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Customer Relationship Management (Microsoft CRM) Implementation Guide
Introduction
Updated: March 03, 2004

Welcome to version 1.2 of Microsoft® Business Solutions CRM.

This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.

This guide is organized into four sections:

  • Chapters 1 through 3: Introduction, The Planning Process, and Business Management Using Microsoft CRM.

  • Chapters 4 through 11: The Planning Process for Implementing Microsoft CRM and Backing Up and Restoring your Microsoft CRM system.

  • Chapters 12 through 15: Deploying Microsoft CRM

  • Chapters 16 through 21 and Appendices: Maintaining, Administering, and Upgrading your Microsoft CRM Implementation

On This Page

Who Should Use This Guide Who Should Use This Guide
Microsoft CRM Microsoft CRM
What's New in Version 1.2 What's New in Version 1.2
Terminology Terminology
Reference Documentation Reference Documentation
Microsoft CRM Documentation Microsoft CRM Documentation

Who Should Use This Guide

This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This job title is used only for convenience, and it is understood that a wide variety of duties and responsibilities can be assigned to the person or people who hold it. We also understand and have tried to accommodate the wide range of computer systems expertise that can be associated with this job title. We also recognize the great variation and range in size of organizations that can and will be using Microsoft CRM software. Some smaller organizations may not have a full-time "system administrator" or may contract this function to an independent consultant or other organization. Other larger organizations may have a full-time and functioning IT department with several employees.

This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.

Microsoft CRM

Microsoft CRM helps mid-market businesses build profitable customer relationships. Integrated Sales and Customer Service modules enable employees to share information to improve sales success and deliver consistent, efficient customer service. Sales and customer service features include leads and opportunity management, a complete view of customer history, automated incident management, and a searchable knowledge base. Microsoft CRM also includes reporting tools for accurate forecasting and measurement of business activity and employee performance. Built using Microsoft .NET-connected technologies, Microsoft CRM is easy to deploy, customize, and use, accessible from Microsoft Outlook® and the Web, integrates with other business applications and scales as your business grows.

Microsoft CRM Components

Microsoft CRM consists of the following components.

Microsoft CRM Server

Microsoft CRM is built on technologies designed to work now and into the future, protecting business value and providing an integrated environment that can be extended across systems and platforms. The unified, flexible .NET architecture combines with Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server or Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 and Active Directory®, Microsoft SQL Server™, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft BizTalk® Server families to help ensure high performance, tight security, rich messaging functionality, and efficient, affordable customizations and integrations. Because it's built on .NET technologies, users can access Microsoft CRM through a Web application running in Microsoft Internet Explorer and through an Outlook client. Microsoft CRM offers tightly integrated sales and customer service functionality and integrates easily with Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management for Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains Release 7.0. The chart later in this chapter summarizes the features included with Microsoft CRM Server.

Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook

Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook (the Outlook client) enables salespeople to access customer data through the Microsoft Outlook e-mail and messaging client, both offline and online. Working within the familiar Outlook environment, salespeople can manage Microsoft CRM tasks, e-mail, contacts, opportunities, and accounts; maintain all customer communications; track appointments; and access product details, competitive information, and sales literature. If a salesperson makes changes to data while working offline in Outlook - for example, while updating a quote for a customer - the new information will synchronize with the Microsoft CRM server the next time the salesperson is online.

Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router

The Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-mail Router (also called the Router) is a software component that provides an interface between the Microsoft CRM system and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. E-mail will come into the Microsoft CRM system through this router, which is installed on your Exchange Server computer. For incoming and outgoing e-mail to be captured, the router component needs to be installed on one or more Exchange servers in your organization. As messages arrive, the Router takes a copy of the message and determines whether the message is relevant to Microsoft CRM. If so, the message is delivered to the Microsoft CRM server, and an e-mail activity record is created.

