Great Insights From the Global MVP Summit on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Written by me But Published by Dynamics University

Check out my blogpost directly from Dynamics University to find out what we do at the Global MVP Summit and check out my thoughts on where Dynamics CRM is headed.

Insights from Microsoft Global MVP Summit on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

- Happy Monday!

CRM Quick Connect from .NET Example App is Out on CodePlex

I wish when I was first learning to code in .NET for Dynamics CRM that I had a really quick example of how to make a connection.  I created this example in CodePlex.  It does little more than pops open a connection to CRM and gives your User ID guid back to you but it will show you how to get that far quickly.  The example applies to Dynamics CRM versions 2011 through 2015.

Download it here:  https://dynamicscrmquickconnect.codeplex.com/

I hope this helps!  Have a great weekend!

How to Easily Get Record Counts for Entitys in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

You can quickly get record counts for all of your entities if you need to using the RecordCountShapshot table in Dynamics CRM.  You aren't supposed to do select queries against  tables so I wouldn't recommend doing this in an integration or something like that.  But if you need a quick ball park of how many records are in each table, it's not a bad option.

SELECT TOP 1000 [Count]

,[RecordCountSnapshotId]

,entityview.ObjectTypeCode, Name

FROM [TESTCRM_MSCRM].[dbo].[RecordCountSnapshot] , EntityView where entityview.ObjectTypeCode = RecordCountSnapshot.ObjectTypeCode

and count > 0 order by count desc

Here is what the results look like:

-Happy Monday!!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Online is Scheduling Product Upgrades to Update 1

A week ago I was getting frustrated because I love the new features that are coming down the pipe in Update 1 and my sandbox orgs are already upgraded, but I couldn't schedule my Update 1 for my production org.

Yesterday I finally was able to get it scheduled.  The dates are already pushed out into July so you might want to get on that though!



-Happy Wednesday!

Annual Dynamics Product Satisfaction Survey is Here!

It's your chance to tell Microsoft what you think of their products!!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2015/05/13/calling-all-crm-online-customers-the-annual-dynamics-product-satisfaction-survey-is-here.aspx 

- Happy Thursday!

Goodbye Lync.. Hello Skype for Business 2015!!

Installed Visio from office 365 yesterday and got a surprise. It updated Lync, but Lync isn't Lync anymore.

Lync is now Skype for Business 2015!!

All said and done they have made some asthetic changes to Lync, but it's a pretty similiar experience.

Still waiting for easy phone integration without Lync Server or without hosting.

-

2013 CRM Field Guide is Now Available!!

Written by a number of MVP's it is a great source of knowledge on just about everything you could encounter in working with the product.  It's nearly 1000 pages of greatness.

Get your copy HERE:  http://www.crmfieldguide.com/

Surface Pro 3 Giveaway and New Branding Release for TechAir Group!

Techair is very excited to have released their new site and branding last week and we are giving away a Surface Pro 3 to celebrate!

Check out our site at www.techairgroup.com and get registered for our SURFACE PRO 3 GIVEAWAY by filling out the form on our website!

- Happy Monday!

We are up to 5 parties now on the 2015 Convergence Party list!!

http://mileyja.blogspot.com/p/convergence-2015-party-list.html






-check it out and get registered!!

ADFS Self Signed Certificates and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

ADFS Self-Signed Certificates are used for internal encryption and are separate from your SSL certificates.   You can sometimes experience a situation where these internal certificates auto-rollover.  when this happens it will bring CRM down.

Below is a blog that has a fix for this that seems to work if you follow all the steps to a T:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/arpita/archive/2012/07/17/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-log-in-issue-due-to-ad-fs-certificate-rollover.aspx 

Additionally there is a way to push the date out using Powershell to make the renewal duration more like 5 years instead of every 365 days.

- Happy Tuesday!

A Year of Changes!

What a crazy Year, I have a new job with TechAir Group, a new child (Finnley James), a lot of new responsibilities.

Even more exciting is the new version of Dynamics CRM.  I have been renewed as an MVP this year so I am sure it will be a great year.

Happy 2015!