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If you need to mass edit Microsoft CRM 2011 records and there are more than 250 records at a time then you can achive this by exporting data to Excel.

NB. If you have less than 250 records, then just use the Edit button on the ribbon.

So, how can I easily edit more than 250 records?

In CRM 2011 you have the ability to export data to Excel, make changes to that data and then import them back into CRM.

Let us see how:
First, find a view with data that you want to edit. In this example the view is Active Accounts. All the records in your view do not need to be displayed on the same page. For example if in the bottom left of your page you have something that looks like this:

 No need to worry, we’ll include all the records from the View in the next step.  Next, select Export to Excel from the Ribbon:

In the new window that opens, select Static worksheet with records from all pages in the current view and select Make this data available for re-importing by including required column headings. Then select the Export button.

Save the export (It should save as an XML document) and then open the file.  The export will have the same columns as the view from CRM.

Now change your data. For example, if you want to change the lead source for records use the lead source drop down.

 Make your changes and then save your file. Make sure you keep it in the same XML format.

 Go back into CRM and select Import Data and then Import Data again.

 Find your file using browse and then select next:

 Determine if you want to allow duplicates and who will be the owner of records if an owner is not already assigned. Then select Submit.

Then check back on your Active Accounts View ( it may take a minute to refresh depending on how many records are being edited) and the changes we made in Excel should be reflected in your CRM records.

Working with CRM records in Excel can be a huge time saver when you need to update data that was categorised incorrectly when it was brought in or if you just need to be append a lot of records with a new field that was added.

NB: Based on your Excel settings, some users will receive a “File is Corrupt” error when you first try to open your exported file. This can be fixed by adding your CRM Organisation to your Internet Explorer trusted sites.

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Another great capability within the 2011 release of Microsoft CRM is the ability to easily filter data.

Create a filtered view in Microsoft CRM to help you decide which companies or accounts to include in your next marketing campaign. Sometimes rather than creating a new advanced find, it’s more efficient and productive to simply filter a view that already exists.

Here is how you do it……

In this example we’ll use the Active Accounts / Companies View, but you can do this with any View.
From within the Active Accounts View we first select the Filter icon from the Ribbon. Notice the arrows that appear to the right of each column after clicking the filter icon. These are what we will use for filtering.

Suppose you are thinking about planning a new marketing campaign so you only want to see Accounts or Companies that are classified as Prospects. To do this you’ll want to add a filter so you only view Accounts with a Relationship Type of Prospect.

Select the arrow next to Relationship Type and check the box for Prospect and click OK.

Now when we look at the Active Accounts/Companies View we only see Accounts/Companies with a relationship type of Prospect. But we can tell it’s a filtered by Relationship Type because of the filter icon next to Relationship Type.

Filtering within a view in Microsoft CRM 2011 is an efficient and easy way to get a different view of our data and quickly make our data actionable.

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Many CRM users who have CRM for Outlook installed on their PC’s also open the CRM web client to browse CRM.  When asked why they do this, they often reply “because I don’t like to leave my inbox.”  They will use CRM for Outlook for tracking e-mails and appointments, and then open the web client if they want to open an account or view their pipeline.

The concern about leaving your e-mail can be a valid concern, if you have to flip out of CRM when you get notified that new messages have arrived.  Also, more people are using multiple monitors, and want to be able to run Outlook and CRM side-by-side.

However, as we have posted here earlier, CRM 2011 for Outlook is the premier user experience for Microsoft CRM.  By not using CRM for Outlook to navigate Microsoft Dynamics CRM, there are some fantastic functionality enhancements that you are not able to use, like flagging records, tabbed views, advanced filtering, grouping, or conditional formatting.

So if you need to run CRM in Outlook and also see your inbox, what should you do?

One option of which many users are unaware is you can actually run two instances of Outlook side-by-side.

1.  Open Outlook and navigate to the CRM icon.

2.  Right Click on the CRM icon and select “Open in a Window”.  This will launch a second Outlook window defaulting to your CRM.