Microsoft CRM Integration for Great Plains

Microsoft CRM integrates with Microsoft Great Plains Release 7.0 to streamline business processes and help ensure that information is accurate, updated, and easily accessible across your business. Customer, item, and pricing data from Microsoft Great Plains are uploaded automatically to Microsoft CRM. When building quotes and entering orders in Microsoft CRM, salespeople can be sure that the items quoted are in stock and that they are building quotes and orders based on the correct pricing. Once the order is submitted, it flows automatically into Microsoft Great Plains for processing and fulfillment. Order status can be checked at any time from within Microsoft CRM. Microsoft CRM Integration for Great Plains is a component of Microsoft CRM that is built on an embedded version of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2002 Partner Edition. The component provides data transformation and application integration capabilities for synchronizing data between Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Great Plains.

Microsoft CRM Data Migration Framework

The Microsoft CRM Data Migration Framework is a set of tools to extract and migrate data from a source system, such as a legacy application, to Microsoft CRM. The tool set automates as much of the necessary tasks as possible to reduce the complexity of the process. The main tools include a Common Data Format (CDF) database (a staging database to use to consolidate and cleanse source data from multiple locations), a CDF Initialization Tool (which takes configuration information from Microsoft CRM and initializes the CDF database), a CDF Migration Tool, and planning and mapping spreadsheets. These tools are designed for a one-time migration of data, and do not support updates or merges with existing Microsoft CRM data. In addition, they should not be used to migrate data from Microsoft Great Plains to Microsoft CRM in an integrated environment.

Microsoft CRM Editions

Microsoft CRM is available in the following editions:

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales Standard

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Sales Professional

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Customer Service Standard

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Customer Service Professional

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Suite Standard

  • Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Suite Professional

Compare the features below to see which edition best meets your needs.

Feature

Sales Standard

Sales Pro- fessional

Cust. Service Std.

Cust. Service Pro- fessional

Suite Std.

Suite Pro- fessional

Account and Contact Management

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Calendar

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Notes and Attachments

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Direct E-mail

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Activity and Task Management

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Search (Advanced Find)

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Reports

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Opportunity Management

Y

Y

 

 

Y

Y

Lead Management

Y

Y

 

 

Y

Y

Corres- pondence /Mail Merge

Y

Y

 

 

Y

Y

Territory Management

Y

Y

 

 

Y

Y

Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Quotas

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Quotes, Orders, and Invoices

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Workflow

 

Y

 

Y

 

Y

Product Catalog

 

Y

 

Y

 

Y

Competitor Tracking

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Sales Literature

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Sales Process Methodology

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Lead Routing

 

Y

 

 

 

Y

Case Management

 

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

Knowledge Base Management

 

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

Activity and Case Queuing

 

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

E-mail Management, including Auto-responses

 

 

 

Y

 

Y

Case Routing

 

 

 

Y

 

Y

One Microsoft® Business Solutions CRM Sales Server required per deployment

Y

Y

 

 

 

 

One Microsoft® Business Solutions CRM Customer Service Server required per deployment

 

 

Y

Y

 

 

Requires both Microsoft CRM Sales Server and Microsoft CRM Customer Service Server per deployment

 

 

 

 

Y

Y

What's New in Version 1.2

Microsoft CRM version 1.2 is available in the following languages:

  • U.S. English

  • International English

  • German

  • French

  • Dutch

  • Danish

  • Italian

  • Spanish

  • Portuguese (Brazilian)

Microsoft CRM version 1.2 provides improved support for sales functionality in the Outlook client:

  • Support for the latest version of server and client products including Exchange Server 2003, Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Office 2003 Editions, and Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003.

Microsoft CRM 1.2 ships with Crystal Enterprise version 9. This provides several new capabilities:

  • Support for reports in German, French, Italian, and Spanish, as well as several out-of-box reports for each local market.

  • Support for international paper sizes, such as A4.

  • Support for system settings that allow formatting of numbers, currency, and dates.

  • Enhanced security and optional password protection for reports.

  • Ability to run parameterized reports.

Setup for Microsoft CRM 1.2 has the following changes:

Microsoft CRM Server

  • Setup requires and installs .NET Framework 1.1.

