Bloggers

U.S. Partner News for Friday, May 18, 2012

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:12:27 GMT

Diane Golshan writes "..you’ll find the latest partner-related information and news about optimizing your membership benefits, plus role-based training recommendations for Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft System Center 2012..." more

Big or Small, Good Leadership is Universal

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:40:48 GMT

Tribridge writes "[by Tony DiBenedetto]...Last week, Deloitte hosted a seminar called Private Perspectives...The guest speaker was the CEO of GE, Jeffrey Immelt...He shared his four leadership practices that any manager or CEO can utilize...[1] Push the team to have very high standards...[2] Play to win. Be the best you can be in your space. [3] Drive strategic change in an organization. The role of leadership is to..." more

Oops...SharePoint 2010 Error - Issuer of the Token is Not a Trusted Issuer

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:33:06 GMT

Steve Peschka writes "...I was working...getting SAML working on a SharePoint site...a strange HTTP 500 error when we hit the site...we cracked open the ULS logs and found this error: "The issuer of the token is not a trusted issuer."...Finally I decided to review all of the relying party settings in ADFS again, and that's where I found the "real" problem. Turns out the WS-Fed endpoint for the relying party was mistakenly set to..." more

Red Cross Enhances Operations with Dynamics GP

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:27:48 GMT

Socius writes "...The American Red Cross of Greater Cleveland is now better equipped to meet future needs of the Greater Cleveland community because Microsoft Dynamics GP frees employees to focus on mission-critical jobs. The chapter has the tools to ensure its operations are as efficient and focused as possible. “The award we won from Business Finance magazine for our business performance management initiative was absolutely, unequivocally made possible by Microsoft Dynamics GP..." more

How to Remove a Value from a Two Options Field in a Dynamics CRM Workflow

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:20:39 GMT

PowerObjects writes "[by JoeCRM]...When designing workflows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, if you ever run into a problem where a Two Options (a.k.a. bit) field has been is filled in, but you do not want it filled in, this blog will describe how to remove that value. This may occur if you accidentally select one of the options in a Two Options field...a screenshot of what a Two Options field looks like..." more

CSS Media Queries and Flexible Embeddable Widgets

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:17:48 GMT

New Signature writes "[by Ben Byrne]...While CSS3′s media queries are typically used in service of responsive design, we’ve identified another use for them: embeddable widgets...Combining CSS3 media queries with iframes, however, gives you the ability to offer embeddable content that adapts its layout to the space given. You can offer one layout for columns only 150 pixels wide, one for 150-300 pixels, and another for when your widget is over 300 pixels wide, for example. Here’s how we’d recommend approaching this:..." more

Just How Engaging are New Zealand Websites?

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:14:18 GMT

Intergen writes "[by Giles Brown]...we conducted our first Engaged Web study based on previous studies carried out by EPiServer in the United Kingdom and Australia. This year we have done the same, benchmarking the concept of engagement across New Zealand’s 50 most trafficked sites in 10 industries...websites in New Zealand have invested significantly in making their sites more engaging...[7] key findings: Multi-channel. Organisations need to embrace multiple channels and platforms in order to engage their audiences...Small screens; big opportunities. Investment in mobile web development will..." more

Office 365 Rolls into Government and Education Space

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:04:09 GMT

En Pointe Technologies writes "[by Ahsan A]...Office 365, now accredited with FISMA...a strict security guideline which helps protect and safeguard information technology interest of the United States government against...any act which can compromise security or breach confidentiality. This is a milestone for Microsoft...As of June 1, 2012 Microsoft will roll out its full version of Office 365 for Enrollment for Education Solution (EES)...will include Office 365 A2 offering free to students, staff and faculty..." more

How Teens have Raised Customer Expectations Across the Board

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:55:29 GMT

Aspect writes "[by Chris O'Brien]...the average teen sends more than 50 text messages a day, while children aged 11 to 14 spend an average of 73 minutes a day texting...They may be teenagers now, but this generation and its tendencies have already started to reshape the customer experience landscape entirely...more smartphones were sold last year than PCs and tablets combined, and the number of mobile Internet users is projected to..." more

Check These 3 Best Practices Before Unit Testing

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:10:33 GMT

Telerik writes "...If your employment continues, you may want to apply best practices to the unit test projects. Here are three important aspects you should consider to get started. Isolation - The reason the finale in my story happened as it did was quite simply due to a test not being isolated. The tests that were ignored were writing test data to a database – the production database! To isolate the test..." more

Solution to Direct Access Manage Out Not Working

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:04:57 GMT

Risual writes "[by Ashley Moore]... I came across this issue on a customer site and managed to resolve narrowing it down to group policy and finding the troublesome policy to be the setting for "Access this computer from the network"...Basically when you modify this particular group policy setting it changes the local policy on the machine. Manage out capabilities in Direct Access require..." more

