets New Features – Additional Features

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Email Editor New Features – Graphical Editor

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Email Editor New Features – Validation

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Email Editor New Features – HTML Editor

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Lead Management New Features – Demo

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Lead Management New Features – Lists and Contacts

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Lead Management New Features – Landing Pages and Events

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing 2015 Update Lead Management New Features – Lead Scoring

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Customization New Features- Power BI

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Customization New Features – Roll Up Calculated Fields

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Customization New Features- Customizable Help

Source From: EMEA Dynamics CRM Support

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A compilation of helpful Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 resources to include training, whitepapers & more.

MS CRM 2015 Calculated Fields

MS CRM 2015 Enhanced Business Process Flow

MS CRM 2015 Hierarchical Security

MS CRM 2015 Visualize hierarchical data

MS CRM 2015 Rollup Fields

MS CRM 2015 Custom Help

MS CRM 2015 Business Rule Updates Part I

MS CRM 2015 Business Rule Updates Part II

MS CRM 2015 SLA Enhancements

MS CRM 2015 Outlook Configuration Wizard

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SELECT [ColumnName],[BitColumn]
FROM [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[DeploymentProperties]
WHERE ColumnName=’DisableSSLCheckForEncryption’

UPDATE [MSCRM_CONFIG].[dbo].[DeploymentProperties]
SET [BitColumn]=1
WHERE ColumnName=’DisableSSLCheckForEncryption’

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With the release of Service Pack 1 for Dynamics CRM 2013 Microsoft has introduced an analyzer to track performance on CRM form Loads. To take advantage of this feature open a form on CRM and then using your keyboard select Ctrl + Shift + Q to view the performance analyzer. To activate this utility choose Enable on the utility and then using F5 refresh your CRM form, the utility will close, normal behavior.

Once the form has refreshed select Ctrl + Shift + Q again, this time the utility will display showing the performance of the form load.

Some items of note when using this utility.
- Probably a good idea to Disable the Utility when not in use, only Enable when needed
- It appears to only work with IE
- It will work with CRM Online and appears to work on CRM On Premise as well but some have had issues, maybe browser choice.
- This is not restricted to Forms, it will work on Views as well.

In addition to the graphical view of the load performance you can Copy the stats for a more detailed exam. Included is a sample showing some of the parameter, this captures more rows of data but I have limited the output due to blog realestate.

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Data Security is the prime aspect across the world. As we are storing all our data into the CRM, we need to keep our sensitive data in Encrypted format for the security reasons. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 uses standard Microsoft SQL Server cell level encryption for a set of default entity attributes that contain sensitive information, such as user names and email passwords.

Features:

- Uses FIPS 140-2 Encryption Standard

- prevents a database administrator from accessing encrypted data

- SQL Server cell level encryption

Uses:

- Used to store Email and Password when working with CRM and Microsoft Exchange

- Yammer Integration

Limitations:

- data encryption is not active in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 on-premises by default but users who have the system administrator security role can activate data encryption

- After data encryption is activated, it cannot be turn off but you can change the encryption key if required.

- Data Encryption cannot be applied on the custom fields. Currently it is only available on the out of the box password fields.

- Auditing cannot be enabled on encrypted fields

- Encrypted fields cannot be customized

- Encrypted fields cannot be indexed

- When doing a retrieve of an encrypted field’s value, a null is returned

- SSL is required to use messages

To activate data encryption or change the encryption key you need to navigate to the Settings -> Data Management -> Data Encryption area. Please note that user having System Administrator role can only activate Data Encryption or change the Data Encryption Key.

1) IsDataEncryptionActiveRequest: This request checks whether Data Encryption in Activated or not.

IsDataEncryptionActiveRequest request = new IsDataEncryptionActiveRequest();

IsDataEncryptionActiveResponse response = (IsDataEncryptionActiveResponse)service.Execute(request);

bool isDataEncryptionActive = response.IsActive;

2) SetDataEncryptionKeyRequest: This request helps to change the Data Encryption key. You just need to set the new encryption key in the Encryption Key property which will set the new encryption key.

SetDataEncryptionKeyRequest request = new SetDataEncryptionKeyRequest();

request.ChangeEncryptionKey = true;

request.EncryptionKey = “YOUR_ENCRYPTION_KEY”;

SetDataEncryptionKeyResponse response = (SetDataEncryptionKeyResponse)service.Execute(request);

3) RetrieveDataEncryptionKeyRequest: This function helps retrieve encrypted key available in the organization.

RetrieveDataEncryptionKeyRequest request = new RetrieveDataEncryptionKeyRequest();

RetrieveDataEncryptionKeyResponse response = (RetrieveDataEncryptionKeyResponse)service.Execute(request);

string encryptedKey = response.EncryptionKey;

Please note that, you must use SSL when you use these messages. When you execute these messages, a check will ensure that the user’s client/server connectivity is using the HTTPS protocol. If not, an exception is returned if the requests are submitted without using HTTPS.

