Overview: The purpose of this article is to help fellow entrepreneurs and sales managers leverage technology for effectively managing their sales pipeline with a few easy steps. As an entrepreneur, one of the most difficult aspects of my work is generating sales and building a healthy sales pipeline. On June 1st 2017, CloudFronts will complete 5 years and looking at all the systems we have in place, I feel we have adequate sophistication in our Operations and Administration processes. On the other hand, I feel our Sales processes are still not mature and need to evolve. This and future articles will focus on how we can leverage Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales for managing sales. This is something we use today and so I feel it should help others. “I know I need to keep track of my sales pipeline, but I am just so busy.” Step 1 – Data Entry We are always so busy and entering data into CRM can be such a pain! Just quickly sending out that email makes sense when you have just a few opportunities to manage. Eventually this method fails as our memory can only hold so much information. So, you will need to enter data in your CRM! While the term, ‘garbage in, garbage out’ applies to data, this is apt for a sales person – “No data entry = lost opportunities”. So, take a few seconds (now is the best time) and enter that Customer, Contact and Opportunity data into CRM! You already paid for the licenses, might as well use it! Step 2 – Managing your pipeline by keeping your ‘Est. Close Date’ up-to-date. Once I enter my Opportunity for the first time, I just really want to update the Est. Close Date and sometimes the Est. Revenue. I really do not want to open the Opportunity every time. I could have used Editable Grids for this but I also wanted to add some ‘intelligence’ here which I could use later for analysis. I wanted to capture some notes on why I changed the Est. Close Date and put these notes in the Notes section with a predefined title (like – ‘Est. Close Date Change Reason’). I worked with our CRM team to setup a simple workflow dialog. This is how I manage my Opportunities now – 1. My Open Opportunities View> Select my Opportunity and then run my Dialog. The dialog is simple and really has only 2 input options, Est. Close Date and Reason – The reason becomes a note record on my opportunity. The above process works well for me for my Pipeline Management. My opportunity view is sorted by Est. Close Date, so this further ensures I do not have any past due opportunities. Step 3 – Just do it. No, we don’t need to really buy a pair of running shoes, but we need to do the above 2 steps diligently and every day. The benefits of this exercise will become obvious very soon and you will be running faster than before towards better close rates as things stop falling through the cracks (of our brain). Remember – ‘Sales cures all.’ Let’s take care of that sales pipeline! You can always email me at AShah@CloudFronts.com to discuss your sales processes and technology adoption. In the coming articles, I will talk about how Sales Pipeline Management ties into business decision making – from Resource Allocation to Recruitment.

In this blog article, I will explain you on how to Embed POWER BI reports inside of your custom web app. Below are the steps to connect over Power BI Embedded: Create the Workspace collection inside of azure portal Stored PowerBi access key for the workspace Workspace creation using Rest API solution file (download from github) Import powerbi pbix file on the same workspace ID Deploy embedded page using visual studio Iframe the  web page url insdie of your web app Let’s walk through the steps to build a Work space Collection using the Azure Portal. Open and sign into Azure Portal. Click + New on the top panel. 1.    Under Data + Analytics click Power BI Embedded. 2.    On the Work-space Collection Blade, enter the required information. For Pricing, see Power BI Embedded pricing. 3.    Click Create. The Workspace Collection will take a few moments to provision. When completed, you’ll be taken to the Work-space Collection Blade. So from this window please copy work-space collection Name and Subscription ID in the notepad for further use. We also need to copy PowerBI API access key for this workspace collection.       Now we need to generate workspace report and dataset using visual studio solution file which you can download from github. After downloding the file you need to ope “PowerBI embedded” soln file. In the solution file you can found 2 projects, Provision Sample: Used for build-up workspace and import pbix file to azure workspace collection EmbedSample: After importing PBIX this project used for deployment of web page url First we need to run the Provision sample project,It will generate one CMD window when you are going to run it. Here you can find different option for the activity, we already done with workspace collection name inside of azure portal so now we need to choose step 5 for creating workspace. Once you select step 5 it will ask for “Workspace Collection Name” and we need to type exact name which we created in azure portal. After that it will ask for access key and that key is your POWERBI API access key which we copied earlier. After this steps you need to select option 6.” Import PBIX Desktop file into an existing workspace” in the above cmd window. Now it will ask for Dataset Name and path of the PBIX file which you want to embedded inside of Web APP.Datasetname should be any user-friendly name for your reports. And it start importing our PBIX file into azure workspace collection. After succeeding this process, we need to select embed sample project inside of visual studio and required to change some information inside of web config file. Based on the above image we need to provide couple of information inside of web config file. Access key: it is POWERBI API Access key which created on azure porta Workspace Collection: Name of the Workspace collection we created in step 1 Workspace ID: this id you will get on cmd window when doing step 5 So, after doing this changes we need to run this project file and it will open new browser window with Power BI embedded reports inside. You can copy that url and iframe it inside of your Web APP. It will look like below:      

