MS Dynamics and Power Platform Blog

  In Dynamics 365 Customer Service, artificial intelligence features have been introduced to enhance customer service capabilities, improving efficiency and deliver personalized experiences. Following are key features available currently: 1)       AI-Powered Case Routing: Dynamics 365 Customer Service uses AI algorithms to intelligently route cases to the most appropriate agents based on factors such as skillset, workload, and past performance. This ensures that cases are assigned to the right agents for efficient resolution. 2)       Agent Assist: Agent Assist provides agents with AI-driven suggestions and recommendations while they are working on cases. It analyses case details, knowledge base articles, and historical interactions to suggest relevant solutions, responses, or next best actions, helping agents resolve cases more quickly and accurately. 3)       Sentiment Analysis: Dynamics 365 Cu...

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE has incorporated various machine learning and artificial Intelligence features. this article provides overview of features  currently available in Dynamics 365 CE. Customer Insights: Microsoft has provided two products – Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – data and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights- Journeys. Customer Information can be analysed from different sources. 1)       Unified Customer 360 degree view:   Aggregate customer data from multiple sources to create comprehensive customer profile. Profile includes interaction history, preferences and more. 2)       AI-Powered Analytics: It can identify patterns, trends, and correlations within the customer data, enabling organizations to understand customer behaviour, predict future actions, and segment customers. 3)       Segmentation and targeting: Dynamics customer segments can be created based on criteria such as interest...

Power Virtual Agents Chat PVA (Power Virtual Agents) chat in Dynamics 365 CRM refers to the integration of Microsoft's Power Virtual Agents platform with Dynamics 365 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Power Virtual Agents is a chatbot development platform that allows businesses to create and deploy AI-powered virtual agents or chatbots without extensive coding knowledge. When integrated with Dynamics 365 CRM, PVA chat enables businesses to provide self-service options and automated assistance to their customers directly within the CRM environment. It allows organizations to leverage chatbot capabilities to handle common customer inquiries, provide quick responses, and guide customers through predefined processes or workflows. Key features and benefits of PVA chat in Dynamics 365 CRM: Self-Service and Automation: PVA chatbots can handle routine customer inquiries and provide automated assistance. This reduces the need for human intervention, improves response times...

    Sometimes we try to find reason of not finding users in User list of Unified Routing Users need to be configured as Agents to be listed as Users in Unified Routing.   Following need to be done: 1, In Users configuration, entry for bookable resource need to be added 2.     User need to be given security role of Customer Service Representative. 3. After above steps, user record should be available in Users list of Unified routing

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server roles Recently I faced a situation where CRM was integrated with different other applications through Biztalk Server. Biztalk server made a lot of Server calls through connector. At peak hours, thousands of Biztalk instances were calling the CRM Services. That point of time, there was drastic impact on performance of CRM for end users. This type of situations can be avoided if proper planning is done during starting phase of implementation. CRM server roles were introduced with 4.0. The following table lists the various server roles that are available with Dynamics CRM 4.0.  The table also lists the Role Name used in the installation XML configuration file to choose the indicated role: Role Config Role Name Description SRS Data Connector SrsDataConnector Run reports. SQL Server SqlServer Installs the components required on the SQL Server where the Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases are maintained. Application Server ...

Recently I faced a problem, when I was not able to publish the entity. There were no missing fields or missing relationships. After a long troubleshooting, I found that it is happening due to currupt FormXML in OrganizationUI table for the entity. FormXML is stored in this table for entities. I had a problem with quote entity. I found out that there two entries for quote entity. It seems that one is for form opened for customization and the other for normal record rendering. there was problem with formXML for customized form. I interchanged the flag for isCustomization of these two entries. After that, entity got published successfully. It seems entry for normal record rendering was not corrupt. So when it became formXML for customized form, it got published successfully. Please note that this is totally unsupported way. You should take all necessary backups if you want to do this.

Update Rollup 13 for MS CRM 4.0 is now available. Download at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=406e6247-873b-4db0-8a25-3f041b066844 Read more about RU 13 at : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2267499

Beta for MS CRM 2011 launched globally.. For a sneak preview of MS CRM 2011 visit: http://www.screencast.com/users/coloradojules/folders/Default/media/094c821f-c71f-448d-88bf-5b627b586004 Catch the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 beta or sign up for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online beta at www.crm2011beta.com .

GrapeCity Telemarketing Solution has scored 2nd place in XRM Showcase challenge. Over 80 unique XRM Solutions particated in XRM showcase challenge. Around 2570 individuals registered to vote and submit solutions http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/07/22/xrm-showcase-challenge-results.aspx Congratulations to GrapeCity CRM team and I wish lot more rewards in future.

As announced at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on July 12, 2010, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 - formerly codenamed "CRM5" - will be publicly available as a beta release in September 2010 for both online and on-premises deployments. Please refer to following URLs for details https://offers.crmchoice.com/betaofferlanding/ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/07/12/introducing-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011.aspx

The latest cumulative update rollup for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 has been released on Jun 4th, 2010. Read about RU 11 for MS CRM 4.0 at: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/06/04/update-rollup-11-for-microsoft-dynamics-crm-4-0.aspx http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981328 RU 11 can be downloaded at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=f84f2bfb-393d-4b90-bf1b-300a82ec6083

While localizing my custom website hosting a Silverlight 3 control, I added multiple resource files (.resx) to my xap and when I hit the page I got this error: System.Windows.Markup.XamlParseException occurred Message="AG_E_PARSER_UNKNOWN_TYPE On hitting this link http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/silverlight/navigation/navigation-samples-failing-with-silverlight-3-because-of-urimapping.aspx I realized the goof up. One of the resx files had the constructor still declared as ‘internal’, and you get this error when the application is getting initialized and trying to access and internal resource. So I made the changes to set it to public, and it worked like a charm!!

