MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Identify organization information and metrics
I am currently preparing to take the Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification. Or “MB 600” for short! As I prepare I plan to write revision notes in this post I will cover topics connected with the heading “Identify organization information and metrics”. The skills measured statement for MB 600 mentions the organisation’s business processes and risk factors…. Continue...
D365UG “Birmingham” – Oct 28th Event Update
Our next D365UG will be on 28th October at 5pm. As is the norm these days it will be a virtual event meaning all Dynamics 365 fans can join. This time we are experimenting with our format …. continue reading to find out more. I have already mentioned that we plan to make the presentations shorter. As “just maybe” some people are getting a little weary attending long webinars! And how we’ll… Continue Reading...
MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Project Life Cycle
I am currently preparing to take the Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification. Or “MB 600” for short! As I prepare I plan to write revision notes in this post I will cover topics connected with the concept of a project life cycle. I don’t think the skills measured statement for the MB 600 explicitly mentions the concept of a project life cycle. But it does… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – reconnect with customers
Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service allows agents to chat with customers. Web chat is great but what if the customer is experiencing problems with their browser or laptop. After they restart the browser or laptop they’d need to start a new conversation with a new agent, right? Maybe not! As in this post I will explain how a customer can continue these chats with the same… Continue Reading Neil...
MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Initiate solution planning
I am currently preparing to take the Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification. Or “MB 600” for short! As I prepare I plan to write revision notes in this post I will cover everything connected with “Initiate solution planning”. Evaluate business requirements A key first step in evaluating business requirements will be “getting to know your customer”. You should…...
MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Solution Architect’s Role
I am currently preparing to take the Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification. Or “MB 600” for short! As I prepare I plan to write revision notes in this post I will discuss the Solution Architect’s role. Solution Architect’s Role Before we dive into solution planning it might be useful to consider the overall role of a solutions architect and what qualities… Continue...
MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Revision Guide
I am currently preparing to take the Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect certification. Or “MB 600” for short! As I prepare I plan to write revision notes that I will publish. In this post you will find a collection of links to those posts. I do try and group my revision guides into posts that directly relate back to the skills measured statements. And I have tried to… Continue Reading Neil...
MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect – Introduction
You might (like me) be about to start your revision for the MB 600 exam or you may just be reading this because you are considering taking a Microsoft certification. Either way lets begin by considering what the MB 600 is, who it is aimed at and why you might want to take the exam. What is the MB 600 exam? The MB 600 exam covers topics in three main areas; Perform solution envisioning and… Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s...
D365UG – “Birmingham” October 2020
Our last Birmingham D365UG event was way back in July, so we thought it must be about time we hosted another free event for fans of Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. As is the “new norm” this event will be a virtual one, the bonus being everyone and anyone can join us. Our next “Birmingham” event will take place on Wednesday 28th October 2020 at 5pm. In these challenging times …. I guess… Continue...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Quick Replies and Automated Messages
Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service includes many agent productivity aids, in this post I will look at how we can send quick replies and automated messages to customers. It can help agents greatly to send standard / common messages to your customers quickly. These can be in the form of quick replies that the agent can pick from a list or automated messages. Automated messages would be… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Real-time Translations
Microsoft have just released loads of cool enhancements to their Omnichannel for Customer Service application! In this post I will review one of my favourite new features … real-time chat translations. The scenario being that your agent might speak one language but customers will obviously want to chat in any language. To support this wouldn’t it be useful if we could apply real-time… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Customer Location
With Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service you may find it useful to know the location of your customer. Say you have stores all over the country, maybe it would help you to know the closest store to the potential customer. In this post I will explain how to configure GEO location settings in Omnichannel for Customer Service. Customer Experience Once enabled the customers may be… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Slugs (aka Data parameter keys)
Fairly recently I created a post explaining the concepts of agent scripts and macros within Omnichannel for Customer Service, in that post I also introduced the concepts of slugs. A “slug” being a replacement parameter which allows us inject data parameters into macros etc. Slugs can be really useful to help you personalise how an agent operates, in this post I will expand on the concept of… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Post Chat Surveys
Omnichannel for customer service gives us two survey options, one being a pre-chat survey the other being a post chat survey. In this post I will complete a review of the new post chat survey capability. The approach to pre-chat and post-chat surveys is actually quite different! This makes complete sense (to me) as if you think about the chat experience the purpose of each survey is quite… Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Co-browse
One really cool feature of Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service product is the ability to complete a co-browse with your customers. Imagine how useful it would be to be able to easily guide your customers around your website once co-browse is enabled! In this post I will review how to configure and use this feature. The co-browse feature can be enabled on your chat widgets with the… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Session Templates
Within Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service we can configure how sessions open. The product ships with some default templates that may be all you need but in this post I start to explore how you might want to amend session templates. Each channel is linked to a workstream, each workstream is associated with a number of templates. Including a session template. When you create a… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core – Import Data
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around importing data. There is a section of the MB-200 skills measured statement which covers managing entities and data, within this you will find a definition of what needs to be covered for… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – SMS
Omnichannel for Customer Service allows us to integrate SMS with Dynamics 365, in this post I will look at how this operates and how to setup the SMS channel. We have two potential providers of SMS supported within Omnichannel for Customer Service, those being Twilio and Telesign. I am not going to be reviewing their services as such in this post! You may want to look at both options to work… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Notifications
Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service includes the ability to alert your agents when incoming conversations arrive or if someone transfers a conversation to them or someone just wants to consult them about a live conversation. These notifications are as you’d expect a standard feature of Omnichannel for Customer Service but there are quite a few options we can use to tailor how and when… Continue Reading Neil...
