In this article, we are going to see how ClickDimensions enables Marketers to create interactive automations based on prospects or user behaviours which will help to design unique paths for participants to follow as they interact with our messaging it also helps to create Lead-nurture marketing campaigns, Sales engagement campaigns, promotional or event campaigns, new customer on boarding and retention campaigns, and many more. Campaign Automations allows to set up a dynamic paths for a contact or lead to follow based on actions taken by that contact or lead. For example, if the contact fills out a form on your website than you can send them an email then wait to see if they click on Link A or Link B. If they click on Link A send them Email A, but if they click on Link B send them Email B. Navigate to Marketing > Marketing Automation > Campaign Automation.   Choose New   This window will open where you will need to fill in a few fields.   Name [Required]: This is the name of the record as you will see it in CRM. Campaign: You may choose a CRM Campaign here if desired. This will associate this record to that CRM Campaign. Which will help us to track the ROI (Return on Investment) Completed Instances: Number of instances of Contacts and Leads who have finished running through this Campaign Automation. This is a read only field that will automatically be filled in once the Campaign Automation has been published. Owner [Required]: You will be the owner but you may change this if you’d like. Status [Read only]: This will change when the Campaign Automation is published, paused, or stopped from within the builder window.   After filling out any required fields, click Save.   Then click Open Builder.   You will now see the canvas where you will build your campaign automations.   On the right side there are Triggers and Series. Click and drag these onto the canvas.   Connect them together to make a path by clicking on the green dot on the right side of the trigger and dragging to the green dot on the left side of the series.   You can create a Decision Node by connecting the trigger to multiple Series. This will allow you to choose a path based on something in the previous trigger, values of form fields for example.   Let’s go through each pieces of the Campaign Automation builder Triggers These are the different ways contacts/leads can be added to the Campaign Automation: Submitted For Email Interaction Added to List Manual Add   Submitted Form   The Submitted Form trigger may be used as an Entry Point Trigger or an Internal Trigger. If the trigger is an entry point and a contact or lead has filled out the selected form, the Campaign Automation will begin. Add a Submitted Form trigger to the canvas and click on the node. You will see the right panel change to show the properties.   Display Name (Required): Once you select a form this will change automatically to the name of that form, however you may change it to whatever you would like. Select form (Required): Choose an already created form. Here we have selected Service quick start form Campaign: If you set a campaign on the Campaign Automation record this field will be populated with that campaign. You can also choose something different. This will set the Campaign field on the Posted Form record. Note: A note is an optional field for any details that need to be written about the trigger. Email Interaction   The Email Interaction trigger may be used as an Entry Point Trigger or an Internal Trigger. If the trigger is an entry point an Email Send will be selected and then sent when the Campaign Automation is published. It will then check to see which contacts click or open that email. If the trigger is an internal trigger it will check for clicks or opens on any selected email(s) sent in the preceding series via Send Email actions. Add an Email Interaction trigger to the canvas and click on the node. You will see the right panel change to show the properties.   Display Name (Required): Type a Display Name to show on the canvas. Select Email Send (Required): Choose a draft Email Send. Before you publish this Campaign Automation make sure to add recipients to your Email Send. Note: A note is an optional field for any details that need to be written about the trigger. Select which interaction to monitor: Email Clicked: If checked, you will be given the option to choose which links to look for. Email Opened (without click): Check this if you want to do something if someone opens the email but never clicks Selecting an interaction If Email Clicked is checked, a link to select which links will appear.   Click this and a window will open with the email chosen in the Email Send lookup.   As you can see in the above figure the email has got all together 9 links. Select one link, several links, or all links. If any one of the links selected is clicked, this trigger will be activated. If Email Opened (without click) is ALSO checked, you may select the amount of time to wait to see if the contact/lead clicked any of the selected links before checking to see if the contact/lead at least opened the email. If you do not select a time it will just wait to see if the recipient interacted in any way.   If Email Opened (without click) is the only one checked it will just wait to see if the email was opened. Upon clicking in the canvas, you changes will be saved. To edit the node’s properties, simply click on the node and make any necessary changes. Added to List   The Added to List trigger may be used as an Entry Point Trigger or an Internal Trigger. If this trigger is an entry point, any time a contact or lead is added to the specified marketing list, that contact/lead will enter the automation. To … Continue reading ClickDimensions Campaign Automation →

In this article we are going to see how to send a specific email to a customer depending on how they answer a certain Form Field. This is something which can be easily accomplished with a workflow. In our example, we have created a form asking people which EazyAPP product they are interested in learning about: Gravity forms, Client Portal or Marketing with ClickDimensions. We want customers to be sent a specific email with regards to the specific product they requested for.   The form field we created is called Field Interest, and we made it a list with the three options.   We then created three separate email templates that we would like to send customers based on how they answered our field. Here is the email template for customers interested in Gravity Forms:   Now we can set up our workflow that allows specific emails to be sent based on how our Field Interest form field was answered by each customer. We set up this workflow to run on Posted Fields, set the scope to organization and set it to run when the record is created.   For our first step, we added a Check Condition that asks if the posted field is Field Interest and the posted form is our ClickDimensions Product Interest Form.   Then we asked if the value of that field equals Surveys. Remember, the value is how the data is stored in CRM, which may be different than the label that appears on your form.   When the value is Surveys, we added a Create Record step and chose “Send ClickDimensions Email.”   We then opened up the Set Properties and uploaded our survey email template. We also added the recipient as the Contact associated with the posted form.   We then repeated these last two steps for our Client Portal and Marketing (ClickDimensions) options. Our final workflow looks like this:   Now, customers who fill out our form will receive an email specifically about the product they were interested in.  

In AX7, a new feature of Global General Journal has been released. The use of this feature is only for those companies where there are more than one legal entities in AX and the users who are doing accounting entries are same. The benefit of this feature is the user no need to switch legal entities while creating Journal Entries which can ultimately can save lot of time. The path to create global general journal is General Ledger->Journal Entries->Global General Journal. When you create a new journal, you can select the Legal entity and the journal name of that entity for which you want to create the journal entry. You can then continue to create the journal lines inside the current entity and you can directly Open the journal in the other entity if you wish to, or you can complete the entire journal entity, validate and post in the current entity and the entry will be created and posted in the destination entity.  

Introduction In earlier versions of CRM (before 2016), when a solution was exported from one environment to another, the entity and all of its assets i.e. forms, views, relationships, visualizations, attributes etc. were exported. Exporting all unrequired assets could unintentionally modify objects on Target Environment or carry unintended dependencies. In CRM 2016, solution patches can be created that contain ‘sub components’ of the entity that needs to be modified and then roll up the patches in the updated version of managed solution and export the updated version in target environment. In the section below, we look at how ‘clone to patch’ and ‘clone to solution’ features work in CRM 2016 to accomplish the above. Clone to Patch Example: Suppose there is a ‘Base Solution’, with all assets of Account and Contact entity but now we want to edit the length of field say ‘Account Number’ from 20 to 40. Step 1: Since this field is a part of ‘Base Solution’ and changing the field length is only requirement we will create a patch for the original solution. So we use ‘Clone as Patch’ option for ‘Base Solution’. Since it’s a patch, system allows only last two digits to be modified for versioning. This option creates a patch for the parent solution as shown below.     Step 2: Now in the patched solution we will only add the Account Number field of Account entity and update the field length to 40.     Step 3: When the patched solution is imported in another environment, it is applied on top of base solution and account number field is updated. Things to note when creating patches: When a patch is created at that time the parent solution is locked and can no longer be modified. Patches can be installed on another environment only If the parent solution is present in that environment. Patches should be exported as managed and should be imported on top of managed parent solution. Do not use unmanaged Patch solutions in Production environments. Patch is always created for Unmanaged Parent solutions. In the future, if any other changes are to be done in ‘Base Solution’, we can create another patch for the ‘Base Solution’ and follow the above procedure. Clone to Solution So now when we plan to have next version of solution, we use the option ‘Clone to Solution’. All related patches to the ‘Base Solution’ get rolled up in the newly created version of ‘Base Solution’ and the patches are deleted automatically.     If we want the upgraded solution to be imported on target environment, import the Upgraded Solution and then select the Parent Base Solution and choose option ‘Apply Solution Upgrade’. This option removes the previous parent solution and keeps the Upgraded new solution in the environment. Conclusion Thus with solution enhancements in CRM 2016, instead of making changes in the entire parent solution, solution patches can be created with the changed customizations and then with the help of Clone Solution option the patches gets rolled up and new version of parent solution is created.  

Introduction In this blog, we are going to discuss how to create a ClickDimensions Event Participation record from WordPress plugin Gravity Forms. Pre requisites In order to create Event Participation record User must have Gravity Forms plugin ClickDimensions entities (Events and Event Participation) Requirement We had a client with requirement that whenever a user registers for an event, event participation record should be created linking event and contact. Event and Event Participation are ClickDimensions entities. Solution to requirement By following the below step we can track the Event Participation records. Step 1: Create an option set field “Event” on Contact form in CRM. The field consists of list of different events that need to be displayed to the registration users.   Step 2: The option set values should be same as Event records created. The name should be same as we are going to retrieve the events record based on the name. As shown here, the Event name and the Option set label are same i.e. “Conztruct Queenstown”   Step 3: On the registration form, same list of events should be present in the drop down list. The value and name of the option sets should be same as option set values in CRM.   Step 4: Write an asynchronous plugin which will get triggered when a contact is created or updated. When a contact is created from Gravity forms, asynchronous plugin triggers and checks if any event is registered. If registered event found in CRM, event participation record will be created. When contact is updated, asynchronous plugin triggers and checks whether new event is registered or not. If new event is registered, create a new event participation record. If event is not registered, update the existing event participation record. When existing contact is updated from CRM, asynchronous plugin triggers and it checks if the event field is empty or not. If event field is empty, the plugin stops and If event field is not empty it updates the event participation record with same contact and event. Thus Event Participation record gets created with contact and Event field associated to each other and the registration count on the event gets increased by 1.   We hope this have given you a useful information on Tracking Event Participation record in CRM.  

Posting account use for the setup ledger account for automatic ledger transactions which are generated from Inventory transactions. In AX 7 posting name has been changed for Sales, Purchase, Inventory and Production. Below are posting name differences in AX 2012 and AX 7. In AX 7 Posting names are more logical and easy to understand.  