CTP3 for MS CRM 5.0 now available!! The main features offered by CRM 5.0 include: 1. Features for end users Enhanced Navigation - A “Fluent UI” like Office 2007 Single Page Forms - Single scrolling page, “quick access” navigation shortcuts and less pop-ups and clicks to complete common task Data Filtering –In-line filtering like Excel, visualization of numeric data using in-line charts and availability of drill through charts WSS integration -Document management, site and document library provisioning and check-in check-out capabilities. Team ownership for entities 2. Features for Administrators and Customizers Filtered Lookups :) Solution Management -A single unit solution (a defined set of entity customizations, workflows, e-mail templates, security roles, plug-ins etc.), version controlled solution and ability to specify selected attributes for exporting “Global Picklists” at solution level that are re-usable across multiple entities. Drag and Drop form editor New server role for...

This is for beginners in MS CRM 4.0 wanting to understand the Security Architecture in MS CRM 4.0. Download the whitepaper from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fb4bb16b-586f-4aae-aa4b-790023e95b61 A brief summary for the Role Based Security and the Object based security is explained from the article: To determine the extent to which users have access to the system and the resources it stores, Microsoft Dynamics CRM leverages two complementary security mechanisms: Role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics CRM focuses on grouping a set of privileges together that describe the tasks that are performed for a user in a specific job function. The basic concepts of role-based security include the following: o Users are assigned one or more roles based on their job function or tasks o Roles are associated with permissions (privileges and access levels) for the different business objects (entities) o Users gain access to entities or groups of entitie...

While trying to install VS 2010 RC on my windows XP sp3 machine, I was facing this issue that the installer wasn't able to install any of the components after it installed .Net Framework 4.0. Once I installed .NET Framework 4.0, it prompted me to restart the machine, and on restart nothing really happened (though the setup was expected to resume). I re-clicked the setup and still nothing happened. So after trying to re-install VS 2010 a couple times, I found out the solution to the problem - Display the language bar at the taskbar, right-click on it and choose settings. Then remove the hand writing support from the list. There is a bug in the RC for computers with touch screens. Here is where I found this: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/setupprerelease/thread/dbcdcd52-d162-4460-9920-33c9ab54b36f

Recently I came across a scenario where it was required that workflow be triggered on change of a read only only field. While testing I found that the workflow wasn't getting fired. I added the code to ForceSubmit the field OnSave of record. Even after that the workflow didnt execute on change of that field. Ultimately, I had to enable that field so that the workflow could trigger on field change. Additional logic (simply a workaround) had to be applied in order to achieve the desired functionality.

Recently, I came across a scenario, where it was required that some fields be pre-populated on a new form opened from associated view of a record. One possible solution is to fire a SOAP Xml retrieve request to get the desired fields of the related record and set them on the new form. But this approach requires a database interaction using MS CRM web services, that can cause a noticeable delay in form load. An alternative to this approach is to access parent record using JavaScript object model and access the fields on form to set values on new form. Following sample code can be added to OnLoad event of form to achieve the same: //***************************************************************************** //Functionality- In create mode, get default values from associated location record //***************************************************************************** if (crmForm.FormType == 1) { //If form is being opened using an existing parent record if ((window.opener != null) ...

On navigating to "Items" link in Portal Integration and Partner Relationship Management Accelerators, following error message is obtained: Server Error in '/' Application.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The type specified in the TypeName property of ObjectDataSource 'ObjectDataSourceCategories' could not be found. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.InvalidOperationException: The type specified in the TypeName property of ObjectDataSource 'ObjectDataSourceCategories' could not be found. Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [In...

Just a tip for the user installing Microsoft CRM Outlook Client for Outlook 2003. Ensure that you install the Update Rollup 7 for the Outlook client, else couple of menu items (Change Organization, Options) will not be available from the CRM menu installed. Also, use the CRM->Options->Synchronization tab to change the duration of synchronization between MS Outlook and the web client (which is 15 minutes by default). Get the Update Rollup 7 for Outlook Client at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=A4893988-7804-4E23-AB58-740441CC696E&displaylang=ja&displaylang=en Read more about synchronization of records and activities between MS CRM and Outlook at: http://rc.crm.dynamics.com/rc/regcont/en_us/OP/help/ug_ol_RecordsActivities.htm

Ever got 'The E-mail Router service could not run the service main background thread. The E-mail Router service cannot continue and will now shut down' while re-starting the MS CRM Email Router Service. The trace logged is : "System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: The E-mail router service cannot access system state file Microsoft.Crm.Tools.EmailAgent.SystemState.xml. The file may be missing or may not be accessible. The E-mail Router service cannot continue and will now shut down. ---> System.Xml.XmlException: Root element is missing." Root Cause: The Microsoft.Crm.Tools.EmailAgent.SystemState.xml file is corrupted. Solution: 1. Browse to 'C:Program FilesMicrosoft CRM EmailService'. Delete the Microsoft.Crm.Tools.EmailAgent.SystemState.xml file. 2. Restart the Microsoft Dynamics CRM E-mail Router Service.The Microsoft.Crm.Tools.EmailAgent.SystemState.xml file is re-created. Read more at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954522...