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Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

Name: Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®
ISBN: 9780470343258

by Joel Scott, David Lee, Scott Weiss

July 2008

Beginner to intermediate

408 pages

8h 59m

English

For Dummies

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Copyright
About the Authors
Authors' Acknowledgments
Introduction
How CRM Fits in the MarketHow to Use This BookFoolish AssumptionsHow This Book Is OrganizedPart I: Microsoft CRM BasicsPart II: Setting Things UpPart III: Managing SalesPart IV: Making the Most of MarketingPart V: Taking Care of Your CustomersPart VI: The Part of TensIcons Used in This BookWhere to Go from Here
I. Microsoft CRM Basics
1. Taking a First Look at Microsoft CRM 4
1.1. Tracking Your Contacts1.2. Communicating with the Outside World1.3. Integrating with Accounting1.3.1. Why integrate?1.3.2. Other accounting systems1.4. Setting Up Business Processes1.5. Coordinating Microsoft CRM with Your Success Plan1.5.1. Defining your goals1.5.2. Implementing a pilot program1.6. Live versus On-Premise1.6.1. Security1.6.2. Access1.6.3. Total cost of ownership1.7. Being Mobile1.8. Server Editions1.8.1. Workgroup1.8.2. Professional1.8.3. Enterprise1.8.4. Migrating from one version to another1.9. Using Microsoft CRM Successfully
2. Using the Outlook Client — Or Not
2.1. The Microsoft CRM Online Outlook Client2.2. The Microsoft CRM Offline Outlook Client2.3. The Microsoft CRM Web Client2.4. What's New in Microsoft CRM 4 Outlook Client
3. Navigating the Microsoft CRM System
3.1. Whirlwind Tour of the Screen3.1.1. Navigation pane3.1.2. Status bar3.1.3. Window3.2. First Things First — Signing On3.3. The Workplace Is Your Starting Point3.3.1. Navigating at the application level3.3.2. Navigating at the record level3.3.3. Your first navigation lessons3.4. Filtering and Searching for Records3.4.1. Filtering records3.4.2. Searching with the magnifying glass icon3.4.3. Searching with the Form Assistant3.4.4. Searching with the Advanced Find feature3.5. Using the Resource Center
II. Setting Things Up
4. Personalizing Your System
4.1. Tailoring the System to Suit Your Needs4.1.1. General tab: Customizing a variety of user preferences4.1.2. Workplace tab: Simplifying your navigation pane4.1.3. Activities tab: Displaying appointments and setting your work hours4.1.4. Formats tab: Adapting CRM to your part of the world4.1.5. E-mail Templates tab: Speed the process of handling e-mails4.1.6. E-mail tab: Routing your CRM messages4.1.7. Privacy tab: Indicating when to report errors to Microsoft4.1.8. Language tab: Choosing the language you see onscreen4.2. Establishing Your User Profile4.2.1. Providing general information about yourself4.2.2. Joining teams to share records4.2.3. Viewing security roles4.2.4. Announcing which hours you'll be working4.2.5. Monitoring workflows

