What ‘s new? An answer I have might be “awesome new year!” Happy new year 2014! This
blog is about “what’s new series” in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
What’s new in Dynamics CRM 2013? (I will put in some images
in near future and enhance the content) 33 new features and enhancement
What’s
new in Dynamics CRM 2011? 50 new features
What’s
new in Dynamics CRM 4.0? 60 new features
What’s new in Dynamics
CRM 2013 On-Premises and Dynamics CRM 2013 Online
1) Unsupported client side customization has to pass at
least validation custom code tool
2) The 2007 service endpoint - Extensions that use the 2007
endpoint will not be supported and may not work in CRM 2013. (Please use Legacy
Feature Check Tool before upgrading )
3) ISV folder support for custom web applications is not
supported. (Please use Legacy Feature Check Tool before upgrading)
4)
Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 4.0 plug-ins is not supported (Please use Legacy Feature Check
Tool before upgrading)
5)
Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 4.0 custom workflow activities is not supported (please use Legacy
Feature Check Tool before upgrading)
6)
In support of the latest
technologies and in compliance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle, obsolete
platform products and technologies became legacy for Dynamics CRM ( example
Windows XP,etc,)
7) Expanded
licensing plans (MSCRM online): -tiered licensing model
9) Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 2013 Best Practices Analyzer (On-Premises): The
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Best Practices Analyzer is a diagnostic tool that
gathers information from installed Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 server roles and
builds a report of best practices and recommended solutions based on the
existing deployment.
10) Base
and extension table merge as part of upgrade(On-Premises): As
part of the upgrade from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
2013, all organization databases will have the entitynameBase and
entitynameExtensionBase tables merged into a single entitynameBase table.
Reducing the number of tables in the organization database can improve overall
performance of transactional operations in CRM. However, for enterprise
customers with organization databases having large and complex customizations
or solutions, the table merge may take several hours to complete. You can
perform the merge as a separate operation to reduce application downtime caused
by the upgrade.
All below features
apply to both On-premises and Online
11) Improved
user interface. Much of the user interface has been improved
to provide better touch support, drive efficiencies, and minimize the number of
window popups.
12) Database
encryption. Organization database encryption is enabled for a
set of default entity attributes that contain sensitive information, such as user
names and email passwords. This feature can help organizations meet FIPS 140-2
compliance. Encryption keys can be viewed and changed in Microsoft Dynamics
CRM.
13) Mobile
apps.
Access important customer information from your phone or tablet with the new
smartphone and tablet apps..
14) Access teams: In addition to teams that own
records, now, you can use a new type of teams, called access teams. An
access team doesn’t own records and doesn’t have security roles assigned to the
team. The records are shared with an access team and the team is granted access
rights on the records, such as Read, Write or Append. The access teams can be
user-created or auto-created (system-managed). For system-managed access teams
you have to provide a team template that the system uses to create a team.
There are two deployment settings available for system-managed teams: a maximum
number of team templates for an entity and a maximum number of entities that
you can enable for auto-created access teams.
15) Multi-entity quick find: Multi-entity quick find lets you
search for records across entities of different types, such as accounts,
contacts and opportunities. Several deployment settings are available for
multi-entity search, such as a maximum degree of parallelism, a maximum number
of entities participating in a multi-entity search and others.
16) Quick find and Yammer deployment
settings: New
deployment settings are added for Quick Find (finds records of the same type)
and Yammer features.
17) PowerShell cmdlet updates: The Windows PowerShell cmdlets for
Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premises deployments now support remote execution of
commands for CRM 2013. Additionally, there are new settings and options to the
CRM 2013 settings cmdlet to support the features.
18) Server-side synchronization: Server-side synchronization is a
component in Microsoft Dynamics CRM that is used to integrate Microsoft
Dynamics CRM with Exchange and POP3 or SMTP based email servers. You can use
server-side synchronization to:
·
Enable email synchronization for
users and queues with external email systems.
·
Enable synchronization of email,
appointments, contacts, and tasks from Exchange.
Server-side synchronization offers new features like
efficient resource utilization, connection throttling, data migration, service
isolation, error reporting, and new counters.
19) Updated entities : In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013
and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, 29 system entities, as well as all custom
entities, have been updated to provide an improved user experience. These
entities are the ones that are most commonly used by people who use the
application to do their work, especially for sales and marketing activities.