Introduction In this blog we are going to discuss about the new Auto completion feature of CRM 2016. First, a disclaimer – the term ‘autocomplete’ might be a bit misleading since the field is not automatically completed but instead you can select the suggested item from the list. Requirement To use the Country text field on the address section of the Account and Contact record to enter the Country but restricting users from entering any random values. Instead, the users need to enter country codes only. The goal was to accomplish this without using lookup field on the form. For the text fields, the auto complete feature was not available in previous CRM versions. Hence instead of using text fields, we used to have either lookup fields (for many items) or option set fields (for limited set of options). Solution In CRM 2016, new methods are introduced for text fields. Using these methods, we can implement auto complete feature for text fields, where users can see the suggestions and either select any option or type its own value.   1. showAutoComplete This method allows us to show list of possible values as dropdown to add auto complete feature to text fields. As soon as we select any item under the list, it will be populated in target text field and OnChange event of that field will fire. Use this to show up to 10 matching strings in a drop- down list as users press keys to type character in a specific text field. Also add a custom command with an icon at the bottom of the drop down list. The above method can be used as follows: Xrm.Page.getControl(field name).showAutoComplete(object); This method takes object as parameter which includes results and command. Object can be defined like below: var resultset = { results: [{ id: <value1>, icon: <url>, fields: [<fieldValue1>]}], commands:{ id: <value>, icon: <url>, label: <value>, action: <function reference> } } Here, the result represents an array of possible values that we want to show under the drop down on keypress. Under the results, we can define id, for individual array item, icon to show particular icon for array items and the field where we pass values. Commands is used to define additional action on the drop down, for example opening any additional page by providing a link.   2. hideAutoComplete This method is used to hide the auto complete drop down list that is implemented using showAutoComplete method. No need to explicitly use this method because, by default, the drop down list hides automatically if the user clicks elsewhere or if a new drop down list is displayed. The above method can be used as follows: Xrm.Page.getControl(field name).hideAutoComplete() Note: Both of above methods only works with Web and Outlook client. Steps for creating an auto complete feature on single line text field are as follows: Save and publish script event OnLoad of the form. When user is going to type some character in auto complete text field, drop down list will display the list of records present. It will show only the first 10 results which are suggested. When user types some character in auto complete text field, the list of results matching the characters is shown in the drop-down. Advantages: This feature is useful when we have a master list of data from which users can select the value, at the same time users can also put data if they don’t find value in the master list. Lookup approach was restricting users from selecting data only from master list and was not allowing users to put their own values. One of the best example to this is list of Cities. Users can either select city from master list or if city is not available, then they can put their own value. Current Limitations: Autocomplete does not work on phone/tablet native apps yet. Autocomplete works only on updated entity forms. We hope this blog have given you useful information on the new Auto Complete feature of CRM. Contact us for any queries!  

Introduction Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 introduces new mobility features to enhance and increase the user experience for CRM apps for both Tablet and Mobile. In our today’s blog, we will go over the mobile controls in CRM 2016. Mobile Controls In Dynamics CRM 2016, Microsoft introduced 15 UI controls that can replace standard data entry field for Phone and Tablet. These controls provide more appealing, faster interaction and touch friendly experience for mobile devices. Controls are added on Fields under Form Customizations as show below.   Under Controls Tab, Control added for that particular field and can be enabled for phone, tablet or both. For the control added, user needs to configure the values i.e. specify the minimum, maximum and step value for that field. Calendar Control Instead of traditional list view, User can view their phone calls, appointments and meetings on a calendar. This control can be used on dashboard, entity list view or as sub-grid within another form. This control works with any entity that has date field. For e.g. by default, this control is enabled on Activities Area where activities can be viewed in Day, Week and Month format.   Star Rating Star Rating control can be used to replace numeric value. This control allows easy and effective way that allows to rate on the scale from 0-5.   Arc Knob This control binds the numeric value and allows user to visualize the value in arc format. This arc is configurable in minimum, maximum and step value.   Number Input Number Input control allows to quickly update number, decimal and currency fields. The value can be easily incremented and decremented with use of Plus (+) and Minus Sign (-).   Radial Knob Radial Knob allows to show numeric values with a circular presentation. So by clicking and dragging the control clockwise the value can be incremented and with anticlockwise value can be decremented based on the step configured.   Linear Gauge Linear Gauge is another control for displaying number and currency field in a linear manner. Here user can add value by simply sliding to right to increment and left to decrement the value. This control is again configurable with minimum, maximum and step value.   Linear Slider Linear slider is exactly similar to Linear Gauge control that was mentioned above but the only difference is in visual appearance. Similarly, even this control is configurable with minimum, maximum and step value.   Bullet Graph Bullet Graph is another control that works with number fields but in more attractive manner. This control is configurable with minimum, maximum value also in addition user can add up to good and bad values. This control adds shading to target value i.e. shading defines the range of good and bad area. So for e.g. if we have Probability field with min value as 1, max value as 100, good value as 90 and bad value as 50, user can see the value as represented below.   Option Set As the name suggests, this control is used with Option set fields. This control provides tabs in horizontal line with available options. So here user can simply tap on the tab and select the option set value. This control is best used for smaller number of options, where the length of the text in those values is short and easily fit in single line.   Flip Switch Flip Switch can be used on field with Two options as their datatype. So instead of check boxes and radio buttons this control adds a visual effect of ‘On-Off’ Switch manner.   Input Mask Input Mask control works with fields of data type Single Line of Text. This control helps users to fit in data with format that is specified well in before. So for e.g. For Phone number field, if user wants to have number with parenthesis and dashes then user can mask the value well in advance.   Auto Complete Auto Complete control is another control that works with fields of data type Single Line of Text. This control value bounds to option set or to entity’s view. So when user enters data it provides quick way of entering data from the source that is provided thereby enhancing the speed.   Pen Control Pen Control is way to use touch feature of mobiles or tablets. This control enables users to capture the value in form of free from drawings, signatures or text. This control is available on fields with data type as Multiple Line of Text.   Website Preview As the name suggests, website preview control provides the glimpse of web URL that is specified in the field. This control works on field with data type as single line of text URL. Note: This control is only available on CRM Online Organizations   Multimedia Control Lastly the final control i.e. the Multimedia Control, this allows users to play the multimedia files directly within the application. This control works with field of data type Single line of Text in URL format. Note: No controls can be added on fields with data type as Lookup or Date and Time. Conclusion Thus with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, these were the 15 new mobile UI controls that can be enabled for both Mobile and Tablet with seamless user interaction.  

