Lists in emails in Customer Insights – Journeys
Customers have often asked me if they can’t list out different things in an email in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys. For example; < ul> Different insurances the contact has registered Names of contacts registered on an account Products a customer has bought Passes or sessions a contact has registered for in an event Events a contact has registered for the past 3… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s...
MB-260 Identify capabilities and limitations for scheduled refreshes
In previous posts, we’ve gone through incremental updates for our data, data which is updated when there’s a change to them. Now let’s look at scheduled refreshes. Scheduled refreshes automatically update ingested data sources in unified customer profiles. The scheduled refresh is found under “Settings”, “System” and “Schedule” You can schedule automatic refreshes of all your...
Register for sessions on events in CI-Journeys
In the January release for Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys, we got the “Boost participation and simplify planning with session-based event registrations” feature. This can be a handy tool for many events, so let’s see how it’s set up and used. To start using session-level registrations in events, go to Settings -> Feature switches -> Event management and turn on the “Enable…...
MB-260: Configure incremental refresh
You can configure the incremental refresh after you’ve transformed the data in Power Query, you can also do this by editing the source after you’ve finished. Maybe you’ve set it up ready, but after reading about incremental refresh, you realise how smart it is and you want to edit your data source refresh. Microsoft Power Query (MPQ) To be able to use incremental refresh with MPQ you… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Identify data sources that support incremental updates
For a data source to be able to support incremental updates, it needs to be a structured, relational database and it needs: a primary key column that uniquely identifies records a date/time column that indicates when the data was last updated In Customer Insights – Data this is now: Some sources in Power Query like (not a complete list) Azure SQL Database SQL Database SAP… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on...
MB-260: Describe benefits of pre-unification data enrichment
You can do two types of enrichments on data sources: address enrichments and identity data from LiveRamp. The main benefit of pre-unification data enrichment is improved data quality. Enriching the data before the unification process makes it easier to get matches and ensure your data is of higher quality before you start unifying it. It can also reduce duplicated unified profiles as you’re… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Describe the differences between individual consumer and business account profiles
Some people are customers not connected to a company only as individuals (B2C). While other people are customers through their employer (B2B). When Customer Insights -Data was first released only B2C scenarios were supported. This has since been expanded and now you have individual consumer or business account profiles. The individual consumer profiles capture and analyze data for the… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s...
MB-260: Transform, cleanse, and load data by using Power Query
In this post, we’ll go through the three topics of the Microsoft Power Query: Select tables and columns Resolve data inconsistencies, unexpected or null values, and data quality issues Evaluate and transform column data types In my previous post (insert a link to MPQ post). I connected to GA and got an error message because I got null values back. This shows that you can’t set up… Continue Reading Malin...
MB 260: Describe real-time ingestion capabilities and limitations
In the post MB-260: Describe support for near real-time updates we go through what the real-time updates are, what the prerequisites are, what can be done and how. In this post, we’ll at the limitations of real-time ingestion of data. Near real-time updates give you the ability to see the latest interactions customers have with products or services within seconds. The interactions can be… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Determine whether to use the managed data lake or an organization’s data lake
When you first set up Customer Insights – Data you have to select if you want to use the managed data lake or the your own organization’s data lake. Create storage for CI-D To determine whether to use the managed data lake or an organization’s data lake, we first need to know the difference between the two and what your company needs. For most companies, the managed data late will… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Ingest and transform data using Power Query connectors
Let’s review how to use Microsoft Power Query(MPQ) as your data source. And how you can ingest and transform that data. This post will be an overview of the MPQ as we’ll go further in depth with the section “Transform, cleanse, and load data by using Power Query”. First, you go to data and add your data source, you then select Microsoft Power Query. Add Microsoft Power Query After… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Attach to a Microsoft Dataverse data lake
To connect to a Dataverse data source you go to “Data” -> “Data sources” and select Microsoft Dataverse. Here you need to give the source a name and connect to your Dataverse server address (til is the URL of your Microsoft CRM system). Add Dataverse as a data source You then select the tables you want to sync to CI-D. I’ve added accounts and contacts and clicked save. Add table in… Continue...
MB-260: Determine which data sources to use
To determine which data source to use, you first need to consider where your data is stored. Depending on where your data is stored, you have different ways of connecting to the data. There are out-of-the-box direct connections with the following: Azure Data Lake Azure Synapse Analytics Microsoft Dataverse Azure Data Lake – Delta tables With other sources, you can use… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on...
