Dynamics CRM Managed v/s. Unmanaged Solutions

Solutions can be exported in two different package types: Unmanaged Managed.

A managed solution is a completed solution in which the solution is prevented from being modified in the environment to which it is imported. A managed solution is intended to be distributed and installed.

Unmanaged solution allows the solution to be modified after it is imported. Unmanaged solution is still under development stage and it is not intended to be distributed or installed.


Although every Dynamics CRM organization has a default solution from which you can start making customizations, we recommend making a backup of this solution by exporting it before you start making any customizations on a fresh CRM deployment. Have in mind that any customization you make inside a custom solution will be also included on the default solution as well as any change you make on existing system entities,because your Solution only contains references to these components, not copies of the components. This means that if you delete the Solution that you are customizing this removes the “wrapper” around the components – the components remain in the system. To remove those changes you must remove them manually by going to the default solution.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Append v/s Append To

Append v/s Append To
Let’s take the example of Accounts and Opportunities.  In this relationship, “Accounts” is the parent and “Opportunities” is the child.  Say a user needs to be able to relate Opportunities to Accounts, either through the lookup field on the Opportunity, or through the “Opportunities” area on an account.

In this example, a user must have “Append” permissions on Opportunities (child) and “Append To” permissions on Accounts (parent).  I think of it this way—on Opportunities side i am APPENDING the opportunity, and on the Accounts side I’m allow something(Opportunities) to APPENDING TO to me.

Let's go throght it step by step:

1. Create a Security Role(Append/Append To Test Role), you can copy an existing role and do some modification, and set access level for "Append" and "Append To" to none for opportunity, account and contact entity.

2. Now Login to CRM as Append/Append To Test Role and create new opportunity and you will now notice both contact and account look ups are locked.

As well, you will notice the plus button of Opportunity area on Account has disappeared

3. Let's update the opportunity "Append" privilege to orgnization leve(does not really matter which level) first. which means I am Appending the opportunity. Remember at this step we only finished on side.

4. Now Login to CRM as Append/Append To Test Role and create new opportunity and you will now notice both contact and account look ups are still locked.Because you are still missing the permission on the other side.

5. Update the Account "Append To" privilege to orgnization leve(does not really matter which level). which means I am allowed somthing(Opportunities) to Appending To me.

6. Now if you open opportunity via logging in to CRM as Append/Append To Test Role you will see account look up is unlocked.

As well, you will notice the plus button on Account form.

Contact look up is still locked, because i have not done any permission for it yet, you can try by your self.

Dynamics CRM Invoice

When the terms of the sale have been completed, the sale is recorded using an Invoice. When working with Invoices, it is important to understand their different status options:

• Active 
• Closed

Invoice correlates to an existing Customer (required), Products/ Price Lists (required), Opportunities (optional), and Quotes (optional).

Dynamics CRM Quote

Quote correlates to an existing customer, Products/ Price Lists (required), and Opportunities (optional), and also shows the status options.

When working with Quotes, it is important to understand their status options:

• Draft
• Active
• Won
• Close

Draft Status A Quote likely will be revised many times, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM has built-in functionality via the Draft and Active status for this. When a Quote is in Draft status, it has been created but generally not ready to be submitted to customers. This is the only time Quotes can be completely modified with products added or removed, and discounts applied as well as deleted.

Revising Quotes After the Quote is created, it automatically sets the Quote ID using the auto-numbering set up by the system administrator. You can change this by configuring Auto-Numbering in the Settings area. The Revision ID is automatically established and set as 0 when first created. If the Quote is revised, it will go from Active to Draft status and the Revision ID will automatically increase. You can modify the name of the Quote, but it is the same as the Opportunity that spawned it and blank if it is not associated with an Opportunity. The potential customer, Currency, and Price List must be selected and are also the same as the Opportunity that spawned it; with the exception of Currency (which defaults to the base Currency), these are blank if there is no associated Opportunity.

