Dynamics CRM 2011: Diving into the sales pipeline – Part 3

In my previous post of this series we discussed how to apply our previously defined sales pipeline through the customisation of the Opportunity entity form. We went through the design of the Opportunity form, which included the addition of fields built-in fields which aren’t part of the default form, and we added some scripts for the calculation of our probability matrix.

Important Update: This article series has been written before the release of Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 12 (also known as Polaris). You might continue to read the articles in this series, but it is strongly recommended that you read this addendum before performing any customisations suggested in the series.

In this final post we will go through the creation of some workflows that will be part of our sales pipeline process.

Dynamics CRM 2011: Diving into the sales pipeline – Part 2

In my previous post of this series, we discussed some fundamental concepts of the sales pipeline and how Dynamics CRM handles the sales process. While considering the requirements of ACME (a fictitious company), we defined the stages of their sales pipeline, and started to outline the functional specification of the opportunity entity, including the elaboration of an opportunity probability matrix.

In this post we will discuss how to apply what have been defined so far by covering the customisation of the Opportunity entity form, including some scripting.

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

I started using Windows 3.0 at the age of 12 and even though I worked with a lot of different systems, from Linux and OS/2 to BSD (and a few times, Apple OSes), I have pretty much solidified my profession career with Microsoft products.

I saw Jobs solely as a difficult man who mistreated his employees, and I never understood his value to the market. That is, until I did my Masters Degree and I was introduced to the concept of industry paradigms.

Regardless of any feeling of rivalry one can feel on “Apple Vs Windows” subject, Steve Jobs was undeniably a visionary and a paradigm pioneer who challenged concepts and developed new markets and trends. Before the iPod, the digital music players were all but a joke, and the iPad succeeded to launch the tablet industry where others previously failed.

The world will be less innovative without him. My sympathies to Apple Inc, his family and friends.

There is no such thing as “grey mail”

I just read today at the Windows Team Blog that Hotmail declares war on graymail. However, I assert that there is not such thing as “gray mail”.

It doesn’t matter if it is an email offering me dodgy Rolex replicas or dubious pharmaceuticals, or if it is a newsletter from a major and respectable institution. Any speculative email I receive that I haven’t explicitly subscribed to, is to be considered SPAM. Enough said.