Microsoft recently released an updated Statement of Direction for Dynamics CRM.

It covers upcoming Accelerators, Adapters, and XRM. It also gives an overview of the next version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, aptly code-named “ V.Next”, which most likely will end up being called Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0.

Microsoft customers can download the document through CustomerSource.

The long-awaited Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) adapter is now available. 

This tool provides integration between CRM and GP to better manage data and data flow. When changes are made to one system the adapter can update the other system.

As an example, if a customer’s address is updated in Microsoft Dynamics GP the adapter can automatically update the customer’s address in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or vice-versa. Or if an invoice is created in Dynamics GP the adapter can add the invoice to the customer’s account in Dynamics CRM.

Another CRM adapter?
This is different from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM BizTalk Adapter I recently posted about.  This adapter is a standalone product that doesn’t require Microsoft BizTalk. Also, this adapter was created to help non-developer types connect the systems without needing to know programming languages. And it has out-of-the box template mappings

Price?
Free!  Sort of. As a customer you must have an active/current Microsoft Dynamics GP Enhancement/Support plan and an active/current Microsoft Dynamics CRM Software Assurance Support Plan.

How do customers get more information on the adapter?
Customers can log into their CustomerSource account where there’s a section about the adapter.  There’s a pretty good Frequently Asked Questions document that covers some of its features and limitations.

How do customers get the adapter?
Currently the adapter is only available through Microsoft Partners who are registered and approved as a Microsoft Dynamics GP partner. Contact your current Dynamics GP partner. If you don’t have one or would like a new one call me.

A while back I did a post about everything getting lost on the Leads Notes tab when converting a Lead to an Account, Contact, and Opportunity in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

The summary of that post is:

• This doesn’t appear to be a bug or technical problem but is the way the system was designed
• The Notes and Attachments in the Leads Notes tab aren’t lost during the conversion, they just stay behind with the closed Lead
• I proposed a workaround of hiding the Leads Notes tab to just prevent people from even using it

So while hiding the Microsoft CRM Leads Notes tab works great for fresh implementations, and to prevent any more issues with existing implementations, what about all of the companies who need to access all of the Notes and Attachments in the old converted Leads?

The quickest and easiest solution I’ve seen is a workaround that adds a new “Leads Notes” tab to the Accounts, Contacts, or Opportunities entity. It looks just like a normal Notes tab but pulls the Notes and Attachments data from the original Lead using an Iframe and some scripting. 

Karl Iuel of Avanade posted a script with instructions of how to configure it.  Richard Knudsen of IMG also posted a script on his blog.

Before adding this to your MSCRM I’d suggest giving some thought to how your users will use this. The reason I say this is it’s your choice whether to add this to the Account, Contact, or Opportunity entity. My suggestion would be to add it to the Contact entity. Here’s why.

I tested Karl’s script on the Account, Contact, and Opportunity entities and converted a Lead.

With the Account version the Lead only transfers once. Meaning, if in the future you get a Lead who happens to be an employee of an existing Account in MSCRM that was a previously converted Lead, it will only transfer the Notes from the first Lead.

With the Opportunity version it depends on if you associate Opportunities with a Contact or Account. A user might get confused on where to look for the Lead notes if some of your customers are companies (Accounts) and some are individuals (Contacts).

With the Contact version the Leads Notes stay with the Contact. A Lead is somewhat of a combination of the Account, Contact, and Opportunity records. But to me it most closely resembles a Contact record. So when a user is later looking for notes of a closed Lead the first place they would probably look would be in Contacts records.

Again, it’s your choice where to put the new Leads Notes tab but it depends on how your company and users use your MSCRM. To validate which one works best I’d suggest having a couple of your key users test each version and perform tasks as they would as part of their normal day.