Bing Maps for pre Polaris install

Polaris form provide a feature of Bing Maps that shows Map on an Individual entity record. This is a feature available in Polaris but non-Polaris forms do not show such map and Maplytics would help show it. Through Maplytics - individual map feature you will be able to plot any entity record on the Map.

Maplytics is a plug and play application made available as Managed solution that can be easily installed and uninstalled without affecting other CRM components. It is a Geo-Analytics tool designed for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011(Online/ On-Premise/ IFD/ Office 365) using the API services provided by Bing maps.

Individual Map provides leverage for you, in knowing your customer better in this competitive world thus truly amplifying the definition of CRM. Below is a record of account entity that is plotted on the Map.

You can also have an aerial view of the place, which can be very helpful to get the know how of vicinity around your customer. Below screenshot displays a record for an account entity with aerial view.

You can drag the pushpin around the map as per your need or requirement. To update a record’s address, you can drag the pushpin to the specified location & click on update. This won’t change the address on the account form but it will surely help you locate your customer more precisely.

Another feature is to search for address from the map; you can type in the address in the text box & click on search. This will plot the address on the map which can also be updated as per your need or requirement.

This is a very small but powerful feature that will help you to know your customers better.

Unlike Polaris form, the map component can be added to any entity form in CRM.

For further details on Maplytics you can visit our website and review the whitepaper at http://www.inogic.com/addons_maplytics.htm or you can contact us at crm@inogic.com for more details on this product.

 

Problem Importing UR12 customizations with Web Resources added in a Pre-UR12 environment

With UR12 Microsoft included new fields and dependencies that prevents us from importing a solution exported out of a UR12/Polaris environment to a Pre-UR12 organization. To resolve CRM Team now ships the Down-level utility along with the latest version of the CRM SDK.

We however came across an issue that was apparently not detected by the Down-level tool and had to be resolved manually by editing the customization file.
The situation here was that we had added a web resource on the account entity form. In the latest version the properties window has the following option

  The feature was missing in the earlier version of the install. When you import this solution to an earlier UR, you see the following error

 When we downloaded the log file we found the cause of the error as stated below.


The import file is invalid. XSD validation failed with the following error: 'The element 'parameters' has invalid child element 'ShowInROF'. List of possible elements expected: 'Url, PassParameters, Security, Scrolling, Border, Preload, IsPassword, Height, Width, AltText, SizeType, HorizontalAlignment, VerticalAlignment, Data'.'.


< < < < < ERROR LOCATION > > > > >


< ShowInROF> false< /ShowInROF> < PassParameters> true< /PassParameters> < Security> false< /Security> < Scrolling> auto< /Scrolling> < Border> false< /Border> < /parameters> < /control> < /cell> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row> < /row> < row height="auto"> < /row> < /rows> < /section> < section showlabel="false" showbar="false" IsUserDefined="0" id="{ca3b45e5-5018-4cd2-8a57-c14fe7224449}" name="{ca3b45e5-5018-4cd2-8a57-c14fe7224449}" columns="1" locklevel="0" labelwidth="115" celllabelalignment="Left" celllabelposition="Left"> < labels> < label description="General" languagecode="1033" /> < /labels> < rows> < row> < cell id="{c41a075f-5bfa-433b-85a4-199a613dc642}"> < labels> < label description="Caption" languagecode="1033" /> < /labels> < control id="xxx_name" classid="{4273EDBD-AC1D-40d3-9FB2-095C621B552D}" datafieldname="xxx_name" /> < /cell> < /row> < row> < cell id="{a7d9469b-ac...'."


To resolve this issue we need to extract the solution which we are trying to import to CRM.


Open the customizations.xml file and search for the “<ShowInROF>” parameter, remove these parameter where all you find from that file and save the file.

   

  After saving the file zip all the files together and import in CRM. This time you can successfully import the solution in CRM.

Hope this saves some time for others with similar issues

Show Calendar in workplace post Polaris

This blog post addresses the way one can add Calendar on workplace which was previously available on CRM 2011. This can also be achieved in Polaris following below steps.

1) Click on options under file menu.

 

2) Then select workplace tab and under workplace check Tools option as shown below

 

 

 

 

3) Once you save this you will be able to see tools group with calendar in Workplace area as shown below

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you can also see your daily activities on workplace area as shown below

 

 

In addition to this, you can also set calendar as default on the home page. Please follow steps:

1) Click on option under file menu.

 

 

2) Select General tab, set Default pane as Workplace and Default tab as Calendar as shown below, and then click Ok.

 

     

       

3) Then you can see calendar as default page when you open CRM for the first time

   

Hope this article helps!