Solution to the Error E-mailing PDF Reports with GP 2010 and Office 2010

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:00:58 GMT

Precipio Services writes "[by Steve Endow]...I was recently trying to setup and test e-mailing vendor remittance documents for a client that is setting up Electronic Funds Transfer for Payables. When I tested the process on one of my servers, I received the following error: You must have the Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-in for...." more

Group Policy Tricks for the SharePoint Admin

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:59:24 GMT

Perficient writes "[by Teo Nedev]...If you are like myself, you don’t get to work with Active Directory Group Policies very often, as a matter of fact the AD guys make it a point to keep us away form managing GPOs in any shape or form. It could get challenging to troubleshoot security issues that stem from restrictive GPOs not only because you can’t look at them directly, but also because settings will cascade, overwrite and exclude one another depending on OU and security filterings. Couple of neat tricks:..." more

Top 5 Skills Worth Pursuing for 99% of IT Careers

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:57:27 GMT

New Horizons writes "[by Brian Parker]...some of the certifications are necessary just to get past the door of HR and into the interview. Here are the top five skills worth pursuing for 99% of IT careers:.. 1. Applications (MOS):" more

Dynamics NAV 2013 Beta Ready for Partner Download

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:55:25 GMT

Kevin Machayya writes "...navigate over to The Edge blog to learn more about the recent release of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Beta for partners. Partners can access and download the beta from PartnerSource..." more

4 Strong Reasons for Many SMBs Why Data is Safer in the Cloud

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:54:18 GMT

Intermedia writes "[by Brian Shellabarger]...The cloud isn’t perfect, but it provides an opportunity for the average SMB employee to step up their game in terms of providing better security, backups, and overall protection in what is otherwise a very dangerous technical landscape. Unless you plan to become an expert in computer systems administration and data security, your best option to keep yourself as safe as possible is..." more

Dynamics Banking CRM Solution Test Driven in Daytona Beach

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:48:06 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Brad Koontz]...emerging trends in branch banking, and how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help bankers achieve efficiencies and a true 360 degree view of their customer...Tower Group study that found that “banks welcomed self-service for its cost-savings potential but are now realizing that moving people out of the branch reduces face-to-face contact and cross-sales opportunities.”..." more

For the SMB - What Makes a Good Security Policy?

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:44:19 GMT

Centriq Training writes "[by Tom Pruett]...security policy is the backbone and foundation for information security. However in this day and age some SMB’s have ignored or not kept up with current security concerns and their policy or lack of policy may allow for a severe security breach. This may in fact prove fatal for a SMB...what makes a good security policy. 1. Executive Management Buy In..." more

Audit Your Web App Estate - 8Tips for Upgrading Internet Explorer

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:42:11 GMT

Camwood writes "[by Lauren Loubser-Bell]...You need to know how many web apps you’ve got and where they are...[1] Ask your in-house developers what apps they’ve built [2] Survey your power users (or the whole user base) [3] Check your web servers – see what’s being used...Remember your business not only consumes web apps but also provides them to others – including your customers and suppliers. You need to make sure they all keep working under IE..." more

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobility Update

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:48:57 GMT

Perficient writes "[by Joe Basile]...I wanted to share some of the information regarding “CRM Anywhere” which is the model Microsoft is trying to achieve as part of this service update...Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile is going to be provided to customers on a per user, per month basis similar to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online subscription model. Microsoft has slated initial pricing at approximately $30.00US. Not too expensive for the benefit of a field force..." more

How to Change the Shortcut Name of App-V Application

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:22:42 GMT

Risual writes "[by Steve H]...If you have an App-V application published via an App-V Management Server and subsequently want to change the name of the shortcut...The way to do this is hidden away in the application properties. Simply navigate to the properties of the application, hit the shortcut tab and select ‘Advanced’. From here..." more

Dynamics CRM Using Scribe Insight to Link Accounts-Contacts when Migrating Data

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:17:31 GMT

PowerObjects writes "[by JoeCRM]...What would you do if you are migrating disparate accounts and contacts to Dynamics CRM and also have to link them? Well, doing it manually would be too time consuming... In this case let us consider that the account and contact information is coming from the same source say a flat file. The goal here is to highlight a cool feature of Scribe Insight..." more

Dynamics May 2012 Video News & Highlights

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:14:28 GMT

Kevin Machayya writes "...Wondering what the hot topics are for the month of May? Worried you have to sift through volumes of articles on various websites? Don't worry. We have answers. Take a time out and watch our Microsoft Dynamics May 2012 PartnerSource North America Highlights video. You'll receive a quick update in 5 minutes..." more

Solution to GP 2010 Web Services Error - There was no Endpoint Listening

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:53:34 GMT

Precipio Services writes "[by Steve Endow]...A partner recently asked me to help them troubleshoot a Dynamics GP 2010 Web Services error that they were receiving: There was no endpoint listening at...we checked the Windows services, and both eConnect 2010 Integration Service and the Microsoft Dynamics GP Service Host were both running....To try and diagnose the issue further, I installed GP 2010 Web Services on one of my servers and..." more

Walkthrough OpenAccess ORM - Using SQL Server 2012 LocalDB

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:27:15 GMT

Telerik writes "...We can use the SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) for creating and defining a LocalDB database, and then generate an OpenAccess Domain Model out of it using the simple Update from Database wizard. This component is available out of the box for Visual Studio 11 Beta, so we will use VS 11 to evaluate what is being offered. Those of you who would like to stick to VS 2010 can download and install .NET Framework 4.0.2 and optionally - SSDT..." more

Before You Develop Windows 8 Metro Apps Check These 5 Features

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:17:35 GMT

Slalom writes "[by Lee Whitney]...Developing Metro apps for Windows 8 is a combination of leveraging your existing skill sets and learning concepts that are new to the platform. Following are five things that make developing Metro apps new and different...You probably don’t need all of these new features in your first Metro app. However if you don’t take advantage of the ones that are appropriate it could make for a less than perfect fit with Windows 8..." more

VB Script Fixes 2 Problems While Running MS Security Update KB2686509

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:12:56 GMT

Susan Bradley writes "...you can download my little hotfix as ZIP-file...What does it do?...1. Makes a registry backup 2. delete Scancode Map if exists 3. checks every keyentry in Keyboard Layouts against existing file in %SystemRoot%\System32 Hope I help someone with this script..." more

Why Build Custom Code Snippets Using VS 11

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:28:36 GMT

Intertech writes "[by Andrew Troelsen]...The short answer is that if you notice you are authoring the same boiler plate code, time and time again, you could help simplify your days by automating this task via a snippet...let’s examine the details of one of the built in snippets: the class snippet..." more

Windows Server 8 DirectAccess Promises Amazing Connectivity

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:26:14 GMT

Slalom writes "[by Derek Martin]...With Windows Remote Desktop Services, you can get much closer to the goal of ubiquitous access—take your Gateway server and drop it onto port 443 in your DMZ and your remote apps, remote desktops, and VDI sessions are available to your end users...But that doesn’t get you true native connectivity...that makes your computer look, act and feel like it is on the corporate network without the need of complicated VPN or RAS dialers...allows you to:..." more

ASP.NET Team Rolled out SignalR and it is Fantastic!

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:58:54 GMT

Skyline Technologies writes "[by Michele Yahr]...David Fowler and Damien Edwards from the Microsoft ASP.NET team have been hard at work on an open source library called SignalR and… It. Is. Fantastic. Simply put, SignalR is a pub-sub system that hides the plumbing which keeps web requests open – say goodbye to interval polling...let’s take a quick look..." more

Do a Better Windows 7 Disk Cleanup as Administrator

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:59:14 GMT

QA writes "[by Andrew Mallett]...Many of us will know the Windows 7 Disk Cleanup feature but how many of us miss some features by not running as an administrator?...Take Disk Cleanup if I am an administrator but the program normally not all options are available to me:.." more

SharePoint 2010 Permissions and RunWithElevatedPrivileges Context

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:52:11 GMT

Perficient writes "[by Andrew Schwenker]...many people are using SharePoint anonymously or creating mash-ups of data from various SharePoint sources. As a result, these various resources have differing permissions governing their visibility...My specific situation was for an editor that needs to know a particular topic exists but doesn’t have the permission to see or edit the topic... only solution in my case..." more

9 Q&A From: Ask the Directory Services Team

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:10:13 GMT

Ned Pyle writes "...Is it possible to use any ActiveDirectory module cmdlets through invoke-command against a remote non-DC where the module is installed? It always blows up for me as it tries to “locally” (remotely) use the non-existent ADWS with error “Unable to contact the server. This may be because the server does not exist, it is currently down, or..." more

BI360 Automated Narrated Reports - An Evolution in Reporting

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:07:29 GMT

Solver writes "[by Nils Rasmussen]...see an example of the new Automated Narrative Reporting available within BI360. It will automatically generate the narrative based on algorithms as well as data available in the ERP system or in the data warehouse, and using the Publisher, the system can run and distribute an unlimited number of reports during the night...[cool]" more

As a Startup Grows, the Founders have to Grow with It

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:52:51 GMT

Telerik writes "[by Stephen Forte]...As startups start to mature, their founders have to mature along with it...Behaviors and policies that were appropriate for a small startup may not be appropriate for a company that is public. For example when Bill Gates rallied the troops by saying that they were going to “cut off Netscape’s air supply”, Bill was guilty of acting like..." more

Using Code Snippets with Visual Studio 11

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:47:29 GMT

Intertech writes "[by Andrew Troelsen]...When I teach foundational .NET courses...I make sure to point out useful features of the IDE, one of which is code snippet technology. In this blog post, I’ll talk about the basics of using snippets with Visual Studio 11..."code snippets” are a feature of the IDE which allow you to insert bodies of predefined, commonly used code, once the snippet is activated...For example, if you start to type foreach you would find:..." more