5. Managing Territories
5.1. Setting Up Sales Territories5.2. Managing Territories
6. Managing Business Units and Teams
6.1. Managing Business Units6.2. Managing Teams6.2.1. Creating teams6.2.2. Assigning users to teams
7. Using the Product Catalog
7.1. Overview of the Product Catalog7.2. Getting to the Product Catalog Window7.3. Creating a Discount List7.4. Creating a Unit Group7.5. Creating a Price List7.6. Adding Products
8. Understanding Security and Access Rights
8.1. Security Overview8.2. Setting Restrictions with User Privileges8.3. Further Defining Permissions with Access Levels8.4. Looking at Predefined Roles8.5. Assigning Roles8.6. Sharing Information with Others on Your Team8.6.1. Defining a team8.6.2. Sharing and assigning8.6.3. Unsharing8.7. Sharing and Not Sharing Data8.7.1. Sharing records8.7.2. Sharing multiple records8.7.3. Unsharing records8.7.4. Assigning records8.7.5. Streamlining the assignment of permissions
9. Implementing Business Rules and Workflow
9.1. Workflow Components9.2. Limitations of Workflow9.3. Creating Workflow Rules9.3.1. Testing a new rule9.3.2. Creating On-Demand (manual) rules9.3.3. Creating follow-up rules9.3.4. Testing a manual rule9.4. Monitoring Your Workflow9.5. Workflow Glossary9.5.1. Events9.5.2. Conditions9.5.3. Actions9.5.4. To workflow infinity and beyond...
10. Creating and Running Reports
10.1. Adding Report Categories10.2. Navigating the Report Area10.3. Using Viewing Options10.4. Exporting and Printing Your Report10.5. Accessing the Report Wizard10.6. Report Settings10.7. Editing Reports10.8. Creating Excel Reports
III. Managing Sales
11. Setting Sales Quotas and Dealing with Forecasts
11.1. How a Manager Sets Up Quotas11.1.1. Fiscal year settings11.1.2. Setting up a salesperson's quota11.2. Entering Sales Forecasts11.3. Updating Your Forecasts11.4. Examining the Forecasts11.4.1. Printing a report11.4.2. Using Excel to examine forecast data
12. Handling Leads and Opportunities
12.1. Processing Leads from Suspects12.1.1. Getting to the Leads window12.1.2. Creating a lead manually12.1.3. Modifying a lead12.1.4. Giving up on a lead12.1.5. Resurrecting a lead12.2. Turning a Lead into an Opportunity12.3. Handling Opportunities12.3.1. Creating and modifying opportunities12.3.2. Assigning and sharing opportunities12.3.3. Relating opportunities to activities or other records12.3.4. Managing stages and relationships12.3.5. Closing, reopening, and deleting opportunities
13. Working with Accounts and Contacts
13.1. Adding and Editing Contacts13.2. Adding and Editing Accounts and Subaccounts13.2.1. Exploring account records and their four sections13.2.2. Setting up subaccounts13.3. Finding and Viewing Account Information13.3.1. Finding an account by name13.3.2. Using Advanced Find to perform a more sophisticated search13.4. Assigning and Sharing Accounts13.4.1. Assigning accounts to users13.4.2. Sharing accounts
14. Creating and Managing Activities
14.1. No Outlook Here14.2. Viewing Your Calendar14.3. Viewing Your Activities14.4. Creating an Appointment for Yourself from the Activities Screen14.5. Scheduling for Other People14.6. Assigning an Activity to Someone14.7. Completing an Activity
15. Using Notes and Attachments
15.1. Creating Notes15.2. Creating Attachments15.3. Deleting a Note or an Attachment
16. Generating Quotes, Orders, and Invoices
16.1. Creating and Activating Quotes16.1.1. Creating a quote16.1.2. Activating a quote16.2. Associating Opportunities and Quotes16.3. Printing a Quote16.4. Converting a Quote to an Order16.5. Generating Invoices from Orders
17. Setting Up Sales Literature and Dealing with Competitors
17.1. Adding Literature17.2. Modifying Literature17.3. Relating Literature to Competitors17.4. Adding and Tracking Competitors
18. Implementing Sales Processes
18.1. The General Principles18.1.1. Alerts18.1.2. Escalation18.1.3. Feedback and analysis18.2. Planning Your Sales Stages
IV. Making the Most of Marketing
19. Targeting Accounts and Contacts
19.1. Targeting the Right People19.2. Developing and Saving Marketing Lists19.2.1. Creating marketing lists19.2.2. Adding members to the marketing list19.2.3. Populating a marketing list using Advanced Find19.3. Editing a Marketing List19.4. Removing Records from a Marketing List19.5. Merging Mail from Marketing Lists
20. Managing Campaigns
20.1. Developing Your Campaign20.2. Creating Campaigns20.3. Planning Tasks20.4. Defining Campaign Activities20.5. Distributing Campaign Activities20.6. Recording Campaign Responses20.7. Relating Campaigns to Each Other20.8. Working with Quick Campaigns
21. Integrating Your Web Site
21.1. Sending E-Mail to a Queue21.2. Creating Records with Programming21.3. Creating a Web Portal
V. Taking Care of Your Customers
22. Working with Cases
22.1. Case Management Overview22.2. Working in the Cases Window22.3. Creating Cases22.3.1. Filling in the General tab22.3.2. Filling in the Notes and Article tab22.4. Assigning and Accepting Cases22.5. Tending to Cases22.5.1. Resolving a case22.5.2. Reactivating a case
23. Managing Your Subjects
23.1. Tips for Defining Your Subjects23.2. Accessing the Subjects Window23.3. Adding a Subject23.4. Editing a Subject23.5. Removing a Subject23.6. Relating Subjects to Other Entities23.6.1. Relating subjects to cases23.6.2. Putting the case link to work23.6.3. Relating a subject to a knowledge base article23.6.4. Putting the article link to work23.6.5. Relating a subject to the product catalog23.6.6. Relating a subject to sales literature
24. Creating and Using the Knowledge Base
24.1. Organizing Information for Your Knowledge Base24.2. Creating Article Templates24.3. Creating a Knowledge Base Article24.3.1. Submitting a draft article24.3.2. Approving an article24.4. Searching the Knowledge Base
25. Managing Queues
25.1. Queue Overview25.2. Looking at Personal and Public Queues25.3. Creating a Queue25.4. Working with Cases and Activities Assigned to Queues25.4.1. Assigning an activity to a queue25.5. Accepting Queue Assignments
26. Working with Contracts
26.1. Creating a Contract Template26.2. Understanding Contract Status26.3. Creating a Contract26.4. Adding Contract Lines to a New Contract26.5. Renewing a Contract26.6. Creating a Case and Linking It to a Contract
VI. The Part of Tens
27. The Top 10 (Or So) Add-on Products for Microsoft CRM 4
27.1. Checking Spelling with Google Toolbar27.2. Automating Processes and Generating Alerts27.3. Increasing Your Productivity with c36027.4. Increasing Your Productivity with Axonom's Powertrak27.5. Migrating and Manipulating Your Data27.6. Accessing Instant Advice, Tips, and Tricks27.7. Displaying Data in Graphical Formats27.8. Upgrading Your Service Area
28. Ten Ways to Get Help
28.1. Using Microsoft CRM's Built-in Help28.2. Reading the Blog28.3. Accessing the Resource Center28.4. Getting the Straight Story from Newsgroups or Forums28.5. Finding an Expert28.6. Using Technical Sites for Developers28.7. Investing in Training28.8. Selecting Microsoft Packaged Service and Support28.9. Getting in Touch with Us28.10. Accessing General CRM Resources Online
A. Converting to Microsoft CRM
A.1. Developing a Process for the ConversionA.2. Evaluating the Current SystemA.3. Defining ExpectationsA.4. A Word on ReportsA.5. Designing the SystemA.6. Implementing the DesignA.7. Testing the SystemA.8. Cleaning the DataA.9. Migrating the DataA.10. Training the Staff
B. Managing Your Data
B.1. Tips for Creating Duplicate Detection RulesB.2. To Dot or Not to Dot, That Is the QuestionB.3. Defining Duplicate Detection RulesB.4. Creating a Duplicate Detection RuleB.5. Editing a Duplicate Detection RuleB.6. Putting the Rule to WorkB.7. Importing and ExportingB.7.1. Creating data mapsB.7.2. Editing data mapsB.7.3. Importing recordsB.7.4. Exporting and re-importing data

