Last week at TechReady, our internal training event, it was mentioned we would release a few new interesting tools for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Two of these just got released on MSDN; CRM Customization Comparison and the Configuration Data Utility.

Rather than comparing XML files side-by-side, the Customization Comparison Utility lets you compare the customization files between two Microsoft Dynamics CRM systems and the Configuration Data Utility lets you transfer custom configuration data from one Microsoft Dynamics CRM system to another. You can even drill down and see what’s missing or has changed.

Some of you work with Enterprise customers that have multiple environments, such as development, test, and production, or multiple Microsoft Dynamics CRM organizations. Having and keeping consistent configuration data across all systems becomes and is very important. The Configuration Data Utility helps you achieve this. It lets you export custom configuration data from a source Microsoft Dynamics CRM system and import it to a target Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.

For more details about these two very useful tools continue reading on MSDN.

As many of you know Microsoft has been building accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. These so called “Accelerators” are add-on modules that deliver extended capability to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The purpose of these Accelerators is to boost competitiveness by delivering functionality for partners that is not available out-of-the-box today with CRM version 4.0. In other words, this will save you a lot of time on configuring your demo environments.

Prior to releasing the accelerators we held several functional and technical webinars. The sessions were quite popular - over 1000+ partners attended. The recordings and slides used will be made available for those who missed the Live Meetings.

The Microsoft CRM Team also made a serie of blog posts regarding the Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 at their Team Blog, definitly worth checking out!

Today we will release the first two accelerators; CRM Notifications (Newsfeeds (RSS) that allow users to subscribe to CRM “events” relevant to their job role) and Extended Sales Forecasting (Enhanced sales forecasting mechanism for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0). These can be downloaded through PartnerSource.

The following link will be the central repository for Partner Accelerator information and will be updated regularly with the latest Accelerator-related information as soon as it is released. Please bookmark this page and visit it periodically to get the most current information regarding Accelerators.

PartnerSource: https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/newsevents/news/MD_CRM_Accelerators

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a full participant in the beta for PinPoint, a unified online business marketplace for small and medium-sized business customers and partners. Pinpoint helps customers discover, discern and engage with Microsoft partners to fulfill their unique technology needs, while unlocking business opportunities for partners.

Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM are free ‘add-ons’ and allow Partners and Customers to extend CRM functionality. Accelerators will be available for Analytics Foundation, e-Service, Event Management, Enterprise Search, Business Productivity, Extended Sales Forecasting, CRM Notifications and Sales Methodology Support. The Estimated delivery is estimated to be during the second half of 2008.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Developer Ramp Up Kit is based on lessons learned during eighteen months of instructor-led training by the DPE group as part of the DPE Metro Early Adopter initiative. The kit drills into development details and explains how .NET-based developers can interact with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. It includes videos, presentations, hands-on labs, and a VPC environment for practicing. Familiarity with the .NET Framework, Microsoft Visual C#, Jscript, Microsoft SQL Server and general Web development is recommended. If you're interested and want to know more, I highly recommend reading the blog of Girish Raja.

You've probably heard or perhaps even used previous versions of the CRM Plugin Registration tool. It makes your life way easier to deploy and register plugins for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Today version 2.1 of the CRM Plugin Registration Tool is released and some of the added features are:

• Support  for HTTPs
• Allow registration of Image for Surbordinate entity in Merge
• Tool allows to change the CrmService Url returned by DiscoveryService before connecting to it

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack for MOM 2005 is available for download. This will help administrators centrally manage the CRM server application, its component services, and the computers on which they run.  By managing these Microsoft Dynamics CRM components in MOM, the administrator can respond quickly to critical events and key performance indicators, and take action to prevent service outages, reduce the resolution time for alert conditions, and increase the overall availability and performance of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system. Make sure to read the instructions on how to install this MP.

Feature Summary:

• Monitors the availability and health of the following component services:
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing service
  • World Wide Web Publishing
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deletion service
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases
• Monitors the availability and health of the following application components and functionality:
  • Deletion of deleted records
  • Operability of ISV plug-ins
  • Web application requests processing, SOAP exceptions, and unexpected failures
• Detects brute-force attacks and denial of service attacks.
• Monitors the performance metrics of the following components:
  • Web application requests processing
  • Database query processing
• Monitors the system for configuration-related failures.

System Center Operations Manager 2007 Note: It is possible to import a MOM 2005 management pack however an additional step is required in SCOM2007 for backward compatibility.  Please see the following link for additional information

OpsMgr 2007 MOM 2005 Backward Compatibility MP Update: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=655CDD06-861E-4342-99B2-8A81E09F6546&displaylang=en

Finally! Microsoft has released localized sample data for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It's available in the following languages:

• Dutch
• French
• German
• Italian
• Spanish

The sample data includes a set of comma-separated values (CSV) files that contains the sample data and an XML data map file that maps the data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. To install the sample data on your on-premise installation or VPC, you must use the Data Migration Manager. Visit the Microsoft download site to get the Sample Data.

This is great for sales and marketing presentations.

So what is this tool and what can it do for me and my organization? Well Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 doesn't have an out-of-the-box option to bulk export data. So with this said, some smart people at the Microsoft CRM Product team in IDC have created a sample tool that is available for download on CodePlex.

Using the Bulk Data Export tool users are able to connect to an OnPremise or Online Microsoft CRM 4.0 organization and export records of CRM entities in form of CSV files.

Bulk Data Export Tool
Unzip the file CrmDataExport-1.0-Binary.zip, and launch CrmDataExport.exe.

Refer to CrmDataExportTool.doc for exact usage.

You are confused about license quoting, options or about some other things ? If that's the case I would encourage you to visit the MS Gear-Up Site. I just visited it and found it really easy to use and it had all the answers to my questions. It even comes with an easy-to-use configurator that helps you with a quick quote too fairly complex scenarios. When using the calculator, make sure to look under the "server" tab, as there you will find the CRM Dynamics SKU's.

Another great tool is the CRM Sales Lead Assessment Tool. This tool is intended for partners needing to ramp up new sales teams unfamiliar with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The tool provides the questions to help sales teams start a conversation about which Microsoft solution will be the best fit for your prospective customer.

Lastly, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM ROI Discussion Tool is a tool that provides CRM sales resources with the content and background materials they need to build an effective business case for their potential customers. It is of great value for people who interact with Customers to identify and articulate the potential value of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation.

Yesterday I received an email asking for assistance with the IFD tool as it was believed that it was or got corrupted after downloading. I downloaded the tool and wanted to start it from my download folder and received an error as well.

With a little research and reading, something I obviously didn't do, I figured out that you're officially supposed to extract the CRM4IFDTOOL.zip into the following directory drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Tools and then run it.

On other solution is to copy the required file Microsoft.Crm.Tools.Logging.dll to the working directory of the CRM4IFDTool.

You were bummed that the feature "Enable for Re-Import" was removed from the product, but are happy with the utility published on Codeplex. Trying this tool out on our VPC results in a HTTP 401: Unauthorized.

The same happens when you are give the results trying to start the Advanced Data Migration Map Editor on the VPC. The solution? Leave the Domain empty on the Import/Export utility and put in a "." (a period without the quotes) for the Domain on the Advanced Map Editor. A period simply means localhost ,and this should solve your problems with both tools.