Report on Opportunities Lost to Competitors

There is an out-of-the box relationship between competitors and opportunities in CRM that allows you to track many competitors to any one opportunity.  However, when you close an opportunity as lost to a competitor, you may select one specific competitor within the Close Opportunity window.  This is a different relationship in CRM than competitor to opportunities.

What if you want an all-up view of all your lost opportunities showing the competitors that you lost to?

When trying to get this report, many people naturally turn to advanced find views (AFVs) to try to create a query for this data.  This approach won’t return all the data you need in an all-up Lost Opportunity report with Competitors because you cannot create an AFV on the Opportunity Close Activity.  The closest you can get with AFV is to look for Activities, filter the Activity Type = Opportunity Close, and filter Competitor = [fill in the blank]. 

This only works when filtering one competitor because you cannot display a column for Competitor in this view – there is a 1:N relationship between Activity and Opportunity Close.

Thus, the way to get this view of your data is to create a Report (Workplace –> Reports)using the report wizard.  The report wizard differs from AFV in that it allows you to JOIN data from different data tables (entities) rather than be restricted to lookup fields in 1:N relationships between data tables (entities).  Here’s how to do it:

Go to Workplace –> Reports –> Report Wizard:

Name the report and specify primary and related record types:

Set a filter to return all activities = opportunity close (like I mentioned with the AFV), and Opportunity Close Competitor “contains data”:

Lay out fields in your report.  In this example I’ve included Est. Revenue on the related Opportunity so you can quantify exactly how much revenue was lost to the competitor.  You can summarize by this amount in your report in order to create a chart in the next step:

Add a chart if you want to:

Final Report:

With pie chart or bar chart:

Enjoy.

Posted: Monday, February 16, 2009 10:37 PM by Laura Robinson

Windows Live ID, a primer

Windows Live ID is the authentication tool that is part of the Windows Live Service. With it you get free email, blog page, photo galleries, document storage, and more. Social networking tools such as Groups are also available. Groups allow you to invite people to participate in discussions, document sharing, events and calendars, and more.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online uses the Windows Live ID ( WLID ) to authentication who the user is.  You can also integrate the Windows Services with your Microsoft Dynamics CRM application.

Integration with the Windows Live Service can enhance your CRM experience. Using the document storage service, Sky Drive, can allow you to share documents with other users and people not in your CRM system such as customers, business partners, and colleagues.

I’ve created a video that will introduce you to Windows Live ID and it’s services. The video also shows how you can use Windows Live Groups and Document Storage with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Windows Live ID Overview

How to integrate your Windows Service Storage - SkyDrive with CRM Online

Also, you'll want to watch the video by fellow technology specialist Kevin Williamson on how to add users to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Cheers,

Jon White

Bridge2CRM = (Microsoft Dynamics CRM + iPhone)

by menno 24. February 2009 21:42

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As you all might know is that I own an iPhone and absolutely love it. For me it is the ultimate device of being able to combine business with my personal life. I can view my Exchange email or meetings and at the same time I can listen to my favorite music, update my Twitter or Facebook status all through an easy to use interface!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to update or access Microsoft Dynamics CRM information via your iPhone? Bridge2CRM leverages the iPhone interface by integrating it with the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Make phone calls on your iPhone directly from CRM, get map directions, send emails, and manage your CRM data; all from the easy and intuitive iPhone platform.

It works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online or with your on-premise deployment. For more details or to schedule a demo, please visit SoftBridge’s web site.

Preview: Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Preview: Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

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We work all the time and everywhere. Getting information, giving information, communicating and keeping up. It is only natural that an application designed for letting businesses connect with their customers should be capable of working anywhere and anytime too.

This week, we released a preview of Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. No one should think that this is the start or the finish of Microsoft Dynamics CRM mobility though. As we’ve looked at the needs for mobile CRM we’ve see not one experience but many experiences - we think that there are as many ways to take CRM mobile as there are uses of CRM. Mobile Express is one of those experiences.

Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides users with a Web based CRM client that works on any HTML rendering device, small or large. The user interface can be customized to show only the types of objects that an organization wants to expose to mobile users. We see this choice working well for organizations with remote users who are frequently connected to a network and who may not need constant access to their CRM data but who want to have the flexibility to call it up when needed.

