Hi,

Working on some Windows Phone 7 development project, I came across the following question from the customer when releasing an sprint: ‘I have bought a phone. How can I deploy the app into it?’.

Easy question but not so easy answer if you are not familiarized with some aspects like: Windows Phone 7 locking, registration, App Hub membership Marketplace, and so on.

So, after some research I decided to share here my conclusions that could save time to somebody else when having to answer the same question:

1. First, deploying means to distribute the .XAP file which you can get it after compilation (debug as well as release mode).
2. Nevertheless, for deploying that .XAP into your phone you need to meet some requirements:

• Windows Phone Developer tools must be installed (instructions here)
• Your Windows Phone device must be registered (instructions here). Bear in mind that registrations implies:
  • having a valid App Hub developer account ($99 annual fee)
  • identity validation with GeoTrust which could take some days.
  • living / having a valid and legal address on one of these countries.

A registration walkthrough can be followed here.

• The Zune client software must be installed on the host computer (downloadable from here)

After complying with the above requirements, you will need to run the Application Deployment Tool (included with Developer tools) in order to deploy the app to the device. Instructions here.

But, what happens if you cannot comply with one of the above requirements? for instance, my country is not listed? Some possible workarounds for the above:

• Have your Windows Phone 7 device unlocked for developing purposes (nothing to do with telcos locking). ChevronWP7 seemed to be a great tool for doing that but currently seems to be discontinued (after the guys had some discussions with Microsoft :p).
• Try this tool (it requires the phone to be unlocked) (I personally haven’t tried it yet)
• On the meanwhile, use the emulator that is included in the developer tools :(

Now, what happens for instance if your customer is not technical and is not willing to install any development tool for deploying your app into his/her phone? In this case, according to this article there would be possible to submit an app to Marketplace that remains private and only available to be downloaded by the people we just want to. Sounds good (and logical btw) but it seems that this feature is still not available :(.

So, as far as I can see as workaround I guess you could use Marketplace, uploading a free app that asks for some kind of PIN when loads in order to work. This PIN should only be shared by you and your customer. Make sense? But, for uploading an app to Marketplace you must be registered as well as the app should pass the certification test which could put you in a loop :(.

If you have any comments / suggestions / news on this matter, please post a comment.

Hope this helps to save somebody else’s time.  Also hope Microsoft could give developers more tools in order to support offshoring scenarios where development is being done in different, not yet listed countries and customers are not so willing (or just cannot) install a bunch of dev tools just for deploying an app to their phones.

PP

Hi,

Pre-selling a Dynamics CRM / xRM project typically is not a simple task as Dynamics CRM is a big product and also, extremely extensible which means that almost everything is possible to be done, integrate, etc.

Hence, when trying to size a project, it’s really important that you make the right questions that could drive to better estimations. The better you understand the project and your client expectations, the better you may estimate it.

So, I decided to share here some first level questions and topics I use to consider in order to have a better idea about the project and properly size it. I am going to share this info within two posts, categorized by areas, starting with Business (you should always start with Business questions ):

[Business]

• Understand the concrete business objective / problem that the client expects to resolve with the product.
• Who are going to be the final users?
• How many users in total, at least approximately?
• How are those users going to access the system? (intranet / Internet / Offline / Mobile??)
• Are there subsidiaries and/or other local offices that will need access to the system?
• In case there are, are they different companies that are part of the same economic group or just different locations of the same organization?
• Different cultures and/or currencies?
• How do they communicate today? How do these users have access to current systems?
• Which CRM modules is the client mostly interested in [accounts, contacts, sales, marketing, services]?
• Does the client already have another CRM system? In case it does, which are the premises / main reasons for migrating to Dynamics CRM?
• Which modules / info is going to be migrated?
• What is going to happen with current CRM. Is it going to be completely replaced by Dynamics CRM once project is completed?
• Project strong constraints? (ie. deadlines, important milestones, budget)

[Hosting model]

• On-premise?
• Does the client already bought seats for CRM and/or has a volume licensing agreement?
• Within its infrastructure, has it got Active Directory and SQL Server ? (2008 + in case of CRM 2011)
• For CRM 2011, is it a 64 bits infrastructure?
• Outlook? Which versions? Are all of them 2007 or 2010?
• On-line?
• Does the client know the limitations so far? (i.e. no custom WF activities)
• Does the client know the trade-offs? (i.e. having to use Azure AppFabric service bus for integrating company internal systems)
• Hosted?
• Any significant advantage compared to online?

