Upgrading to CRM 2011 can prove to be a challenge on its own. One major complicating factor can be getting all of your users with the CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook upgraded to the CRM 2011 Client for Outlook. The good news is that the CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook will connect to a CRM 2011 instance that was upgraded from CRM 4.0. Please note that users are unable to “Go Offline” if using the CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook connected to a CRM 2011 environment. If this was a key feature of your implementation, you will want to develop an upgrade plan that accommodates upgrading/installing the CRM 2011 Client for Outlook for the users needing that functionality.
I was currently working with a customer that was using Microsoft CRM 4.0 Online. Focusing just on the Client for Outlook issue, part of the concern with upgrading to CRM 2011 Online was when to upgrade all of the users that were using the CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook. The CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook will connect to and work with the upgraded CRM 2011 Online environment. The main caveat to this is that your CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook must be on Update Rollup 7 (UR7) or later. UR 7 was released in October 2009 so hopefully you have been staying up to date with your Update Rollups. This must be installed prior to the upgrade to CRM 2011. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM version for UR 7 is 4.0.7333.2138.
Another significant note is that any CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook that is on Update Rollup 10 (UR10) can be upgraded to the CRM 2011 Client for Outlook without having to first uninstall the CRM 4.0 Client for Outlook. UR10 was released in April 2010 so hopefully you have this Update Rollup installed at a minimum as well. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM version for UR 10 is 4.0.7333.2741.
This compatibility between versions can ease the upgrade process.
Post By: Mark Weilandt,