Sourced From: Inogic

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MSCRM 2013 White Papers & Technical Documentation

Sourced From: Shawn Dieken

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Posted from Shan McArthur’s Blog

The Windows Azure fabric controller will service your Azure virtual machines from time to time. This blog article will outline the impact this will have on your virtual machines and what you have to do to ensure that your virtual machines remain healthy in the Azure data centers.

There are many events that can occur in the Azure data centers that will result in a ’service operation’ being performed on your virtual machine. These could be related to actual hardware failures, or could be as simple as Microsoft performing data center maintenance or upgrading the host machines that are running your virtual machines. It is important to understand the impact of what these types of service operations will have on your virtual machine so that you can configure the virtual machines properly to survive these service operations.

What changes and what does not change? The hard drive that is used to host your virtual machine is store in Azure blob storage and will not be affected during a service operation. Stated another way – you won’t lose your virtual machine. The same can be said for all of the data drives that are attached to your virtual machine. The only exception to this is the temporary drive that is mounted as the D: drive when you create the virtual machine. Data on this drive is only persisted on the host machine and is not migrated to new hardware when the machine is moved to another host. A service operation will result in your virtual machine having a brand spanking-new D: drive with no files or custom security applied to it. As such, do not put anything that you want persisted on this drive, and make sure that if you are using this drive for temporary storage, that your application can automatically recreate the folders when it is rebooted and started.

Windows Azure will also not change the IP address of your server when it is associated to a virtual network. Read this carefully. It has to be associated to a virtual network AND the only guarantee is that the IP address will not change. That said, the MAC address of the virtual network card may change and that will have some important consequences on your virtual machine configuration.

It is probably best to give a quick description of how IP addresses and network cards work in an Azure environment. You start out by defining a virtual network in Azure, then you provision services inside that virtual network. Windows Azure will then give out appropriate IP addresses and DNS server settings from your virtual network definition when it dishes out a DHCP address. If you are hosting an Active Directory domain in Azure (with domain controllers), it is important that you set the dns server settings properly in your virtual network configuration. I would like to point out that it is an unsupported configuration to set your IP addresses manually in your virtual machine without using DHCP. The problem is that if you do this, the IP address will be associated to that specific network card, but when an Azure service operation occurs, your virtual machine will loose that network card and get another one. Windows Server will do its thing and automatically pick up the new network card and will automatically use DHCP for the IP address and DNS address and you will lose your network configuration that you made on your old network card. This has specific implications for Active Directory domains. If the IP address of your machine changes because DHCP is giving you a different IP address than you manually set on the machine, domain members may not locate the domain controller and the network may start to fail. If this is a domain controller and its DNS server is set to the Azure external dns servers or another server other than itself, the domain controller itself will have problems using the ntds portions of DNS and within a few days the netlogon service will fail and no authentication to the domain will be possible until you reboot the server and rectify the problem. The bottom line is that a service operation in Azure will give your virtual machine a new network card, so you should only use the DHCP provided IP address and dns settings to ensure that your machine will be healthy after a service operation.

Some network administrators will want to ensure that their domain controllers use their own dns server on the local machine, and they do this by specifying 127.0.0.1. This configuration is not mandatory, but if you want to do this, the only way to do this in a supported manner is to set up your virtual machine using PowerShell and specifying the dns server IP in the creation script. This will ensure that the Azure DHCP server will serve the appropriate dns setting to that local virtual machine.

So how do you recognize if you have a problem? The easiest thing to do is to log into all of the virtual machines in your network and ensure that you have the network configuration set to using DHCP for the IP address and the dns server address. If you find that you have a machine that normally works and then starts to fail when nobody has made a change to it, check the event logs for network events and the last reboot. If your failure follows an unscheduled restart, you could be seeing the impact of a service operations – just go and double check that the dns server and IP address are set appropriately using IPCONFIG /ALL.

If you notice that your dns servers are set to an external IP address, this is an indication that your dns servers are not set in your virtual network, or that you may not even have a virtual network. If this is the case, make the change and reboot all servers, ensuring that they pick up their dns server settings.

If you are not using a virtual network and you are using a domain controller, you will experience problems. You may use this type of configuration in a temporary dev or demo environment. If you want to use this configuration, your only other choice is to add a loopback adapter to the virtual machine and configure the IP address on that NIC to use its own IP address. I have used this configuration in the past, but with the latest version of the Azure portal, it is so easy to manage virtual networks that I highly recommend just setting up a virtual network, even for these temporary environments.

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CRM 2013: Understanding Portable Business Logic

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Working with Dynamics CRM 2013 Composite Fields/Fly-out Menu

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MS CRM 2013 Bulk Edit Entity Name Messages

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Social Insights Installation Instructions

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Checking “dont show this to me again” does not disable the welcome screen.

To remove permanently an registry update is necessary.

1. Start Registry Editor.

2. Locate registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM.

3. Right-click MSCRM, point to New, click DWORD (32-bit) Value, enter DisableNavTour, and then press ENTER.

4. Right-click DisableNavTour, click Modify.

5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then press ENTER.

6. Close the Registry Editor.

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