Documents are a part of doing business and at times there are far too many to keep track of. For example, you may have just turned a lead into a sales opportunity and already have an RFP response, pricing chart specific to that client, and notes from your meeting. How do you keep track of these vital documents and ensure the version you’re working on is the correct one?
Microsoft SharePoint improves document management and streamlines tracking of particular documents to the right projects. SharePoint’s “check in and check out” options help your team collaborate on documents, without the chance of someone overwriting the changes made. A user checks out a document and SharePoint makes it “read only” for other users. SharePoint also provides versioning options, where you revert back to an old version if you’ve overwritten something that you shouldn’t have. As you can see, SharePoint is great for document management. The hiccup here is your , not SharePoint. So how do you close this gap and create a streamlined workflow for your business?
Previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM did integrate with SharePoint, but it required custom work and was a pricey project to tackle. Now, . In previous versions, the developer would need to implement this feature, but now a CRM administrator can set up this seamless integration. With this feature, a document library in SharePoint can be created within CRM for any entity, whether it is an opportunity, account, lead, or marketing activity. You can even set it up so a document library is automatically created depending on what stage an account is in.
SharePoint is usually accessible through a URL, but with this powerful integration, you can see everything right within CRM. If you have users that don’t use CRM, they can still access the same documentation through a URL. It’s the best of both worlds!
The user interface of this integration is extremely intuitive and user friendly. The document library essentially mimics the look of CRM while it connects directly to CRM information. This closes the gap between the two, so your sales teams can work effectively and efficiently while having insight to the right documents at any time.
SharePoint usually comes free with windows server operating system, so most of you may already have document management in place. How would you like to take it one step further and connect that management to your CRM system?
The TM Group is Gold Certified in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Silver Level for portals and collaboration, such as SharePoint, making us the perfect partner to help you close the gap. Contact us to .
By The TM Group, a , Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SharePoint.
Hi Marlon:
1.I would like to know if SharePoint Online as part of Office 365 will integrate with CRM 2011 Online?
a.With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online, Microsoft provides out-of-box document integration with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Online, but customers are increasingly looking for ways to integrate these two technologies further. Using SharePoint web parts, you can expose Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online data inside of SharePoint Online. However, there are some limitations with the Online solution versus On-premise. We welcome the opportunity to speak with you sometime next week regarding those limitations.
2.Do you know if Dynamics CRM will be included in Office 365? I thought I read somewhere that this was a possibility later in the year.
a.As far as we know, CRM will not be included in the Office 365 offerings. We heard that there may be a price rollup but not a core product offering. If we hear otherwise, we will let you know.
Is Out-of-the-Box CRM 2011 Integration with SharePoint included in SharePoint Online?
To clarify I meant SharePoint Online as part of the upcoming release of Office 365.