Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Lotus Notes Domino Connector ? Overview For Consultant

We have reworked the original material, dedicated to Microsoft CRM 1.2 and first version of the Connector, now we are very close to make it work with Lotus Calendar events and support Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being two groupware products from competing software development leaders, however could coexist within one organization computer network and even work together in collaboration. There maybe multiple reason why corporation would use both products: licensing, commitment to IBM Lotus Notes as legacy product, risk balancing ? staking on both Microsoft and Java/EJB/J2EE platforms, deploying Lotus advanced workflow to automate document management, etc. The need to synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes Domino databases is dictated by the ERP market and the connector is available. In this small article we?ll answer on the frequently asked questions.

? Messaging. Can MS CRM use Lotus Domino instead of Microsoft Exchange? Yes. MS CRM Lotus Domino connector allows you send messages from MS CRM objects: Lead, Account, Contact and all the future object, including Sales and Service modules

? Outgoing Messaging. When Microsoft CRM send email from Account, Contact, Lead ? connector takes control over and sends email through Lotus Domino server. It has Java Agent at the Lotus side and MS CRM SDK custom piece at the MS CRM side. If you compare outgoing messaging with standard MS CRM Exchange connector, then mechanism is slightly different. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector places GUID in the message header and uses this GUID to identify the object in the responding email to push it back to CRM and attach. MS CRM Lotus connector doesn?t use GUID ? instead it scans MS CRM objects (Accounts, Contacts, Leads) in smart cached way

? Incoming Messages. When Lotus Domino server receives email ? Java Agent side of the connector triggers checking with MS CRM if addressor email matches with any Contact, Lead or Account email. In the case of the match ? email is transferred into MS CRM in the form of activity of email type. Again ? please note that connector doesn?t use GUID mechanism. We found that matching is better approach and we have Microsoft CRM Exchange advanced connector ? which works with matching, without standard GUID mechanism.

? Microsoft CRM & Lotus Notes Events synchronization. Future version of the connector will synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes objects: Calendar, Appointment, Fax, Phone Call, etc. Please, note that Lotus has different objects ? we have the matching table, please check with us.

? Lotus & MS CRM Versions. Lotus should be version 6.0 or higher. The reason for this is simple ? version 6.0 supports Java Agent technology. MS CRM should be 1.2 or 3.0. Lotus could work in multiple hardware & OS platforms, such as Windows Server, AS/400, etc.

? Product Pricing. It is US$3k basic pack, including 30 users and then $75 each additional user. In Europe price is proportional in Euro.

? Support. Product is installed Worldwide and supported in Europe from German office, in the USA and Canada from Houston and Chicago, in South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, New Zealand from office in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.enterlogix.com.br http://www.greatplains.com.mx ) ? Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Texas

Microsoft Dynamics AX-GP-NAV-CRM: Trends and International Recommendations

Microsoft Dynamics project ? or formerly referred as Project Green should unify and modulate all Microsoft Business Solutions ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision (former Attain) Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft (Navision) Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX. The challenge of unification probably will result in quality change for the unified interface, such as Web/Business portal/Microsoft Outlook & MS Office integration, Deployment of new technologies, such as Microsoft Sharepoint with workflow automation. Plus the development platform for Microsoft Dynamics products should shift from proprietary tools, such as Microsoft Dexterity, C/SIDE, MorphX (no confirmation for Axapta yet ? but we guess it should follow) to C# and VB.Net with VisualStudio. In this small article we will try to orient IT managers in Microsoft Business Solutions MRP products selection for international and regional markets.