Top 250 Internet Retailers on Social Media

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:38:37 GMT

Fasthosts Internet Ltd writes "...We are in going through a fundamental shift in the way businesses communicate with their audience. Seeing fewer and fewer advertising methods that “shouts at” us and rather more advertising methods that “talk to” us...So how are the top internet retailers performing on social media?...infographic..." more

Using SPFilterDropdown to Reorder Options in a Dropdown on a SharePoint Form

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:21:48 GMT

Sympraxis Consulting writes "[by Marc D Anderson]...Many times when you have a dropdown column in your lists, you’d like to show the values sorted in a different order than alphabetically....in the cases where you want the dopdown to be based on a Site Column which is a Lookup into a list, you can’t specify the sort order. I prefer using a Lookup column in almost all cases because..." more

Walkthrough Windows Server 8 BranchCache

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:20:12 GMT

Slalom writes "[by Derek Martin]...BranchCache is a technology originally released in the 08 versions of Windows Server that allows companies with large remote office deployments to ease wide area network (WAN) traffic for file server purposes by securely caching files at remote offices on either servers or even workstations (using something akin to P2P technology). Once a client from a remote office grabs a file off a server via the WAN, it gets..." more

Using Robots Txt to Hide Azure Blob Storage Data from Search Engines

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:18:13 GMT

Nimbo writes "[by Ira Bell]...What if you want to make an Azure Blob storage container public so that you can quickly share data with someone – but don’t really want the rest of the world to discover that it’s in place? A simple approach would be to drop a robots.txt file in the directory with the following contents inside:..." more

Office 365 Walkthrough SharePoint Online for External Access

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:13:56 GMT

New Signature writes "[by Reed Wiedower]...found out that all existing BPOS SharePoint site collections were not transitioned from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 making the option to share the site collections with external users impossible. To remedy this I performed the steps below to transform a client’s existing BPOS SharePoint site collections into SharePoint 2010 site collections and invite external users. Warning: Please make sure to contact the administrators of the site collections you wish to change and..." more

CRM2011 Upgrade Tip - Disable Upgrade Registry Keys Post Upgrade

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:06:01 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Jaymi Stephens]...We recently upgraded a customer from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 UR7. After upgrading and applying the update, we received a Query Builder error message whenever we tried to save changes to System Settings...In order to successfully upgrade, our procedure should have been:..." more

How to Sync iPhone and iPad with Outlook Seamlessly

Fri, 11 May 2012 18:00:04 GMT

Code Two writes "[by Szymon Szczesniak]...automatically synchronize Microsoft Outlook folders with iCloud folders,,,The program will let you seamlessly synchronize Outlook calendar, tasks and contacts with your smartphone. And, as always, it’s easier and faster than you can imagine..." more

Small Contact Center or Help Desk Leverages Lync

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:57:56 GMT

Aspect writes "[by Mike Butts]...agents need to be prepared to expertly handle service requests from multiple channels. For a smaller organization, this likely means that every agent must have the capabilities to effectively respond to voice calls, e-mail, web chat and instant messaging. One way to achieve streamlined customer contact practices and operations is by taking advantage of the capabilities found in Lync...Lync-based solution in the upcoming webinar on May 31..." more

Thorough Walkthrough on BISM Tabular Security

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:50:44 GMT

Neudesic writes "[by Tom Marek]...I have been focused on the security options within SSAS Tabular models lately and I have found a few ways to approach it...I don't feel any option here is perfect and will fix all your needs, but one of these options listed should get you to where you need to be...." more

Designing a Windows 8 Metro App from an Existing Windows Phone App

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:23:53 GMT

Telerik writes "...A lot of the Windows Phone developers out there are already considering porting their Windows Phone apps to Windows 8. May be you are thinking: from Metro to Metro - it has to be pretty easy and straightforward, doesn’t it? Let’s see if this is true. This case study gives insights into porting the design of an existing Windows Phone app to a Windows 8 Metro app. It discusses the main similarities and differences between the design guidelines of the two platforms, what can and cannot be reused..." more

Hyper-V R3 Component Diagram is an Eye-Opener

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:20:29 GMT

QA writes "[by Bryan O'Conner]...If the final product meets the diagram, then this will become a very popular platform. Something to certainly look out for..." more

May 2012 Microsoft Security Bulletin List and Security Webcast Links

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:09:14 GMT

Eric Ligman writes "...the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May2012, which includes updates for products such as Windows, Microsoft Office, .Net Framework, and Microsoft Silverlight. This summary includes the following Bulletin IDs:...We held a webcast on these bulletins on May 9th, 2012, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). This webcast is now available on-demand..." more

New US Partner Web Site Live

Thu, 10 May 2012 18:01:06 GMT

Diane Golshan writes "...there’s a new online destination for partners in the United States. The design, features, and functionality of your new Microsoft partner portal address the most common partner feedback about the partner website, and make it easier to find relevant information and resources as well as get answers to your questions with robust support functionality...cleaner and more consistent..." more

Use Case: Promote or Demote SharePoint Sites during Migration

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:56:03 GMT

Axceler writes "[by Jamie Alperti]...As you are preparing to migrate your old SharePoint environments to SharePoint 2010, several Site Admins ask for help in reorganizing their site structure...The below migration set shows a screenshot of site 1030 in a MOSS 2007 farm being promoted to a Site Collection in SharePoint 2010. Setting up this type of migration scenario can be done quickly and easily, allowing admins to quickly redesign their environments as part of their migration to 2010..." more

Mobile IT Pros Say They Want Employers to Provide Device and Content Security

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:54:35 GMT

Aspect writes "[by Tim Dreyer]...Many of the mobile users who responded to the survey said that they depend on their network provider for their device and content security. And when they use those devices within their employer’s enterprise, they have the same expectation. In fact 90% of those surveyed felt that their employer should provide personal device security when they use on the company network. The problem is..." more

How to Launch FRx from the Dynamics Menu

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:07:30 GMT

Synergy Business Solutions writes "[by Margo Dame]...If you are having trouble launching FRx from the Microsoft Dynamics menu, but you can launch from your Start menu, here are a few simple steps you can take to resolve the issue:..." more

Gartner Lists 4 Top Supply Chain Barriers

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:51:44 GMT

Socius writes "[by Christine Satariano]...Last year, Gartner-Supply Chain Digest released the results of their annual study showing the top barriers that companies face when trying to achieve their supply chain improvement goals. From this study, it became clear that organizations struggle most with: [1] Demand viability and Forecast accuracy [2] Inability to synchronize end-to-end Supply Chain Management process..." more

Why Consultants Should Not Post Dynamics GP Batches on a Client's System

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:49:58 GMT

Precipio Services writes "[by Christina Phillips]...At one point, I worked with the accounting manager to perform some type of reconciliation that resulted in an adjustment, and I prepared an adjusting batch...While sitting together at a GP workstation, she reviewed the batch and agreed that it should be posted, and "we" posted it...was using my GP login at the time the batch was posted. But I definitely learned my lesson. No more posting batches--at least not with my login!..." more

Anti-Virus Scan Exclusions List for Configuration Manager 2012

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:45:04 GMT

IT Concern writes "[by Peter Daalmans]...Adding exclusions to your anti-virus solution will give you a better performance, since the online access scanner will not scan every logfile or file in the Configuration Manager inbox folders. Based on the Configuration Manager 2007 blog of the ConfigMgr Team with the knowledge of Configuration Manager 2012 I created the exclusion list below, feel free to supply information if you are missing something..." more

How to Win a Free WPC 2012 Full Conference Pass!

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:05:29 GMT

Kevin Machayya writes "...To make sure you get the most out of your trip, the WPC U.S. Team wants to send an additional member of your team to WPC, for free! When you register two people, you’re automatically entered to win* a free WPC all access conference pass. Register your first two attendees today and we’ll enter you to win a free WPC Full Conference Pass!..." more

AX Customer Patagonia's Supply Chain Success

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:01:26 GMT

Data Masons Software writes "[by Jon Rivers]...Patagonia and other companies were highlighted for their chosen ERP solution with integrated SCM functions, demonstrating that unlike in years past, the ERP can be an all-in-one tool for improving supply chain operations, especially Microsoft Dynamics AX...From the Inbound Logistics article..." more

Excellent CRM Tech Presentation on Coding Cross-Browser Compatibility

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:56:52 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Scott Sewell]...If you expect users in your organization to use browsers other than IE to access CRM, it's important to be ready to understand what is supported out of the....there was an excellent technical presentation on coding for Cross-Browser compatibility presented by Karun Krishna from Microsoft India to the XRM user group – if you go to their site..." more

Options Using Service Manager Request Query Result Filtering

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:52:31 GMT

Concurrency writes "[by Nathan Lasnoski]...I was working on several Service Manager engagements where I had very large computer, software, and user lists that I wanted to query content from through Request Offerings. The Service Manager content returned by the query is out-of-box set to return 2,000 items in a Request Offering...in this situation we needed to determine how we’d deal with the result set. There are two approaches to this..." more

Walkthrough Changing Your Time Zone in CRM Online

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:30:24 GMT

Xrm writes "...We’ve recently received several Microsoft Dynamics CRM support requests about setting a user’s time zone in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. People have reported difficulty synchronizing Microsoft Office Outlook and CRM Online when the time zone of the computer they were using didn’t match the time zone in their Personal Settings in CRM Online. That’s easily corrected...The following steps can be performed by Users with any of the Default Security Roles in CRM Online..." more

Real-World Collaboration Happened with Office 365!

