Blogs November 2012

There are many times that we create a SharePoint web part in which we have to pass query string parameters to it from the main page, or possibly use an aspx page. If the web part that we create resides inside a Page Viewer Control, we are unable to use the Request.QueryString method in order to retrieve those values.

In such case, we would have to use the Request.UrlReferrer property in order to retrieve the Query String of the parent page and manipulate the data using a Custom "Get Query String" method that we create.

Today, the merging of the new Microsoft Competencies was instituted.

The ISV, Web Development and Software Development Competencies have been merged to form a new competency called Application Development.

The Application Development competency is aimed to differentiate the company's expertise in developing application on Windows 8, Windows Server or Windows Azure, or leveraging the power of Visual Studio 2012.

The Portals and Collaboration, Content Management and Search Competencies have been merged to form a new competency called Collaboration and Content.

The new Collaboration and Content competency is aimed to highlight Microsoft Partners with the skills to provide Collaboration and Content expertise.

On November 1, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online December 2012 Service Update was announced.

This update reimagines the ways sales and customer service professionals' work with CRM. Microsoft is moving away from the traditional data-centric lists and forms approach, and this service update will add new user experiences that simply and visually guide users through their business processes.

The range of Microsoft Dynamics CRM supported browsers is being expanded that will allow added flexibility in the devices and platforms that we use. In addition, support for Microsoft Office 2013 across Outlook, Word and Excel has been added.

Out of the box, Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not implement any particular sales process. It is a customizable platform, which means that you can built your own sales process, but it will not be available by default.

In this article we will show how to use the probability field in the opportunity entity to automatically design a sales process. This particular case is only a small example of what can actually be implemented. We can also use the Pipeline Phase or Process code fields to retrieve that information.

 We will start by creating a new workflow process, and call the process Opportunity Probability Change. The Entity will be Opportunity and the Category Workflow.

You can use goal in CRM to define and track individual progress of an individual, a team or an organizational progress to achieving goals.

The Goal Metric is defined based on the field value of a specific record type.
The Goal Target is defined based on the Goal Metric Value for a specific time period.
The Goal Owner is the user or team which the goal is assigned to.