Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

Chapter 28. Ten Ways to Get Help

In this chapter, we show you ten ways to get help. There are other ways to get help, of course, and we're sure you'll stumble across them as you investigate the various features described here. But here, we explore some free options (our favorite) and some paid-for services. The paid-for services are usually worth the investment. However, we leave it up to you to decide how much you're willing to pay for the help you need. Free help is available through Microsoft CRM's online help system, blogs, the Resource Center, and from the newsgroups. Then there's paid help from dealers, developers, and Microsoft itself.

It seems that most dynamic help options are blogs and newsgroups. Often, newsgroup articles point to blogs. Blogging has become so popular that the number of Microsoft CRM blogs grows almost daily. With newsgroups, you can simply read posts or, as you become more comfortable with them, you can post your own questions. Subscribing to a newsgroup now and getting comfortable with the posting process is a good idea. As time goes by, more and more users will be sharing information, best practices, and the inevitable workarounds.

You can find Microsoft partners all over the world, and they serve as your best — and often local — support. Beyond that group is a cadre of independent software vendors (ISVs), ready to sell you their custom CRM add-on products. (See Chapter 27 for more on CRM add-ons.) Don't overlook ISVs as resources, too. They have a lot ...