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:14:13 GMT

Bamboo Solutions writes "[by Pamela Flora]...Seeing it come together flawlessly and work exactly as it should work was... it was like watching magic happen and not knowing how it happened, but appreciating the trick as a feat deserving nothing less than utter wonderment. It was that "I love it when a plan comes together" moment...We discovered some quirks in the process, however, and knowing about them might serve you well should you decide to make your own co-authoring plan come together:..." more

Migrating Windows SBS 2003 to Windows SBS 2011 Essentials

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:32:35 GMT

Susan Bradley writes "...Whoohoo they finally are tracking the changes in the document! Download: Migrating Windows SBS 2003 to Windows SBS 2011 Essentials - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details:..." more

How to Customize Outlook Flag Reminders

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:31:13 GMT

New Horizons writes "...let’s say we add a reminder to an email message and choose the default Call option from the Flag To dropdown menu in the Flag For Follow Up dialog box. A week later, the reminder appears, but we can’t remember why we specifically needed to call the person. To make the reminder much more useful, we’ll enter specific action items to complete when we make the call...To enter customized flag reminder text:..." more

Free Downloads from Microsoft

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:30:02 GMT

New Horizons writes "...Microsoft will be releasing quite a few new products in the next 12 – 18 months. So, take this opportunity to download some of the newest technologies and take them on a test drive...[see list]..." more

Walkthrough Deleting Applications with Dependencies in Configuration Manager 2012

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:28:01 GMT

IT Concern writes "[by Peter Daalmans]...When selecting delete, Configuration Manager will check if there are dependent applications, active deployments and dependent task sequences like shown below. Deleting an application is not dependent of any revisions anymore. You can delete an application after fixing the dependencies with..." more

Migraine Free Email Migrations - Planning Tips

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:26:10 GMT

Intermedia writes "[by Jung Kim]...a couple of the most common delays that can occur when cutting over to a new email solution...The time estimates may seem excessive but it usually allows for plenty of cushion should something happen. Usually, reconfiguring Outlook to connect to a new Exchange server and mailbox should only take about 15 minutes. But there are so many things that can suddenly take a desktop visit from 15 minutes to 2-3 hours..." more

10 Inspirational Examples of Branding Design

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:23:03 GMT

Fasthosts Internet Ltd writes "...Within today’s article we’ve brought you ten stunning examples of branding from the Behance network, a leading online platform that showcases creative work..." more

Tips for Better Performing Dynamics CRM SQL Reports in SSRS

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:21:13 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Scott Sewell]...There are a handful of common mistakes or traps that anyone writing CRM reports can fall into - and we've all had to tackle 'fixing' a report that runs so heavy it dims the lights when you try to load it. Fortunately, these best practice are pretty straightforward and will help you develop reports that run quickly and effortlessly on your server. Let's get started..." more

Walkthrough Example of AX 2012 Customer Aging

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:18:02 GMT

Brandon George writes "...lets focus on getting a Customer Aging Query that we can make use of...For your reference, you can download this query, located here.: CustomerQging Query. Please keep in mind use at your own risk, and no warranty is implied. This came as part of the demo instance's for AX 2012..." more

Troubleshooting SmartConnect Logins

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:39:52 GMT

eOne Solutions writes "[by David Youngquist]...If you receive the message “Unable to connect to database” when launching SmartConnect, there are two main causes for that. 1. The SmartConnect password is wrong on the machine(s) or 2. The Windows user you are logged in does not have rights to access SmartConnect. To fix the first issue open up the Windows registry on each machine and navigate to the following location:..." more

WPC 2012 Party Place Pinned Down

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:38:00 GMT

Diane Golshan writes "[by Jemima Herman]...a preview of the U.S. party at WPC 2012 that we have been planning for the past several weeks. It’s one of the most fun aspects...I’m so happy about the location, the entertainment, the cool ways we’ll be using technology at the party. Everything is shaping up...Our party will be at the Roy Thomson Symphony Hall, a Toronto landmark located in..." more

Code and Example - Redirect IFrame Content

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:21:14 GMT

Webfortis writes "...In this example we want to centrally control the URL use by IFRAME located in different Entities. First step is to build a function that would allow for changing the URL based on variables being passed into the function. Create a Web Resoucre JavaScript using the below code..." more

Another Notch in the VS11 Belt - WAI-ARIA Support

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:19:36 GMT

Telerik writes "...what is this whole WAI-ARIA business? ARIA is a set of additional semantic tags and attributes that describe and identify features for user interaction, how they relate to each other, and their current state. Often times this boils down to their roles, states, and functionality. Think of controls such as menus, trees, and grids. All of these are pretty sophisticated controls that have a lot of..." more

SharePoint Designer Error When Saving a Page with Multiple Data View Web Parts

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:15:58 GMT

Sympraxis Consulting writes "[by Marc D Anderson]...could probably write an entire book on the strange things that SharePoint Designer does, but I don’t have time for that...Today I was adding some Data View Web Parts (DWVPs) to a page, and I took the shortcut of copying and pasting the code of one to create another in the same page. This always works..., I got this rather cryptic error..." more

Office 365 Setup Log Files Locations

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:14:16 GMT

Susan Bradley writes "...Lots of stuff are left behind in log files. Spotted this in the partner forum...If you are using Office 365 for Small Businesses, we need to trouble-shoot the issue at the client side. I’d like to check the desktop setup logs to see if the pc has been setup correctly. The Office 365 Desktop Setup log files can be found in the following locations:..." more

