Chapter 1. How This Book Is Arranged
With this version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft has not only combined a suite of new products but is bringing to play all its combined investments in Office, Windows, and mobility.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 is a major release that combines all the cumulative updates into a major release for Microsoft. It is provided to customers as both Online and On-Premises versions.
Note
A majority of this book was written using preview versions of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 software, and while every attempt was made to update the material to the current release at the time of publication, some things may be different by the time you use the product.
Before releasing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, Microsoft released a series of updates to earlier versions of software, such as the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ‘13 release and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 2015 Update 1.
Tip
For access to the updates and/or to see previews of the software that Microsoft is staging for release, as well as for some in-depth training videos, visit www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/get-ready-for-the-next-release.aspx.
Chapter 2, “New Features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016,” explains what has changed since the previous version of the product and the book Dynamics CRM 2013 Unleashed were released. The product has many major enhancements (enough for a whole book!), and it includes a rapidly growing suite of products that fall under the Microsoft Dynamics CRM umbrella. At this writing, the Dynamics CRM suite consists of the following products:
Dynamics CRM 2016
xRM (version 2016)
Parature
Yammer
Social Engagement
Microsoft Dynamics Marketing
FieldOne
FantasySalesTeam
ADX Studios
Voice of the Customer
These products are mentioned in Chapter 2 and discussed in greater depth throughout the book.
If you have Microsoft Dynamics CRM installed or have started with the Online version and are ready to go and you’re wondering where to click to get started, skip ahead to Chapter 5, “Navigation,” which provides a great starting point for people who are familiar with earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If you’re new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, it’s probably best to start with this chapter and make your way to Chapter 5 (but there’s nothing to stop you from skipping ahead to get a sneak peek).
When you log on to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, you see the Explore CRM page (see Figure 1.1).
This book provides the information you need to not only explore your CRM system but make the most out of it.
Online Versus On-Premises
This books is written from the “Online-first” perspective. This does not mean that the book ignores the On-Premises aspects of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, but the chapters have been shifted to prioritize the information on the Online option since the majority of users take advantage of that option.
Note
There is a huge amount of overlap and consistency between the On-Premises and Online versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 (including application configuration). As a result, where appropriate, this book highlights differences between the two, and if you’re using the Online version, you can largely ignore the chapters specific to the On-Premise version.
If you’re still in the decision-making process about which version is the best choice for you, consider these great features in the Online option:
Additional production instances
A development/sandbox instance for development isolation, trusts, and statistics
Scaled data storage options (based on users)
New pricing to address various usage requirements
At this writing, Microsoft has indicated that all the pricing for On-Premises licenses will increase by 25%. If this takes effect as planned, then the lower TCO and ROI for the Online option provide much more of an argument—especially when you consider the investments Microsoft has made in its data centers.
Table 1.1 highlights some of the specific options to consider when looking at the Online versus On-Premises versions.
Table 1.1 seems to indicate that On-Premises has more recommendations and while more and more organizations are becoming comfortable about moving to the cloud, careful consideration should be given to both options. If you break down the pros and cons at a very high level, the one constant is this: “Do you want to own/control your data and application?” If you do, then you face the responsibility for providing access and maintenance.
A breakeven point typically occurs on the pay-as-you-go Online model versus On-Premises at about 24 to 28 months. (But note that this number will be different if the price adjustments noted previously come to pass.) However, a number of variables affect this rule of thumb, such as updates, downward infrastructure and hosting pricing, and so forth. In addition, when you factor in things such as extensive data storage requirements, integration requirements, and mandatory updates or uptime, the model can change significantly.
The section is meant to provide a high-level analysis of the two options—Online and On-Premises—and is by no means declarative. If you are a new customer or a customer considering switching from one platform to another, you should analyze a host of questions and considerations before committing.
Updates/Release Cadence
The question about updating Microsoft Dynamics CRM is usually not one of if there is an update, but when. Microsoft has committed to regular updates of Microsoft Dynamics CRM every 8 to 12 weeks. These updates are installed automatically for Online and are available from Microsoft for On-Premises.
Note
Microsoft updates are in the form a.b.c.d, where a is the version of CRM (7 = 2015, 8 = 2016), b is whether it is a release update (1 or 0), c is whether it is a rollup update, and d is the version number.
The previous major version to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 was Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Update 1 (aka Carina). The major version prior to that was called Vega.
On-Premises Updates
Many organizations deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM in an On-Premises mode so that they can carefully control deployments and the stability of the application.
Note
Yes, as hard as it is to believe, Microsoft does occasionally release updates that break the application. Although Microsoft does its best to regression test all the code, the fact that the application can be so extended dynamically results in variations that the company hasn’t even considered. Therefore, many organizations deploy multiple environments to test and then release both custom code and Microsoft updates.
Chapter 29, “On-Premises Deployments,” describes a typical large-scale multiple-environment scenario in detail.
Online Updates
With Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft pushes down updates to customers. Updates come in two forms: minor and major. Microsoft does two major updates a year, and customers must take at least one update a year; or in other words, customers can be only one version behind.
Customers can select when they want to go through the process of updating and can even go so far as to schedule (or reschedule) the date on which an update will happen. This gives customers adequate time to test their builds against updates and fix anything that might be necessary before the upgrade occurs.
Figure 1.2 shows the CRM Online Administration Center and the options available to users.
Note
To see pending updates, be sure to select UPDATES at the upper left of the CRM Online Administration Center.
Of particular note in Figure 1.2 is the second row, which shows a pending update to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Update 1. When you select that row, as shown in the figure, you get more the information on the far right, which includes the following:
The instance name and type. In this case, it is the Webfortis AS instance, which is a sandbox instance
The ability to open or navigate to the instance (which opens in a separate window)
The geographic area of the instance and the current and target versions, with an option to change the target version, if available
The geographic instance of CRM correlates to the URL, which is https://Unleased.crm-geo.dynamics.com, where crm-geo can be any of the following:
CRM = North America
CRM2 = South America
CRM4 = EMEA (Europe)
CRM5 = APAC (Asia/Pacific)
CRM6 = OCE (Australia)
CRM7 = JPN (Japan)
CRM9 = GCC (Reserved for Government/Public Sector)
The specific details related to the update and the ability to reschedule the update
The ability to approve the update, which is required to proceed with the update
For more information about managing updates to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance, SEE CHAPTER 4, “CRM 2016 Online.”
Summary
With this book now in your hands, you should be getting excited about starting the journey of working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016.
This chapter’s primary goal is to provide you with a primer on some of the author and editing decisions made when writing this book and to stress Microsoft’s approach to maximizing both its investment in and the customer benefits related to the Online version.