  • Setup supports command-line install options (XML parameters).

  • Users can specify different security accounts to be run for each category of services.

  • Setup installs Crystal Enterprise version 9.

  • Microsoft CRM 1.2 supports installation on Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003.

Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook Client

  • Setup requires and installs .NET Framework 1.1.

  • Setup supports the command-line install options (XML parameters).

Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router

  • Setup supports the command-line install options (XML parameters).

  • Microsoft CRM 1.2 supports installation on Exchange Server 2003.

Several enhancements were made to the overall user interface of Microsoft CRM to enhance usability and productivity. For a list of the enhancements, see Microsoft CRM online Help.

Terminology

The following terms are used in Microsoft CRM:

Business Unit level

A privilege level assigned to users that exposes record types in the user's business unit. Users at the Business Unit level can use only a specific access right to perform an action on data and records that are assigned to the business unit in which they work or to other users who work in the same business unit. For example, if a user has "Business Unit Read Account" privileges, he or she can read all accounts in the local business unit. Users with Business Unit level automatically have the User privilege level as well.

Configuration

The configuration includes the topology of the system, that is, the type and number of computers (servers and workstations), other hardware (such as printers), and the software that will be installed.

Customization

Customization is the ability to modify an application to meet the unique needs of a business. Microsoft CRM offers several levels of customization. For the purposes of this guide, customization refers to the options provided in Microsoft CRM applications and tools.

Customization Transport Manager

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to import, export, and publish customization files for the current Microsoft CRM deployment. This functionality is available from the Action menu when the Deployment Manager node is selected.

Deployment

Deployment is the distribution of Microsoft CRM to an organization.

Deployment Manager

A set of system administrator tools for configuring and customizing the Microsoft CRM applications and servers. The tools are Customization Transport Manager, Entity Mapper, License Manager, Schema Manager, Server Manager, and User Manager. Deployment Manager supports deploying updates and customizations throughout the system. Deployment Manager is installed during Microsoft CRM Setup.

Entity Mapper

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to manage the mapping of data fields from one entity to another in the current Microsoft CRM deployment. This functionality is available by selecting a Mappings node in the Schema Manager branch of the console tree.

Implementation

The end-to-end process required for successfully planning, installing, and deploying Microsoft CRM software. An implementation includes several phases as discussed in Chapter 2 of this guide.

Installation

Installation is the process of loading software on computers.

License Manager

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to add, delete, and view licenses installed for the current Microsoft CRM deployment.

Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-Mail Router

A software component that provides an interface between the Microsoft CRM system and Microsoft Exchange 2000 or Microsoft Exchange 2003. E-mail will come into the Microsoft CRM system through this router, which is installed on an organization's Microsoft Exchange server.

Organization level

The privilege level with the most privileges. A user at the Organization level can perform an action on data and records anywhere throughout a deployment, regardless of which user or business unit the item is assigned to. Users with Organization level automatically have Parent: Child Business Units, Business Unit, and User privilege levels as well.

Parent: Child Business Units level

A privilege level assigned to a user that exposes record types in the user's business unit and all business units subordinate to the user's business unit. For example, if users have "Parent: Child Business Units Read Account" privileges, they can read all accounts in their business unit, as well as all accounts in any child business unit of their business unit. Users with Parent: Child Business Units level automatically have Business Unit and User privilege levels as well.

Reparent

A privilege that can be assigned to a security role in Microsoft CRM that allows users the ability to assign a different parent to a record type in the system. Note that not all record types in Microsoft CRM can be parented.

Schema Manager

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to add custom fields to customizable entities in Microsoft CRM.

Server Manager

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to enable and disable Microsoft CRM servers, and to change the Microsoft® SQL Server™, for example, if the server that is currently in use goes offline.

Setup

Installing and configuring computers and hardware.

User level

The privilege level with the fewest privileges. Users at the User level can perform only actions on data and records that are directly assigned to them. For example, users with User privileges for "Contact Write" would be able to edit only a contact record that was assigned to them specifically.