? Microsoft Dynamics GP. The regional markets for Great Plains 9.0 and following Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 version will narrow: United States, United Kingdom, Canada: both English and French speaking, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other English speaking countries in Asia, Africa and Worldwide, plus Spanish Speaking Latin America. Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 will not be available for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland ? the last version localized for these European countries will be 9.0 ? June 2006

? Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Currently Navision has very good presence in Europe, including East Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia. Microsoft also localized Navision for new markets, where it just moved in: Brazil for example ? it was interesting development in Brazil ? first Microsoft probed Solomon, then Microsoft Great Plains 7.5 and in 2004 replaced it with localized Navision

? Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Axapta, opposite to Navision or Great Plains where market shares are gained/divided and competition is based on renovations and product improvements, Axapta has great potential yet to be deployed, coming from its modern and very futuristic system design and architecture. Being targeted to upper mid-market and corporate clients Axapta shows very good progress on emerging markets: in Russia for example the number of Axapta installation is similar and comparable with the number of Navision installations. Plus, in 2005 large number of Microsoft Business Solutions gold certified partners rushed into Axapta consulting arena ? this is seen in the USA, UK, Australia and continental Europe. In Brazil currently MBS in local Portuguese Axapta launching mode ? localized for Brazilian tax code

? Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Is planned as front CRM solution for the majority of Microsoft Dynamics ERP system: integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP is available for GP 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and CRM 1.2 and 3.0, Microsoft Navision ? through third party integrations, Axapta integration is planned. Microsoft has Microsoft CRM as worldwide product, so you should not have any doubts regarding your regional market.

? Competition. Oracle is on the way with Oracle Fusion project, aiming on Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards and potentially Siebel integration. SAP with the purchase of new mid and small market ERP: SAP Business One and Mendocino ? for SAP R/3 is catching up

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner. Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft Dynamics ERP: GP, AX, NAV, CRM ? which one to select

Being in MRP implementation, customization, integration, data migration/conversion business for many years, we would like to give you some orientation, in the case if you are on the way of ERP selection for your company. 

Being in MRP implementation, customization, integration, data migration/conversion business for many years, we would like to give you some orientation, in the case if you are on the way of ERP selection for your company.  In this small article we will be talking about Microsoft Business Solutions ERP brands only, you can check our future publication to get similar orientation on Oracle and SAP ERP products.

• ?Legacy? vs. ?Modern? ERP.  It might not be the focusing question, however we?d like you to look at the ERP products from this perspective: Java/EJB Sun Microsystems conception is less then 10 years old, and now Microsoft .Net/C# construction is in the process of getting market from Java.  Similar time test should be given to ERP system ? if the system has legacy architecture ? it might be candidate for replacement or be seriously re-written/renovated.
• International aspect.  If you think your company is and always be focusing on the US market and will do business with local folks only ? this paragraph might be skipped.  For the rest of us ? and we are in this cohort ? we should watch closes Microsoft Business Solutions international policies.  When Great Plains Software and Navision Software were independent software vendor and being forming their international policies completely independently from one another ? both had intentions to expand to all the world markets: USA, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, South and Central America.  Now, when Microsoft sells all former GPS and Navision ERP products ? it can choose one product over the other to promote on the regional market ? simply due to the fact that it has to invest into ERP localization.
• Microsoft Dynamics GP - Great Plains.  Great Plains Software pioneered in the earlier 1990^th with its graphical and DB platform independent product for Mac and Windows: Great Plains Dynamics.  The shell was written on C programming language and was named Great Plains Dexterity.  Currently with Microsoft Dynamics project initiative ? Microsoft renovated Dexterity ? it supports now COM object calls and so XML web services, but it is not pure .net application/shell ? Microsoft is investing in web interfaces for Microsoft Dynamics GP ? Microsoft Business Portal for GP is very good example.  Microsoft Dynamics GP incorporated all the best technologies from Microsoft Office to .Net, but its design was done more then 10 years ago.  Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 is available in English, Latim Americal Spanish and Canadian French, plus German, Dutch and French/France versions will be available for version 9.0 only ? they will not be supported for future version of Dynamics GP.
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV ? Microsoft Navision - Navision Attain.  Navision Software was established in 1994 and since then it gained European ERP mid-size and portion of USA market, especially for light manufacturing.  Navision success should be attributed to Denmark software development market miracle of earlier 1990^th.  Navision went even further into graphical and DB platform independence ? it designed its own database platform ? C/SIDE ? Navision separated SQL coding from the database itself.  Currently MBS promotes Navision on MS SQL Server platform and its database independence is losing its actuality.  Navision was localized by MBS to the majority of East European, South American and other emerging markets ? if you are in Europe, South America, Asia and looking for supported reliable solution on your regional market ? you should look at Navision first.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX ? Axapta.  Axapta was the newest ERP designed by Navision Software prior to its acquisition by Microsoft.  The architecture is dated at the end of 20^th century.  Axapta needed some time for Microsoft to get upper mid-market ground ? traditionally occupied by SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards.  Currently Microsoft is localizing Axapta to Brazilian market ? due in April 2006.  Very good chances are in East and Continental Europe, including UK.  In 2005 US Microsoft Business Solutions regional and nation-wide VARs invested into Axapta consulting practice ? training and certifying consultants, marketing campaign, etc.  Very good chances for Axapta for US mid-market and and upper mid-market clientele and prospects
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 or simply Microsoft CRM 3.0 is promoted by Microsoft Worldwide.  So, do not question it from the international perspective ? you will have integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision (through third party integration), Axapta ? in progress, plus with IBM Lotus Notes Domino ? via Alba Spectrum Lotus Notes integration.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN

 

Microsoft Dynamics ERP: GP, AX, NAV, CRM ? which one to select

Being in MRP implementation, customization, integration, data migration/conversion business for many years, we would like to give you some orientation, in the case if you are on the way of ERP selection for your company. 

Being in MRP implementation, customization, integration, data migration/conversion business for many years, we would like to give you some orientation, in the case if you are on the way of ERP selection for your company.  In this small article we will be talking about Microsoft Business Solutions ERP brands only, you can check our future publication to get similar orientation on Oracle and SAP ERP products.

• ?Legacy? vs. ?Modern? ERP.  It might not be the focusing question, however we?d like you to look at the ERP products from this perspective: Java/EJB Sun Microsystems conception is less then 10 years old, and now Microsoft .Net/C# construction is in the process of getting market from Java.  Similar time test should be given to ERP system ? if the system has legacy architecture ? it might be candidate for replacement or be seriously re-written/renovated.
• International aspect.  If you think your company is and always be focusing on the US market and will do business with local folks only ? this paragraph might be skipped.  For the rest of us ? and we are in this cohort ? we should watch closes Microsoft Business Solutions international policies.  When Great Plains Software and Navision Software were independent software vendor and being forming their international policies completely independently from one another ? both had intentions to expand to all the world markets: USA, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, South and Central America.  Now, when Microsoft sells all former GPS and Navision ERP products ? it can choose one product over the other to promote on the regional market ? simply due to the fact that it has to invest into ERP localization.
• Microsoft Dynamics GP - Great Plains.  Great Plains Software pioneered in the earlier 1990^th with its graphical and DB platform independent product for Mac and Windows: Great Plains Dynamics.  The shell was written on C programming language and was named Great Plains Dexterity.  Currently with Microsoft Dynamics project initiative ? Microsoft renovated Dexterity ? it supports now COM object calls and so XML web services, but it is not pure .net application/shell ? Microsoft is investing in web interfaces for Microsoft Dynamics GP ? Microsoft Business Portal for GP is very good example.  Microsoft Dynamics GP incorporated all the best technologies from Microsoft Office to .Net, but its design was done more then 10 years ago.  Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 is available in English, Latim Americal Spanish and Canadian French, plus German, Dutch and French/France versions will be available for version 9.0 only ? they will not be supported for future version of Dynamics GP.
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV ? Microsoft Navision - Navision Attain.  Navision Software was established in 1994 and since then it gained European ERP mid-size and portion of USA market, especially for light manufacturing.  Navision success should be attributed to Denmark software development market miracle of earlier 1990^th.  Navision went even further into graphical and DB platform independence ? it designed its own database platform ? C/SIDE ? Navision separated SQL coding from the database itself.  Currently MBS promotes Navision on MS SQL Server platform and its database independence is losing its actuality.  Navision was localized by MBS to the majority of East European, South American and other emerging markets ? if you are in Europe, South America, Asia and looking for supported reliable solution on your regional market ? you should look at Navision first.
• Microsoft Dynamics AX ? Axapta.  Axapta was the newest ERP designed by Navision Software prior to its acquisition by Microsoft.  The architecture is dated at the end of 20^th century.  Axapta needed some time for Microsoft to get upper mid-market ground ? traditionally occupied by SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards.  Currently Microsoft is localizing Axapta to Brazilian market ? due in April 2006.  Very good chances are in East and Continental Europe, including UK.  In 2005 US Microsoft Business Solutions regional and nation-wide VARs invested into Axapta consulting practice ? training and certifying consultants, marketing campaign, etc.  Very good chances for Axapta for US mid-market and and upper mid-market clientele and prospects
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 or simply Microsoft CRM 3.0 is promoted by Microsoft Worldwide.  So, do not question it from the international perspective ? you will have integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision (through third party integration), Axapta ? in progress, plus with IBM Lotus Notes Domino ? via Alba Spectrum Lotus Notes integration.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN

 

CRM Budget: How To Bring Your CRM Project In On-Budget

It seems that having a project come in On-Budget is the and holy-grail of project management, especially when it comes to CRM projects. With their 70% failure rate, CRM projects represent a significant risk to a small business' financial health and warrants more "measure twice, cut once" consideration before beginning.

Coming in On-Budget does not mean you managed to squeeze your project into whatever arbitrary budget you came up with when you first started. It also doesn't mean that you started with an overly generous budget.

It does mean that you develop a budget that takes into account an analysis of 4 critical areas:

1. PAYOFF. You need to know exactly how your CRM system is going to generate ROI. This will help you focus your project on the right areas. By knowing how you expect payoff to be achieved, you can plan to achieve it.

2 RISK. You need to figure out where the risk is in your project because "risk=expense". By figuring out what can go wrong, you can take measures to minimize and contain that risk.

3. SERVICES. Be sure to fully account for the variety of services that will be required. A few often overlooked areas that can increase your services bill significantly include: meetings, testing time, debugging time and "while you're here..." time.

4. TECHNOLOGY. Choosing the wrong technology is can be a huge waste of money. From the worst case scenario of a totally failed project to having to spend extra money to make the wrong software do things it wasn't intended to do.

What makes putting together a realistic budget so difficult for small businesses is that it's not what they do and they don't have the experience of having done several before. It's not what they do. So, they rely on the Sellers of CRM who have their own vested interest in not scaring off their customers with numbers that are perceived to be too expensive.

By putting together a realistic budget, you may very well find that the project is going to cost much more than you were intitally prepared to spend. It's best to find this out now and before you "sign on any dotted lines".

If you do find out the project is going to cost more, here are a few ideas of what to do:

- WAIT & SAVE. Perhaps you need to wait 6 months until you have a bigger budget. Use this time to get prepared for the project: learn more about the software choices, make sure you're business processes are as fine tuned as they can be, and focus on how CRM software will generate ROI.

- GO AHEAD. It may be more money than you were expecting, but may still be within your budget. If you're clear on how the CRM system is going to generate ROI and you're otherwise ready, go for it!

- SCALE DOWN. If you have a very clear idea of how the CRM software is going to achieve ROI and you can't afford the full project, focus in a smaller area to begin with that will have a payback. Use this payback to help fund future projects. It's always a good idea to start with smaller, high-payoff projects first.

- FIND MORE ROI. If you have a really clear and compelling business case for how a CRM system is going to improve your bottom-line, it's much easier to find the necessary funds to implement it.

- DOUBLE CHECK. Make sure you're choosing the right technology. Cheap software can often be expensive to implement. Double check to make sure you're basing your budget on the right CRM software. You may find that a software that costs more in licensing, ends up being an overall more affordable solution.