There are many other entities that weren’t updated, but these aren’t used as
frequently or are focused on managing services.
20) Ribbon changed to command bar: For Updated
Entities and custom entities, the ribbon interface has been replaced with a
command bar. The ribbon is still used for Entities using classic forms and for
list views in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 for Microsoft Office Outlook. The
command bar is based on the same ribbon data and the process to edit the
command bar is described in the ribbon topic in the Microsoft
Dynamics CRM SDK.
21) Form customization changes: As part
of the changes to provide an updated user experience, there have been
significant changes to forms for the Updated entities.
22) New forms:To improve user’s experience the layout for forms
have changed. We know that people upgrading from earlier version have spent a
lot of time customizing their forms and we did not want to arbitrarily force
your custom forms into a new layout. We added new forms for all the entities
that have been updated. These new forms include a three column layout that
demonstrates the kind of experience people have told us that they want. If you
upgrade from the previous release, you’ll find your existing Information main form and a new main form
named after the entity. The new form for the Account entity is Account, the new
form for the Opportunity entity is called Opportunity, and so on. When you
upgrade you can edit this new form and choose Bring in another form from the ribbon. This will
append the Information form to the
bottom of the new form and you can drag and drop the parts of your original
form into the new form so that you can take advantage of the new layout and
features.
23) Business process flows: At the top of
updated forms you can see a process flow control that provides a guide for
people to get work done. The process flow control provides a streamlined
experience that ties data entry with stages in the lifecycle of the record. The
business process flow can span multiple entities to create an experience where
people focus on getting work done rather than what type of record they need to
create. To get the process flow control in a form you have to enable the entity
for business process flows and then design a process for it.
24) Business rules: Use business rules to
apply form logic without writing JavaScript code. Business rules provide a
simple declarative interface to implement and maintain fast changing, commonly
used business rules that will be applied to main and quick create forms for
both the web application and CRM for tablets.
25) Quick create form: There is a new type
of form called Quick Create.
This form is launched when people click the Create icon in the navigation bar. This form is optimized for
rapid creation of new records. Like main forms, the quick create form supports
form scripting, but it doesn’t support web resources or IFrames
26) Quick view forms: These forms allow you
to show fields and lists in a form from a record that is related to the current
record. For example, if you want to see details for the account record that is
linked to an opportunity, you can add a quick view form that exists for the
account entity and display the information in the opportunity form. This data
can include any fields from the account entity as well as lists showing any
records related to the account
27) Autosave : Any of the updated forms now
have autosave enabled by default. With auto save enabled there is no save
button displayed in the command bar on the form. Records that have changed data
are automatically saved every 30 seconds or when people navigate to a new
record. Because this new behavior may conflict with people who have custom code
that doesn’t account for it, autosave can be disabled at the organization
level. There is no option to disable autosave at the entity or form level, but
a small script can be added to the OnSave
event of a form that will disable it on the form level.
28) Customizable tooltips: The description
text set for fields is now displayed as tooltips when you place your cursor
over the labels for fields. Set the description text to provide guidance for
people in your organization.
29) Images: Certain system entities and all
custom entities can have an image attribute. This attribute is designed to
allow a record to store a single image that can be displayed in entity forms
that are enabled to display it.
30) Integrated Bing Maps dynamically show the map for the primary record address.
31) Skype
& Lync integration
enabling direct dialing from any phone number field in Dynamics CRM
32) Synchronous
Workflow: Real-time
synchronous immediately on-demand or in response to a message being processed
by the execution pipeline.
33) Support
for Office 2013:
50 Microsoft Dynamics CRM
2011 new and enhanced features: (Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 has added more than 500 new
features)
1
Activity Feeds: It provide real-time notifications and quick
sharing of information through short updates.
4 Advanced
user personalization: configure
personalized default pane and tab that display when you open Microsoft Dynamics
CRM .
7 Dashboards:
see at a
glance all the important information you need to make key business decisions
8 Better
Office Outlook experience: With a few exceptions Outlook include all of the same
functionality as the browser clients.
10 Goal
management: you can
define
key performance and business health indicators. This way you can track and
measure results against your organization's goals or metrics.
13 Solution management:
save
customizations with publisher and version number and share them with other
users
14 Microsoft
Dynamics Marketplace: online solutions catalog that will help you accelerate and
extend your implementation.
16
Global option
set : define an option set once and use it in multiple entities.