D365UG Birmingham – Virtual Event July 8th
As Covid-19 restrictions continue our next Birmingham Dynamics 365 / Power Platform user group event will again be virtual. The negative is you won’t get to enjoy our famous free buffet. But the amazing benefit is everyone can join regardless of location. In these times of lock-down I would argue that attending user group events to enhance your Dynamics 365 skills is more important than ever…. Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Skills based routing AND Virtual Agents
Recently I was asked to consider a requirement to roue web chats within Omnichannel for Customer Service in a particular way. In this post I explain how I used a combination of Virtual Agents and skills based routing to achieve the requirements. So the ask was, to route all chats to a group of first line or front line agents. But if those front line guys were busy we’d want anyone available in… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Teams Integration
We can now use Microsoft Teams as a channel with Omnichannel for Customer Service. I can see many applications for this, not least for an internal help desk who needs to offer support to users across their organisation. The video below will explain how to configure the Teams channel. You can also use the link below to access Microsoft’s documentation on configuring Microsoft Teams to work with… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Twitter
Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service allows us to communicate with customers on many channels, in this post I will review how to configure the ability to converse with customers using Twitter. I guess I don’t really need to explain how popular Twitter is …. Twitter averages 330 million monthly active users every month, with 500 million tweets being sent every day! With statistics… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Collection
Omnichannel for Customer Service OmniChannel for Customer Service provides omnichannel capabilities directly in Dynamics 365. Additionally it includes enterprise grade routing and also works with Unified Service Desk! Note: “Omnichannel Engagement Hub” was renamed to “Omnichannel for Customer Service”. (Therefore any old references to Omnichannel Engagement Hub imply Omnichannel for Customer… Continue...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Voice and Video Calls
Microsoft’s Omnichannel for Customer Service allows us to escalate web chat conversations to voice and video calls, this is a great feature when conversations become complex and a chat conversation is simply more long winded than a voice call. In this post I will explain how to setup the video calling feature. I will also give details about the agent and customer experiences. Setup Not… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Agent Scripts & Macros (and slugs)
Omnichannel for customer service contains a number of features to help improve agent productivity. In this post I will explore two of these …. Agent scripts and Macros. Plus we’ll see some slugs along the way! I’m covering the theory of agent scripts and macros in one post as I believe they are concepts that go hand in hand. (As an agent script can be used to trigger a macro.) I am assuming… Continue Reading Neil...
Dynamics 365 Outlook App – Set entities that can be set regarding
I recently got asked a simple question but one I didn’t immediately know the answer for! As I had to research the answer I thought a blog post might help anyone who is presented with a similar question. That being …. “In the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook we can track emails as being regarding a standard set of entities. What if we want a remove entities from this list or add custom ones?”. I… Continue Reading...
MB-200: Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core – Email Integration
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around email integration. There is a section of the MB-200 skills measured statement which covers implementing integrations, within this you will find a several references to email integration…. Continue Reading Neil...
SLAs – Unified Interface (April Wave 2020)
The April 2020 release wave of Dynamics 365 includes an updated approach to SLAs. In this post I will explore how to create the “new style” Service level agreements. Assuming you have some experience with Dynamics 365 …. I guess you will already be aware that we are moving away from the classic web interface and that eventually all functionality will be only available in the new unified… Continue Reading Neil...
USD – Migration of Customization Files
I often work with Unified Service Desk for Dynamics 365, having created a “solution” in my development environment I will obviously need to migrate it into a test or production instance. The process we use for this is quite straight forward, as Microsoft’s configuration migration tool can be leveraged to export and import my config. However I have always found migration of my customization… Continue Reading...