Coming in On-Budget means you started with a realistic budget. The Insider's CRM Success System goes into great detail on how to develop a realistic budget and provides the control forms and worksheets you'll need.

About the Author

Scott Gingrich is the creator of The Insider's CRM Success Toolkit, the world's most complete and only guaranteed approach to successful CRM projects.www.thecrmcoach.com.

CRM On Budget: How To Develop and Stick To a Realistic Budget for CRM

It seems that having a project come in On-Budget is the holy-grail of project management, especially when it comes to CRM projects. With their 70% failure rate, CRM projects represent a significant risk to a small business' financial health and warrants more "measure twice, cut once" consideration before beginning.

Coming in On-Budget does not mean you managed to squeeze your project into whatever arbitrary budget you came up with when you first started. It also doesn't mean that you started with an overly generous budget.

It does mean that you develop a budget that takes into account an analysis of 4 critical areas:

1. PAYOFF. You need to know exactly how your CRM system is going to generate ROI. This will help you focus your project on the right areas. By knowing how you expect payoff to be achieved, you can plan to achieve it.

2 RISK. You need to figure out where the risk is in your project because "risk=expense". By figuring out what can go wrong, you can take measures to minimize and contain that risk.

3. SERVICES. Be sure to fully account for the variety of services that will be required. A few often overlooked areas that can increase your services bill significantly incoude: meetings, testing time, debugging time and "while you're here..." time.

4. TECHNOLOGY. Choosing the wrong technology is can be a huge waste of money. From the worst case scenario of a totally failed project to having to spend extra money to make the wrong software do things it wasn't intended to do.

What makes putting together a realistic budget so difficult for small businesses is that it's not what they do and they don't have the experience of having done several before. It's not what they do. So, they rely on the Sellers of CRM who have their own vested interest in not scaring off their customers with numbers that are perceived to be too expensive.

By putting together a realistic budget, you may very well find that the project is going to cost much more than you were intitally prepared to spend. It's best to find this out now and before you "sign on any dotted lines".

If you do find out the project is going to cost more, here are a few ideas of what to do:

- WAIT & SAVE. Perhaps you need to wait 6 months until you have a bigger budget. Use this time to get prepared for the project: learn more about the software choices, make sure you're business processes are as fine tuned as they can be, and focus on how CRM software will generate ROI.

- GO AHEAD. It may be more money than you were expecting, but may still be within your budget. If you're clear on how the CRM system is going to generate ROI and you're otherwise ready, go for it!

- SCALE DOWN. If you have a very clear idea of how the CRM software is going to achieve ROI and you can't afford the full project, focus in a smaller area to begin with that will have a payback. Use this payback to help fund future projects. It's always a good idea to start with smaller, high-payoff projects first.

- FIND MORE ROI. If you have a really clear and compelling business case for how a CRM system is going to improve your bottom-line, it's much easier to find the necessary funds to implement it.

- DOUBLE CHECK. Make sure you're choosing the right technology. Cheap software can often be expensive to implement. Double check to make sure you're basing your budget on the right CRM software. You may find that a software that costs more in licensing, ends up being an overall more affordable solution.

Coming in On-Budget means you started with a realistic budget. The Insider's CRM Success System goes into great detail on how to develop a realistic budget and provides the control forms and worksheets you'll need.

Scott Gingrich, founder of The CRM Coach (www.thecrmcoach.com) is the creator of "The Insider's CRM Success System", the world's most complete and only CRM Success System guaranteed to save thousands, developed specially for small business.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization Or Third Party Product ? Overview For Consultant

With version 3.0 MS CRM will be more exposed to end-user tuning, software development, customizations. Microsoft CRM SDK is becoming more sophisticated with post-call-out technology reconsidering, deprecating a lot of 1.2 CRM SDK methods, replacing Crystal Reports Enterprise with MS SQL Server Reporting Services, changing MS CRM Exchange Connector functionality, etc. Microsoft itself has to be very flexible and freed up to change/adjust development standards if required. In such situation end customer should be very knowledgeable and savvy to predict the future, when he needs to deploy custom solutions/modules. In this small article we will consider pros and contras of deploying third parties or just go ahead with customer specific unique customization.