Ken's Great Tips for Getting the Most Out of WPC

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:12:55 GMT

Scott Bekker writes "...In addition to receiving Ken's sales wisdom in his columns and blogs on RCP, you can also catch Ken's great tips for getting the most out of the Worldwide Partner Conference in the WPC Marching Orders article we ran last week. We've known Ken was a top sales influencer for years..." more

Changing Your MX Record for Exchange Online

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:11:24 GMT

Perficient writes "[by David Greve]...blog highlights some key changes that are necessary in FOPE, to maintain a Hybrid configuration, but have Exchange Online be the destination for all incoming mail..." more

365 CommandMessageOps for Office 365 Admins

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:10:13 GMT

MessageOps writes "...365 Command is web based administration, reporting, and monitoring portal for Office 365. At this stage we have focused our efforts on developing features which would otherwise require Administrators use PowerShell to get the information they are looking for or make the modifications needed. The initial type of information you can gather from the reporting aspects include:..." more

WPC 2012 Tracks and Sessions Announced for Toronto

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:05:33 GMT

Data Masons Software writes "The Latest Coming from The 2012 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Team: Tracks and sessions have been published! It’s your first look at what’s in store at the 2012 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference July 8 – 12. Embrace all that Toronto has to offer and register today for..." more

How to Share Category Colors in Microsoft Outlook

Mon, 07 May 2012 19:04:15 GMT

Code Two writes "[by Gniewko Oblicki]...CodeTwo CatMan is a smart FREE Outlook add-in that allows sharing Outlook categories across many computers via a local connection or through the Internet. The program can be downloaded at no cost from..." more

Make Room for a More Social CIO

Mon, 07 May 2012 17:56:13 GMT

Aspect writes "[by Mike Sheridan]...social technologies are quickly creeping into enterprise operations. The convergence here is really setting the stage for social business. Extending order status, customer service, and the like to where customers are is innovative...Because of the growing use of social as a customer service medium and the data and engagement opportunities it presents, it is clear that social media can no longer stand alone in marketing and..." more

How to Predict CRM User Adoption

Fri, 04 May 2012 22:56:36 GMT

Webfortis writes "[by Christopher Bates]...Here are five data points that I think are worth evaluation for every CRM user audience. If we can assess and address each of these five issues early and often, building user adoption into our project lifecycle as a separate and distinct discipline, the total risk of CRM project failure will drop significantly..." more

Solution Overview to Office 365 Password Expiry Outlook Notifications

Fri, 04 May 2012 22:41:01 GMT

Paradyne writes "[by Loryan Strant]...Office 365 Customers using managed (OrgID Based) accounts will not know when passwords will expire (if enabled for expiration). Further, Outlook’s behavior when the password expires is to go into a disconnected state, without notifying the user of what the problem is or what is required to resolve it. Opening Outlook and providing an expired password will continually prompt the user just as if they had mistyped the password..." more

High-Level Overview of High Availability and SQL Server 2012

Fri, 04 May 2012 22:30:33 GMT

Intergen writes "[by Sr. SQL Database Admin]...I will be providing a high-level overview of the high availability options in Microsoft SQL Server 2012, and how these compare with the solutions provided in earlier versions of SQL Server. Before explaining the differences, I think it’s important to differentiate between high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR), terms which can often cause some confusion..." more

U.S. Partner News for Friday, May 4, 2012

Fri, 04 May 2012 22:27:58 GMT

Diane Golshan writes "...Below is all the content we published in today’s US partner newsletter that was delivered by email to US-based members of the Microsoft Partner Network. The content in your email is specific to your company’s business and your role..." more

Tip: How to Rename your CRM Organization in Outlook

Fri, 04 May 2012 22:26:41 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Scott Sewell]...When a CRM instance is provisioned, a name is created for the organization – but since that name must be unique, we often see some awkward or unmemorable names – which then show up in Outlook. – But these names can be changed (even for CRM Online users) – at the client level:" more

Solutions for On-the-Go Windows Phone Users

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:45:25 GMT

IdentityMine writes "[by Devin Jordan]...There is a pretty slick new app on the Windows Phone Marketplace that allows you to replace the standard calendar tile with a tile that maximizes the limited space on your start screen. AppoinTile displays up to 4 upcoming appointments, calendar, and the days date which brings everything you need into one optimized tile..." more

403 Errors when Failing Over a SQL 2012 Availability Group with SharePoint 2010

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:25:06 GMT

Steve Peschka writes "...just had a heck of a time getting failover of a SQL 2012 Availability Group to work correctly with SharePoint 2010, so I thought I would share the outcome in case it helps anyone else. In short, I had my SQL 2012 Availability Group all set up and it appeared to be working correctly. I created a new content database on the primary node in the group, then backed it up and added..." more

Outlook 2010 Searching Pointers

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:23:24 GMT

Socius writes "...If you do use the search function in Outlook 2010 you will notice that when you click in the search field that the Menu Ribbon changes to show Search Tools. The Refine section has commonly listed filters like from, has attachment, and a date function to limit your results. By using just a few additional search criteria you will be able to quickly find your results..." more

CRM 2011 Outlook Client Troubleshooting Wizard for Known Configuration Issues

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:37:23 GMT

PowerObjects writes "[by Joe CRM]...The Microsoft CRM 2011 Outlook client configuration troubleshooting wizard can be used to help find the most likely solution for an error in the Configuration Wizard. The wizard also helps you to identify and fix the problem that’s preventing the computer from connecting. The wizard is really easy to use and is for both the CRM Online and On Premise environments. The wizard contains screen shots and solutions for..." more

Do Certifications Matter?