Activate Quote— When the Quote has been completed and you are ready to send it to the customer, you must activate it. This changes the status of the Quote to Active and prevents further modifications. To activate a Quote, select Activate Quote from the navigation menu. When the Quote is Active, it must be revised to be modified. Revising a Quote is explained further in the upcoming section “Active Status.”

Revise, Close, or Convert the Quote to an Order— At this point, the Quote can be Revised, Closed, or Won (converted to an Order). To convert a Quote to an Order, select Create Order from the navigation menu.

Dynamics CRM Order

An Order is created when a customer is ready to make a purchase. The customer either has accepted the Quote or is ready to make a purchase regardless of a Quote.

Keep in mind that a Quote is not required to create an Order. While an Order can be spawned from a Quote, Orders are separate entities and many have no Quote correlation. (However, this is something that you could theoretically manage with a plug-in.)

Order correlates to an existing Customer (required), Products/ Price Lists (required), Opportunities (optional), and Quotes (optional).

Dynamics CRM Unit Groups

Unit Groups determine groupings of how products are to be sold. The good example of Unit Groups is a can of soda. The quantity (or Unit Group) is determined by how the soda is purchased because it is possible to purchase a single can, a six-pack, and a case consisting of 12 or 24 cans. Unit Groups could also consist of minutes, hours, and days for services offered. Unit Groups can comprise any level of quantities for whatever products your company sells. Each of these quantities consists of a primary unit, which is the lowest level of unit available and, in the case of services, could be at any level.

For example: Services company that sells its services by the second.

Dynamics CRM Discount List

Discount List allow discounts to be given based on quantity. Discounts can be based on either percentage or amount of the quantity ordered within an entered range

Discount with percentages:

Dicount with Amounts:

In both cases, no discount will be applied if the quantity ordered is less than 1,000.

Dynamics CRM Opportunity

Opportunity Topic
Opportunities are created when “an opportunity” to make a sale is found for an existing customer. Although Opportunities do not require the existence of a customer record, you can easily create a new Account or Contact record to associate the Opportunity with if the customer is new. By doing this, however, you skip the step of creating Leads and then converting Leads to customers and Opportunities. This might be how your business works. Perhaps your sales cycle is very quick, and Leads are not something that you cultivate.

Dynamics CRM Sales

Lead Topic

Lead To Opportunity sales flow:



Leads are not customers but rather potential customers. This is an important distinction because it provides a needed level of separation when working with your customer base. Leads are converted to customers when they become qualified. If they are disqualified, they remain as an inactive Lead.

Using Leads properly can provide rich insight into your organization on several levels. Because Leads are not yet qualified (they are potential customers who haven’t yet met internal criteria to be converted to customers), they should be considered the customer entry point into the CRM system. Although it is certainly possible that you will be adding Accounts and Contacts directly into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, entering Leads enables you to manage the following:

• What new customers might be interested in your products 
• How your salespeople are cultivating their new customer base 
• What kind of criteria is being used to convert Leads to customers

When working with Leads, you should not include potential sales information anywhere other than the Notes and Description fields. This is because Leads are considered potential customers, not potential sales. This is an important distinction: Potential sales information should be captured with an Opportunity, not a Lead.If you’re creating a Lead and want to associate it with an existing customer, you probably want to work with Opportunities, which is explained in the next section.

Lead Rating:
Rating found in the Header section. This is a self-assessment of the Lead itself and can be cold, warm, or hot. When used properly, it can drive workflow events, such as a callback by the sales manager within 1 day if the Lead is hot, or within 5 days if the Lead is cold, for example.

Reactive Lead:
It is important to know that when a Lead is reactivated for whatever reason, any qualified records that might have been generated (such as Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities) continue to exist. You can end up creating duplicate records if you frequently reactivate closed Leads.

Closed Leads should be an important auditing tool of your organization because these Leads can be analyzed for the effectiveness of your sales team and to determine which campaigns created how many Leads.

Dynamics CRM Contacts

Tip:
The Birthday field is a great excuse for customer Contact. Who wouldn’t like to receive a call, email, or small gift from a vendor on their birthday.