Special Edition Using® Microsoft® CRM

Use Case Corner

For a major provider of professional services, a “make or buy” component plan was devised. This provider had already developed many of the basic systems needed to conduct business or in some cases, had purchased and installed the appropriate systems. They had payroll systems and major systems for setting up a client engagement, tracking expenses, and billing customers for invoices.

What was missing was an integrated set of productivity systems to be used by the professional in the field, delivering services. Indeed, they had many productivity systems, but they had been built on different platforms by different vendors over the years, resulting in nonintegrated systems that couldn't play together.

It was determined that all field ...