Third Party Product.

? Pros: The cost is normally controllable, because product is already developed and ready to be implemented. Plus it is possible to get references on the reliability of the product from all the kinds of user groups, product reviews, etc. Also ? sometimes it is referred as weakness but it might be considered as the plus ? if product is developed and supported by the known vendor ? you should believe that it will be upgraded and available for future MS CRM releases.

? Contras. The first minus we would like to mention is usually not described in the textbooks ? this is the problem when, say product A is purchased by Microsoft itself and inaugurated as from now on ?official? solutions, and if you historically selected product B ? coming from the competitor ? you are in a problem ? you will see you software vendor to be weakened and slowly phasing out alternative product B

Unique Customization.

? Pros. You will have so-called source code, if you negotiate it right with the custom developer or custom development company ? then you can transfer version upgrade or product modification to the market leader (who will be giving you better price and quality assurance in the future). Other pluses might be cost saving, due to the fact that you are paying for required functionality only, not for something you will never use.

? Contras. Cost might be crossing the budgeted line, because you might not be able to select reliable software developer (all of them might be in the learning curve, because MS CRM is relatively young product) ? this is very strong argument, when you have just purchased the CRM and yet not know the players on the customization market.

Production Environment Challenges. When you are already in production ? be sure that MS CRM needs testing, if you introduce custom logic. You should try to isolate custom logic, and test it in the isolated space ? again MS CRM doesn?t have parallel test company environment ? opposite to what you have in ERP system, such as Great Plains/Dynamics GP.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner

Microsoft CRM Implementation: Employee Time & Billing ? notes for Consultant

Procedure.  MS CRM is flexible in the sense that you can create and attach activity to virtually any object ? Account, Contact, Lead, Quote, Order, Invoice, etc.  If you have your consultants do just that ? it will help (all the documents and info will be in CRM), however it would be no structure and you would be spending your time digging CRM in the search of historical information.  Remember Lotus Notes Domino?  Where you could also keep attaching and expanding lists and tree-like structure?  You need the procedure and the procedure will help you structurize the data in MS CRM

Structure.  The structure, deployed for employee time management should be like this.  Customer (Account) should have Contracts.  Each Contract should have contract lines (where you can allocate the budget per line), then each line should have Cases (when you fulfill the contract ? you assign your consultants to the cases, such as install software, fix bugs, replace old server with the new one, etc.).  And finally, consultants should log cases, such as appointments (if the date and time is known) and tasks (if the date and time is now known, however you know the deadline)

Scenario.  Customer ABC has ERP Implementation contract.  This contract has two lines: Software Installation (24 hours budget) and User Training (40 hours budget).  You activate contract, open two cases for Installation: SQL Installation and Client installation.  You assign SQL case to John and Client case to Bill.  You book John for Monday onsite visit (appointment, from 8am till 4pm) to install SQL, for bill you create task ? install clients for Nancy and Marilyn (you ask Bill to stop by next week, but you leave him to schedule and decide on the date).  When John finishes installation, he opens MS CRM, appointment (either web or outlook client), goes to the appointment->action->close appointment (action Close Appointment->Completed) and 8 hours are logged toward SQL Installation case.  When finally you close the case ? you decide on the number of billable hours (you will be shown the actual and budgeted time).

Reporting.  You will probably need two reports: consultant/employee time, were you should be able to see budgeted, actual, written off time ? here you evaluate consultant performance.  The second report is Project status.

