Online Dynamics CRM Book #PowerObjects #CRM @joecrm

A great resource for learning CRM by power objects – the book is free and is a good quick reference for the CRM. Covers mostly CRM 2011 but saw a few sections which explain the Process Based Forms which are featured in CRM 2013.

A good find.

http://crmbook.powerobjects.com/

Dynamics CRM 2013 – Sales Entities & Sales Process

Dynamics CRM includes the following Sales Entities and few of these specially Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Quotes, Orders and Invoices are very important for the Sales Process (shown in the diagram below)

• Lead
• Leads when Qualified can be converted into Contacts, Accounts and/or Opportunities
• Accounts
• Contacts
• Opportunities
• Competitors
• Products
• Quotes
• Orders
• Invoices
• Goals
• Goals Metrics
• Rollup Queries
• Marketing Lists
• Sales Literature
• Quick Campaigns

The following Sales Process is available out of the Box in the Dynamics CRM (diagram courtesy Microsoft VA). The Sales Process Starts with a Lead – which has to be Qualified to Create an Opportunity which can then result in a Quote, an Order and Finally an Invoice.

The Lead Qualification Process depends on the Organization – and there are different methodologies to qualify a lead – the most popular being the BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline). A Salesperson determines if the Lead has the Authority, and Real Need for the Product or Service and if they have the budget and can make t he purchase in an appropriate time – Once the lead is qualified it can be converted into a potential opportunity.

Dynamics CRM 2013 – Installing Sample Data

Loved the way Dynamics 2013 allows you to install Sample Data from within the product without restoring any sample databases (I miss AdventureWorks Db !) – I used a CRM Online Account last year for a few days and it had the sample data which made it really easy for me to browse and understand different areas of the system – but when I installed the On-Premise CRM 2013 on a VM – it had no data and I had to create the Accounts, Contacts, Leads etc.

The quick way to setup the Sample Data on a clean installation is to go to CRM >> Settings >> Data Management and Click on Sample Data.

The popup will let you install the Sample Data on the CRM.

The other nice feature is the background installation so you don’t have to wait for the data to be setup – you can close the dialog and continue to work on the product while the data is setup quietly – and Viola now I have the data.

The Sample Data can also be removed using the same steps – and works perfectly.