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:35:09 GMT

New Horizons writes "...four categories of areas where a technology vendor might be able to demonstrate the impact of certification that may represent a good starting place for anyone – sponsor or client – looking to measure its effectiveness: Why was the certification program/requirement put in place? What were the founding objectives of getting certified? What does the certification attest to? What do the stakeholders..." more

Interesting Event Highlights Dynamics AX and Port of Long Beach CIO

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:33:27 GMT

Ignify writes "[by Ashley Harbaugh]...This event will be an excellent opportunity to hear specifically how the Port utilizes Microsoft Dynamics AX software, and the significant advantages provided by this system and the Port’s IT infrastructure provides business operations. You can also share your solution experiences with other IT and business executives, get feedback on any IT issues or questions that you may have, and exchange ideas on how to better position your business for success. If you would like to request an invitation to this event, please register here..." more

Resolving Sign-In Issues With Microsoft Lync Online

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:30:36 GMT

New Signature writes "[by Ben Pahl]...Recently, we ran into an unusual problem with provisioning Lync Online users in Office 365 — we’d enabled Lync for some users but those users were unable to login to Lync. Fortunately, the fix turned out to be rather simple (though not particularly obvious). First, the problem: User accounts we’d provisioned for Lync couldn’t sign in, and received this “sign-in address not found” error from multiple computers on multiple networks:...." more

Dynamics CRM Seamlessly Deployed at Illinois Farm Credit Services

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:27:33 GMT

Customer Effective writes "[by Hannah Mayer]...Not only did Farm Credit Services of Illinios need a system that could capture and store all kinds of customer information in one place while integrated with their own loan-origination system; they also needed a CRM partner...to train others to use it, all without intimidating anybody and in a very short period of time..." more

The Evolution of Windows

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:21:31 GMT

Cal Net Tech Group writes "[by Z Schuler]...From Windows 95 to Windows 7, iterations of Microsoft’s market-leading operating system have been an evolutionary step forward rather than a giant leap in innovation...in 1995, Microsoft spent $300 million to market Windows 95, including paying the Rolling Stones a big chunk of money to make Start Me Up its official anthem. Circa 2012, what classic song will now forever be associated with an operating system – and how much will Microsoft have to pay for its rights?..." more

BI is Giving a Whole New Meaning to - It's All About The Customer

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:51:26 GMT

Omnivue writes "[by Jeff Pyden]...To get the most value from a BI solution, take a look at the current state of your data and your organization’s ability to be agile and responsive to changes in demand. While BI can help you improve in both these areas, it’s a good idea to have a few fundamental things in place before you invest in BI software:..." more

Before You Shrug this Off Consider this Slow Boot Troubleshooting Content

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:45:23 GMT

Ned Pyle writes "...a multi-part TechNet Wiki series on understanding, analyzing, and troubleshooting slow logons and slow boots. These include: [1] Root causes for slow boots and logons...[2] Tools for Troubleshooting slow boots and slow logons...[3] Troubleshooting slow operating system boot times and slow user logons...consider the following example...Get to reading, people – this is a big deal..." more

Great Tool for Mobile Configures Outlook Profile for Mac Users

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:40:46 GMT

Intermedia writes "[by Ashley Hu]...great tool you can run to configure Windows Outlook profile for Mac users: Outlook Profile Helper. Users who use Outlook 2011 usually have to go through a set of instructions to configure it. With the Autodiscover record, Mac users only need to put in their email addresses and passwords, all the server configuration will be filled in automatically..." more

Working with a Team Trying to Grasp 'Tacit' Knowledge

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:37:49 GMT

Intergen writes "[by Bernardine Slagter]... recently attended a SharePoint conference and had an interesting conversation with a Knowledge Management Specialist. He highlighted the differences between knowledge management and tacit knowledge...Our current perception of knowledge management is often classified as information or knowledge that is documented and shared. Tacit knowledge is more difficult to capture and..." more

Walkthrough Setting up Saved Connections

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:32:27 GMT

eOne Solutions writes "[by Chris Hanson]...If you look at how you normally develop maps and then deploy them, one of the most common setups is doing all the development and testing work on one server and then moving everything to the live server when the testing is finished...Now...When I later move my maps to a new server, I will go back to the saved connection and update that rather than each map individually which will save a lot of time..." more