Feel free to call us in US & Canada: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, Latin America: S?o Paulo 55-11-3444-4949, Europe: Deutschland (0177) 8349 806, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Office, Alba Spectrum Group ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) serves corporate clients in the following industries: Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Tools & Machinery, Pharmaceutical, Mining, Services, Non-Profit, Advertising & Publishing, Distribution & Logistics, Transportation, Consignment, Food & Beverages, Restaurants Supply Chain, Textile, Building & Construction, Real Estate, Engineering & Project Management.

 

CRM - Everyone You Meet is Fighting a Hard Battle

Relationships... Money... Health..The Past...Failure..Mental and Spiritual Battles..Time Constraints...Professional pressures..

Relationships... Money... Health..The Past...Failure..Mental and Spiritual Battles..Time Constraints...Professional pressures..

At any given moment you, your clients, and employees are dealing with one or the other of these challenges in life. No one has escaped from this life untouched by problems, both big and small. No matter how people may appear on the outside, they battle with some problem that is unmanageable on the inside. The clearer this is to us the easier it is to be extrodinarily kind to others.

But if we are also suffering how is it possible to do this? It is not easy, it is a learned skill. It needs to be taught to all your employees. It must be practiced and practiced until it becomes habit. This habit needs to be policy and employees need to be encouraged daily until the habit is developed.

Customer Relationships are built on this knowledge. Why people act a certain way is always based on their level of life challenges at a given moment. This includes both employees and customers.

We cannot solve all their problems nor should we, but the fact that a person might be struggling in their personal or professional life needs to in the back of our mind whenever we deal with people.

There is nothing as memorable as a person's kindness when we are in a difficult situation.

Help your clients to solve their immediate problems (pertaining to your business!)and they will be satisfied. Give them reason to smile and they will be impressed. Do it every time they contact you and they will never leave you. Client loyalty is a reflection of the level of care they preceive they are getting from a business. This does not mean we sacrifice our profits and productivity. It means that we increase our profits and productivity. Happy employees work better and exhibit higher levels of company loyalty when dealing with customers and happy customers will return and tell their friends.

No matter what you sell or manufacture; from fertilizer to real estate, from preschools to restaurants, you are first in the business of providing solutions for people. These solutions need to include how the person feels when they walk out the door, and you must always keep that in mind.

Owner Lasting Impressions 2 - Custom Business gift baskets, greeting cards, Customer Service Tips
www.lastingimpressions2.com

Microsoft CRM messaging through Lotus Domino email server - balanced solution

Microsoft CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino seem to be taking completely different paths and if company is Microsoft oriented - we see MS CRM, MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, SharePoint, etc. In the case of Lotus Domino - it is opposite - Lotus is corporate Information Media and could technically play CRM role with internal messaging coming through Lotus Domino server. However realities of modern corporation give us multiple examples when Microsoft CRM and Lotus Domino should coexist in compromise. There are several reasons why corporation doesn't like to stick to one platform:
1. Balancing several platforms not to be trapped to the one-vendor solution. Imagine, that you placed all the eggs into one basket and then this basket went into the trouble (lawsuit, bankruptcy, mismanagement, hostile takeover - to name a few in the life of the modern American corporation)
2. Legacy-dependence. If your corporation uses such product as Lotus Notes/Domino for 10 plus years - you can expect that majority of documents are stored in the Lotus databases. Just conversion of this legacy database is multi-million dollars project. And again - we could not predict the future accurately - who will win or lose - IBM or Microsoft - or maybe they will merge
3. Procedures and flowcharts. Nowadays corporation works and builds its business model around computer business system, consider things like users training, functional flowcharts/diagrams, reporting to investors, IDE with company vendors and customer. And we'd dare to say that these things are computer application platform dependent (even being designed in the heads of corporation founding leaders as abstract business processes - then they were placed into the computer platform and had to fit to its pluses and minuses)
Considering these arguments and having multiple requests from Microsoft Business Solutions and directly from our prospects and customer, we have realized the connector, which allows Microsoft CRM use Lotus Domino email server with similar messaging functionality as Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000
Microsoft CRM Exchange connector needs to be installed and its DLL based functionality is superceded by our own DLL, which communicates with Lotus Domino server via Java Agents
You can always have us help you with the integration and customization. Call us: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, Florida, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

How to Increase Sales with Automation Improvements

How to Increase Sales with Automation Improvements

 by: Diana Barnum

How popular is online shopping? And is there room for improvement? Lets check out some pros and cons of automated shopping and see.