Content preview from Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Taking a First Look at Microsoft CRM 4

Personal information managers (PIM) and contact management systems (CMS) were introduced in the mid-1980s. Both PIM and CMS enabled you to organize the names, addresses, and phone numbers for all of your business contacts. PIMs were superseded by sales force automation (SFA) systems in the late 1980s. Products such as ACT and GoldMine initially combined scheduling functions with contact management. By the mid-1990s, these systems evolved into simple customer relationship management (CRM) systems, attempting to involve not just salespeople but also customer service and management.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 (that's the official name) is the next generation of CRM systems. Microsoft CRM is based on .NET (pronounced dot-net) technology, pioneered by Microsoft. Not only does Microsoft CRM have functionality for sales, customer service, and now marketing, it takes great advantage of the Internet, or more specifically, Web services. This Web service focus is what defines the .NET strategy. In a nutshell, Web services enable applications to be easily integrated, rapidly configured to meet your business needs, and extended to both internal and external users.

Tracking Your Contacts

Microsoft CRM has a record type or entity called a contact. A contact, in this sense, is a person. It's a concept taken from Microsoft Outlook. In fact, contact records from Outlook are directly transferable into contact records in Microsoft CRM.

Microsoft CRM calls ...

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Working with Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4.0, Second Edition

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Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

by Joel Scott, David Lee, Scott Weiss

Chapter 1. Taking a First Look at Microsoft CRM 4

Tracking Your Contacts

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