17
Filtered Lookups: filter
lookups based on relationships by just configuring them on the form editor or,
create brand new views
18
Most Recently used items in lookups: remember the items you frequently select
19
New SOAP Endpoint
: new endpoint based on
.Net 4 and WCF
20
Custom Activity Types:
custom entity similar to calls, emails,
tasks, appointments, campaign responses, letters, etc…
21 Dynamic Marketing List: based on query result
22 Bulk Delete : new feature for on-premise to delete
23
Recurring Appointment:
create appointment which will be
scheduled recursively as in MS outlook
24
Field-Level Security:
easily restrict access to high business
impact fields to specific users and teams
25 Form Sub-Grids : users with proper security the can view, create, and modify records for
a related entity directly within a form.
26
Track in CRM
27 E-mail Router
enhanced features: Upgrade from the Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 4.0 E-mail Router to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 E-mail Router
without uninstalling and losing your configuration data.
28 E-mail Router
enhanced features: The E-mail Router and the Rule
Deployment Wizard support Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. The E-mail Router
also supports Exchange Online.
29 E-mail Router
enhanced features: You can use Auto discover to
obtain the Exchange Web Services URL
30 Claims-based
authentication support: Using federation identity
technology such as Active Directory Federation Services 2.0, Microsoft
Dynamics CRM supports claims-based authentication.
31 Add or remove
a server role: You can now install individual
server roles by using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server Setup Wizard
32 Sandbox
Processing Service: The Sandbox Processing Service
server role enables an isolated environment to allow for the execution of
custom code, such as plug-ins
33 Multiple instances. You can add instances to a Microsoft
Dynamics CRM subscription. Each new instance that you add creates a separate
and isolated Microsoft Dynamics CRM organization
34 Opportunities : much closer parity with quotes, invoices,
and orders. The shared data includes user and product information, product
prices, discounts, freight amount, total costs, and Tax
35 Queues: In Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 2011, queues have been improved, bringing the queue and queue item
entities to the front as first class entities.
36 Teams : The existing support for teams has been enhanced by making a team a security principal that can own and manage records
37 Web
Resources: has unique URL address. Used in form customizations, the Sitemap, or the
application ribbon
38 New programming model using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)..
39 Extended use of Windows Workflow Foundation 4.
40 Inclusion of the REST Endpoint (Representational State Transfer) for AJAX and Microsoft Silverlight clients
provides an alternative interface to work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For
more information, see Use the REST Endpoint with Ajax and JScript Web Resources
and Use the REST Endpoint with Silverlight Web Resources.
41
Support for .NET Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) for writing queries. For more
information, see Build Queries with LINQ
(.NET Language-Integrated Query).
42 Reusable
JScript libraries
43
The Developer Toolkit for
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provides a
streamlined development experience to creating solutions within Microsoft
Visual Studio 2010
44
Connections : link
different records together in a manner that is consistent with the specific
real-world relationship of those records. connections can be made between any
entities
45 Drag-and-drop
form customizations
46
Attachments when sending CRM bulk email
47
Reading pane for records.
48
Auto create contacts or leads
49
New privileges are available on: some
entity User Chart, User Dashboard, Web Wizard, Wizard Page, Connection
50
Delete Users and Business Units
I) ENHANCE
PRODUCTIVITY
1.
Internet-Facing
Deployment—Access CRM application remotely
without a VPN.
2.
Smart
Search—See search results appear as you
type a search term.
3.
Load
Status Bar—See status or cancel loading of
CRM application in Office Outlook.
4.
Most
Recently Used Entities List—Quickly
choose recently used entities when selecting criteria for e-mail tracking.
5.
Tracking
Breadcrumb—See at a glance why an e-mail
message is being tracked.
6.
Web Mail
Merge—More easily create and manage mail
merges and share reusable mail merge templates.
7.
Activity
Synchronization—Synchronize all CRM activities
with Exchange Server.
8.
E-Mail
Smart Matching—Track CRM e-mail messages without
a tracking token.
9.
E-Mail
Promotion to Lead or Case—Transform
an e-mail message into a lead or case with a click.
10. Presence Visibility—See
who is online and start instant messaging from within your CRM application.
11. Campaign Automation—Create
sales campaigns more quickly and easily.
12.
Resource
Center—Share information and best
practices with your coworkers in a community format.
