Date Hierarchy for TDS endpoint in Power BI
Quick tip. I had enabled the TDS endpoint on our customers environment and connected to it via Power BI. I initially was able to view the date fields in a Hierarchy format. This is great for analysis…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Date Hierarchy for TDS endpoint in Power BI Quick tip. I had enabled the TDS endpoint on our customers environment and connected to it via Power BI. I initially...
Embedded Canvas Apps in Model-Driven App Sizing issue
Quick tip in this blog post. I love Canvas Apps with how they can simplify a usually 'clicky' process in a model-driven app and as such, I look to implement them and embedd them in model-driven apps where…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Embedded Canvas Apps in Model-Driven App Sizing issue Quick tip in this blog post. I love Canvas Apps with how they can simplify a usually...
SharePoint auto number generation solution using Flow
On a recent customer engagement, we had a requirement where we needed to create an automatic reference code for each SharePoint list item that was created. For this particular scenario, the number didn…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog SharePoint auto number generation solution using Flow On a recent customer engagement, we had a requirement where we needed to create an automatic reference code...
Using Stripe as a payment gateway for Dynamics 365 Marketing
Recently, I had a customer requirement to use Stripe for processing event registration payments. I knew that with Dynamics 365 Marketing, you have the ability to use a custom gateway but not much documentation…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/bruce365usingdynamics/posts/using-stripe-as-a-payment-gateway-for-dynamics-365-marketing Blog Syndicated with Bruce...
Dynamics 365 Marketing Templates Layout Bug
In the latest update of the Dynamics 365 Marketing solution, when creating a new blank email, you get the options to add layout components: Layout options in Dynamics 365 This has been a great new addition…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Dynamics 365 Marketing Templates Layout Bug In the latest update of the Dynamics 365 Marketing solution, when creating a new blank email, you get the options...
Capitalise your lead and contacts names consistently in CDS
Leads and contacts within your common data service (CDS) environment can come from multiple sources. Some common sources include: Imports from Excel spreadsheets Data integrations Manual user…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Capitalise your lead and contacts names consistently in CDS Leads and contacts within your common data service (CDS) environment can come from multiple sources. Some...
Set canvas PowerApp date to the last day of the month
When working with canvas PowerApps, you may have a need to have some date ranges set by default. A typical scenario might be where you have 2 date filters and you want to show records that occured between…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Set canvas PowerApp date to the last day of the month When working with canvas PowerApps, you may have a need to have some date ranges set by default. A...
Custom views on lookup wont work without name field
Quick tip here, when setting a custom view on a lookup in the form designer: Always ensure that the name attribute is on the view too, even if it wont be displayed. I had noticed that my search results were not working at all when I had typed in the lookup field. After an hour of troubleshooting, I added the name field onto the view and voila! Search and the control in general started behaving. Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s...
Installing Dynamics 365 Marketing in an existing environment with a portal
I recently wanted to install and configure D365 for Marketing to our existing environment and faced a few issues and gotchas which I wanted to jot down. Primarily, if you have a portal configured (e.g customer portal) you will need to reset your portal to leave it in an ‘unconfigured’ state Note that your portal records/configuration settings wont be lost as these are kept in your Dynamics/CDS environment. You will though...
Display product images in a quote in Dynamics 365
We recently had a requirement to display the out of the box product images within a quote generated by the standard Dynamics document generation process. The expected output would be similar to the below. Unfortunately, the document generation wizard in Dynamics doesnt go beyond a depth of 2 entities. With the document template based on the quote entity, the product entity (3 levels down Quote -> Quote Detail -> Product)...
Using Dynamics 365 portal metadata to change the standard case create process
When you have a Dynamics 365 Portal up and running and you provide the capabilities for contacts to create cases, the standard out of the box 'Create Case' form maps the contact to the customer…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Using Dynamics 365 portal metadata to change the standard case create process When you have a Dynamics 365 Portal up and running and you provide the...
Working with Dynamics 365 entity records in Canvas PowerApps
When creating a Canvas PowerApp connected to Dynamics 365/CDS, you may want to present the values in an entity as options within a drop down box (combo box) or a list box for selection. This would be useful…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Working with Dynamics 365 entity records in Canvas PowerApps When creating a Canvas PowerApp connected to Dynamics 365/CDS, you may want to present the...
Using Azure functions as a scheduler for Dynamics 365
A few months ago I had a requirement where I needed to flag records as expired which were past their expiry date within Dynamics. I have seen/implemented various techniques before that involved using Dynamics itself as the scheduling engine, but that wasn’t always consistent nor performant. I have also been done the path of creating console applications that are then setup to execute on a server on a scheduled basis. These...