Digital carts offer convenience for people around the globe 24 hours a day. Yet an estimated 4 percent of shoppers make purchases, up from 3.5 percent in 2003, reported by DoubleClick, an online marketing company.

And approximately 30 percent of shopping carts are abandoned, according to recent surveys by BizRate.com, a shopping search engine.

The main reasons for shopping cart abandonment are*:

• High shipping prices (72%)

• Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)

• Changed mind (56%)

• Saving items for later purchase (51%)

• Total cost of items is too high (43%)

• Checkout process is too long (41%)

• Checkout requires too much personal information (35%)

• Site requires registration before purchase (34%)

• Site is unstable or unreliable (31%)

• Checkout process is confusing (27%)

To decrease shopping cart abandonment and increase sales, simple minor improvements in automation can be highly effective. Here are some tips that work best for clients and workers alike of OhioHelp.net, an Ohio-based company that specializes in helping businesses worldwide with their marketing, public relations and freelance writing services.

TOP TIPS FROM OHIOHELP.NET

1. Calculate all handling charges and fees in with your price whenever possible, so that you can offer no-cost shipping. And check for specials like Flat Rate packages with Priority Shipping.

2. Dont have people pre-register, fill out lengthy forms, wait for email confirmation, find their password / user ID and figure out how to log in again and continue to fill out more detailed forms and click through a half-dozen pages. Ugh! People want to shop, buy and go. Period.

3. On EVERY page of your site, shopping cart, receipt and Thank You or other automated reply, list complete contact information. Include a specific person to follow up with, business phone number and postal address (no P.O. Box) and a direct email address like diana@ohiohelp.net (i.e. not info@ohiohelp.net). Then if the Internet connection fails, the site goes down or any number of other technical issues occurs, the shopper immediately has concrete information for follow up.

4. Set your product order numbers at one (1). In other words, when someone clicks a purchase button, have the cart say one (1) item purchased when they preview their cart instead of zero, making them select 1 again.

5. Include a no-cost gift in the shopping cart, with the receipt or in the Thank You email, especially with large purchases. Let your customers know you appreciate their business. And ask for referrals!

6. Test special product and package prices with offers on a Thank You page or with a Thank You email.

7. Accept multiple payment options when possible; credit cards, faxed and telephone orders, print checks, money orders, echecks and 3rd party solutions like Paypal. Note: many businesses use American Express.

8. Choose a progressive shopping cart software solution like ProfitAuto at http://presssuccess.com/AutoPilot for a variety of services, pricing packages and options for company growth. ProfitAuto manages not only the cart but also your leads, contacts and shoppers with automated Thank You follow up. It also has autoresponders for pre-sale and after-sale communications, digital tracking and delivery solutions, importing / exporting of lists and autoresponder series, electronic coupons, affiliate programs and more.

NO-COST TRIAL AND INFORMATION

For a 30-day no-cost trial of ProfitAuto, sign up online at http://presssuccess.com/AutoPilot . And download ebooks with loads of information to help with your business from the Freebies section of the OhioHelp.net bookstore at http://www.presssuccess.com/bookstore

So tweak your checkout process. Make your clients and your company happy. And ring up more sales. To learn more top tips and receive them on a regular basis at no charge in your email, sign up at http://ohiohelp.net today or email diana@ohiohelp.net.

* From research (Fall, 2001) by Vividence Corporation, specializing in Customer Experience Management (CEM) products and services.

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You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: diana@ohiohelp.net

Diana Barnum, president of http://movingaheadcommunications.com and CEO of http://ohiohelp.net. For more help with marketing, public relations and writing, email diana@ohiohelp.net or call: (614) 529-9459.