Introduction: In this blog, we are going to discuss how to set a party list field using JavaScript in Dynamics CRM. Many times, there is a requirement that any email send from CRM must be send from a specific user, irrespective of the user logged in to CRM. Scenario: In the Incident Management, there is a need that each mail send from CRM to Customers must be send from Support User. Steps: Step 1: Write a function on load of email form. Retrieve the Queue or User you want to set from Web API Step 2: Party List basically consists of User or a Queue. So, we can set User or a Queue in party list. You can differentiate the User and Queue by specifying the Entity Type. a. Queue: “queue” b. User: “systemuser” Code is given below:  var partylistData = new Array(); partylistData[0] = new Object(); partylistData[0].id = queue.value[0].queueid; partylistData[0].name = queue.value[0].name; partylistData[0].entityType = “queue”; Xrm.Page.getAttribute(“from”).setValue(partylistData); More validation can be set on basis of the requirements. On the status of the email validation can be done.

In this blog article, I will explain about the new updates of Power BI related to New Matrix Visual Preview and its enhancements. In these we introduce a preview of a new matrix visual. This is the new version of the matrix as a separate matrix visual so we can test out the new experiences without impacting any of our other visuals or Reports.   Benefits of this new matrix include: Performance improvements Drilling into hierarches Stepped layout Cross highlighting and filtering from matrix headers and cell contents In the new matrix preview, we can Go to next level in the hierarchy Expand all down one level in the hierarchy Drill Down When we create a hierarchy we will see only the top level by default and can drill into lower levels. We can drill into the row headers using the drill buttons in the visual menu or we can right click menu. Using the Go to next level in the hierarchy option we will move to the next level of the row hierarchy. Using the Expand all down one level in the hierarchy option we will show multiple row header levels at once. We can also turn on Drill Down and drill into one specific row header. We can also use right click menu to do all these drill actions on both row and column headers. In matrix visual we can Sort a column, Word wrapping and  resize the column width. i) Column Sorting We can sort the matrix visual by the total and row headers ascending or descending. ii) Column Resizing We can minimize or maximize the size of the column iii) Word Wrapping We can word wrap column headers, row headers and values in the matrix preview.