Get the logged in users Dynamics user record ID in a Canvas PowerApp
When working with a canvas PowerApp that integrates into Dynamics 365, you occasionally need the current users’ Dynamics user GUID. This could be used to populate lookup references on the various records within Dynamics. The user details provided by the User function within a Canvas app relates to the Office 365 user account of the logged in user. We know that for a single user, who has access to multiple Dynamics environments,...
Display SharePoint images on mobile devices in a Canvas PowerApp
I had been playing with displaying SharePoint images within a canvas app and everything was looking great when I was doing my testing on the web interface. This canvas app was for mobile use though and when I started testing it on mobile – I noticed that the SharePoint images weren’t displaying. A quick search on the internet and you find that others have been tripped up by this too! After some head scratching, I came up...
Money in the Bank – Episode 2 – Quick Quotes
In the 2nd episode of the video series I started a while back, Money in the Bank, I take a look at the ‘quick’ quoting capabilities within Dynamics and see how a canvas app could be used as an alternative. As per usual, the guiding principles I will be using for comparing the out of the box Dynamics 365 capabilities are as follows: Use of OOTB entities were possible No code and very little customizations The 2nd episode...
Display Dynamics related pictures hosted in SharePoint in a Canvas PowerApp
As a continuation on my current focus on canvas apps for Dynamics 365, I wanted to show a quick mockup I made to display related images (hosted in SharePoint) for a specific record in Dynamics. This would be useful in a quoting or shopping scenario. The approach below could also be used to display associated documents etc too. Where I think this would be REALLY useful is when canvas apps can be embedded in Dynamics forms..imagine...
Mini-Video Series Launch – Money in the Bank with PowerApps
I’m going to be creating a mini-series of videos that illustrate how businesses can use canvas apps to leverage existing functionality within your Dynamics environment more efficiently which in turn allows you to save money to put back in your bank account! Each episode will begin with a specific business scenario/challenge to address and I will compare the times it takes to complete the tasks with the standard dynamics...
Using PowerApps & Flow to return Dynamics data immediately
I have worked on Canvas apps previously and think they are AWESOME! I will be creating & mocking up a few Canvas apps over the coming weeks and thought I would blog on the various nifty features or tips that might be useful. The feature I want to elaborate on with this blog is the ‘Respond to PowerApps’ function available in Flow. Previously, if you had a button on a canvas app that called a Flow which created a...
Using PowerApps & Flow to return Dynamics data immediately
I have worked on Canvas apps previously and think they are AWESOME ! I will be creating & mocking up a few Canvas apps over the coming weeks and thought I would blog on the various nifty features or tips…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Using PowerApps & Flow to return Dynamics data immediately I have worked on Canvas apps previously and think they are AWESOME ! I will be creating...
Dynamics 365 Security Gotcha – Notes & other related records
I was investigating an issue where a tester was able to view a note against an opportunity which they weren’t meant to. This note was owned by a user from a different business unit and the security roles assigned to the tester allowed for business unit level read only of notes. I checked and triple checked that the tester wasn’t inheriting any roles from teams or assigned a role that provided organization-wide visibility...
Dynamics 365 Security Gotcha – Notes & other related records
I was investigating an issue where a tester was able to view a note against an opportunity which they weren't meant to. This note was owned by a user from a different business unit and the security roles…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Dynamics 365 Security Gotcha – Notes & other related records I was investigating an issue where a tester was able to view a note against an...
Dynamics 365 Saturday 2018 Reflection
I had the pleasure of running a workshop at the Sydney Dynamics 365 Saturday event on the 4th of May, 2018. It’s been over a month now since the event and have had some time to reflect on it all, now that the dust has settled. Its the 2nd year in a row I’ve presented at the Sydney event and enjoy it more each time. Good job organizing Nadeeja! What was really great for me personally was the networking and new connections I...
Generate Quote PDF attachments in Dynamics through Flow
When needing to generate PDF’s in Dynamics CRM/365, for example on a quote or invoice, you typically need to use a 3rd party solution/add-on to automate this or do it manually. Dynamics has functionality you can work with but that just doesn’t quite fit the requirement…case in point: Word templates. You can use them to generate a quote, but there is still the need for the user to save/convert the word document to PDF...
Alternative approach to check for a single Dynamics record in Flow
Microsoft Flow has been a revelation when it comes to empowering the ‘Citizen Developer’. The range of connectors and its simple configuration UI has led to this uptake. It has a range of Dynamics connectors too! One item that irks me is that to query/’get’ a single record from Dynamics, based on values other than the GUID, you have to use the ‘List records’ action. The ‘Get record’...
Attachment Management for Dynamics is Supported
Attachment Management for Dynamics is Supported – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community Storage usage & costs within Dynamics usually becomes an issue as usage increases and more...
