What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011? Customization and Workflow

The impending release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 may have you thinking about upgrading or switching software vendors for your CRM needs. While nothing on the Internet will make that decision for you, you can at least find more information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to see if it would be a good fit for your needs. In that spirit, here is a handy list describing two of the updated features in Dynamics CRM 2011.

Customization

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will make it much easier to customize your views and create relationships.

• Customize in place: From any list, you can customize it in less than two clicks. Users of CRM software know that jumbling and rearranging data can be a huge time sink, so being able to customize your view in such a simple manner can save loads of time.
• New form design features: Designing forms now supports drag and drop (for fields and navigation), header and footer form sections, multiple fields per form, multiple forms per entity, sub-grids that help you present child records, new events on sections and tabs, and much, much more.
• Using web sources: This is a huge time saver. In Dynamics CRM 2011, you’ll not only be able to link to pages, script libraries, graphics, style sheets, and pages in your CRM solution, but you can also import them directly into your database so they’re always available. This is handy for those random and unexpected internet outages.
• Filtered lookups and lookup fields: In Dynamics CRM 2011, it’s much easier to create an N:1 relationship between records, place that field on a form, and even filter that field so it only shows a select number of results. This is all done with a series of easy-to-understand drop down menus, which is much simpler than it used to be.

Workflows (Processes)

The first thing that may confuse you in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is that workflows are now referred to as processes. This may seem like a confusing and unnecessary switch, but the change was made because Dynamics CRM 2011 now includes user experience components in the process. This was a major limitation in the workflow model of previous editions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In Dynamics CRM 2011, workflows can now prompt users for input.

Processes are split into two categories in Dynamics CRM 2011: workflows and dialogs. The workflows are the same as they used to be – they just chug away silently. Dialogs are what contain the prompts, which allow users to input data to the process. In this way, you can create prompts to customize a process, which can lead to a scripted sales process or a customized implementation for a store branch.

The sheer amount of upgrades and changes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can make it difficult to decide whether or not it’s time to change or upgrade CRM software. Hopefully with this overview, you’re a few steps closer to making that decision.

By End2End Business Solutions, Arkansas Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner