I'm new to Dynamics CRM 2016 and I'm about specifying my products.
The problem is: I can't find the right way to do that.
I have two types of products:
"Product x" to rent or to sell. So I need to specify for each "Product x" two prices (price for renting and price for selling), but I can't find a way to specify that. Any good practices to cover this need?
Also, if "product x" is rented, which entity should I use to track that "sale"? order entity? contract entity?
"Product y" which is never sold alone but packaged with other "products y" in bundles. Bundles are sold as subscription plans such as STANDARD plan (contains 3 "product y"'s) and PREMIUM plan (contains 10 "product y"'s). Subscriptions can be monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly and yearly.
Based on Dynamics entities, I can guess that STANDARD plan and PREMIUM plan could be bundles, but how can user sells these bundles based on subscription duration. Should I:
create bundles of bundles: create "bundle standard 1" which is
equivalent to 1 month of a standard subscription, "bundle standard 3" which is equivalent to 3 months of a standard subscription... or
add quantity to bundle order (quarterly standard subscription will be equivalent to an order with 3 standard bundles). If this is the recommended solution, how can we apply a discount?
use contracts and track duration there?
PS:
I already posted this question in dynamics community, but nobody answers: https://community.dynamics.com/crm/f/117/t/256710
You are asking us to design your project. This is too broad and off-topic in SO.
This is what I will do. CRM allows you to customize the system how we want. So play around.
Do a POC (proof of concept) for your understanding of how crm works. Set up a product catalog: Walkthrough
You have to design
Product catalog & Pricelist with your system in mind.
Your question sounds like you are a functional consultant, But SO is Developer Q&A site. Still CRM techno-functional guys will help you to overcome certain design questions. But it’s a thin line.
Related
Recently Microsoft announced some changes to their Dynamics 365 Teams license. The people who have these licenses will not be able to access Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, custom model driven apps etc and will have their own app like Sales Team member app.
These dedicated apps have restrictions of only 15 custom entities.
This change will cause some of our clients a lot of problems. As per my understanding, the only option they will have is to buy the full Dynamics license.
Am I correct on above? If no then feel free to correct me. If yes then can anyone suggest a good alternative?
Yes, the new licensing model is quite confusing.
I suggest to check the updated licensing guide (if not already done)
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=866544
(if the link does not work, it is taken from here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2020wave1/dynamics365-sales/license-enforcement-users-new-team-member-licenses)
Allthough this document is quite extensive, it is also recommended to talk with you MS Sales Rep (or anyone else who is responsible for you from MS side) to make sure all your needs are covered.
I need to create a website for a non-profit that will need the following functionality along with the basic page editing and creation (hopefully a free solution)
- Newsletter
- Event Listing + integration with Google Calendar
- Possibly integration with system like guestlistapp to collect payments for Event Tickets
- Membership management system + collect payments
- Paypal Donations
I have looked at Umbraco but doesn't seem to have any of these plugins. Please suggest other systems that you may have used in the past and can be a good fit for this scenario.
Umbraco doesn't come out-of-the box with those plugins, but there are 'packages' available for some of those things, and with some custom code it could do all of those things -
For example, here is a newsletter addin:
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/website-utilities/newsletter
A membership addin:
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/website-utilities/membership-system
A paypal addin:
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/paypal-ipn
An events calendar:
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/website-utilities/pdcalendar
Bottomline however is that with all of these packages, its not just a simple install and give to the client, they may require customization on your part so perhaps your client would be better-off with an off-the-shelf non-profit management package if that is what you are looking for.
Would recommend Joomla 2.5.6 for this.
JomSocial have a package that comes with a paid membership system which costs $268. As well as the membership system, I assume you are aware that JomSocial is a very big extension and wtih the right add-ons, will be able to perform many tasks. Take a look here:
http://www.jomsocial.com/package/
A free solution for paid membership could be Akeeba Subscriptions which is a very flexible component and integrated with lots of other extensions.
For donations, take a look at the category on JED here:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/e-commerce/donations
For events and news letters, I would probably recommend using JEvents and
JNews which are both free.
As for a Google Calendar, check out GCalendar, which is also free.
Hope this helps.
I would suggest that you look at the "open source cms market share report", which is published every November and is very useful in determining which CMSs are dominant, which are growing and which are fading. For example Joomla is a dominant player, Umbraco is a growing player.
open source cms market share report 2011
The 2011 Open Source CMS Market Share Report concludes that three
brands - Joomla!, WordPress, and Drupal - dominate today’s market. The
Report concludes that WordPress leads in brand strength and market
share after a strong year.
The Report follows the market share and brand strength indicators for
20 top systems, assessing each on a wide variety of measures. The
study focuses on identifying the market leaders, both in terms of rate
of adoption and mindshare.
While WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal lead the survey set across a wide
range of measures, the report also identifies other trends in this
year's open source CMS market.