One of the interesting things that we’ve seen over the last few years is the desire to “never give a laptop computer to a sales person again” (an actual customer’s words). For organizations like this, a rich client on a smart device makes a lot of sense. Independent software vendors make full Microsoft Dynamics CRM applications for Windows Mobile (TenDigits, CWR Mobility, ADC), RIM Blackberry devices (TenDigits), the iPhone (softBridge) and Nokia phones (CRMMobile+). These applications typically have offline capabilities and can act as full PC replacements for some workers. I love these rich clients because while they have a broad range of CRM capabilities they can also be tailored to the specific needs of the jobs that people are doing with them.

And while I don’t expect too many people to be pulling out the Windows Mobile SDK to build their own mobile applications, building your own mobile solution may be cost effective and provide you with the best solution. In cases where there is a very limited set of tasks that users need to perform, special device functionality is needed or where you have development expertise in house, a bespoke solution can make sense. The solution could be as simple as e-mail alerts sent to mobile users or as complex as a .NET Compact Framework client. And some organizations are taking a mixed approach here: building an application for some users and purchasing one for others.

You can download the Mobile Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Preview and give us feedback through newsgroups at:

https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=624

Barry Givens

Published Monday, February 16, 2009 8:44 AM by crmblog

Keyboard Shortcuts in MSCRM

David Fronk Dynamic Methods Inc. 1/09/2009 04:43:00 PM

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I'm all about using CRM more efficiently and if I can limit my time going from mouse to keyboard I'm much happier. Here are some keyboard shortcuts that I found to be really useful:
From any CRM Form you may use:
Save - CTRL + S
Save and Close - ALT + S
Save and New - CTRL + SHIFT + S
Delete the record - CTRL + D
Close - ESC or ALT + F4
Expand or Collapse Form Assistant - CTRL + SHIFT + F
Move to next field - TAB
Move to previous field - SHIFT + TAB
Trigger lookup field to autofill (only in CRM 4.0) - CTRL + K
This is where you would type part of the word in the lookup field and instead of tabbing out of the field you can use CTRL + K to trigger the search to run and autofill the field.
All regular Windows shortcuts, such as:
Copy - CTRL + C
Cut - CTRL + X
Paste - CTRL + V
Select All - CTRL + A

You can search the MSCRM Help file for "Keyboard Shortcuts" and you can then find some more.

David Fronk
Dynamic Methods Inc.

Accelerators and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Laura Robinson wrote this

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The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators have been rolling out over the last couple of months and one of the questions we’ve been working on in the CRM Online TS team is, how can we make these accelerators work for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online?  CRM Online, at the moment, operates under three distinct constraints as compared to the On-Premise or Partner Hosted versions:

1. Because Microsoft hosts the servers there is no custom code on the server
2. WLID Authentication
3. No custom reports uploaded to the server

More information about the differences between Online and On-Premise can be found on MSDN.

In light of these constraints, some of the 4.0 Accelerators will not work with Online at all, some will work partially if you import just the customizations but with minimal value (e.g. eService Accelerator), and others will work partially with minimal effort and still provide value to customers.  Two of the accelerators that provide value to an Online org are: Extended Sales Forecasting and Event Management. 

These accelerators contain custom entities, security roles, and workflows that can be imported to CRM Online and provide some value to an Online organization that is looking for a forecasting or event management template or solution.  Please note that there are some components with these accelerators that will not work in Online; in particular the Extended Sales Forecasting accelerator contains custom .rdl files to upload which are not possible in Online. 

Event Management provides web portal customizations to allow for extranet event management registration, which is not possible to incorporate into Online.  In the following blogs, I discuss how these accelerators can be used in CRM Online as well as some workarounds for the components that cannot be incorporated:  Extended Sales Forecasting, Event Management.

Cheers,

Laura Robinson

Convergence 2009 – March 10-13, 2009 | New Orleans, LA

 

Discover the Power of Possibilities at Convergence and gain your competitive edge.
In today’s difficult economic environment, there has never been more value in attending Convergence. This year is geared toward helping you leverage your Microsoft Dynamics solutions to increase visibility into operations and maximize efficiencies. You will gain exposure into new technologies, better understand your current business management software, and gather insights you need to unleash your current solution’s full capabilities. Attend Convergence and learn how to:

• Easily analyze your financial data and respond to changing business conditions.

• Effectively forecast and manage your cash flow and compliance with clear understanding of reporting and process automation capabilities.

• Access your comprehensive client information and stay connected to the needs of your customers.

• Leverage your implementation with related applications like SQL Server and the Microsoft Office products which are an integral part of an integrated Microsoft Dynamics business solution

• Improve fiscal responsibility and the delivery of public services.

• Boost efficiencies and improve accountability with accurate financial tracking and reporting

Click here to learn more about Convergence New Orleans and how to get registered!