[Size]

• Quickly understand basic figures about the project size / impact:
• Volume of users that may have the system
• Volume of accounts?
• Volume of contacts?
• Volume of opportunities / leads / services/ etc. to be created within xx hours?

[Data Migration]

• Where do accounts / contacts / other entities data currently are currently stored and maintained?
• Migrating this data should be considered as part of the project scope?
• Which format is the data accessible today to be imported?
• Is it possible to get some sample data?

...continue on PART II here...

Hope you find it useful,

PP

Hi,

I have recently upgraded my on-premise CRM 2011 beta to Release Candidate and decided to share here some screenshots and considerations about the process.

Scenario: a single Windows Server 2008 64 bits VM with on-premise Dynamics CRM 2011 beta and SQL Server 2008. This was a previous upgrade from CRM 4, following this process.

SERVER

First of all, after downloading the setup files from here and run CRM2011-Server-ENU-amd64.exe I got this 'predicable' error after extraction:

Setup has detected an earlier build of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 that is not supported for upgrade… (see below)

So, first step in the upgrade process is….

1. Uninstall previous beta install (obviously you should backup everything first so as to avoid loosing any important data and customizations, but, thinking twice, this may not be necessary as beta install is not supposed to be used in production, isn't it ? :p))

You can uninstall the CRM server as any other app, just clicking on Control Panel->Programs and Features.

2. Run SetupServer.exe (I recommend to run it as administrator to avoid any eventual problem)

3. Just in case, leave 'Get updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (recommended)' checked.

(no updates were available at the moment I run the setup)

4. Enter a valid product key for RC.

As stated here by Microsoft® you can use the following keys:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Workgroup Server (5 CAL limit): H84KC-JH8DF-7PDYK-TXBXR-2RMMT

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Server (no CAL limit): MQM2H-JYYRB-RRD6J-8WBBC-CVBD3

5. Accept the contract.

6. Select installation directory.

7. Specify Server Roles. All roles apply if installed in a single box.

8. This is one of the most important steps in the upgrade process if not the most important. You need to choose the option 'Connect to, and if necessary, upgrade an existing deployment' in order to upgrade from a previous beta install

Additionally, you will need to specify the SQL Server that has the beta DBs.

9. Specify the Service Accounts. NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE should be typically right. If not, you can specify here any other service account more suitable for you.

10. Select a Web Site where CRM web app and services will be set up.

11. If currently using E-Mail router, specify the server name here. In case it doesn't, just leave this blank.

12. System Checks. Some warnings may come up.

After clicking Next, in my case it took some time to see next step. I recommend you keep patient if also next step delays in being displayed.

In my case I run across the 'Action Microsoft.Crm.Setup.Server.AddLicenseAction failed' error. This is a 'know issue' and if this occurs within your setup too, you have to manually enter the license key in the ConfigSettings table in MSCRM_CONFIG, in the LicenseKeyV5RTM column.

You can easily complete this task with SQL Management Studio by using the following SQL statements:

use MSCRM_CONFIG
update ConfigSettings set LicenseKeyV5RTM = 'MQM2H-JYYRB-RRD6J-8WBBC-CVBD3'

After running the above and retrying, server setup should complete:

13. If you leave the 'Launch Reporting Extensions for SSRS setup' option checked you will be prompted with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Reporting Extensions Setup.

CRM Reporting extensions need to be installed on the SRS server. In my case as it was all in the same box, it was the same VM.

14. I just had two options 'Repair' and 'Uninstall'. A little bit confusing but anyway, I chose 'Repair' .

Just to mention, in my case I came up with this error that I ignored:

CLIENT

In order to install the client, you must also uninstall previous CRM 2011 Outlook client.

So:

1. Uninstall current client (Control Panel -> Programs and features)

2. Run CRM2011-Clent-ENU-[amd64/i386].exe (you can download it from here.)

I recommend to runt it as administrator so as to avoid any eventual problem.

3. Accept license agreement.

`

4. Setup automatically downloads the prerequisites it needs.

5. After everything is installed, you have to run Configuration Wizard (Start->All Programs->Microsoft Dynamics CRM2011->Configuration Wizard)

6. Within Configuration Wizard, enter the CRM server URL, credentials and select the default organization. Your Outlook will synchronize with this organization and only with this organization.

7. If connection were successful, after wizard completed you should be able to work with your Outlook connected to the new, upgraded instance.

Hope you find this useful. Migrating to Release Candidate could be very helpful if you are trying on-premise beta and pretend to upgrade to RTM when released (announced to be released on Feb 28th). More details on why may be probably publicly announced within the following weeks.

PP.