** DotNetNuke continues to lead the .NET CMS race, though Umbraco shows strength.
** Liferay & Alfresco are neck and neck in the Java CMS race.
** Concrete5 turns in an exceptional year.
open source cms market share report 2010
I have requirement of preparing an in-house Project Management and accounting app using Microsoft Dynamics. My requirements are similar to what explained in the below page:
http://community.dynamics.com/product/crm/f/117/p/54453/98182.aspx
Can someone suggest that should we use ERP or CRM? And which one to use i.e. SL, GP, NAV, AX? And why?
CRM is probably the first choice to eliminate. Project management is usually an internally facing application, while CRM is by definition, externally facing. Secondly, if you need to maintain budgets, Dynamics CRM doesn't have anything built in for this (a general ledger for example).
As for the others, each will have its own costs and the extent of support you can get for any of them will vary depending on where your business is located. In some areas you may be able to get good SL support but no NAV or AX for example.
As for one you may not have considered, have you considered Project Server / SharePoint? If you need really heavy weight PM capability, Project may be your best bet. SharePoint can do some PM stuff. There's at least one book around by Dux Raymond Sy, published by O'Reilly. He's also done at least one webcast. Both are based on SharePoint 2007.
HTH
Of the Dynamics ERP products, SL is the one most focused on the project management (i.e. Project Accounting) space. CRM doesn't have a lot of project management capabilities built in, but is probably the most customisable and extendable of the dynamics range.
If you're after something that needs to cover the financial aspect of PM (e.g. billing, tracking costs etc) then you should look at the ERP options. If you're not worried about the financial side, then building a custom solution within CRM might be an option.
Came across this thread in a search I was doing. Hope Sukhminder Singh is still listening...
Sounds like you shouldn't abandon Dynamics CRM, a tool which your organization has tried and tested for nurturing customer satisfaction and turning it into ongoing revenue. On the other hand, you need to maintain a smooth accounting and billing relationship with the same customers - and for that, you'll need an ERP solution. As ccellar suggested NAV can do that, or even SharePoint, as suggested by Mike. I'll hazard a guess your organization already has SharePoint, too.
Now, what about the integration? You know, devising an effective, scalable, and future-proof way for getting MS folk to "talk" is quite a challenge! Also, you need a solution that places stress on human, as well as system workflows. The human factor can be decisive in time-critical projects.
Sukhminder, are you going to be coding solutions on either end? That's one way to go, though often, that option comes with high overheads: dragged-out coding projects, functionality that can be difficult to maintain, and even harder to modify, and serious concerns when one of the systems is upgraded or replaced.
From another angle--are you considering BPM? I'd urge you to.
BPM (Business Process Management) software suites are becoming an increasingly practical and mainstream option as an organization's central integration hub. BPM lets you rapidly map out and control mission critical processes involving multiple systems (as in your scenario). BPM lets you visualize the players, processes and apps over time, and when it comes to adjusting, remapping, and remodeling your workflows, you may have to do some coding, but a large part of the work can be done by experienced, non-programmer BPM users.
There are a bunch of vendors out there, each with its own pros and cons. For the job of connecting MS CRM and MS ERP/Sharepoint, here are 3 candidates I have come across.
Kofax's TotalAgility BMP integrates between Dynamics CRM and SharePoint, by leveraging SharePoint capabilities. The solution obviates elaborate coding by supporting workflows, rules, and user screens. It "orchestrates" processes between itself and other MS and products, most notably SharePoint, CRM, Lync, Visio, Outlook. They enable "in-flight" process change and dynamic BPM, so that down-time on your production is minimal. See the data sheet.
Sequence Business Process Management from PNMsoft. Provides integration with systems from many vendors. The forte is on human-centric processes, with a strong bent for Microsoft products. Sequence lets you integrate with existing systems using wizard-based connectors. When your organization changes, Sequence lets you "hot-swap" your business processes fast, without down time in your production.
MuleSoft's CRM-ERP integration. Their strong point is application integration, for connecting (legacy) systems from a range of vendors, including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com, and MS. The Mule ESB is a lightweight integration platform. It comes with a library of connectors to quickly create connectivity with all systems and services, whether on-premise or in the cloud. When adding or modifying an endpoint, you can easily update your integrations to reflect the change.
HTH some....
I'd start off at the Microsoft Dynamics site and explore what each product has on offer. They even have an ERP selector tool for you to try out with just a few questions. Why not contact Microsoft yourself and they could provide a list of potential partners that work in your area - it will be an important decision and they would better guide you through the selection process.
After a few projects which also had an accounting part, I would not recommend to use Dynamics CRM (at least for the accounting part). That's not what it's meant for and you have to spend much effort to get to a level of Dynamics NAV for example.
On the other side: why not combine both systems and use their strenghts.
Seems like one has to get an Id and register as Partner and for such pay a fee each year ?!
From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb458038(v=VS.90).aspx
When you are ready to distribute your
VSPackage, you can obtain a PLK for it
by visiting the VSIP Members Web site.