 

How to integrate SharePoint online with CRM Online - Part 2 -> Integration of CRM and SharePoint online

This is the second part of the blog post following this post. This post focuses on configuring the SharePoint site within CRM online 2011, integrating the both, uploading documents from with CRM to the SharePoint respective folder. Following are the steps for the same:

1) To Configure SharePoint, first you need to download List Component for SharePoint Site. You Can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5283

2) Extract downloaded component, you will see 2 imp Files Namely:

       a) AllowHtcExtn.ps1: This is the Power Shell script, which “Allows” SharePoint to allow    users to use *.htc files.

       b) crmlistcomponent.wsp: This is the solution that we will upload to the SharePoint site    solution gallery that will enable SharePoint to “Speak” with CRM. It enables to automatically create a hierarchical folder Structure on SharePoint for CRM Records

3)  To install List Component in SharePoint, please Click on the “Sites” in the homepage of Office 365 and then click on the Settings (Next to your name) >> Site Settings >> Solutions. Please refer below screenshot

4) After clicking on the Solutions hyperlink, click on “Upload Solutions” and browse “crmlistcomponent.wsp” file and click Ok.

5)Then select uploaded solution and activate it

 
6) You can see status for uploaded solution to Activated in below screenshot

   
7) Now create a new record of Default SharePoint Site in Document Management >> SharePoint Sites. Make sure you have installed List Component in Team Site and activated it

  8)  Now you can Configure SharePoint site for your CRM by visiting CRM Online Homepage. Please follow this path in CRM online to configure SharePoint site and then click on Settings >> Document Management >> Document Management Settings


       

    


 9) Select the entities for which you want to add folder locations in SharePoint and add SharePoint Team Site URL in below textbox. Then click Next


       

       


10) Ignore Based on Entity Part and Click Next  

   

     

11)  Now you can see the folder locations created for the selected Entities

   

    


  12) You can further check any selected Entity Records to see whether Documents is created or not. Note: On the First Load it will ask to create Document location for particular record. Here just click OK to continue


     

    

 
13)   After Clicking on OK button, you can easily Upload files to SharePoint by clicking on new button
         

     

Hope this article helps!

How to integrate SharePoint online with CRM Online - Part 1 -> Creation of CRM Online and SharePoint online common user account

This is a two part blog post illustrating the functionality of integrating SharePoint online with CRM online. The first part of the blog focuses on creating CRM and SharePoint online accounts having common Office 365 user account. Then the second part of the blog talks about integrating the two systems and uploading files from CRM to SharePoint site.

Steps for creating CRM Online Account

1) Visit http://crm.dynamics.com/en-in/on-demand and create Trial Dynamics CRM online Account. If you already have account then ignore these steps and proceed with the 2^nd Part of this blog.

Note: While creating an Account please keep a note of created Login User ID and Password.

2) After creation of Account, just refresh the page after few minutes and you can see “CRM” hyperlink in the top right corner. It will redirect you to the Settings of CRM Online. Please make a Note of Office 365 homepage Link for further use

3) After Clicking on the CRM Link It will ask you to confirm your settings. Here you can modify your CRM instance URL and Default Currency or you can ignore this process and come to the last point of settings where you can “Launch CRM Online” homepage.

 

Steps for creating SharePoint Online Account

1) Visit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/library/jj819267.aspx to create SharePoint Online Account and Click on the “Office 365 Enterprise E3”. This plan will allow you to associate SharePoint online site with same user Id of CRM online

2) After clicking on the “Office 365 Enterprise E3”, it will redirect you to the SharePoint Online Page. Please click on “Try now” button to proceed.

3) After clicking on the “Try Now” button, click on “an Existing Account” Link at the top.

    4)  Now it will ask you to type in the existing office 365 Account ID and Password. Please enter the User ID and Password and then Sign in     


 

  
  

 5)   Now it will ask you to confirm your order. Please click on the “Try now” to Proceed Further   

   

   


6) In the Next process Click on the “Continue” Button to proceed

7)   Now it will redirect you to the Homepage of Office 365 Account. You will see SharePoint is configuring for your Account

8)  Now refresh the page after installation and Click on “Admin” Link on the top right and Select “SharePoint”

 
9) It will give following Error Msg. This means logged in user has no rights to access SharePoint site, hence SharePoint site is not created for that user

10) Our Next step is to assign rights to that user for accessing SharePoint. Please Go to the Homepage of Office365 and then follow below steps:


a) Click Users and Groups

b) Select an User

c) Click on Edit Button

11)  Click on following options and Click on “Save” Button

12)    Now click on SharePoint to redirect to the SharePoint site

13) This is the default site for the user to access SharePoint. Now this particular user can access SharePoint Site and CRM Online with just one common Office 365 Account

Note: To create another user for SharePoint, you can create it from users and Group section under Office 365 Homepage and assign CRM Online and SharePoint Online rights as per your needs 


Follow the next part of this blog here for Integrating these two systems.