MB 260: Describe support for enrichment
As we learned from the first post, enrichment is when you connect to other data sources to get more information about your customer data. It’s adding data to your existing customer data. Let’s dig deeper into what enrichments are and how you can use them. To configure enrichments you start by using connections, which we’ll go through in a later post. When the connection is created, your… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Describe support for near real-time updates
Doesn’t every company dream about having the latest interactions from customers at hand seconds after they happen? A full sync of all data from your systems to CI-D can take hours, but there’s a way for you to get these interactions updated near real-time. There are APIs for updating customer profiles in near real-time (seconds). When the full sync of your data is finished, the near… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Describe the first run experience (FRE) in D365 Customer Insights – Data
First run experience or FRE is when you have a single CSV file with your data that you want to add to the system. This is a quick way of starting your CI-D journey or testing with your own data, without connecting CI-D to any system. If you have a new system you will most likely have the FRE popup. If you don’t get this popup you can go to the home page and click “Add data” on the “Gets… Continue Reading...
Release wave 1 2024 Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data
For the first time, I’m doing a post on the release wave for both Customer Insights – Journeys and Customer Insights – Data! Read the post about CI-J Let’s look at the features Microsoft is working on for the next 9 months. Remember that these plans can change and things can be pushed, postponed or even removed by Microsoft. This post was accurate when it was published (25 January… Continue Reading Malin...
Release wave 1 2024 Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys
Not too long ago I wrote a post on what’s to come from December to March ’24, now the plans until September are out! For the first time, I’m now doing a post on the release wave for both CI-J and CI-D! Read the post about CI-D Let’s look at the features Microsoft is working on for the next 9 months. Remember that these plans can change and things can be pushed, postponed or even… Continue Reading Malin...
MB-260: Describe Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data components, including tables, relationships, enrichments, activities, measures, and segments
Components There are many components you need to know about in Customer Insights – Data (CI-D), these are what make your customer picture clear. Who is your customer, where do they work (if B2B), what have they bought, which emails have they read, which of your websites have they visited, and how much have they spent on you. Some of the most important components… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog...
MB-260: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (Data) Specialist
Speciality badge for the MB-260 certification As I’m waiting for the MB-220 Customer Insights Journey certification to change, I wanted to do a series on the MB-260 Customer Insights Data certification. I’ll update this post with links to each section. You should always start reading the study guide for the exam, you can find it here: Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog MB-260: Microsoft Dynamics...
Consent center in Real-time marketing
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people about how the new consent center in real-time marketing works in Customer Insights – Journeys. In this post, I’ll try to explain how it’s set up and how you can use it as it is with the December ’23 release. If you’ve done the work and looking for how to move from outbound to real-time marketing – click here. To (need) consent or not…...
What’s coming in Customer Insights-Journeys in December-March?
At the time of the release of this post, we’re waiting on the December ’23 release for Customer Insights – Journeys, it’s hopefully right around the corner. Because there are so many features there I think will have a huge (positive, just to be clear) impact on users, I thought I would write something about some of them. I don’t think I can remember a period in the release plans where I’ve…...
Send an email when a contact submits a form in Customer Insights – Journeys
A customer of mine is moving from outbound to real-time marketing and is creating new forms in RTM. In outbound they have had a Power Automate Flow created to send them a notification every time a new form submission comes in the system, so we wanted to copy that over to RTM, it shouldn’t be much of an issue, just copy and change the table that triggers it, right, riiiiight….? Well, it was an… Continue Reading Malin...
Customer Insights -Journeys Copilot frenzy
Copilot is Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant, which spans across most of what Microsoft deliver today and in the future. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys have had features from Copilot for some time, but a lot has happened fall of 2023. We all know Microsoft has gone Copilot crazy, but did you know that in the release planner there are 22 Copilot news from May 1st to February 2024!… Continue Reading Malin...
Am I breaking up with HR?
Since March 2018 I’ve been blogging and working with Dynamics 365 Human Resources, or Talent as it was called back then. It’s been quite a journey for me these years and I’ve learned so much and gotten to know many people, many of whom I now call friends. Much of it is thanks to D365 HR, I would not be where I am today without the system. I started with passing the new exam and realised… Continue Reading Malin...