II) STREAMLINE BUSINESS PROCESSES
13. Windows Workflow Foundation—Extend workflows across line-of-business systems.
14. Workflow Wizard—Create
workflows using wizard-based tools.
15. Workflow Accessibility—Access
workflows from your CRM application and through the Web.
16. Expanded Workflow Actions—Create workflows using a broad library of actions or
create custom actions.
17. Dynamic Data Access for Workflow Design—Access and use dynamic data in the workflow design
interface.
18. Multi-Stage Workflows—Model
multi-stage business processes more faithfully.
19. Choice of Design Environments—Design workflows using the Workflow Wizard, markup, or
code.
20.
Advanced Workflow
Expressions and Triggers—Apply
sophisticated logic and trigger conditions in your workflows.
III) REPORT WITH EASE
21. Scheduled Reporting—Schedule
reports or run them when you need them.
22. Reporting Wizard—Create
reports using wizard-based tools.
23. Offline Reporting—View
reports offline based on synchronized data.
24. Integrated Reporting Access Model—Secure reports using the same role-based access model as
your CRM application.
25. Advanced Find—Create
sophisticated views of customer data.
26. Dynamic Data Connections in Office Excel—Work with CRM data in Office Excel and refresh from the
CRM database.
27.
Activity
Reporting—View activities for specific
users, cases, and opportunities.
IV) MANAGE DATA INTELLIGENTLY
28. Data Import Wizard—Import
data more easily with wizard-based tools.
29. Duplicate Detection—Detect
duplicates and merge or delete redundant records.
30. Reusable Data Import Maps—Create and reuse data-import maps for common data
migration activities.
31.
Data
Import Validation—Test your data import before you
commit your data.
V) ALIGN BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
32. Advanced Entity Relationship Modeling—Model many-to-many business relationships out of the box.
33. Smart Navigation—Provide
a customized navigation to users in your organization.
34. Device Client Access License—License Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 on a per-device basis.
35.
Read-Only
Client Access License—License
those users who require only limited access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
VI) SUPPORT GLOBAL BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
36. Multi-Tenancy—Host
multiple instances of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 on the same physical hardware.
37. Multi-Language—Support
multiple languages in one location or across geographical boundaries.
38. Multi-Currency—Support
any number of currencies.
39.
Multiple
E-Mail Platform Support—Support
your e-mail platform of choice, including POP3 and Exchange Server
VII) EFFECTIVELY MANAGE CRM
40. System Job Monitor—Monitor
the processing of asynchronous system jobs.
41. Monitoring and Diagnostics—Better monitor the health of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM
4.0 environment.
42. Microsoft Office Client Diagnostic Tools and Reports—Help end users troubleshoot their own issues.
43.
Client
Tracing and Troubleshooting File—Create
a troubleshooting fi le and trace client problems for quick resolution.
VIII) IMPROVE MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY
44. Migration of Customizations—Preserve your customizations when you migrate from
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.
45. Organization Import Wizard—Automate user and environment migrations.
46. Extended Portable Application Model—Export your customizations and apply them accurately to
servers.
47.
Bulk User
Add—Add users in bulk, including
Active Directory lookup and application of roles.
IX DELIVER ON AVAILABILITY, PERFORMANCE, AND SCALABILITY
REQUIREMENTS
48. Microsoft SQL Server Mirroring—Employ SQL Server mirroring to enhance the availability of
your CRM data.
49. Enhanced Performance—Improve
performance with parallel inbox processing and other enhancements.
50. Clustering and Load Balancing—Cluster application components for scalability.
51.
Component
Scalability—Cluster the components you use
most.
X) QUICKLY DEVELOP, INNOVATE, AND DEPLOY
52. Metadata Application Programming Interface—Take advantage of the power of metadata with the metadata
API.
53. Offline Customizations—Take
your customizations with you when you work offline.
54.
Event
Framework Plug-ins—Integrate your applications with
the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 event pipeline.
XI) ADDITIONAL FEATURES
55. CITRIX SUPPORT for integration with third-party
applications and platforms.
56. AUTOMATIC CLIENT UPDATES for one-click access to new client software updates.
57. PATH-BASED URLS that make the application easier to
navigate.
58. POP-UP BLOCKER DETECTION,
providing a better user experience over
the Web.
59. NEW ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES for the vision-impaired.
60. ADVANCED QUOTE PRINTING for more effective customer
interactions.
