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| CRM MVPs at the Medic booth just hanging out with CRMUGDC |
Another awesome year
of CRMUG Summit has come and gone. It was a great event!
If you attended, be
sure to download the slides from the Summit
Community. If you did not attend, be on the lookout for the "Best of
Summit" Webinar series open to CRMUG members. I would recommend Basics
of Becoming your Organizations CRM Guru (recording) and Advanced
Techniques for Becoming your Organizations CRM guru (coming up on 11/17).
There was lots of
discussion about the new Dynamics 365 release at the main keynote with Scott Guthrie
and the CRMUG General Microsoft Keynote with Jujar Singh. There are so many
great plans on the horizon like Cortana integrated intelligence, editable excel
grids in CRM, and visual process flow designer. Keep your eyes open and looking
for the exciting things to come.
Another highlight of
the week was being selected as Chapter Leader of the Year for my work with the
Washington, DC chapter. It is such a great honor and I am so thankful to be a
part of a great chapter! I hope we can continue to grow and provide great content
in 2017. (You
can read the press release here)
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| So excited to be Chapter Leader of the Year! |
Check out below to
see my takeaways from some of the sessions I attended.
Post Launch: What Happens Now
Dan Madden, SEI
Investments
This session was a
great discussion of the user adoption story at his organization. They took some
risks and drastic steps to ensure the CRM project was a success including
purging old/bad data and short forms.
Here are my top
takeaways:
- The problem with hands on training is that people start Outlook and stop paying attention, minimize distractions
- Focus on high-level features then provide support and deeper training post-launch
- Record training sessions so these can be sent to users, takes away scheduling issues with training
- Marketing adoption is very important! If marketing doesn't have adoption they will be pulling users out of CRM and into Spreadsheets. If users need to update data twice (CRM and spreadsheet) they will stop using CRM
- Make use of dashboards! Do not release these on Day 1, wait until the data is there to support it. Incorporate the high level financial goals of the organization and present this data so users can see how they are achieving in these areas. Show users what their data is doing and powering - real time and transparent reporting
- Keep forms small and expose necessary fields as others are filled in.
- Look for meaningful wins but be careful which projects you take over (can be sunsetting other people's projects)
- Look to solve the business and data needs, you do not need to take advantage of all new features
Keys to Marketing Automation in CRM
Dean Jones,
PowerObjects
This partner
showcase for PowerObjects' PowerNurture discussed what marketing is and the
goal of marketing. He discussed that it is very difficult to quantify ROI for
marketing because you do not know what it means. We cannot actually tell what
can be attributed to the marketing. Plus everyone has a different definition of
marketing.
The suggestion was
to start simple and then continue to add to your marketing solution. Keep in
mind you don't just market to leads, you market to customers too!
Tactical tools can
help you to execute your marketing message but you need to define your
marketing plan and message before this. Marketing must take ownership of this
plan. Market to leads and customers in your CRM, the focus must be on both.
Also the recommendation given was that all of your marketing data should be
kept in CRM so you have a full picture of the person.
You want to send the
right message to the right person at the right time. The shot gun approach to
marketing is less effective than a targeted message.
ABC's of CRM Training
Malin Dell'Amico,
Wells Fargo
Kristi Cohen , Wells
Fargo
This was a great
session about things to keep in mind with CRM Training but most can apply to
any training you are involved in.
During training:
Start off by telling users how CRM will benefit them. Show them how it will
make them more efficient. Also communicate the expectations after training -
what is the timeframe for using this knowledge, what are they expected to know,
etc. Keep a positive attitude in training so your enthusiasm will spread to
them. Also acknowledge issues and teach them how to handle them (for example,
if there is duplicate data teach them how to merge. Also try to organize your
training for it follow their processes and flows together.
After training:
Provide something for them to use as a recap when they get back to the office.
Embed videos inside CRM and links to training materials. Make sure to mark
these as new when they are updated. Ensure there are power users to help with
questions and additional training.
Potential Pitfalls:
Check you have the right level of management buy in (not just the very top).
Users should know that the training is critical, ensure that it is their top
priority and limit the distractions while in class. Ensure users understand
that other people are using the same system and how processes affect their
data.
Different Strokes: Business Rules vs
JavaScript
Donna Edwards,
Tribridge
Many people are
using Business Rules to replace Java Script on their CRM forms or for new form
enhancements. Donna recommended to use Business Rules when you can. These
should run faster because Microsoft is controlling the code, JavaScript is
controlled by whoever wrote it. Keep in mind that there can be odd interactions
between Business Rules and Java Script so test extensively.
Business Rules can
run on the client or the server. Client (form level) will require a user to
interact with the form. Server level does not require a user interaction and it
will trigger even when records are integrated.
The run order is as
follows: system JavaScript, custom JavaScript, then Business Rules in the order
they were activated.
Reminders:
- Business Rules can be included in a solution when moving between environments
- Always set the counter action (else if)
- Do not have JavaScript and Business Rules taking action on the same field
Getting Started with Excel Templates
Adam Vero, CRM MVP
Please download the slides
for this session! So many great tips for getting started with Excel
Templates along with general advice for better Excel reporting. Here were my
top takeaways:
- Dynamic Export vs Excel Templates
- In Dynamic Export you must maintain one approved version, this is difficult to control as people may edit their personal versions
- Dynamic Exports can include data from other versions, CRM query is built in
- Excel Templates stores the columns but not the filters, you can choose which view you want to uses each time you run it
- Excel Templates are managed in CRM, so users will always get the most recent version
- Keep raw data on one tab. Make a new tab for calculations and one for the final report. Work and data tabs can be hidden.
- If you change the template, you need to deactivate and create a new template with the same name. If done mid-day, users will need to refresh.
- When using PivotTables, use the GetPivot data formulas to extract data from the Pivot
- Keep your colors consistent for related dimensions for consistency within and between reports
Tools for CRM
Two more great
sessions I attended were XRM Factor (6 tools, 2 minutes each, live voting,
non-stop excitement!) and 8 Tools for Developers and Admins. Both provided some
great tools you should check out to see if they could work in your
organization.
- Fiddler - web debugging proxy
- Task Workflow Tools - custom workflow steps to extend your workflows
- Mobile Task Flows - walk users through tasks in the mobile or phone app
- Ribbon Workbench - visually edit the ribbon
- CRM Bookmarklets - JavaScript saved as bookmarks to "hack" your CRM (edit read only fields, show hidden fields, etc.)
- XRM Toolbox - pretty much anything else not on this list (and some on this list) that you might want to do with CRM. I recommend the metadada document generator to look like you did a lot of work!
- Metablast - visual utility for exporting metadata
- CRM Snoop - Plugin Troubleshooting tool
- LinqPad - Easily run .NET code
- CRM DevTools - Chrome extension visible in the F12 developer area with lots of helpful functions for admins. Downloaded as soon as I got back to the office. It is worth it just to remember the debug and diagnostic links
- KingswaySoft - SSIS Integration toolkit
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