You will now have two Outlook windows open, one showing your inbox and the other showing CRM folders.  You can now see your inbox and use the full CRM functionality.

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As a chartered surveyor professional, perhaps you’ve heard the term “CRM” floating around. Maybe you’ve learned a bit about what a customer relationship management – or CRM – system is, but you’ve never incorporated one into your business. Or perhaps you believe that the systems or programs you’re currently using are adequate. Well, let me take a couple of minutes to explain first, what it means to practice effective contact management; and second, what really constitutes a chartered surveyor’s CRM system.

Contact management is not merely a series of names, addresses and phone numbers, or a list of suspects or leads in a database. It’s much, much more than that. Effective contact management is an approach to doing business. It’s about collecting relevant information on your contacts over time and storing that information in a safe and organised manner. It’s also about being able to then search and filter that information for insight into your business and to drive more relevant, personalised and timely communications.

This is where a Microsoft CRM for Chartered Surveyors comes into play. It facilitates effective contact management in your career. Why? Because a CRM system enables and automates the process of contact management. But before we explore exactly how contact management, and a CRM for Chartered Surveyors system in particular, can make you a more effective surveyor, there are several common issues chartered surveyor professionals frequently struggle with.

Three Common Challenges for Surveyors

The first common issue is having data scattered all over the place – in a notepad, on an iPhone, and on sticky notes, for instance. Certainly not a workable, consolidated database by any stretch of the imagination. Even if these Surveyors do have a consolidated database, the contact information is often inaccurate and incomplete.

The second, and closely related theme, is having difficulty remembering client information and keeping on top of appointments. Surveyors often feel overwhelmed and unable to manage their business proactively. As a result, they work in a reactive manner and often feel two steps behind the game instead of ahead of it. They’re losing valuable business that they could have otherwise easily had.

The third key concern that’s raised is feeling ambivalent or even uncomfortable calling clients. “What do I talk about when I call? How do I go about initiating the conversation?” these Surveyors may ask. It’s understandable that it is a little bit (or very) awkward when calling up a past client that you’ve lost touch with years ago.

This is where the contact management approaches and a chartered surveyor specific CRM system takes the stage. As time goes by, and as you develop more connections and meet new people, a chartered surveyor CRM system will allow you to keep contact profiles in one consolidated database. If you’re a new Surveyor just starting out, this is especially important.

Effective Contact Management Translates to Surveyors Success

Contact profiles should have fields such as contact birth date, spouse and children information, interests, pets, and source of referral to name a few. By keeping this level of detailed information on your contacts, you’re making it easy to communicate with people in a personalised and relevant way.

By knowing, let’s say, that Jim’s son plays in a rock band the next time you call Jim for your regular quarterly keep-in-touch call, you’ll have something to talk about – a way to start the conversation that’s actually meaningful to Jim’s life.

Once a contact is entered, you’ll be able to categorise the contact type. For example, prospect, client, personal, or business-to-business. You can even create customised groups. For example, a “Tennis team leads” group. Why? So you can communicate with each group in a way that’s relevant to them.

Moreover, for each contact profile, you’ll be able to enter current and previous properties the contact owned or owns. You’ll keep track of your current listing and buyer preference information. The ability to manage your surveying transactions is why it’s so important that your CRM be chartered surveyor specific.

One of the biggest benefits of the Microsoft CRM for Chartered Surveyors system is that it helps ensure that you’re maintaining the important relationships you have with your contacts, long after you’ve sold John’s property investment, for example. You can make certain you’re reminded when birthdays and anniversaries arise, and you can plan out important activities like client appreciation nights or quarterly keep in touch calls. And because a good CRM system has drip email capability, you can automate a lot of your “keep in touch” communication.

But as a contact management tool, a Microsoft CRM for Chartered Surveyors solution does so much more. Let’s say you’re a new chartered surveyor professional who needs to build up a loyal client base (and market to leads and prospects) but doesn’t know how. Or conversely, maybe you’re a seasoned professional but would like help managing and organising all the steps involved in listing and/ or closing a job. A chartered surveyor system has pre-designed marketing, listing, and closing steps that are designed to be used for just these reasons.