Customise a journey in RTM
In Dynamics 365 Marketing things happen so fast that it can be hard to keep track of every new feature. Since April ’23 you have had the ability to customise columns shown in a real-time journey, so all the tagging and connecting to campaigns you’ve always wanted to do, is now possible. Let’s go through how you can customise the journey and what limitations there are. Editing the journey… Continue Reading Malin...
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Workspace
When delivering training on MB-230 Microsoft Dynamics Customer Service or talking about Dynamics 365 Customer Service, I often come across people who haven’t heard about the Customer Service Workspace (CSW). Many doesn’t know that it’s included in the customer service license and doesn’t require the omnichannel license. Every time I show this to someone working in customer service, they love… Continue...
New security roles admin
The screenshot above may be familiar to you. For the 10 years I’ve worked with Dynamics 365 CRM (yes, I still call it CRM) and Dataverse, the way we create and edit security roles has been the same. This has now changed! There’s finally a new way of doing security roles! One that doesn’t look like it’s a blast from the past. To find it you go to your environment -> settings -> security… Continue...
MB-220 Configure marketing applications (15–20%)
The MB-220 certification is divided into 8 major sections. The first of these sections is all about configuring the application to work optimally. It contains the following four sub-sections; Configure the Dynamics 365 Marketing app Configure organization settings Configure and manage marketing settings Manage insights I referred to several blogs and learning materials in the
MB-220: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant
This entire blog once started because I couldn’t find the content I wished someone had written for the certification MB6-898 about the HR solution from Microsoft. I now do a lot of training for multiple products in the Microsoft world and I’ve been asked by a lot of students where they could find any content on the MB-220 Marketing certification. And I’ve so far had to tell everyone that… Continue Reading Malin...
Dynamics 365 Human Resources 2022 release wave 1
Finally, it’s time for the first release notes for 2022 – wave 1 is upon us and it’s awesome! Like the previous releases the team behind HR has focused on three key areas, this time those areas are: Improving business automation: Equip HR professionals with the ability to tailor experiences and automatically complete processes when employees are joining, leaving, and moving within an… Continue Reading Malin...
Protected: HR bootcamp
This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading. Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog HR bootcamp Published by Malin Martnes I have worked with different CRM systems for almost 10 years, and worked as a consultant with Dynamics CRM for 4 years. Since march 2018 I have worked with Microsoft’s new HR system, Dynamics 365 for Talent, and gained unique...
Analytics: Skill gap analysis
Skill Gap Analysis There are two types of skill gap analysis, one is for managers to see their employees against jobs, the other is for HR to see any employee against jobs. Both use the same interface, but can be accessed from different places in the system. Skill gap analysis from the Manager self service workspace With the Skill gap analysis, you can see how a person’s skill is… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article...
Organisation setup: Workers
A worker in Dynamics 365 Human Resources is a person, the worker can be a candidate, an employee, a contractor or a previous employee. The data of the worker is divided in 3 tabs: ProfileCompetencies and developmentPayroll Worker record Worker profile The profile tab is set up with the following four subsections: Worker summaryAddressesContact informationPersonal… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog...
Release wave 2 2021 Human Resources
Finally, the day is here where the release notes are publicly available! In the notes, you can read that Microsoft focus on three areas; Broaden the human capital management (HCM) ecosystem: Continue broadening our HCM ecosystem through integration APIs and strategic partnerships. Reimagine the employee experience: Expand our investments in the employee experience and bringing those… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s...
Introduction: License
The current licensing on Dynamics 365 Human Resources (as it is in July 2021) is as standard $120 per user per month if HR is your only Dynamics 365 app. If you have other apps and those same users will have access to HR, the cost is $30 per user per month. You must have a minimum of 5 full licenses of HR. License Self service licence That cover the users that needs the full access… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article...
Task management: Apply checklists to a worker
After you’ve done all of the setup of task management, you can now start using the checklists. There are several ways of doing that in D465 HR, here are four ways. You can apply a checklist via the people workspace, find the worker you want to add the list to, click more (…), and you can select a checklist. People workspace You can also select checklist on a worker, in the… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on...
