CMRUG Summit 2018 Takeaways

Next week, CRMUGDC is meeting for the last meeting of 2018. Part of our agenda includes sharing our top tips and takeaways from CRMUG Summit in Phoenix. This means it's about time for me to review my notes. My Summit experience is below and if you want to hear from others, then get registered for the Washington, DC CRMUG Meeting on November 14th!

Summit Phoenix was a great event! I spoke in 4 sessions and threw an awesome chapter party in partnership with Cobalt!

CRMUGDC 2018 Chapter Party in Phoenix

Now, let me share the top takeaways from these sessions I attended. There were lots of great sessions but there is limited time in the day! Be on a lookout for these sessions and more as future webinars on CRMUG.

5 Ways to use Flow to Improve Dynamics 365
Aiden Kaskela, Mallory Lawhorne

• Demo session featuring several ways that you can start using Flow quickly. We were able to build and test these Flows in just a few minutes
• Flow allows you to integrate multiple systems
• This can be used to create approvals via Email. This allows non-CRM users to quickly approve items and this can be updated automatically inside CRM.
• You can use Flow similar to a PowerApp and make available in a mobile app to create an easy way to enter data and keep working
• You can also even schedule workflows using flows

Workflows and Business Rules vs Custom Code
Ryan Rademann, Andy Potasek

This was a great introduction to the capabilities of workflows and business rules. I really appreciated this flow chart on how to decide which method to use.

Credit: Ryan Rademann, Andy Potasek

Enterprise D365 CRM On-Prem to Online Migration Lessons Learned
Jeff Meister, Megan Gomez

• It was very important to ensure the customer understood what it meant to move to online and what would and would not be possible
• What to do about unsupported customizations? Ensured these items were thoroughly documented. This was an exercise in change management to see if these items were still needed or not.
• Large deciding factor was seeing all the new features available online that were not available because they were on-premise
• Reporting using an Azure replicated database for SSRS reports plus PowerBI

How I Spent My First Year as a New D365 Admin
Peter Gulka

• Find resources that help you learn (such as XrmCoaches, CRM Dynamics)
• Spent time with staff to watch them doing their work so you can effectively advocate for and support them
• Set personal learning goals for the year to keep yourself accountable
• Spend time learning what has been used or tried in the organization so you do not spin your wheels on things that previously failed
• Check your attitude!

Be Sherlock Holmes Investigating Problems

Gustaf Westerlund

• Download the slides and be on the lookout for a repeat of this presentation! This is great for anyone who works with users and troubleshoots issues.
• "Whatever the specific issue, you must formulate it in your mind as specifically as possible - and then you must fill it in with past experience and present observation"
• Don't start deducing until you have already gathered data. You may start going down an incorrect path.
• Steps
• Define problem as specifically as possible
• Gather as much data as possible (details!)
• Separate facts you have confirmed by things you have been told
• "Where" (not "what") is wrong
• Collect as much related information as you can
• Deduce based on data
• Be relentless
• Take a break - get some input
• Ask Watson for help
• Before asking for help - ask yourself: What is the first thing an expert will ask you when they see your problem description?
• Changing perspective

CRMUG Summit 2018: Events to Attend

CRMUG Summit is just a few weeks away. If you are not registered yet, there is still time! Register now and book your flight to Phoenix!

I love Summit because it is an amazing event full of learning. There are so many great sessions on every topic you could need to learn. Plus there are lots of networking opportunities to meet people who live near you, work in your industry or are Microsoft MVPs!

For those heading to Summit, I am going to be speaking in several sessions and involved in a few other events so make sure you plan to attend them all!

First Time Attendee Reception: If its your first time at Summit, or you just want to share your tips with newbies get registered for this Reception. I will be participating to share my tips with the group.

Session: Feeling Alone in the Desert: Basics for New Admins: Wednesday 2:30-3:30 Room 221B. This session helps new administrators learn the first steps for things like personal options, navigation and Advanced Find. 

Session: Solution Management: Your Customization's on the Move: Wednesday 3:45-4:45 Room 221B. Follow me from one session to the next to learn even more skills that are essential for administrators and customizers. We will give an overview of what a solution is and how to get started. Then we will open it up for questions from the audience. 

Session: Is My Data Secure? Wednesday 8:30-9:30 Room 221B. Join an all-star panel to learn more about data security and ask your questions!

Session: Creating an Oasis: Advanced Basics for New Admins: Thursday 2:30-3:30 Room 226A. After attending the earlier session, join us to to build on what you just learned. We will start talking about data maintenance and automation options such as Workflows.

DMV Chapter Party: All attendees from DC, Maryland, Virginia are invited to join us at a special event sponsored by Cobalt! This will be a great time to network and share your takeaways from the conference so far. Register now and block your schedule for Wednesday evening!