Introduction In CRM, an account or a contact can have more than 1 address out of which primary address is shown on Account/Contact form in address fields. This blog explains how can we set any other address as a primary address and show on the form. Requirement: An account can have more than 1 address which are shown under more addresses tab of an account record. The Primary Address is always shown on Account form and it is not shown under More Addresses section. User has customized address entity and added a checkbox field on Address form to decide whether the address is primary address or not. Now when user sets this field as True, the address should become primary address on account/contact form and existing primary address should be shown under more addresses section. How addresses are stored in CRM? Addresses in CRM are stored in Address entity. Address entity has unique identifier field as Address Number for each of the parent record i.e. either Account or contact. Whenever an account or contact is created in CRM, by default 2 address records are created in Address entity for the respective account or contact record. Address Number of the primary address is always set as 1. For one account or contact, address number field cannot contain duplicate values. Solution to the requirement As primary address is identified with the help of Address Number field, i.e. when Address Number is set as 1, it becomes primary address. Hence, when user sets the checkbox to YES, we just have to change the address number field to 1 to make that address as a primary address. On main form of account or contact, details of address will be shown where account number is 1. Catch in the solution: As already said above, for one account or contact, address number field cannot contain duplicate values, hence if we directly try to set address number field to 1, it will throw an error saying duplicate record found. Below is the solution to this problem. Deploy a plugin on update of ‘Is Primary’ field on Address entity We will see the solution with the help of below example:   Assume we have A. Datum account with 5 addresses. Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     5   Now, User updates ‘Is Primary’ Field of Address 5 as YES. Below is the data update done by User. Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     5 YES Below data operations should be performed in Plugin. Step 1: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 1 YES   2     3     4     0 YES Step 2: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 5 NO   2     3     4     0 YES Step 3: Account Name Address Number Is Primary? A. Datum 5 NO   2     3     4     1 YES  

As developer, we work on different legal entities to customize data. Generally, DAT is the default entity in AX 7 but we wonder how to use data of other legal entity. In this article, we will tell you how to open Table in Table browser in Visual Studio with different legal entity (USMF) by modifying settings from Dynamics AX Online. Go to System Administration > Users > Users in Dynamics AX Online.   Select the user for which you want to change the Company Id and click Edit.   In the Company column change the Company Id to USMF.   In Visual Studio open the table browser. Table will open with data of selected company that is USMF.   So, this is how we can open Table in Table Browser in Visual Studio with different legal entity. Let us know your reviews. We will soon come with more articles, as we further explore AX 7.