365 Notify Launch
365 Notify Launch – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community Towards the end of December 2017, I published my very first app in the Microsofts appsource, 365 Notify I have been asked, on countless projects/deployments, questions along these lines: Cant CRM send a notification or email when X happens? Do I have to refresh my dashboard each time to see if I have been assigned...
Using PowerApps & Flow to simplify Dynamics Sales teams activity capture
If you have rolled out Dynamics CRM/365 for sales teams who are out on the road, you will know the typical challenges you can face with user adoption and usage. Typical gripes from external sales teams…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Using PowerApps & Flow to simplify Dynamics Sales teams activity capture If you have rolled out Dynamics CRM/365 for sales teams who are out on the road,...
Using PowerApps & Flow to simplify Dynamics Sales teams activity capture
Using PowerApps & Flow to simplify Dynamics Sales teams activity capture – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community If you have rolled out Dynamics CRM/365 for sales teams who are out on the road, you will know the typical challenges you can face with user adoption and...
Announcing 365 Notify
Announcing 365 Notify – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community I have been working on a Dynamics CRM/365 add-in during my spare time, which I thought would be useful across a different number of business processes. It is in the process of being added to the Dynamics App Source but would be keen to get any feedback or thoughts from anyone...
Upgrade of Workflow Business Process Flow real time triggers Dynamics 365
Upgrade of Workflow Business Process Flow real time triggers Dynamics 365 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community We had a workflow in our existing CRM environment that does validation on the lead entity as the stage is about to change. Basically it validates that before you move to ‘stage 3’, a field must be in the range of accepted values in ‘stage...
CRM Saturday Sydney
CRM Saturday Sydney On Saturday the 12th of August, I had the honour of presenting at the very first CRM Saturday here in Sydney. It was a fantastic day with lots of great content from the various SME’s in the Dynamics community. I gave a quick presentation on how you can drive...
Filter Dynamics 365 data by lookup in Azure Logic Apps
Filter Dynamics 365 data by lookup in Azure Logic Apps – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community I have been playing with logic apps in Azure to see if I could solve a business problem in a more robust, quicker and reliable manner than the usual integration options. When using the the Dynamics ‘List Records’ function, you have the option to add a filter to the query to allow you to be specific on the exact record(s) you...
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook Gotcha Outlook 2013
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook Gotcha Outlook 2013 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community So after hours of initial troubleshooting and some back and forth with Microsoft support, Microsoft...
Dynamics 365, Exchange & Logic Apps – Web enquiries match made in heaven
Most businesses 'Contact Us/Enquiry' pages generate an email notifying the business stakeholders of the submission along with the details of the enquiry. In a business where the sales or qualification…(read more) Continue Reading Bruce Bee’s Article on their blog Dynamics 365, Exchange & Logic Apps – Web enquiries match made in heaven Most businesses ‘Contact Us/Enquiry’ pages generate an...
Dynamics 365, Exchange & Logic Apps – Web enquiries match made in heaven
Dynamics 365, Exchange & Logic Apps – Web enquiries match made in heaven – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community Most businesses ‘Contact Us/Enquiry’ pages generate an email notifying the business stakeholders of the submission along with the details of the enquiry. In a business where the sales or qualification process is managed in Dynamics, there is typically a need to integrate or automate the enquiry...
Send meeting invites with Dynamics CRM & Server Side Synchronization
Send meeting invites with Dynamics CRM & Server Side Synchronization – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community A common request or question Ive seen a few times is ” How can we send a meeting invite from within CRM?” or ” Can you only send a meeting request with the CRM outlook client...
Going to a Paperless Application form with ClickDimensions
Going to a Paperless Application form with ClickDimensions – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community Background We had a scenario where the process of registering and setting up of new re-sellers of our company’s product was going to be pushed to its limit. This process was as follows: A sales manager provides a PDF with about 100 questions on it to the new seller to fill...
Process Ribbon Next Stage button hidden in Chrome
Process Ribbon Next Stage button hidden in Chrome I had a Dynamics user bring up an issue where they couldnt see the ‘Next Stage’ button to progress Nothing had changed, no deployments had been made and it had been working fine earlier on! Turns out, if you zoom in or out in Chrome, the button can disappear!...
CRM 2016 Advanced Find Error
CRM 2016 Advanced Find Error – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community I had a strange scenario where users would get this error message whenever they tried to use Advanced Find: So as you do, you get them to download the log file and send it across to...
Personalizing email Content with ClickDimensions
Personalizing email Content with ClickDimensions – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Community Background I have been creating and crafting email templates using ClickDimensions for CRM Dynamics 365 lately. As you personalize emails more to try and get the best responses, every little bit of ‘Attention to detail’...