User Manager

A tool in Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager that system administrators use to create new users in Microsoft CRM from users that already exist in Active Directory®.

Workflow Manager

A Microsoft CRM tool that system administrators can use to create, customize, and edit workflow rules and rule templates, and sales process rules and rule templates.

Workflow Monitor

A Microsoft CRM tool that system administrators can use to determine the status of the workflow and sales processes in the organization.

Workflow Rule

A set of action steps that are enabled for a business process or sales process. Workflow rules determine the required activities for a workflow and the order in which those activities must be performed.

Reference Documentation

The details for installing the prerequisite and supporting software are provided in the individual product documentation. These sources of documentation are provided for your reference. Special configuration items in the supporting software that are required for a successful Microsoft CRM installation are noted.

Microsoft CRM Documentation

The following references are available to help you understand and use Microsoft CRM. These references are noted in the Implementation Guide when they contain additional information about the subject being discussed. For the most up to date information about Microsoft CRM, see: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/default.mspx.

  • Getting Started Guide

    The Getting Started Guide is a one-page reference that helps users complete the initial steps required to begin using Microsoft CRM. It directs users to the available documentation and provides instructions on setting personal preferences for use of the application. For sales force users, this guide explains how to set up Microsoft CRM Sales for Outlook. The Getting Started Guide is available online from the Help menu and is also provided on the Documentation CD in .pdf format for easy distribution.

  • User's Guide

    The User's Guide contains Microsoft CRM concepts and feature information necessary to effectively use the application. It is an excellent starting point for users unfamiliar with the fundamentals or to gain a thorough understanding of the application. This document is available online from the Help menu, and each topic has cross-reference links to the relevant task-based Help and tutorial topics. The User's Guide is also provided on the Documentation CD.

  • Online Help

    From any active page in the application, a user can obtain help to complete tasks. In addition to procedures for tasks on the page, cross-reference links to related tasks, concepts, and tutorial modules are provided.

  • Deployment Manager Help

    The Deployment Manager Help documentation is available from the Deployment Manager tool. This Help documentation provides the information necessary to learn about and use Deployment Manager.

  • Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit (SDK)

    The Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the information necessary for developers to integrate their applications into Microsoft CRM or to build additional features on the Microsoft CRM platform. An architectural overview includes descriptions of the object and security models, as well as the integration points. The API references and SOAP API are documented with sample code, and the database schema is provided. There is a "How To" section with sample code. The SDK is available through the MSDN Web site: (msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/CrmSdk/htm/Default.asp).

  • Workflow Manager Help

    The Workflow Manager Help documentation is available as part of Workflow Manager. This documentation provides the information necessary to learn about and use the Workflow Manager tool. This tool is used to automate sales processes and workflow rules.

  • Workflow Monitor Help

    The Workflow Monitor Help documentation is available as part of Workflow Monitor. This documentation provides the information necessary to use the Workflow Monitor tool.

  • Product Tutorial

    The Product Tutorial provides guided instruction to help you quickly learn how to use Microsoft CRM features. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the product using your own data. This tutorial is accessed from the Help menu in the Microsoft CRM application.

  • Sample Database Tutorial

    The Microsoft CRM Sample Database Tutorial is a guided exploration to the product's features based on user scenarios. It is designed to be used in conjunction with the product using data from the sample database that has been installed. This tutorial is accessed from the Help menu in the Microsoft CRM application.

  • Microsoft CRM Data Migration Framework Guide

    The Data Migration Framework Guide, installed as part of the Data Migration Framework, provides instructions for how to migrate your existing data into Microsoft CRM. The Data Migration Framework includes planning spreadsheets to help you plan your migration. The Data Migration Framework is available as part of Microsoft CRM version 1.2.

  • Microsoft CRM Integration with Great Plains Guide

    If you are using Microsoft CRM Integration, this guide provides information about integrating Microsoft CRM with Microsoft Great Plains accounting and financial management, and migrating data from Microsoft Great Plains to Microsoft CRM.

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