What are you most excited for at Summit? What sessions are you registered for?

Girl Power Playlist 2018

I am excited for two big events in the next few weeks. To help me get prepared I am working on a killer, motivational playlist! This is something I do each year but this year I wanted to share with all of you!

A bit about these events: first is D365 Saturday in DC. This is a great free event that anyone can attend to learn more about Dynamics 365. There is an all-star line up of MVP speakers and I can't believe I have the opportunity to speak alongside of them. Second, I will be speaking at CRMUG Summit in Phoenix. At Summit, this will be the first year that I am speaking in 3 sessions! Plus repeating the excitement of last year with a DMV Chapter Party. Side note: THANK YOU Cobalt for sponsoring and always supporting our chapters!

All of these things can be scary and intimidating! It's helpful to me to have a Girl Power Playlist to pump me up before these events. I need these reminders that I can do it and I am smart! Some of these songs just remind me that hard work is worth it. Others are just power house songs from (mainly) female fronted artists. Plus a few that are more faith-based and help bring calm in the storm. Then of course a little TayTay because all power playlists need some!

Enjoy my song selections below. I am fully aware of some of my embarrassing musical selections but we are not going to discuss the number of albums I have from Disney Channel stars.

How do you prep for these things? Any songs missing from my playlist?

How To: Taking Notes at Conferences and Events

Today it is cold and rainy and I am dreaming of being at CRMUG Summit in Phoenix in just a few weeks. This makes me think of all the things I will be learning! When I first started attending conferences the amount of content was overwhelming. Then I would get back to the office and have no way to organize it in my mind or notes so everything would get lost and forgotten in the shuffle.

So here are my steps for taking successful notes:

Find the Right Tool

I like to use OneNote for taking notes because I can easily sync this between my devices. I can have my Surface at the event and then when I login at work I can quickly find and search for things quickly.

I am the type of person who needs to write things down to remember them. So I prefer to take handwritten notes and lock things in my mind. However, I realized that doing this at a big event means you leave with a notebook full of content that is difficult to search and share. The benefit of typing outweighs my desire to hand write everything because if I can't remember I can search for it!

Another cool tool to look at it Microsoft Lens. This is a phone app that lets you take better pictures of presentations. I use this if there is a particular slide I want to remember or share on social media.

Download the Presentation in Advance

When I am listening to a presentation I want to remember everything! I don't always have time to pick and choose what I think will be valuable in my life. To save some time, I try to download the presentation before the session begins. At Summit, I will usually be online and finding the session right before the session starts or during the introduction.

I will download the PowerPoint then copy the slides into my OneNote. You can do this by selecting all the slides (in the left slide navigation area) and then just pasting in to OneNote. If the presenter uses a PDF instead you can use the PDF Printing to print to OneNote to achieve the same effect.

Once the slides are in my OneNote, I will type any additional notes right beside the slide. This helps get my focus off of just writing down everything I see and actually start listening so I can ask valuable questions.

If the slides are not available before the presentation, then I still try to write as much down as I can. Even if the presenter plans to upload the slides, it is very possible that I will forget to download and save them.

Take Time to Review

Finally, make sure you plan time to review these notes. As the sessions are going on, if I see something particularly interesting I will highlight it and/or include extra notes for how this could apply in my organization. After the session, I like to read through all the notes to highlight my top takeaways. This helps secure the general information in my mind and can help me quickly find the big items later. 

I hope this helps as you prepare for D365 Saturday DC and CRMUG Summit! What additional note taking tips am I missing?

DMV Upcoming Events

If you were not at the Q3 Regional Chapter Meeting for DC, Reston, VA and Richmond, VA chapters then you really missed out! This was a great event with amazing presenters and even a wine tasting. Check out this blog for all the details and reference information.

Now that you know the awesome our Microsoft Dynamics 365 community is, you can get registered for our upcoming events!

D365 Saturday - This event will feature a hackathon on Friday and a full-day of content on Saturday. The agenda is jam packed with great speakers on multiple tracks of learning.

Summit Chapter Party in Phoenix - For CRMUG Summit attendees from the DMV we are having a chapter party. Join us after the sessions end for the day for dinner and drinks. Cobalt is sponsoring the event and continues to be a big supporter of our chapter! (THANK YOU!) Keep an eye on the CRMUGDC Chapter Community for details!

Q4 Chapter Meeting - Back to our regularly scheduled programming, we will have a meeting on November 14th. This will be a great event to share your takeaways from CRMUG Summit and network with your peers.

DC Dynamics 365 Devs Meetup - Also keep an eye on this meetup for their monthly events on a variety of developer topics.

Lots of events in the DC area to keep you busy and learning. Save the date today!