There are so many things coming out of the Microsoft PDC that I am finding it hard to keep up so this is my first post listing some of the things that have come out so far:

Office 14 New online version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These will be cross platform cross browser lightweight versions of the core Office components that will be available in the “cloud” or in a hosted/on Site SharePoint environment as well as being available on a phone (I am assuming a Windows Mobile device) Channel 9 video here (9 min for the demo) There is lots of talk about collaboration and the mobile options that are raised are very powerful especially for us at Aspective where our Vodafone links really count.

The next great feature is that they have included the ability to have multiple concurrent users of a document. I cannot say how much pain this will take away.

One thing I am disappointed at is that InfoPath is not included in the scenarios. I have encountered a number of real world scenarios where people want and need a form solution that InfoPath could clearly fulfill but it is ruled out because of the cost and complexity of deploying a SharePoint Forms server solution to a public/semi private facing site.

Windows 7. Lots of talk about the UI PC Pro has lots of coverage here and there is a screen shot slide show here. if you want the news from the source this post from the Windows Team covers a lot of the key points

On a more technical level Channel 9 has an interview with Mark Russinovich here. Most of Mark’s interview goes over my head but still interesting. It seems that a lot of deep down tweaking is going on in the kernel to improve multi core performance (Over 8 CPUs and up to 256. Now that’s forward thinking!)  and even got Dave Cutler involved. There is also a discussion on User mode scheduling which highlighted a key advantage the likes of SQL Server has in being part of the same global company. Namely that the Windows kernel team clearly work with the SQL team to drive performance. Not, I suspect, something Oracle can do. Also mentioned is a parallel plug and play boot process and yet more pre-fetch/ready boost, better battery life by letting processor cores sleep in preference to just ticking over. T

The final 15 mins goes into how deeply complex Windows has become and how the work is going on the concept of minWin is going. minWin is the code name for the work on developing a core version of Windows that can be isolated from the “nice to have” bits and allow Microsoft to really get to work on a component based version of Windows. That’s a 25Mb on disk core. When they get all of this sorted out then we will see the fastest evolution of Widows ever as it will mean that individual sub systems can be upgraded without having to spend ages worrying about inter-dependencies.

Finally in the last 6 mins there is announcements that you will be able to mount and create Virtual Hard disks (VHD) natively in Windows. VHDs become first class items in Windows. You can even boot windows from a VHD. This has potentially  huge implications for me in the pre-sales arena where we run virtual machines all the time as well as for setting up development and test environments.

More  next ……

One of the recurring themes I encounter when talking to customers about how they are going to implement CRM is the issue of Master Data Management. That is getting them to think about and establish which of their systems is going to be the controlling point for data entities. Needless to say this often revolves around account data but also frequently includes Invoices and orders.

Now there is no simple solution to this and it often involves delicate discussions with different business users. Typically the CRM implementation is being sponsored by front line business users and sales but the accounting team need to be engaged with as well.

The higher up the enterprise chain you go the more complex this issue becomes as more systems and strategies are involved.

I was particularly interested, therefore, in a post Jeremy Kashel from the excellent Adatis team made from the BI Conference which linked to this presentation (pptx) which deals with what Master Data Management really means. It is unfortunately one of those obtuse Microsoft slide decks   but there are some very worthwhile points in it. Such as:

MDM Misconceptions

1.MDM is a data warehousing project

2.MDM is solely for maintaining data consistency across business transaction systems

3.MDM is simply another data integration project

4.MDM integrates and manages all enterprise-wide data

MDM is a data quality project

Found this video on Channel 9 which also contained lots of links to things like the resource centre and community site

Lots and lots of other good CRM videos on Channel 9 can be found here.

This post points to a whole host of useful information on the Business Data catalogue for Microsoft CRM.

The BDC is the mechanism that allows SharePoint to surface data from other applications, in this case Microsoft CRM.

I have not had a chance to work with this version, only the earlier demonstration version which had some limitations. When I get into it later in the month I will post more.

I have been following some of the expectations for the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) over at Channel9 and it looks like there will be so much being announced and shown. Not least of which each attendee will get a hard drive with all the stuff being shown, including a pre beta (didnt that used to be called an Alpha) of Windows 7.