As an entrepreneur, if you want to streamline your operations and finance departments, you should go for an ERP solution. Countless companies are offering ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning solutions or software. Dynamics 365 for finance and operations, however, is one of the best ERP solutions that you can find in the market today. One of the key reasons why a lot of companies are using this software is that it is easy to install, configure, and to use. You can scale your business when you use ERP solutions like Dynamics 365. A lot of resources are available online that will help your employees become smart and efficient.  Deploying this software is easy. Here is some information for you In this blog article, we will see how we can deploy the package in Dynamics 365 Operations. This Package can be any latest update, hotfix or deployment package you have created. Prerequisites: LCS login VM Instance Steps: 1. Download, Extract and Unblock Package 2. Update topology configuration data 3. Generate a runbook from the topology 4. Execute runbook Download, Extract and Unblock Package a. Login to LCS and download the Zip file of Deployable Package. b. After downloading, go to downloaded Zip file properties and select unblock. c. Extract the Zip file to a non–user folder. Update topology configuration data a. Go to extracted folder and open the file “DefaultTopologyData.xml” b. Populate the file with VM name. i. Go to This PC -> Properties. Find the name of the machine. ii. Update the VM name with the machine name in the file. c. Populate the file with installed components i. Open a command prompt as an administrator. ii. Run the command from extracted folder path to see a list of all installed components on the computer. iii. Update the file with a list of components. 3. Generate a runbook from the topology a. Run the command to generate a runbook. AXUpdateInstaller.exe generate -runbookid=[runbookID] -topologyfile=[topologyFile] -servicemodelfile=[serviceModelFile] -runbookfile=[runbookFile] Example: b. Runbook will contain instructions in sequential steps to deploy the package. 4. Execute Runbook a. Import the runbook. AXUpdateInstaller.exe import -runbookfile=[runbookFile] Example: b. Verify the runbook. c. Execute the runbook. AXUpdateInstaller.exe execute -runbookid=[runbookID] Example: d. Export the runbook. Export the runbook for future reference, you can use it to refer the steps, time to execute each step and logs for each step. UpdateInstaller.exe export -runbookid=[runbookID] -runbookfile=[runbookFile] Example:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail Management Solution is the perfect answer to the questions from the modern day consumers related to cost-effectiveness, fast and flexible services that they aim for. Microsoft Dynamics aims at seamless management solutions across all retail channels making it easier for the customer to establish a balance between their business requirements and the deliverables. When it comes to power and performance, Microsoft Dynamics is the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) cloud solution currently available in the market This amazing retail management solution from Microsoft has considerably reduced the complexities faced by the retailers in their day-to-day life in a new and unified way making it one of the most wanted and demanded software solutions in the market. Introduction: Dynamics 365 Operation Retail is providing CPOS.  This Blog Describe you, how to configure CPOS in AX 7 Operation. CPOS is Online POS, Offline POS functionality does not support to CPOS. CPOS can be Open in Internet Explorer, chrome, Firefox browser. MPOS having Online and offline functionality. In this blog for Demo Purpose, we are configuring CPOS for Huston store. And for CPOS, I am using Chrome browser. Follow the Below Setup to Configure CPOS . Before you Start: Before you Start Configuration of CPOS. Go to the Retail and Commerce -> Headquarter setup -> Parameter -> Retail Shared Parameters Select Entity Validation Templates.  Click on Import Default template. After that Drill-down to template Option and select Select RetailVal and click on SAVE button. Step 1: Go to the Retail and Commerce > Channels > Retail Store > All Store And select Houston Store. Click on Configuration Status. Select Approve All and click on Update Button. Step 2: Go to Retail and Commerce > Channels > Channel Deployment In Retail Store search for Houston Store. You will find that Progress for Houston store is 100%. Step 3: Click on Registers. Next to that you will see all the register which is created all stores. Put the filter on “HOUSTON” on Store Number. After that you can able to view list Houston Store Registers. Select Registers Number “Houston-30” and Open it. Click on configuration Status Click on Approve all and click on Update. Once you click on Update. Status will change to Completed. Click on close button. Step 4: On register page click on Device Select “HOUSTON-30”. Application Type of this Device is “Retail Cloud POS”. which mean this is CPOS. Activation status is Pending and Validation Status is not Run. Change Activation Status from pending to Pending to Activated and click on Validate Devices for Activation. Step 5: In General Tab of Device “Houstone-30” copy POS URL and Past it in Browser. Or you can click on that URL Link. Click on Next Button. Server URL, Device ID and Register ID is set by Default base on your Cloud POS Device. Click on Activate button. Once you click on Activate, it will start for activating Cloud POS. Once its Active, you will get message Click on Get Stated. You can able to view Cloud POS Login Screen. Enter Worker user ID and Password to login. Conclusion: By following this Steps, you can configure CPOS in Dynamics 365 Operation.

Introduction: CRM SDK provides a data migration tool/application called “DataMigrationUtility” which allows simple data migration from one CRM environment to another CRM environment. Prerequisite: Microsoft Dynamics CRM. CRM SDK Purpose of the set up Our goal is to migrate accounts from one Online CRM environment to another CRM environment. Steps: Open CRM SDK folder and run ‘DataMigrationUtility’ application. Path: SDK\Tools\ConfigurationMigration Click on Create Schema. You’ll be asked to log in to your source CRM system. Select the solution, entity and fields. Then click ‘save and export’, this will save a XML schema file. To export data: select XML file created in the above steps and create a file to save the data (zip file); then click Exportdata. Click exit after successful export of data. To import data: Click on Import data and then continue. Login to your target system. Select Zip file which was created in the above steps. Click on Import data Error logs can be viewed from Logs stored.  