You must have a Windows Live ID to log
on. After you log on, follow the
instructions to obtain a PLK. For more
information, see How to: Obtain a PLK
for a VSPackage.
When you go there:
http://www.mstoolspartners.com/anonymous/VSIP.aspx
Need help choosing the right
membership level?
Technology Partner Membership
This level focuses on technical
enablement for companies who desire
development assistance with Visual
Studio. Annual fee: $2,000/year
(three-year contract)
Preview the Microsoft Development
Tools Technology Partner contract
Alliance Membership
This level provides technical
enablement as well as a base business
and marketing relationship with
Microsoft. Annual fee: $3,000/year
(three-year contract)
In recent years (i.e. since about 2003), you do not need to pay anything to Microsoft to ship a Visual Studio extension. The information you're looking at is outdated.
Today, the 'paid' VSIP program is only really for companies and groups that want additional marketing and technical benefits for supporting their Visual Studio extension.
To get a VSPackage to load properly in VS2002 - 2008, you do need a Package Load Key (PLK), but it's now just a matter of filling out a simple publicly accessible web form to get one (no payment or login required): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/cc655795
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What is the difference between a Program Manager and Product Manager? Is there actually a difference in the roles/responsibilities or our the terms mostly used interchangeably.
The difference is usually that the program manager handles the whole series of related products, their schedules, budgets, etc, and the product manager handles just the internals of a particular product such as scheduling of individual components and dividing team tasks, as well as leading the particular product team.
Usually, product managers report to the program manager, and the program manager has the final say on budgeting for each product team and the scheduling. The product manager then takes the resources he or she has and divides them amongst the team, coordinating the team's efforts.
Depends entirely on the company. Microsoft, for instance, has its own rather unusual definitions:
Program Manager = one of the members of the core technical staff (alongside developers and testers). Typically responsible for designing & specifying features, planning release cycles, triaging bugs, presenting at technical conferences, managing compliance with technical regulations (internal & governmental), connecting with online communities, and more.
Product Manager = basically a synonym for "marketing suit." They design the product's ad campaigns, sales website, and related swag. More generally, they define the "message" that they hope people (mainstream media, word-of-mouth, and everything in between) will associate with each release.
Both positions gather a lot of data about where the market is heading -- Program Managers from their relationship with the technical community, Product Managers from their industry & media contacts -- but the ultimate decisions about what to build are made by someone higher in the chain. (not the nitty gritty, of course; Program Managers & UX designers are the experts at specifying the details. thinking more of "vision" / "value props" that individual product subunits then go "align" themselves toward)
AIPMM and PMI, two professional organizations in these fields, have both defined unique knowledge areas (KA) associated with their professions that can answer this question. Both product and program managers must master their unique KAs and manage the activities and deliverables associated with them in order to successfully complete their products or programs.
PMI has defined 9 unique project management KAs required to manage projects and programs. They are: Integration, Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Resources, Communication, Risk and Procurement. Programs are collections of related projects but still require mastery of the 9 unique project management KAs.
AIPMM has defined 6 unique product management KAs as part of a universal, cross-industry Product Management Framework (PMF) required to manage products. They are: Customer, Strategy, Product, Market, Business, and Program. The Program KA involves the management those cross-functional projects required to bring products to market. (and very often the Program Manager is a member of the cross functional product management core team).
Hopefully this explanation has introduced some clarity and consistency into the discussion. For more information on the AIPMM unique KAs and the PMF, go to the www.AIPMM.com web site and download the APMF whitepaper.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_International_Product_Marketing_%26_Management
My trick is to change "manager" to expert and see how the titles work. So a product manager becomes a product expert; a project manager is a project expert. See "managers as experts" at http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/topics/06/0603sj
A product manager ensure product profitability by finding and quantifying market problems. He or she defines the business, technical, and marketing artifacts to move an idea to the market and to profitably revenue.
They're different. But definitions will vary between companies.
Generally a product manager has ownership for a specific product. He or she is responsible for working with the customers, sales people, engineers and sr management to figure out what is the best product to be created, determining the time schedule, features, etc.
The program manager is often more of a support person, keeping all the wheels turning, especially working with specialized groups such as manufacturing.
In other firms, the program manager is senior to the product managers, with responsibility across a series of products.
At a former employee of mine that did both defense contracting and product development, program managers and product managers had a peer relationship on the organizational chart and were both subclasses of "project manager".
Program managers were project managers that managed the projects associated with on-going government programs with which we either had direct contracts or were working as subcontractors under another organization. A large enough program could have multiple project managers working under the direction of a program manager.
Product managers were project managers that managed work associated with product development -- this included the "product owner" role associated with Scrum.
Product managers are the voice of the customer and are accountable to two things: profit & loss of a product or product line and positioning. Product managers are a horizontal role and work as mini-CEO for their product.
Since a product is "what people think you sell," product managers generally have influence over anything that impacts that idea from customer experience to technical definition.
Program managers are project managers that are responsible for several projects related to a specific initiative.