I also read that there is going to be a sneak preview of Microsoft CRM 5.

God I wish I was going to be there as I suspect that this will be a “defining” conference that people will say, in the words of Max Boyce “I Know because I was there” ( but I suspect that the attendees wont come close to the Arms Park in full voice. Mind you I was there in Paris in 1995 when the God Gavin did his stuff. But I digress)

This is one of the most bizarre coincidences I have seen.

Today there was a major email discussion and debate within our team about the performance of the Outlook CRM add-in. Some users were reporting problems whilst others had no problems at all. It seemed to be one of those intermittent bugs  that is so hard to track down and which seemed to defy reproduction.

Dont we just love them!

When I got home I saw a post from the Dynamics Team blog that listed a range of hot-fixes that are publicly available! What timing.

I dont know if any will be relevant to our team but they are well worth checking out if nothing else than to give some focus to testing unusual scenarios.

As part of my work to get deeper under the skin of what Microsoft Dynamics CRM can do I have been working through the videos and screen casts that are on Channel9.

This has in turn lead me to  Girish Raja’s Blog. If you are interested in how to take CRM into new directions then this is the place to go.

What I also wondered about was how these examples may be impacting on how the planning for Dynamics CRM 5 is going? Could we be seeing a WPF/Silverlight interface coming? No idea, but it would be a big WOW if they could get it working. Just look at what SalesCentric are doing.

Today I heard again an urban legend that Microsoft Dynamics CRM was an application that Microsoft had purchased from another company much like it purchased Axapta, Great Plains and Navision.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

The person who was spouting this should really know better especially as they were presenting themselves as an authority.

If you don’t believe me check out:

Aaron Elder’s MSDN Blog which shows the “About Screens from V1

Or

Wikipedia

Or

Channel 9 Interviewing the Head of Dynamics See 02:33

“Our CRM system was built completely here at Redmond. It wasn’t acquired in.”

Or

Channel 9 Video interviewing the developers see 06:40

Is that enough!

So the next time someone spouts this FUD you can slap them right back down!

Within the Microsoft Dynamics world there is a methodology for implementing projects that is widely used, not just in the CRM sphere but across the board.

Now this methodology has recently raised some discussions in the Dynamics NAV world as it is being re-visited.

A good overview of why it is used is given by Rebecka Isaksson here

A quote that sums it up well is:

it is important to remember that an ERP or CRM implementation is quite different from other software development and implementation projects. In particular the ERP implementation that very often impacts pretty much everyone and everything in the organization where it is introduced. Someone said once that “ERP implementations are 30% about technology and 70% about organizational development”

Ad additional case for Sure Step was posted here by Vjekoslav Babić. This outlines the reasons why employing a methodology like Sure Step significantly increases the chances of the project succeeding.

However, a counter point has been put up in this essay “Read my lips: No New Models” (PDF)

So Vjekoslav has posted a repost here which deals with the points raised.

Whilst these discussions are largely NAV/ERP based the same points relate to CRM deployments. I would even go so far as to say they are even more relevant as CRM projects probably go deeper and lower into an organization than many ERM systems so getting user buy in and adoption is even more critical.

My personal opinion on Sure Step is that is is a very good foundation on which to build a methodology but in its entirety can be cumbersome for use in smaller projects. It also has the same issues as any other methodology in that it requires buy-in and discipline by the client and the client’s users and frequently this is plunging them into a totally alien environment.  

<Shameless plug>

One of the many good points of working for Aspective is that we are a part of the Vodafone group.

This means that we have access to some very powerful mobile solutions and I am hoping that I can work towards explaining how this can fit into an overall solution. I am not just looking at mobilising CRM as Ten Digits and CWR have that space well covered but I am also looking at the impact of the explosion of ultra mobile netbooks as well as the issues of data security.

I have to say that the implementation of the “Netbook” could have a HUGE impact on how we deliver solutions and information to the wider workforce and this is a theme I will come back to once certain NDA’s have passed.

</Shameless Plug>

PS if anyone wants to send me any shiny kit I will of course be happy to look at it from a business perspective