Task management: Onboarding/Offboarding/Transitions
Dropdown to choose task management In task management you have access to onboarding, offboarding and transitions. If you want to see the different tasks in the different areas you have to choose the right are in the dropdown below Task management. The default is onboarding. Onboarding, offboarding and transitions setup is exactly the same. After you’ve created the tasks and… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article...
Task management: Checklists
Checklists A checklist is a collection of tasks that must be completed as part of a business process. For example, there might be a checklist that all new employees complete, and one or more other checklists that workers in specific roles must complete. You need to first create the checklist, with just the name and the description. Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog Task management: Checklists Dynamics 365...
Task Management: Tasks
A task defines a specific piece of work or an action that someone must complete. You can reuse tasks and add them to one or more checklists. You have to create all the tasks your company is planning on keeping track of. Task setup Task link In the task setup you give it a name and a description, you can set the task group, say if the task is optional or not. You can create a… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on...
Task management: Task groups
Task groups A task group lets you classify related tasks together. When you add tasks to a checklist, you can filter the list of all tasks by Task group, for example HR tasks, Payroll tasks or IT tasks.Description in D365 HR Task groups are made to make it easier with reporting and defining the different tasks that “belongs” to the different groups. Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog Task...
Task management: Group assignment and calendar
The setup components for task management is group assignment and calendar Group assignment In the group assignment you set up the groups you want to use in the checklist, such as IT and HR. You first have to name the group, then you can add or delete positions to the group. Tasks can be assigned to a group thus giving the positions in that group access to that group. Group… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their...
Organisation Setup: Excel add-in
The Excel add-in is, as a consultant, one still of my favorite things with HR, it makes importing data incredible easy. To access the templates where you can manage your data with the help of Microsoft Excel add-in you go to System administration > Links > Office Integration > Document templates. There you can see several templates with connection to different entities. You find the entity… Continue Reading Malin...
Introduction: Navigation
Home page of Dynamics 365 Human Resources When you click on Human Resources (top left corner) you go to the homepage no matter where you are in the application Waffle menu Waffle menu is where you easily can navigate to your other Microsoft systems and the administration interface. Hamburger button Hamburger button (Navigation Pane) is used to expand or collapse the… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on their blog...
Introduction: Data structure
The main entities of the data structure in Dynamics 365 Human Resources are job, positions and workers. A job is a collection of tasks and responsibilities.A position is an individual instance of a job. You can have several positions connected to one job. Job – position You can not have more then one job connected to one position Not two jobs to one position You must always… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s Article on...
Organisation setup: Jobs
You can create a new job or manage existing jobs from Organization administration -> Jobs or via the Excel add-in. The more information you register, the easier it is to create positions later. Job list You can also copy jobs from another job or create from a template, information will be copied over to the new job. Copy job The sections in a job is: The General tab has name,… Continue Reading Malin Martnes’s...
Re-branding and updating D365 Talent posts to D365 HR posts
This blog has been dormant for a long time, sometimes life happens and you don’t have the energy or desire to blog. I’ve come to realise that a lot of the posts I did for Talent should be updated with everything new and rebranded as it now is Dynamics 365 Human Resources. It should make it a lot easier to find my posts (so that future Malin googling stuff can actually find her own posts). I’ve… Continue Reading...
Dynamics 365 Marketing release wave 1 ’21
I think this is one of my longest post, the team behind the Dynamics 365 Marketing sure has been busy since the last release! A lot of new and cool stuff is coming in the first release of 2021! All of the features are coming in public preview April 2021. Two sentences stood out for me in the release notes; Our approach with Dynamics 365 Marketing is to unleash the power of all your data… Continue Reading Malin Donoso...
Dynamics 365 Marketing 2020 release wave 2
In this release the team has invested in some great areas, their key investment areas are: A revamped customer journey designer experience.Microsoft Teams integration for webinarsImproved social posting and analyticsThe ability to use natural language to create segments What are the features and when will they be in Public Preview (PP), what will be in Early access (EA) and when will… Continue Reading Malin Donoso...
Dynamics 365 Human Resources 2020 release wave 2
What a release this is! I think it’s my favourite release since I started working with the system back in March 2018! This release the Dynamics 365 Human Resources team are focusing on these five areas: Transform the employee experienceBuild an HCM ecosystemOptimize HR programsUnlock your HR dataEnrich your existing Microsoft solutions with HR data Let’s dig in to all the features and… Continue Reading Malin Donoso...