Dynamics 365 for finance and operations is an ERP system built and designed to match your business needs in this modern day business scenario. Elements are currently as much a business system as it is innovation deliverable, some portion of a bigger biological system where data pulled from unique channels, (for example, social, IoT, and Office) is caught, investigated, and spread so as to help explicit business objectives. Make planning simpler by giving your spending chiefs simple to-utilize apparatuses. A wizard causes them to make spending plan worksheet formats for Microsoft Excel.  This cloud-based ERP framework gives the pertinent data you have to convey vital, information-driven bits of knowledge to key divisions. Additional quick monetary bits of knowledge drive corporate procedure and development, declining obligation through effective assortment of the board. Generally, users spend lot of time in selecting each product and their variants for sales in Sales order. Dynamics 365 for operations gives option to select the product by category. Following is the process to select multiple products and their variants in a quick way: 1. Create a new Sales Order 2. Click on Add products in Sales Order Line 3.  A new form will open which is divided in to three parts Select category – To select the respective category Available Products – It shows all the products available in the selected category Add Selected products- The products which are selected for the Sales order 4.  Once the category is selected, select the product and click on Add variants to select the variants for that product. 5.  A new form will open listing all the variants for that product. The user can select all the variants by checking on Select all or can select specific variants and can put quantity. 6.  On clicking OK , all the products selected with their variants will come in the sales line. Conclusion : In this way the user can save lot of time in creating Sales order having multiple lines.

A blanket purchase order is  purchase agreement between the company and a vendor. It typically involves one item with multiple shipments at predetermined quantities, price and delivery dates. Scenario: Purchase person orders 1000 units of item that will be delivered 200 units for each week. Steps: 1) In the Search box, enter “blanket purchase orders”, and select the related link. 2) Click on new to create new blanket purchase order. 3) On the General FastTab, in the Buy-from Vendor No. field, select vendor 4) Keep the Order Date field blank. When the separate purchase orders are created from the blanket order, the program will set the order date of the purchase order equal to the current date. 5) On the Lines FastTab, in the Type field, select Item. 6) In the No. field, select item. 7) In the quantity field, specify quantity 200. 8) Specify date in Expected Receipt Date field. 9) Create four more lines and specify 200 quantity and expected receipt date in each line. 10) Now in Qty. to Receive field, keep the quantity of 200 for the first line and delete the quantity to receive in the other four lines. 11) On the Home tab, click Make Order. 12) Click Yes to create an order. 13) You will get message that states that a purchase order is created from the blanket order. 14) To open the purchase order, select the first line on Blanket order. 15) On the Lines FastTab, point to Line, then to Unposted Lines, and then click Orders. 16) On Home tab of the Purchase Lines page, click Show Document. Then the purchase order will appear. Conclusion: By using purchase agreement organization can buy a specified quantity, price, delivery dates by using multiple purchase orders over time.    

Dynamics 365 business central development is an ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning solution from Microsoft. It is undoubtedly one of the best in the market. A lot of Small and mid-sized companies are using this software to increase their efficiency and productivity of their teams.  It is easy to install and deploy this software. It is also quite affordable. The best part about it is that your employees can learn how to use it in a few days. Now, this is one of the key reasons why a lot of companies are happy to get this software. There are a lot of resources that are available to help people who are stuck with a problem to get over it quickly.  Introduction: This article is to import data from the Excel file into existing NAV table. This import matches the excel entries with the existing NAV table and modifies the records of the table on import of the excel file. To accomplish this, we create a report using Excel Buffer as the DataItem. Pre-requisites Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2017 Microsoft Excel. Steps: 1. Create a table with fields and populate it with data. 2. Create a excel file which you want to import. 3. A page is created with action button to Import data from excel. 4. A Report is created using Excel Buffer(table id 370) as a Data Item. The report property Processing Only is set to yes. Standard ‘ReadSheet’ function of the table Excel buffer is used to read the data from the Excel file. 5. A function is used to calculate the total number of rows and columns using Excel Buffer table. 6. On the PreReport function of the report we write the following code. 7. In the Insert Data function it initializes the table created in step 1,  sets the range from the matching fields and if found it inserts values in the table. 8. To open the Excel file and selection of sheet we write a code in the Request Page in  the Report. We use File Management codeunit to upload file. 9. Now run the page and click on the action Import then select the excel file. 10. The import is completed and we can view the modified changes on the page after the excel file import.