Birmingham D365UG – May 2020 Event
Our next Birmingham Dynamics 365 User Group will start at the normal time at 6:30pm on Wednesday May 13th. But unlike normal this will be a virtual event. The downside of being a virtual event is you won’t be able to sample of famous free buffet!! But on the upside we have a fantastic line-up of speakers. And being a virtual event means people outside of the Birmingham area will be very… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core – Data Management
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around data management. There is a section of the MB-200 skills measured statement which mentions data, we have a section of the exam headed “Manage entities and data”. Within this section there… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core – Languages
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around languages and translations. There is a section of the MB-200 skills measured statement which references languages. It is under the heading “Perform system administration” and is within… Continue Reading Neil...
Free Dynamics 365 Training – Please circulate!
We are all being adversely effected by the Coronavirus, unfortunately many people may find themselves out of work or with theirs jobs at risk. As normality returns significant numbers of people could need to seek new jobs. For someone, unfortunately, returning to their old careers may be difficult. But whilst this is happening the IT industry continues to have a major skills shortage. With… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Solutions
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around solutions. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers discovery, planning and analysis, within this section needing to know how to select between managed and… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Subjects
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around subjects. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers system administration. Within this section configuring subjects is mentioned. Subjects are a tree of… Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Searching
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around searching. In the skills measured statement (shown below) under the heading “Perform solutions deployment and testing”, you will see a reference to both the relevance and… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – 365 Admin Roles
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around 365 admin roles. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers security. Within this section needing to know about the Dynamics 365 admin roles is highlighted . We… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service and Facebook
We can now intergate Dynamics 365 with Facebook messenger using the Omnichannel for Customer Service app. I have been experimenting with this cool new feature and below you will find a video explaining how it works and how you can configure it …. Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s Article on their blog Omnichannel for Customer Service and Facebook We can now intergate Dynamics 365 with Facebook messenger using the...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Security
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around Dynamics 365 security. You can see below that security roles, users, teams and hierarchy security are mentioned in the implement security section of the exam. To understand security… Continue Reading Neil...
The USD Accelerator – Technical Guide, Release History (3_1_0_0)
Overview The USD Accelerator is a pre-build Unified Service Desk configuration aimed at helping speed your USD project. I am excited to announce release 3.1. This new release has a focus on the agent experience. Therefore it contains loads of bug fixes and performance enhancements. And additionally many agent focused usability changes. This post will highlight the enhancements and bug fixes… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Field Security
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around field security. There is a section of the MB-200 exam which has a focus on implementing security, you can see below that managing field security profiles is mentioned in the configure… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service and Power Virtual Agents
I have recently been experimenting with both Omnichannel for Customer Service and Power Virtual Agents, as now the two can be a combined their integration seemed like an obvious thing for me to review. In this post I will document how I created my first “omnichannel virtual agent” and make a few observations along the way. A good starting point might be for me to describe the use case for… Continue Reading Neil...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Discovery, Planning and Analysis
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around discovery, planning and analysis. There is a section of the MB-200 exam which has a focus on discovery, planning and analysis, the associated skills measure statement is shown below.
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – App Designer
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around the app designer. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers user experience design. Within this section we can see that the site map and app designer are… Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s...
MB-200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – Forms
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around forms. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers managing the user experience and within that the need to know how to create and configure forms is referenced;
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Entities
Recently I gave a presentation regarding Omnichannel for Customer Service at 365 Saturday in Paris, afterwards I was asked a question about the files customers might send in webchat conversations. In this scenario a large volume of attachments were expected and these would need to be managed. Therefore they wanted to know where the attachments were stored. In this post I hope to answer that… Continue Reading Neil...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Chat Transcripts
Microsoft’s new “Omnichannel for Customer Service” adds powerful webchat capabilities into Dynamics 365. I’ve been experimenting with some of its latest features…. In this post I’ll explain how visitors to your website can access their chat transcripts. I have often had a requirement for the customer to be able to access a copy of a chat transcript at the end of a conversation. Each chat… Continue...
MB 200: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core – OneNote Integration
I am creating a series of blog posts that collectively are designed to help anyone preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Core exam. (aka MB-200) In this post I will look at concepts around OneNote integration. You can see below that we have a section of the exam which covers implementing integrations, within that we have a section regarding Office 365 and OneNote. I… Continue Reading Neil Parkhurst’s...
Omnichannel for Customer Service – Masking Data
I have recently been experimenting with Microsoft’s new Omnichannel for Customer Service. This fantastic tool gives us webchat (and much more) within Dynamics 365. One really useful feature is the ability to “mask” data. In this post I will explain this feature. Imagine your contact centre agents are chatting with customers using Omnichannel for Customer Service, in these regulated times you… Continue Reading...