If you want to maximise your effectiveness as a chartered surveyor a CRM solution is absolutely essential. It’s like a full time assistant that ensures you’re constantly keeping in touch with your database, always organised and one step ahead of the game, and building a business that you’ll find will be largely based on referrals and returning clients.

You’ll enjoy a future where you’re in control of your business, rather than your business controlling you. You’ll look forward to chatting with a client, and they’ll look forward to hearing from you, because you’re developing genuine relationships. And you’ll be known as a top-notch chartered surveyor professional who never misses an appointment or commitment and always seems to remember “the little things” that often make such a difference in business and in relationships.

A 10-15 minute daily investment logged in to your Microsoft CRM for Chartered Surveyors solution, working on your database, is all it takes to be effective. If you make this investment, you can expect a good return on your database, and I can say with complete confidence that adopting the contact management approach and using a Microsoft CRM for Chartered Surveyors system will pay off big time with more repeat business and more referrals.

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The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sustained Engineering (SE) team released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 4 on Thursday, September 22, 2011.

The links below will take you to the necessary information about Update Rollup 4:

• Microsoft Download Center
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article
• Microsoft Update

Release Channel Schedule

• CRM Online Datacenter: September 15 to September 22, 2011
• Microsoft Download Center: September 22, 2011
• Microsoft Update: September 27, 2011

General Details about Update Rollup 4

Client packages installed manually by downloading the packages and running install will require administrative privileges. If the client packages are installed via the Windows Update (Microsoft Update) system, they will not require administrative privileges.

For help with installation, please see the Installation Information section in KB2556167.

Dates for Future Update Rollups

While the CRM team strives to deliver Update Rollups every 8 weeks, there are some scheduling changes that affect Update Rollup 5 and Update Rollup 6. The dates below are for informational purposes and may change. Changes will not be made to this blog post but included in the Update Rollup 5 blog entry.

Update Rollup 5 will be delivered earlier than the 8-week cycle and is scheduled to release at the end of October 2011.

Update Rollup 6 will be delivered on its predefined schedule, 16 weeks after Update Rollup 4, which puts the delivery in January 2012.

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CWR Mobile CRM now provides support for native dashboards in Microsoft CRM 2011. Mobile Dashboards enable your field sales, service and marketing professionals to stay on top of your business, monitoring trends and key metrics wherever they are.

CWR Mobile CRM 2011 smart clients make CRM dashboards available to users as real-time mobile dashboards, giving them the ability to easily monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) when connected via mobile or WiFi network to their CRM system. Track leads, progress toward goals or other critical CRM data. Any dashboard created using native CRM 2011 dashboards is accessible on your mobile device. This convenient data visualisation tool is just the latest reason why CWR Mobile CRM is the CRM industry’s best-in-class mobility solution.

Mobile dashboards give field teams the data, information and intelligence that matters to them most, so they can act on information when it matters most.

Dialogs are interactive scripts. Use dialogs to design a custom wizard that guides your users through a series of standard steps or helps them automate a repetitive task.

Dialogs can be useful in many ways, such as creating a guided list of questions, collecting and storing customer responses, creating records, or automating a business process.

For example, you can create a dialog that your customer service representatives can use when they call customers to check about their interest in new products. Or, you can use a dialog to automate the lead qualification process in your organization.

This video shows how you can create a dialog to collect and process information by using step-by-step scripts to guide users through a process.

You can watch the new video here:

• Video: Create a dialog (CRM Online users )
• Video: Create a dialog (CRM On-premises users)

I hope they help,  ConsultCRM.

Learn how to share records and assign records to another person or to a team so you can collaborate across your organization and increase awareness of information. You can also read step-by-step instructions for assigning and sharing records in Share or Assign Records.

Watch new video about :

• Sharing and Assigning Records (CRM users)
• Sharing and Assigning Records (CRM Online users)

which explains how to enable teams to work together on individual records in the system.

• Use Goal Management (CRM users)
• Use Goal Management (CRM Online users)