The net difference in CRM 2011 RTM and CRM 2011 now

So I am working on updating some courseware and have been tasked with making sure we update for all products updates/upgrades/new features.  I was looking for a list of where a single version of the truth would be and came up with nothing.  I asked some smart people, they came back with nothing, but agreed we needed a list somewhere.  So here it goes.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday reviewing the contents of every update rollup (ur) that’s been put out since RTM happened.  There have been many many bug fixes and those aren’t going to be listed here.  If you experienced the bug, you’ll know it and know that it was fixed. 

As best I can tell this list is current as of RIGHT NOW.  At the end I will also include a list of what we anticipate to come out in the near term (this quarter).

There is no particular order to the list.

  • Activity feeds- Internal facing social CRM.  Records have walls and posts.  Users can view a rollup of these and on a specific record as well.  Internal facing only.  (Limit of 500 follows, not configurable)
    • Configurable, real-time notifications on important relationships and significant business events via a blended view of micro-blog posts and interactions for a person, customer or sales opportunity.
    • • Micro-blogging. Status updates and notifications regarding business events and actions, providing simple experiences for users.

      • Conversations. Post questions, observations, suggestions and status updates, allowing users to collaborate quickly and efficiently, locate information or expertise and gather feedback from others.

      • Automated activity updates. Post information directly to the activity feed based on configurable event rules (for example, when a sales opportunity is closed). People can subscribe to or “follow” these activity feeds and consume them in a variety of ways.

      • Mobile activity feeds. A new Microsoft Dynamics CRM mobile Activity Feeds application for Windows Phone 7 allows users to view their activity feeds while away from the office. Limitation of mobile is the metadata changes don’t load except every 24 hours, by design. Product team listening to feedback and open to options.

  • New chart choices- Multi-series charts and a few different ways to display as well covering area and such.
    • Multi-series charts (limit of 5 series)
    • Multiple category charts (limit of 1 series and 2 categories)
    • New chart types e.g. Area charts
    • Ability to create stacked charts (relative proportions of closely related items)
  • Read optimized forms- I LOVE this concept.  I think the execution needs some work, it’s still a little buggy here and there.  The essence of ROF is that a CRM user that mostly consumes data without editing it can do that faster and without as much risk of accidentally (or maliciously) making data changes.  A user that needs to change data is one click away from changing data.  In addition to increase in data integrity and user performance, the system performance should be improved as well.
  • Process enhancements- both workflows and dialogs now have hyperlink support. Dialogs have data retention as you move thru the process as well as new data types.
  • Dup detection enhancements-
    • Ignore blank values in duplicate detection
    • Exclude inactive records in duplicate detection
  • Outlook client updates- The Reading Pane has been enhanced to include: Sub grids & Notes, clickable links (email, telephone, lookups, party lists) in the form and sub grids,  clickable links in sub grids, Lync presence integration and several other miscellaneous enhancements.
  • User access audit- Auditing happened with general delivery of CRM 2011.  Now you can audit user access to CRM.  It’s not a detailed comprehensive list of ACTIVITY, it’s ACCESS auditing.  Did they sign in, and when?
  • SDK updates- the SDK team has always impressed me.  They update this ALL THE TIME. 
  • Help files updates- don’t have a comprehensive list but will assume it covers at least all of the above items and then some.

Coming soon

  • Mobility
  • Cross browser
  • Social enhancements
  • Industry templates
  • SQL 2012
  • Certifications
  • BI Insights
  • Portal enhancements
  • Custom WF activity for CRM Online

The link above is to my detailed blog post about the new features promised for Q2 2012.

Previous Post

Colin Powell at #conv12

Mar 22
I have long respected Colin Powell. And even if you disagree with his political and personal persona, he is still living history. When I heard he was to keynote at Convergence this year, I was very excited. For a political...
Next Post

Have we doomed the next generation?

Apr 23
Tomorrow my daughter takes the ACT. It is paid for by the State of Colorado. The state pays for all high school juniors in Colorado to take the exam. The rest of the students at the school are on a...

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)