I made the decision to move my blogging addiction to my very own domain. On the new location you can continue reading about freaky CRM stuff, but I'll mix it up with some additional topics that interest me and hopefully you guys as well.

Please update your bookmarks, RSS Readers and OPML files.

Blog: http://www.tekoppele.com/blog

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/crmfreak

It took me a lot of time and effort to design my new blog from the ground up. I want to thank Alex Vermeule, Scott Barnes Jaap Steinvoorte and Jron for their help and advice. Over time, I will slowly migrate all of my posts and comments.

Ok I see you think, now tell me what is on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 VPC Menno! It actually has a ton of software on it, which some of you might like, and some of you might not. For the ones that don't want to read further, you can download it here

The RTM VPC Contains the following:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (RTM)
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Desktop Client
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (SP2)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• Internet Explorer 7
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft Performance Point Server
• Microsoft Office Communication Server
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
• POP3 E-Mail Services (No Exchange)
• English, French, German, Danish and Dutch Language packs

This partner-ready download includes account and contact trial data and is ready to be populated with locale-specific data via the associated demonstration tool. Once complete, please copy the Demonstration tool to the virtual machine, and follow the instructions to populate activity, opportunity and other entity data and e-mails in Outlook. Refer to the demonstration documentation for detailed information.

For example, you may create seed data in any language to create opportunities, activities, cases, etc. that will be randomly assigned to the existing accounts.
You may also enter seed data for e-mail generation. Random e-mails (using your seed subject and message data) will be created using the contacts found in the existing contacts list.

Thanks for the scoop Michael!

We did just that! We created a Demo Tool that helps you with that. An easy to use tool that gives you the options to create new emails, move data, create sample data entries, an Icon Maker and even a String Replacer. Besides this, it also allows you to load and store your data in XML format, so that you can reuse your data in the future.

Download it here

In order to use any of the tools you will first need to connect to CRM.  To do this, open the application click the button at the top that says "The application is not yet connected to Microsoft Dynamics CRM". In the Connection Information window verify the URL is correct and enter your user name, domain, and password.  Click Connect and the Organization picklist will populate. Select your organization and click OK.

They were able to install a MUI (language pack) but were not able to enable it, if any entity has had its form settings edited. When activating the language pack, a SQL error is returned: “Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.LocalizedLabel' with unique index 'ndx_LocalizedLabel_ForSingleSelect'.” The error that was shown in the event viewer.

At the time I did not know of a solution, but today I was looking through some things and noticed a comment with the same solution/workaround as what I found. Note that a proper hotfix is being developed.

Before using this workaround, make sure you have the exact same error and situation. If that's the case, make sure you have a backup of your CRM database before you execute the following T-SQL query:

DELETE FROM MetadataSchema.LocalizedLabel WHERE customizationlevel = 2

We have released the Finnish language pack  Please read this post for details on how to download it.

Currently we have released the following languages:

• English
• German
• Spanish
• Dutch
• Danish
• Finnish
• French

Expect more languages in the upcoming weeks!

What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8910
This one-day training material provides individuals with the knowledge and skills to begin planning for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Installation and Deployment in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8911
This three-day training material provides individuals with the tools to install and configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The training material focuses on the components used within a Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment, the hardware and software requirements needed to successfully deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and the installation instructions for the primary Microsoft Dynamics CRM components: the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server, the E-Mail Router, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Office Outlook. 

Customization and Configuration in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8912
This three-day training material provides individuals with the tools to configure and customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Configuration topics include setting up business management functions such as: Business units Users Teams Security privileges and roles System Settings Multilingual User Interface Language Packs Currency Exchange Rates Multiple Organizations. The training material also focuses on using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Customization tools to customize the following system components: Forms Views Entities Attributes Relationships Entity Mappings The following customization topics are outside the scope of this training material, but are introduced here to provide individuals with insight into potential advanced customization features: Application Event Programming Client Extensions Workflow SiteMap URL Addressable Forms IFrames SDK

Applications in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Course Number 8913
This three-day training material explores the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application from a user's perspective. Application functionality covered in the training material includes: Sales Management Marketing Automation Service Management Service Scheduling

The Content Publishing team is continuously working to provide you with new stuff, so make sure you check once in a while to see new training content and material.

Sign up here

Well, you don't have to wait any longer as our US ISV team have, once again, posted a video / screen cast on Channel 9. This time they are talking about the integration points between Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Office Communication Server 2007 (OCS).

Click here to watch it

Read it here

This year, Convergence will take place in Orlando, Florida and Copenhagen, Denmark. This is your opportunity to participate in an exceptional program including a variety of speakers, detailed product demonstrations and hands-on learning sessions. You will learn how to enhance your Microsoft investment now and in the future, and gain a stronger sense of community through interacting with industry leaders, Microsoft team members, partners and other customers.

Useful Links!

Convergence 2008 - Orlando

Session Overview

Convergence Blogger's Feed (really hard to find + register)

I normally used the "Networking" option on the Convergence web site to set up meetings with Partners, but I cannot find a working link on the site! So, for everybody that is going to Orlando and wants to drink a beer, uhm... I mean, wants to talk about CRM with me, either drop me a comment or send me an email through the email form on the blog and we can work something out.

Look forward to see all of you there!