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Microsoft Dynamics CRM Overview

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Welcome to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM TechNet Wiki. The purpose of this wiki is to provide a comprehensive guide for IT professionals to learn about then implement, configure, customize, maintain and support Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

What is Microsoft Dynamics CRM?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a Customer Relationship Management business application developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family of business applications that includes Enterprise Resource Planning products such as Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics SL, and the latest addition to Microsoft's growing customer management platform family, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. If you are new to Microsoft CRM, you can read more about its history here.

To learn more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM consider checking out the online version (free trial, no downloads/installation needed), visit http://crm.dynamics.com/.

Overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM wiki

The Microsoft CRM wiki is organized into the following high-level chapters:

  1. [[Learn Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Learn]] – articles and resources to help you get started with Microsoft CRM if you are a employee with a Microsoft customer or partner
  2. [[Implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Implement]]http://timage.cc/image/get/new.gif/2011-07-01T10.00 – technical content about installing Microsoft CRM
  3. [[Configure and customize Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Configure and customize]] – articles and resources to help you with CRM configuration and customization
  4. [[Extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Extend with .NET]] – learn how to extend Microsoft CRM
  5. [[Deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Deploy]] – plan your CRM project, train users, maximize user adoption
  6. [[Integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM|System integration and data migration]] – learn how to import/migrate data into Microsoft CRM and perform common integrations with other systems
  7. [[Support Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Support]] – find out how to maintain Microsoft CRM and troubleshoot common issues
  8. [[Upgrade Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Upgrade]] – overview on upgrading to the current version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM from earlier versions
  9. [[Enterprise Resources for Microsoft Dynamics CRM|Enterprise Resources]] – overview of a series of whitepapers include Nuts and Bolts and Optimization tips and tricks.
  10. CRM Developers Community - start here to learn about the resources that the CRM Community can bring to bear.
  11. Deployment Best Practices - a series of high-level best practices you can use to assess your own CRM implementation to find areas for improvement.

Extended CRM

In addition to it's use as a customer relationship management application, Microsoft CRM can also be considered as a more general application development framework. This usage is commonly referred to as xRM, although Microsoft now prefer the term Extended CRM. In practice, many implementations of Microsoft CRM use a combination of the traditional, standard marketing, sales and customer service functionality that is supplied, along with specific customizations and extensions.

CRM Resources List

  • [[articles:Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Resources|CRM 4.0 Resources]]
  • [[articles:Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Development Resources|CRM 4.0 Development Resources]]
  • [[articles:Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Resources|CRM 2011 Resources]]
  • [[articles:Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Resources|CRM Online Resources]]
  • [[articles:Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Development Resources|CRM 2011 Development Resources]]

Contributions

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM TechNet Wiki is a community effort combining unique content written by expert CRM contributors and pointers to useful resources found elsewhere. You can provide rate and tag articles, provide your feedback, edit and revise most articles or contribute or suggest new articles. We look forward to your participation.  If you're looking for article ideas, visit [[CRM TechNet Wiki Article Recommendations|CRM Article Recommendations]].

Terminology

To maintain consistency of articles on CRM TechNet Wiki the following naming convention has been adopted. 

  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Official product name and preferred way to refer to the product in the article title. When reference to a specific version is required, add version number after the name, e.g. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Development Resources
  • Dynamics CRM. Preferred short form of reference to the product in the article body. Shortest reference form, CRM, can also be used but, unless reference is intentional, beware of reader confusing the reference with a generic CRM term or with a competing product. When version disambiguation is required, add version number after word CRM.
  • CRM TechNet Wiki. Reference to Dynamics CRM ecosystem on TechNet Wiki. We do enjoy patronage of TechNet Wiki and its enormous search juice pulling power so when we publish an article about Dynamics CRM, it ends up being a part of CRM TechNet Wiki.
  • Always add **crm **tag to CRM-related articles. If article is version specific, also add crm 4 or crm 2011 tags including the space (i.e. avoid crm4 and crm2011 tags). Add other tags as required. Hint: to avoid saving a "friendly" suggestion from the tag editor, always follow your tag by a comma, even the last one.
  • Last but not least: send a tweet to @crmwiki boasting your great contribution. Thank you!